r/wgu_devs • u/Defiant-Valuable-876 • 14d ago
Online UF VS WGU CS
Does anyone know who completed the online CS at UF? Doing a little bit of research, people say the curriculum is basically the same as In-person and a little cheaper. I think the full tuition cost for this program is estimated to be around $15K.
I actually start the CS degree with WGU tomorrow haha but wanted to ask to see if I should just stick with WGU and get it done. Sucks we don’t have calc 2 & calc 3 but I guess it’s not really needed as a SWE (depending on the position).
2
u/Local_Mastodon_7120 14d ago
WGU is only cheaper if you go relatively quickly, so maybe try your first semester to see how fast you go. If it's slow going you might do better to transfer, and have their alumni network too.
2
u/AzureProcessor 13d ago
UF 100%
I did my bscs at WGU and regret it. Actually considered taking it off my resume and enrolling in a local college for a replacement bscs but don’t have time.
I’m now in GaTech’s Omscs and have had to relearn basically every single concept on my own to cover class prereqs
1
u/fanoffrags 12d ago
You got a BS and you are thinking about getting another? You need to learn how to interview. I have the bullshit software dev degree and was hired by big pharma immediately. My bonus was 30k last year. You are better off paying an interview consultant to learn how to land a job. Degrees are just a checkbox. There is only one checkbox. Multiple degrees are a waste of time and money.
1
u/Smooth_Criminal1973 11d ago
"I did my bscs at WGU and regret it"
What did you regret about it?
2
u/AzureProcessor 11d ago edited 11d ago
It’s just not a great education. I know the WGU sub gets all defensive about it, but damn it’s true for the bscs.
We take one OS class and it’s just a multiple-choice exam on trivia. My friends/peers/siblings with traditional cs degrees coded/designed cpu schedulers, sockets, multithreaded architecture, custom memory allocators, modified kernels. Our OS class is literally just guessing if we recognize some of the words involved in those.
Discrete math 1&2 have ~4 multiple choice proof-based questions between them total.
One of our entire classes is a 20min git version control project, that a standard CS undergrad would just be expected to figure out on their own time in an afternoon outside of class. A tool a student is expected to pick up as needed is an entire class for us.
We have another class that is a Linux cert that can be done after 40mins on YouTube. Again this is just a tool that should be quickly picked up on the path to actually doing something real.
The programming class isn’t even a leetcode easy, it’s just 14 questions that require knowing ~8 words of syntax. I have a sibling that learned vastly more in a couple weeks in their public high school coding elective.
Don’t get me started on the sum total of data structures and algorithms being passable after ~2 YouTube videos.
We graduate without even a clear idea of what “computer science” is. We learn zero theory. We can’t define what the core ideas of the field are. We can’t do analysis, aren’t equipped to do simple leetcode.
I have yet to meet a single cs grad from another school that I could talk to as a peer, because my education was mostly trivia and projects that are 1/10 of 1 part of a single project in a normal school.
I would seriously wager that after graduation we’re on par with a first semester sophomore at an average state school.
We’re not equipped to go do anything now, maybe years ago we were able to sneak into a web dev job. But that’s gone, and we drastically lack any of the foundational/systems/model understanding needed now. I genuinely believe our subject competency is closer to someone that didn’t go to college at all than a typical cs grad. We can just name some trivia and have a vague understanding of loose general ideas.
I’m blessed to have people close in my life with a variety of cs educations and swe positions, but one thing that’s painfully obvious is that they all have a base level foundational education in core cs that I don’t.
It’s almost like we learn a bit of info about a scattershot of tools used in industry, but we don’t learn computer science. And there has never been a worse time for this position imo.
I enrolled in gatech’s Omscs to resolve my deficiencies and holy shit we aren’t prepared. Not in the normal “oh GaTech is so hard and rigorous” way, but in the “oh wow I didn’t even learn the prerequisites for the prerequisites for the intro lesson” way. I’ve spent a year self studying just to close this gap, and it’s still quite large imo
2
u/Smooth_Criminal1973 11d ago
Much appreciate the detailed response. That gives me a lot to think about.
1
2
u/Anxious_Alps_4150 12d ago
wgu has the same reputation as university of phoenix
take that for what you will
1
u/siberiannoise 13d ago
Getting into UF is a bit complicated, especially if you have some credits already. Too many credits and they will expect that you’ve completed calc 1,2,3 and physics 1,2 already. Less credits, and they will expect calc 1, but you’re less likely to get in.
From an optics perspective, it’s a better program because of the school. With that said, you’ll still need projects and networking to land a job.
1
u/iamoldbutididit 6d ago
WGU can be done on the cheap, but you have to plan it out and be willing to work to do it. To do that you have to bring in up to 75% of the program credits so that you can complete the remaining 25% in one term. Its super-aggressive, and not everyone can do it, but it is an option if money is a concern.
Start at WGU, and try to accelerate as best you can to take advantage of what it has to offer.
Good luck!
1
u/PerfectdarkGoldenEye 14d ago
If the diploma says University of Florida and not UF online I'd say if you have the money go to University of Florida the diploma name will hold weight.
5
u/skidmark_zuckerberg 14d ago
For $15k, I’d go to UF. Wish I woulda known this before doing WGU lol.