00:00how to get a bachelor's degree in
00:02network engineering and Security in as
00:05little as six months that is going to be
00:07the topic of this video and I'm going to
00:09tell you exactly how you can do that for
00:11yourself and this is going to be done by
00:13using what's known as competency-based
00:15education as opposed to traditional
00:18education so at a traditional University
00:20you essentially have to attend college
00:22for a certain amount of time now the
00:25average is going to be 5.1 gears but
00:27typically it's going to take you around
00:29four years at least this is a little bit
00:31silly in my opinion because there are
00:33many degrees out there where it is going
00:35to take you four years an example of
00:36that would be an engineering related
00:38degree if you're able to get that done
00:39in four years that's actually an
00:41accomplishment but there are lots of
00:42degrees out there that are nowhere near
00:44as difficult as an engineering degree
00:46they're not even close to being as
00:48rigorous and yet colleges try to fit
00:50everybody into that four-year model and
00:52this is especially bad considering the
00:54cost of college in the United States has
00:56been steadily going up since the 1970s
00:59and the value has been going down so
01:01naturally alternative universities have
01:03started to pop up and they use what's
01:05known as competency-based education and
01:08this is where you are tested based on
01:09your competency so if you are really
01:11good at a subject whether it takes you a
01:13week to learn it or five months to learn
01:15it if you are able to pass the test they
01:18deem you competent and you get credit
01:19and there are several really good
01:21universities out there that now do this
01:23now the one I'm going to be using as an
01:25example in today's video is going to be
01:27WGU or Western Governors University this
01:30is probably the most commonly known
01:32competency-based University out there
01:34but there are some other really good
01:35ones and there are countless amounts of
01:37testimonials on YouTube Google Reddit
01:40Etc of people who have gone through WGU
01:43and gotten degrees in less than a year
01:46and in some cases less than six months
01:48and in extreme cases there are even
01:50people who have speed ran degrees and
01:53gotten them in two months like my friend
01:54Josh matacor who did that with a
01:57computer science degree and WGU is a top
01:5910 percent regionally accredited
02:02industry-respected University this is
02:04not one of those Cracker Jack box degree
02:06for-profit scammy universities that you
02:08always hear about on the news now up to
02:10the point of doing this series I only
02:11shared the tactics and strategies that
02:13I'm going to talk about today in private
02:15consultations and there's two reasons
02:17for that one they're really valuable of
02:19course and two I didn't think that I was
02:21going to be comfortable sharing all of
02:23these tactics and strategies because the
02:25truth is not everybody is going to be
02:27perfect for a competency-based
02:29university so I do want to make sure to
02:30tell you that you need to do your due
02:32diligence there are a lot of Pros to
02:33going to competency-based universities
02:35but there's also some cons as well and
02:37I'll talk about that later in the video
02:39and I'm actually going to break this
02:40down make it ridiculously easy I even
02:42have a cheat sheet that I made
02:44specifically for this degree and I'll
02:45put that down in the description as well
02:47as the pinned comment below and this is
02:49going to be a four-step process and I
02:51highly recommend you listen to every
02:53single step and do exactly as I say
02:56because if you decide to skip a step or
02:58you don't do it correctly that can cost
02:59you months or even years of time as well
03:02as thousands of dollars so if you
03:03appreciate me going through all the
03:05trouble of making this series it took me
03:06like hundreds of hours to do this go
03:08ahead gently tap that like button and
03:10let's jump into it alright so the first
03:13step is going to be the simplest one but
03:15you don't want to skip it and that is
03:17you are going to go ahead and transfer
03:19in your existing credits now the cool
03:21thing about WGU as well as other
03:23competency-based universities and by the
03:25way you can use this exact process at
03:27other universities you just have to make
03:29a few changes here and there but the
03:30cool thing about them is that you can
03:33actually transfer in a lot of different
03:35things they tend to be very gracious
03:36about the credits that they accept so
03:38normal universities are relatively
03:40stingy when it comes to accepting
03:42credits from other colleges and even
03:44accepting high school credits I've seen
03:46many examples where universities for
03:48whatever reason will not accept college
03:50credit from a class that you've already
03:52taken at another College doesn't make
03:53any sense at all but they just decide
03:55randomly to not accept the credit I've
03:58also seen examples of universities where
03:59they don't accept AP credit and these
04:02are classes that you take during high
04:03school so for instance you'll take an AP
04:05class and you'll score a three on it
04:07which is passing but the university will
04:09only accept somebody who scores a four
04:11or even a five in some cases which is
04:13absolutely ridiculous because almost
04:15nobody scores fives so not only does WGU
04:18accept those two and they tend to be
04:19very gracious about that credit but they
04:21also accept CLEP exams certifications
04:24and certificates in some cases they'll
04:26even accept classes that you've taken on
04:28random websites like udemy and on top of
04:30all that in some cases they'll accept
04:31work experience and Military experience
04:33so WGU is extremely gracious about the
04:36credits they accept make sure you take
04:38your time at this step you know get your
04:39transcript together your resume your
04:41work experience even random classes
04:43you've taken on udemy make sure you get
04:45that together and send all of that into
04:47the counselor at WGU and once you send
04:50that in you're going to get a list back
04:51of the remaining classes that you still
04:53have to take and at this point you're
04:54going to move on to step number two
04:56which is the most important step and
04:58that is you are going to go ahead and
04:59not enroll in WGU but you're going to
05:02use third-party companies to test out of
05:04many of the remaining classes right so
05:06we're not enrolling yet in fact we don't
05:08enroll until step number four and they
05:09might be putting a little bit of
05:10pressure on you to enroll at this point
05:12but don't do it so I like to call this
05:14the test out phase and you're going to
05:15be using these third-party companies to
05:18test out of classes before you even
05:20start at WGU and the reason you're doing
05:22this rather than just enrolling in WGU
05:24and starting right away is very simply
05:26because it's faster cheaper and easier
05:28and there are many examples of people
05:30online for some of these WGU classes
05:33especially the technology related ones
05:34where they will actually test out of
05:36like 75 percent of the classes before
05:39they even enroll at WGU and by the way
05:41this is one of the tracks you can take
05:42for the network engineering and security
05:44degree this is the general track there
05:46are other tracks you can take that
05:48specialize in other things and I'll talk
05:50about that in different videos so here's
05:51an example of somebody who didn't heed
05:53this advice or maybe they just didn't
05:54have access to it but they tried to take
05:56the intro to python course at WGU and
06:00they found it to be outrageously
06:01difficult and they recommend that you
06:03take it at study.com and study.com is
06:06the website that I typically recommend
06:07they're my favorite one overall they
06:10have really good user interface you
06:12actually learn while you're taking the
06:13test and they're just relatively easy
06:15and it's just kind of a seamless
06:16frictionless experience so study.com is
06:19my favorite my second favorite is going
06:21to be sophia.org and then my third
06:23favorite overall is straighterline.com
06:25now for this particular degree you do
06:27have to take 37 classes total and if you
06:29use the methods I'm talking about in
06:31this video you can actually test out of
06:33all the classes except for 15. so you
06:35can test out of well over half the
06:37classes before you even enroll in WGU
06:40now I always like to say this some of my
06:42students especially the ones that are on
06:43the younger side that you know don't
06:45have a family a full-time job they're
06:46super busy can knock out like one class
06:49per day especially the entry level
06:50classes sometimes even multiple classes
06:52per day using study.com but with that
06:55being said if you are very busy you've
06:57got a family full-time job Etc you can
06:59still do do one per week relatively
07:01easily you just have to make sure that
07:03you're disciplined and you're diligent
07:04and you're doing a little bit every
07:06single day and doing the math there 37
07:08classes one class per week you know
07:10obviously you can't knock all of them
07:11out that fast but you can knock out a
07:13significant amount of them in just a few
07:15months and like I said there's many
07:16examples of people who have knocked
07:18these degrees out in a year and a half
07:19you know a year sometimes even less than
07:21that and I think it's very realistic
07:23even if you have a full-time job of
07:25family Etc to do it in two years or less
07:28and that's the entire process including
07:30being enrolled at WGU now once you've
07:32completed these classes you've
07:34transferred everything that you can
07:35transfer into WGU you're going to go
07:38ahead and move on to step number three
07:40which is a very important step that a
07:42lot of people Skip and that is you're
07:43going to go ahead and pre-study the
07:45remaining classes right so a lot of
07:47people skip this step and I think it's a
07:49huge mistake and there's really two
07:51things you want to do not only do you
07:52want to pre-study the remaining classes
07:54but you want to have a realistic plan of
07:57how you're going to go about completing
07:59those classes and the reason you want to
08:01do this is because ideally you want to
08:03try to knock all the classes out in one
08:06term if you can and if you're super busy
08:08I totally understand maybe you want to
08:09do it in two terms but you do not want
08:11to be in a situation where you're almost
08:13done with whatever term you're in and
08:15you have like five classes that you
08:17still have to take because best case
08:19scenario that's going to be incredibly
08:20stressful and worst case scenario you're
08:22going to end up having to enroll for an
08:24entire another term just to be able to
08:26finish your degree and unfortunately
08:27you'll have to pay for the whole thing
08:29so you want to make sure that you have a
08:30really good plan and you want to make
08:31sure that you've pre-studied the classes
08:33so that you can finish them as quickly
08:34as possible so there are two resources
08:37that I think are phenomenal here these
08:39are really the only two resources you
08:41need because they will lead you to the
08:42other resources that are going to be
08:44best and those are going to be the WGU
08:46subreddits and the WGU Facebook groups
08:48so basically in the subreddits and
08:50Facebook groups they are going to share
08:52tips tricks strategies Etc on how you
08:55can study for the classes as efficiently
08:57and cheaply as possible and then test
08:59out of those classes quickly so there's
09:01the main WGU subreddit and then there's
09:03sub subreddits I guess you could say for
09:06all of the different degrees and degree
09:07tracks and they will recommend all kinds
09:09of different resources depending on the
09:11class you're taking so for instance they
09:13might tell you hey this class is really
09:15good if you go over to Khan Academy this
09:17class is really good if you go to udemy
09:19that sort of thing and then once you
09:21feel confident in your preparation and
09:23you feel confident in your plan you are
09:24going to move on to step number four
09:26which is you're finally going to enroll
09:27in WGU and knock out the remaining
09:30classes as fast as you possibly can now
09:32this step is pretty self-explanatory
09:34you're going to enroll in WGU you're
09:36going to start taking those remaining
09:37classes and you are going to try to
09:39finish them as quickly as you possibly
09:40can now make sure to leverage your
09:42Mentor as well as your instructors at
09:44WGU especially for some of the harder
09:46classes like Version Control Network
09:48analytics and troubleshooting Etc now
09:51here's what my friend Josh has to say
09:52about this degree this is probably tied
09:54for first place with one of the cloud
09:56tracks honestly in terms of
09:58marketability and just how cool of the
10:00program is but the caveat to that I will
10:02say it's probably going to take longer
10:04than average to complete this one
10:05especially the Cisco track because it
10:07has CCNA and by the way let's just
10:09quickly go over the overall strategy
10:10step one you're going to transfer in
10:12existing credits step two you're going
10:14to test out of classes using third-party
10:15companies like study.com step three
10:18you're going to pre-study the remaining
10:19classes and step four you are going to
10:21enroll and knock those classes out as
10:23fast as you possibly can now we're going
10:25to go ahead jump into the cheat sheet
10:26which I put down in the description as
10:28well as the pen comment below and we're
10:30going to go through this step by step
10:31and I'm going to make it as simple as
10:33possible alright so we are now in the
10:36network engineering and security WGU
10:38cheat sheet and I will just quickly walk
10:41you through exactly how to use this
10:43first of all if you want to do this
10:45entire process yourself because I'm
10:47going to be showing an example in this
10:48video but if you want to actually just
10:50use this cheat sheet be able to edit put
10:53all of your information in go ahead and
10:55just go to file and make a copy this
10:57will allow you to edit the cheat sheet
10:59but the downside to this is if I make
11:01any updates on it you will not see the
11:03update so you might want to check this
11:05original cheat sheet from time to time
11:07now that being said let's go over some
11:09housekeeping stuff on the far left here
11:11you're going to go ahead and see the ID
11:13number for the class at WGU and the
11:17reason that we included this is because
11:19of the fact that many times on the WGU
11:21Facebook groups as well as the WGU
11:23subreddit they will actually talk about
11:25the classes in terms of the ID number
11:27and the reason for that is because it
11:29would be kind of a mouthful or or it
11:33would be a lot to just type out the name
11:35of the classes every single time and so
11:37they use the ID numbers instead and so
11:40this makes it very easy for you to
11:41search different classes so for instance
11:43if you are you know taking data
11:46management foundations you would search
11:48d426 on the WGU subreddits and Facebook
11:52groups and there's probably a bunch of
11:54people who have already talked about
11:55that so that makes everything a lot
11:57easier in this column right here we have
12:00the actual names of the different
12:01classes at WGU this column right here is
12:05the units for each class this column
12:07here is probably the most important
12:09column and that is going to be the
12:11study.com classes that transfer in to
12:13WGU so just to make this very simple and
12:17straightforward if you take math 101
12:21study.com0013 which again that's
12:23something that you might want to search
12:25because sometimes they do refer to them
12:28by the class number instead of the class
12:30name but if you take that class it will
12:33transfer in for Applied algebra at WGU
12:37right so I made it mapped it out to be
12:39just like super easy and straightforward
12:41now if study.com doesn't offer it we
12:43also included Alternatives at
12:45straighterline and sophia.org so for
12:48instance this class right here web
12:51development foundations is not offered
12:53at study.com for some reason but we do
12:55have an alternative at sophia.org that
12:57you can take and in the future if there
12:59are other Alternatives or if you know
13:01study.com has other classes that you can
13:04take that pop up we will try to include
13:06those on this sheet so definitely check
13:08back because we will be trying to keep
13:10this sheet up to date and I might even
13:13make kind of like a web page on my
13:15website that automatically updates it
13:17now another thing to note here is there
13:20are also certificates and certifications
13:22that you can take that will also
13:24transfer in for WGU credit so definitely
13:28a good idea to take those in many cases
13:31it is kind of a case-by-case basis but
13:34definitely can be a good idea to take
13:36those and then the final thing this
13:37final column right here is going to be
13:40the type of class so the green ones are
13:43general education the yellow ones are
13:46core and the red ones are program
13:47specific and then of course you have the
13:49Capstone at the very end now very
13:51generally speaking the green ones are
13:52the easiest yellow are medium and then
13:54red are the hardest now let's go ahead
13:56and go into the four-step process so
13:59step number one is going to be
14:01transferring in existing credit so of
14:03course I'm just making all of this up
14:05this is just an example but let's say
14:08that during High School you took AP
14:10economics and you also took AP math so
14:13you're able to transfer in your math
14:15class and your economics class now you
14:18also took a semester of traditional
14:19college and you didn't like it but you
14:21were able to finish a class which is
14:24Humanities 201 so you also transfer that
14:26in and then you decided to take a bunch
14:29of different certifications and
14:31certificates and so you were able to
14:33transfer all those in because you knew
14:35you were going to go in for something
14:36you know network engineering related so
14:39you might as well knock those
14:40certificates and certifications out
14:42because they're very valuable on your
14:44resume so at this point you would go
14:46ahead and move on to the test out phase
14:48where you would test out of all the
14:50remaining classes that you can so you'd
14:53be using study.com to test out of many
14:55of these remaining classes and once you
14:57test out of all the classes that you
14:59could you would transfer them into WGU
15:02and you'd get a list back that looks
15:04very similar to this if not exactly the
15:06same so there's about 15 classes left
15:08that you still have to take here of
15:10course and at this point you would move
15:12into the pre-study phase so you would
15:14pre-study a bunch of these classes if
15:17not all of them and you would also make
15:19a plan for trying to pass the classes as
15:22quickly and efficiently as possible so
15:25again you'd want to use the WGU
15:26subreddits as well as the Facebook
15:28groups that's the most up-to-date
15:30information on how to pass these classes
15:32quickly and efficiently and once you
15:34felt confident you would go ahead move
15:35on to step number four which is you
15:37would enroll in WGU and knock out the
15:39remaining classes as fast as you
15:41possibly can and of course the mandatory
15:44step number five is you are going to
15:46have to brag to all of your friends and
15:48family that you were able to get a legit
15:51bachelor's degree in a year and if
15:54you're really nice you will share this
15:55video with them so that they can do the
15:57exact same thing all right so one thing
16:00I always like to say when it comes to
16:02this subject is competency-based
16:04universities like WGU are phenomenal for
16:07many people out there but they aren't
16:09necessarily for everybody there are pros
16:11and cons to them and you should
16:13definitely educate yourself on that and
16:15also there are alternative
16:16competency-based universities that are
16:18really good that might be better for you
16:20and your situation so I talk about all
16:22of that in this video right here which I
16:24highly highly recommend you check out
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