Thomas Edison State College : BA in Computer Science Reviews

Anonymous (In Progress) on October 8, 2011 (email verified)

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Great experience, I recommend TESC to most I'm in the middle of my course work toward an MS. I am over 50 and decided to return to school last year to give myself a better edge in my industry. I'm very glad I chose TESC. The tuition isn't high and the classes I've taken so far have ben very interesting. It takes a lot of time and self-discipline to do well, but it's all been worthwhile. Some have complained about how much work there is, but this is college, that's normal. There is one negative comment though, the concentration offerings are limited. It isn't a university, so there isn't the huge offering oyu'll find in other on-line institutions.

Encryptkeeper (In Progress) on September 22, 2011 (email verified)

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TESC is for a particular, limited group of working professionals I wish, for the sake of those who need some information, to be as accurate as possible in this review. I also endeavor to communicate impartially, though I know my experience at TESC could be seen as making objectivity impossible. However, I don't think complete objectivity to be what is needed by those looking for answers. If you have been working in a profession, and you need a degree, TESC might be for you. It would be very helpful if your employer's company has educational resources. Not a good place to learn something new. Telephone interaction with advisors and mentors is inferior to face to face time at a traditional school. For those who want a radical career change, TESC is not the place to study. A local community college (if a good one, suited to your taste and temperament) can provide a better launching pad into a new phase of life. TESC is very good for a professional who needs a college credential, but TESC is not very strong academically. Comparitive examples are NJIT's superior online teaching format, and classroom instruction is superior because more and higher quality interaction is available. They offered me 30 more credits toward my degree than community college offered, and I found that I would have missed classes that I needed to fill gaps in knowledge had I continued with TESC. TESC books are more expensive. I left feeling ripped off, in every way and on all fronts. I'm an honor student now, studying, writing and calculating day and night, and I know that TESC would have given me an inferior education and experience, possibly leaving me with a false sense of educated competence relative to my professional peers.

Anonymous (In Progress) on June 12, 2010 (email verified)

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Dissapointing and usurious place I thought that TESC would be an institution that excelled in providing online learning because they are specialists. I was wrong. There were no online lectures. Other institutions of higher learning provide such lectures. There was very little mentor support; I have not yet had a "teacher" of whom I may ask questions. Many say that studying at TESC requires motivation. I am highly motivated, and I find that I need my questions answered but have no one to ask. It is run as a business, quite blatantly. If you want to study anything technical, don't try it here. If you want to develop a relationship with thinking faculty, you can't do it here.

Anonymous (Graduate) on October 13, 2008 (email verified)

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Flexibility for the self motivated TESC is still growing and developing, so I wouldn't give it a 10 overall just yet. That said, you cannot beat the value. Simply put, you'll not find another non-traditional college that offers attainable degrees for the cost that TESC offers. Like "real" classroom based colleges (and I use "real" loosely, I've been to a few brick and mortar institutions that left me cold) there are a variety of very good and not so good professors (known as "mentors" at TESC). I found that all of my math, science, humanities, and English comp mentors were top notch and very involved. Where I found some less than great mentoring was in my major area of study. Luckily for me, I've been working in the IT field for about 8 years and my experience was able to carry me through the rougher parts of my coursework. Ultimately, online learning is not for the person who isn't self motivated or creatively industrious. If you find that you are the type of person who NEEDS the constant watch of a professor, then online learning really isn't for you. If you are the type that is able to push yourself and to seek information from alternate sources (like the internet), than online learning and TESC is probably a good fit for you. For example, I had a lot of trouble keeping up with my calculus classes. I did some googling and found more video lectures from a university in Texas that explained some things differently than the video lectures from TESC. The different approach to the lectures worked better for me and I was able to grasp the concepts a bit better. If you are able to do something like this when you hit a roadblock instead of allowing yourself to be defeated, than you'll be successful at TESC. Lastly, there's no way I could ever finish school with raising my four kids, working a demanding full time job, and supporting my wife's career. There aren't enough hours in the day or days in the week. For me to do all the things I need to do as a husband and a father and still make it to a classroom on time. The flexibility of online based learning let me do my coursework when I was able to fit it into my day, whenever that happened to be. I recommend TESC to anyone who needs the flexibility of online learning and who is also a self motivated learner.

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