Ask HN: Best online CS BS for people with disability
I struggle a bit with depression and anxiety. The last couple years I have had to drop out due to these issues. I was wondering if are there any CS Programs in the USA which have a great disability office or general student support.
So far I looked into Western Governors University. Supposedly it has a self paced program which I think might find helpful. I also looked at Oregon State University's program it was rated well on college rating sites and they offer counseling and life coaching for students.
Would you have any suggestions? As a WGU grad (May 2022, BSCS) I can confirm that the program is self-paced. There are some caveats to that though. Each six-month term you need to complete a minimum of 12 credit hours. After you complete those you are free to keep working through courses as you have time and energy for. You work very closely with a program mentor if you choose to, I maintained a weekly call with mine to keep myself accountable when I would stray. There are some classes that are great, some that seem like filler, but that's any degree in my opinion. What some find difficult is that the learning falls 100% on you. Instructors are there to help you along and do some online sessions, but a lot of the time it is just a matter of reading the text, doing projects and taking exams. After trying for years to find a program that clicked for me, WGU was the one that really stuck. Being able to not deal with a traditional B&M (brick and mortar) campus let me focus on what mattered. I had experience in the industry which may have made it a bit easier, but I have two grads from WGU on my team now that are in their first dev roles and they have quickly become my top performers (I definitely attribute this to the WGU system of having to teach yourself how to learn on your own). There are awesome WGU communities on slack, Facebook, and discord. I am still very active in the WGU Comp Sci discord because I love interacting with and mentoring others. If you have any questions about it, feel free to reach out to me. Hey thanks for the reply! I have a couple questions that I wasn't able to find on WGU website:
* What role does the mentor serve? Is it more like an advisor or teacher that can help you with course content?
* How long are you allowed to meet with your mentor and how often?
* How do you learn the material are there lectures or do you have to google most things?
* How difficult is it to get 12 credit hours how much time per day does it require?