How I got my bachelors degree in 5 months at 22 (no debt)
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the creator Dan shares his journey of obtaining a bachelor's degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance in just five months and 10 days from Western Governors University. He explains the unique, self-paced, competency-based learning model of the university that allowed him to accelerate through the program. Dan also discusses his initial struggles with choosing a major and dropping out during the pandemic, his discovery of cyber security through social media, and his successful completion of the degree with eight certifications. The video serves as a testament to the potential of online learning and the importance of perseverance in achieving educational goals.
Takeaways
- 🎓 The speaker, Dan, completed his bachelor's degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance in a remarkably short time of five months and 10 days.
- 🏫 He attended Western Governors University, which offers an online, self-paced learning environment.
- 🤔 Dan initially dropped out of Montgomery College in 2020 due to indecisiveness about his major and feeling like he was wasting time.
- 💡 His interest in Cyber Security was sparked by a video on TikTok, which introduced him to the role of a penetration tester or ethical hacker.
- 🔍 After watching a successful student's video, Dan researched Western Governors University and its competency-based learning approach.
- 📚 The program at WGU includes earning various IT certifications as part of the degree, which can also be costly if pursued individually.
- 📈 The competency-based education model allows students to progress through courses as soon as they demonstrate mastery of the material, rather than being restricted by semester timelines.
- 💻 Dan studied intensively, investing four to eight hours daily, including weekends, to complete his degree rapidly.
- 💼 He is now applying for entry-level Cyber Security jobs and preparing for an upcoming interview, while also practicing security concepts through platforms like TryHackMe and Cisco Packet Tracer.
- 💰 The cost of tuition at WGU is $4,000 every six months, regardless of the number of courses completed within that period.
- 🖥️ All exams, including those for certifications, are proctored, requiring a webcam if taken at home or in-person at a testing center.
Q & A
What is the name of the school Dan attended to get his bachelor's degree in Cyber Security?
-Dan attended Western Governors University to get his bachelor's degree in Cyber Security.
How long did it take Dan to complete his bachelor's degree from Western Governors University?
-It took Dan five months and ten days to complete his bachelor's degree.
Why did Dan drop out of Montgomery College?
-Dan dropped out of Montgomery College because he was indecisive about his major, switched it multiple times, and felt like he was wasting time.
What was the turning point for Dan to get back into education?
-The turning point for Dan was when he discovered Cyber Security through a video on TikTok and became interested in pursuing it as a career.
How did Dan find out about Western Governors University?
-Dan found out about Western Governors University from a TikTok video where someone mentioned they got their degree and certifications from there.
What is the main teaching method of Western Governors University?
-Western Governors University operates on a competency-based learning system, allowing students to progress through courses as soon as they can prove they master the material.
What does competency-based learning mean in the context of Western Governors University?
-Competency-based learning means that students' skills and learning are measured rather than the time spent in a classroom, allowing them to advance upon mastering the material, not just at the end of a semester or term.
What kind of certifications does Western Governors University offer as part of their degree programs?
-Western Governors University offers IT-related certifications such as CompTIA A Plus, Network Plus, Security Plus, and other vendor certifications as part of their degree programs.
How does the certification process work at Western Governors University?
-Students at Western Governors University receive a voucher to take a certification exam, which they can take online or at a testing center. If they pass, the corresponding class is considered complete.
What was Dan's daily study routine like during his time at Western Governors University?
-Dan studied anywhere from four to eight hours every day, including weekends, to complete his degree quickly.
What is the approximate cost for a term at Western Governors University?
-The cost for a term at Western Governors University is approximately $4,000 every six months.
Outlines
🎓 Journey to a Cyber Security Degree
The speaker, Dan, returns to YouTube after a long hiatus to share his life-changing journey. He reveals that he has obtained a bachelor's degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance from Western Governors University in an impressively short span of five months and ten days. Dan explains that his previous college experience at Montgomery College was marked by indecisiveness and a lack of direction, leading to him dropping out during the pandemic. However, his newfound interest in the tech industry, particularly cyber security, was sparked by a TikTok video. This led him to research and ultimately enroll in Western Governors University, an online, self-paced institution that offers a unique, competency-based learning approach.
🏫 Discovering Western Governors University
In this section, Dan delves into how he came across Western Governors University and its accelerated degree programs. He was initially skeptical but intrigued by a TikTok video featuring an individual who claimed to have obtained both a bachelor's and master's degree from the institution in just eight months. This person also mentioned landing a well-paying job in cyber security before even graduating. Dan's curiosity led him to reach out to this individual, who confirmed the legitimacy of the program. After conducting his own research and finding positive reviews, Dan was particularly drawn to the school's competency-based learning model, which allows students to progress through courses as soon as they demonstrate mastery of the material, rather than being confined to traditional semester timelines.
🚀 Accelerating Through a Degree Program
Dan shares his experience of enrolling in Western Governors University, starting on August 1st and completing his degree by January 10th. He emphasizes the intensive study schedule, often studying four to eight hours daily, including weekends, to accelerate through the program. Despite the challenges and stress, Dan was motivated by the opportunity to quickly enter the tech industry. He also discusses the process of obtaining external certifications, such as CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+, which are part of the degree program and can be taken either online or at a testing center. These certifications, along with the school's structure, allowed him to complete his degree in a fraction of the time it typically takes at a traditional university. Dan concludes by mentioning his upcoming interview for a cyber security role and his ongoing efforts to prepare for a career in the field.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Cyber Security
💡Information Assurance
💡Western Governors University
💡Bachelor's Degree
💡Competency-Based Learning
💡IT Certificates
💡Penetration Tester
💡Ethical Hacker
💡Mass Applying
💡Try Hack Me
💡Cisco Packet Tracer
Highlights
Dan shares his experience of obtaining a bachelor's degree in Cyber Security and Information Assurance in just five months and 10 days.
He explains the skepticism around the possibility of completing a degree in such a short time frame and promises to break down how he achieved it.
Dan attended Western Governors University, which offers a self-paced, online learning environment.
He previously attended Montgomery College but dropped out due to indecisiveness about his major and the shift to online learning during the pandemic.
Dan's interest in Cyber Security was sparked by a TikTok video of a penetration tester discussing his job.
He discovered Western Governors University through a TikTok influencer who completed his degree there in record time.
The university's program offers various IT certifications as part of the degree, adding value to the educational experience.
Dan clarifies the concept of competency-based learning, where progress is determined by mastery of material rather than time spent in class.
He details the structure of the program, emphasizing the absence of traditional assignments and the focus on objective assessments.
Dan describes the process of obtaining external vendor certifications as part of the degree program.
He reflects on his decision to enroll in WGU after conducting his own research and receiving social confirmation from others.
Dan's commitment to studying 4 to 8 hours daily, even on weekends, contributed to his rapid completion of the degree.
He discusses the financial aspect of WGU, highlighting the affordability compared to traditional universities.
Dan emphasizes the importance of having a webcam for proctored exams, a requirement for the online assessment process.
He shares his current efforts in applying for entry-level cyber security jobs and preparing for an upcoming interview.
Dan concludes by encouraging others to consider WGU if they want to accelerate their education and enter the job market quickly.
Transcripts
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what's going on guys It's Your Man Dan
again
back
Widow another YouTube video man oh my
goodness yo it has been a while since I
last posted that is crazy I think it's
been like anywhere from 10 months to a
year like
oh
look the reason why I've been gone for
so long is because a lot of things have
changed in my life you know a lot of
things have been happening one of those
changes being that I got my bachelor's
degree in cyber security and information
assurance yes sir
in five months and 10 days and I'm sure
a lot of you clicked on this video kind
of skeptical kind of wondering like how
is that possible like this guy is
probably lying you know college degrees
they take anywhere from four to maybe
five years you know so how is that
possible and I'm about to basically
break down everything everything right
here in this video so stay tuned I'm
gonna put you guys on game so how I was
able to do this is by going to a
particular school called Western
Governors University now I had gone to
college both forehand back in 2019
because I graduated high school around
June 2019 and then around August
September of that same year that's when
I started college and I went to the
school school called Montgomery College
I went there for about a year or so
before I actually ultimately dropped out
I remember dropping out the following
year in 2020 around the pandemic era and
when we had like covet and everything
had basically you know transitioned to
online schooling right I would say the
reason why I dropped out at the time was
because you know back then I didn't
really know what I wanted to pursue I
remember correctly I switched my major
multiple times I think like five or six
times I had switched my major from like
a business degree to like a video
production degree to somewhere else like
I was all over the place you know I
didn't really know where I wanted to go
and you know the prom that you faced
with you know constantly switching your
major is that you have to take new
classes that correspond with that new
degree program and eventually kind of
like started to feel kind of like I was
wasting time like I wasn't really
getting anywhere because you know some
of my peers who I had started school
with like they were already kind of like
going on ahead getting a lot of credits
but I was still behind way behind in
credit
because I was very indecisive yeah so in
2020 when we had online school that's
when I dropped out I think I remember I
was sitting in like an accounting class
and I don't know I was just kind of like
fed up with school like my mindset
wasn't Geared for school at the time so
I remember
one day spur the moment I just dropped
all my classes just randomly and then I
just never applied for new ones like
since that time so fast forward to 2022
I knew I wanted to get into the tech
industry but I didn't know exactly where
I wanted to get into so I was kind of
trying different things out I had tried
coding you know I was like maybe I
should become a software engineer I was
practicing some basic HTML CSS
JavaScript I wanted to become a UI ux
designer like I was just trying all
different kinds of things but um I would
say that what really stuck out the most
to me was cyber security and the way
that I I didn't know too much about
cyber security at the time but the way I
came to find out about it was via Tick
Tock because I remember one day I was
just scrolling mindlessly as most people
do on Tick Tock and I stumbled across
like this our guys video he was
responding to like a question in The
Tick Tock and the guy was basically
asking him about what he does in cyber
security and he was basically saying how
he breaks into things things like he
hacks into organizations for money I had
never heard of anything like that before
you know so I was kind of curious so
then I started watching more of his
videos he would talk about cyber
security and it just seems so
interesting I came to find out later on
that his job is something that is known
as a penetration tester or like an
ethical hacker where you kind of just
like hack into an organization Network
for money I guess like how he said
that's like the simple way of saying it
but it's way more complex than that but
I just found it very interesting and I
really wanted to know more like I really
wanted to know like how this guy got
into that because I think in one of the
videos he had mentioned he was like 22.
I was 21 at the time I was like man
we're the same age like how did he do
this so I happened to come across this
one video that he had made where he
basically talked about how he got into
cyber security if you want a six-figure
cyber security job working 100 remotely
from home I suggest you look up the
school called Western Governors
University
this school is 100 online at your own
pace and I got my masters and my
bachelor's degree all in eight months
while you're going to the school you're
going to get a ton of I.T certificates
for free and actually if you were to go
out and buy all these certificates
yourself you'd pay about as much as the
school costs the school it's non-profit
since you're earning certificates while
you're progressing through the
coursework and the degree you're
actually going to be able to land a job
before you fully graduate for example I
was making over six figures before I
even graduated college
school is going to give you all the
foundational knowledge that you need to
land an entry-level job which a lot of
entry level jobs actually pay six
figures or very near so uh hit the
follow button to learn more you said
that he went to a school called Western
Governors University he got his
bachelor's and master's degree in about
eight months and he said even before he
graduated he was able to land a cyber
security role because the school as a
part of the degree program offered him
certifications so he got a few
certifications and then he said he was
mass applying to different jobs and then
eventually something just hit and then
he got his first job like while he was
still in school so after watching that I
was like damn I am like huh how is that
possible how is it possible to get a
degree that fast a bachelor's and a
master's degree like that quick like
like I was kind of skeptical I'm not
even gonna lie I was kind of skeptical
like I kind of thought like he might
have been lying but at the same time I
still was excited you know I still kind
of wanted to give it a chance so you
know I followed a guy and he actually
had followed me back so I use that as an
opportunity to DM him and then ask him
questions you know about what he does
but then about the school as well and he
was saying yeah man like it's legit did
I was able to do that I was able to get
in cyber security and you can too so
after having that conversation with him
I decided to do my own research my own
due diligence and I went to go look into
the school basically I went on to the
website um and I started looking at the
different programs that they had I seen
they had different I.T programs but they
also had specifically a cyber security
degree so I was looking into it I seen
that the program like the guy said
offered quite a bit of uh I.T like
related certifications like as a part of
the degree program they offered like the
CompTIA certifications CompTIA A Plus
network plus Security Plus cysa pentez
plus and then like some other different
kind of like vendor certifications
um so I was like wow like that's kind of
crazy but I wasn't fully I wasn't fully
there yet so I needed a bit of like
social like confirmation so I started
watching videos on YouTube of people who
had gone to the school maybe not
necessarily for cyber security but for
other degrees and their experience and I
kept on seeing a lot of good things I
kept on seeing people saying like it's
it's accredited it's online it's
self-paced uh you can you know finish it
at your own time they operate on this
Foundation of competency-based learning
and things of that nature so I was like
okay okay then I I guess it it might be
legit like it might be legit you know
and what I mean in regards to
competency-based learning is actually
I'm gonna go on their website and I'm
going to read it here on my phone so it
says here what is competency-based
education simply put a measure skills
and learning rather than time spent in a
classroom students progress through
courses as soon as they can prove they
Master the material rather than
advancing only when their semester or
term ends if you can learn faster and
spend more time on schoolwork or lean on
knowledge you already have from previous
work or school experience you can
accelerate through your courses
essentially what that means is that you
are able to accelerate very quickly
within the program because the way that
they structure their school it's not
like normal University where you are
stuck in a few classes for a few months
basically each class has one exam they
call it objective assessment OA or one
paper basically or I can't find out you
know some classes had both but most
classes have either one or the other
they give you some material to basically
study and then once you go you know take
your time to like study for that
material this and that and you take that
objective assessment or or you follow
some sort of rubric and then you write
uh the paper and you pass either one the
class is done there's no quizzes there's
no homework there's no projects there's
not like random busy work or whatever it
may be like that's literally it so
that's how you are able to move forward
you know and there's no limit to how
many classes that you can take in a six
month slot that they give you which is
considered one term so let's say you
can't finish all those classes within
that first six months you go into
another six months which is considered
another term and then if you can't
finish in that time then another six
months so on and so forth but the
certifications that they offer you kind
of operate a bit differently these are
not certifications like from the school
themselves these are external like
vendor certifications so how it works is
that they'll give you a voucher to go
take a certain certification like a
CompTIA a plus you use that voucher you
go to a website called Pearson VUE and
you can set up to take the test uh via
like their platform their software like
you download it on your computer and you
take it at home or you can go to an
actual physical testing center and take
the test which is what I did a lot of
times
um so I guess if you think about it that
kind of defeats the purpose of it being
online the school being online but um
yeah you go take the test and then you
pass or you fail the test and then the
results get transferred back to WGU
right so if you pass then the class that
corresponds with that certification is
considered done it's considered past but
if you fail then you have to work with
like the teacher for that class or
course instructor to you know do more
practice he'll probably give you some
material to study and then when he feels
like you're ready then that's when he'll
give you another voucher and then you're
able to take the test at a later date so
I came to understand how the guy was
able to you know finish very quickly
because he must have been putting in a
lot of hours uh for each class
complaining them just knocking them out
like one by one and I guess it's kind of
funny because you know I had dropped out
of college previously and my mindset was
kind of that of yeah I'm probably never
going back to school to be honest but
this seemed like too good of an
opportunity not to do you know if I was
able to essentially accelerate through
the program and finish my degree quick
like I could lessen the amount of time
that I'm in school because I'm not
really that much of a school person if
I'm being honest and I could actually
get into a career just the thought of
that like it made me really excited I
didn't know if I could actually finish
the degree that quick but I kinda
believed that I could so I ended up
telling my parents about the school and
just like how I was you know they were a
bit skeptical they hadn't heard of
anything like this before either so they
took some time to do their own research
search as I did and then eventually like
they seemed that it was it was legit
like the school was accredited the
school was legit it's real it's online
it's self-paced it's it's just
unorthodox if that makes sense and I
told them I really want to do this and
they're like okay so then eventually I
enrolled so I started August 1st and I
ended January 10th so that's five months
and ten days like I said in the
beginning of the video I only came in
with about three classes from my
previous college worth of credits and
then the Google It support certificate
cert um I had to get that because they
have a requirement that you either have
to have like it if it's like an I.T
related degree or cyber security degree
you have to have some sort of I.T
experience for at least a year but if
you don't you have to get this uh
certificate so I went out to go get that
certificate it didn't take too long I
got that and then I had my three classes
worth of credits and that's it so it's
not like I came in with like a lot of
credits like I had a lot of work to do
so it was really just a lot of grit you
know it was hard you know I'm not gonna
like just sit here and act like it was
easy it was definitely hard I was
studying anywhere from four to eight
hours every single day even on the
weekends you know it was it was pretty
draining it was pretty stressful
definitely a stressful time in my life
but I just I knew I had to make it
happen you know and I guess I'm
fortunate because you know I live with
my parents right I'm young so I didn't
really have to have a job you know I
didn't really have anything else that I
was doing any other like crazy
responsibility so this is really all I
was doing this is all I was doing all
day so I guess that adds to why I was
able to finish so quickly and now I got
a degree in about eight certifications
so uh what I've been doing as of late is
just Mass applying to different entry
level cyber security rules seeing if I
can land one I actually have an
interview on Monday so I'm very excited
for that but also I've been doing more
practice I've been using certain
websites like uh try hack me or the
software Cisco Packet Tracer to kind of
like practice some security Concepts or
networking in a practical sense instead
of just you know learning theory because
I feel like that's important as well
doing some home labs and uh yeah that's
that's what I did to get my bachelor's
degree in five months if you want to do
the same thing the school is called
Western Governors University if you put
in time you can definitely finish Fast
in one term like how I did uh but even
if you can if you need like another term
another six months or another another
six months it's fine you know go at your
own pace it's still faster than a four
year oh and last but not least I forgot
to mention that it's 4 000 every six
months if you're completing six months
you only pay four thousand for a degree
if you do two terms then it's another 4K
so 8K if you do three terms and it's 12
but hey I mean it's still cheaper if you
think about it than a lot of schools and
also you do need a webcam because all
exams are objective assessments as they
call them uh are proctored the WG ones
and the certification ones if you take
it at home then yeah you need a webcam
but if you go to the testing center of
course like they're watching you so like
yeah that's about it you know
um yeah
Danny again signing ow
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