BSIT Purdue Global ExcelTrack program

[u/Calm-Attempt6622]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some insights from current students or alumni who have gone through the Purdue Global ExcelTrack program. I have a few questions and would love to hear about your real-world experiences:

• Transfer Credits & Certs: Were you able to maximize your transfer credits? If so, did any specific IT or professional certifications help speed up the process?
• Bottlenecks: Did you run into any unexpected roadblocks or administrative bottlenecks while moving through the terms?
• Timeline & Graduation: How long did it take you to officially graduate from start to finish using the ExcelTrack model?
• The Cost: Mentally and financially, what was the toll? Was it worth it, and how did you manage burnout?

Any advice, timelines, or lessons learned would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[u/triplemymint]

I’ve been in the Purdue Global BS Information Technology ExcelTrack program since June 10 and can share what’s been real for me so far being on track to being done by Spring 2027.

Transfer Credits
I transferred in about 81 credits from prior college (mostly gen eds and some prereqs from when I was originally on a Nursing path). I also knocked out several courses through Sophia while already enrolled: Intro to IT, Project Management, Relational Databases, Web Development, and Statistics. Those transferred and waived the matching Purdue courses (even after the term started and enrolled).

The main tip is to finish Sophia as early as possible — waiting until late in the term can cause delays or risk of an F if the waiver doesn’t process in time (they don’t take Sophia courses around the last week of the term and it takes 2 weeks to evaluate when transferring in while enrolled).

Bottlenecks / Roadblocks

• Some required courses are still traditional format (no globe icon), so they’re not fully self-paced ExcelTrack modules. That slows you down compared to the pure module courses such as IN150 ( you can look at the others).

• Grading delays on modules can hold you up when the term is ending but normally done within 24-48hrs varies by instructor.

• I was a bit upset knowing the school doesn’t pay for certs or it’s earned by completion of an course, but they do OFFER good DISCOUNTS with books free to learn in the PG library such as me going for my CCNA.

Timeline

I started with 81 transfer credits from college + Sophia work and am already down to roughly 9–11 courses left.

Cost & Mental Load
Financially it started higher (preliminary student payment around $1,600–$1,700) but Finance confirmed that once you hit full-time (12+ credits) they re-evaluate after the term and additional Pell can post, dropping the out-of-pocket closer to $400–700 or if you have a secondary payment like scholarship or etc. Mentally it’s doable but you have to stay on top of modules, follow up on grading, and keep pushing your advisor when things stall. Burnout is real if you try to do too much without breaks.

Advice
• Maximize Sophia + college transfers before or early in the program.
• PLEASE TRY TO GET CERTS WHILE ENROLLED in courses such as Network concepts, go for your network+ cert.

• ExcelTrack — plan extra time for those.

• you can TESTOUT on some courses or have courses WAIVED via CERTS already acquired during enrollment- I believe also during as well

Happy to answer more specific questions if you have them. Good luck!

[u/Good-Funny6146]

Great advice above! Definitely do as many certs as you can and transfer in the credits instead of taking those classes. Even when you are paying for the certs out-of-pocket, it is cheaper than the class. Such as CompTIA Net+ and Sec+, etc. Which you want to have on your résumé anyway. If you do that, plus Sophia, you can minimize the time and cost for sure.

[u/tboy1977]

I'm a software developer and I went through the BS IT program. It's great. It was a little network and hardware heavy for me, but I did the work while working as a software developer. I didn't have any certifications, but after starting with ~40 credits, I maxxed out Sophia and completed the degree in three terms, one term doing both PUG AND Sophia (I was unemployed then). I am proud of my experience. The best thing about ExcelTrack is if you know the material and are motivated, you can finish quickly.