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The TLDR; is I was kicked out of my (Canadian) BSc in CS program on a technicality after having offended the department chair.

I had only 2 credits left to go when I was kicked out. Is there any way for my work to be applied toward any kind of degree or significant credit towards one? It was about 10 years ago.

Ideally I would get a BSc without much additional work. If that is not in the cards, I would love to hear about my chances to gain entry into a masters program. I have significant experience in the software industry.

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    Every school will have their own rules about what can be accepted as transfer credit, making this very difficult to answer with any authority.
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 15:19
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    "I was kicked out of my BSc in CS program on a technicality after having offended the department chair" - this sounds a bit euphemistic and suggests you haven't quite come to terms with the consequences of your actions. Learning to do that will likely have more value than any degree.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 15:56
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    The intervening 10 years is not going to make it easy, especially if it was any kind of tech or science subject. I see computer-science in the keyword list. 10 years in computers is a significant delay. Your BSc may be a tad dated to try to claim you are only 2 credits from completion.
    – Boba Fit
    Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 18:50
  • @BryanKrause I was trying to avoid adding irrelevant details. I don't see evidence that I employed euphemism; it seems rather that you simply doubt my claims. I don't agree with the assessment that my statements imply I haven't come to terms with the consequences of my actions. Your statement about the value of this coming to terms is irrelevant to the question I asked.
    – HapticBovinator
    Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 19:36
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    @HapticBovinator "On a technicality" would be the specific detail that is both irrelevant to the question and implies you haven't come to terms with the consequences of your actions.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 22, 2023 at 21:26

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Is there any way for my work to be applied toward any kind of degree or significant credit towards one? It was about 10 years ago.

You will have to ask the school for a definitive answer.

It is likely that you will have to go through the regular admissions process:

  • If you get in, your past work will be compared to the current degree requirements, and you will have to take whatever is missing. Most of credits should transfer (you've already taken these actual classes at the same school), but it's likely that you will have to retake a handful of them for various reasons.
  • If you don't get in, then you'll have to apply as a transfer applicant somewhere else. Most schools have a residency requirement, so you'll only be able to transfer about half your degree; you'll have to redo the other half. Many schools also only accept transfer credits if they were earned within the past N years. You can shop for a school that has favorable policies.

I was kicked out of my BSc in CS program on a technicality after having offended the department chair.

Be careful about making statements like this in the future, particularly when applying to universities. As you can see from the reception here, people tend to give the benefit of the university's judicial process, not to you. Further, no one wants to work with an angry student who feels hard-done-by about something that happened ten years ago. I realize it's totally possible that the university acted unethically toward you, and in this case, it sucks doubly much that random strangers are still strongly inclined to take the university's side. But life is like that sometimes.

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I have significant experience in the software industry.

This really have no bearing on whether or not you can get into a master's degree, especially if said master's degree is research oriented. Practical skills gained in the industry doesn't transfer well into academia, and vice versa. These are two completely different worlds and require completely different skillsets.

To answer your question, it is very difficult to get accepted into a master's program without actually graduating from a bachelor's program. You might be able to convince some master's programs that you have the requisite knowledge, but given that you did your bachelor's 10 years ago (which means your education would be outdated, in the academia world), it would be a very hard sell.

I'm not entirely sure what your purpose is for doing a masters? You likely have a established career in the industry so a masters is only going to help you if you want to pursue research or change fields entirely. The other possibility is that you are just doing it out of spite (which from the tone of your post, I'm starting to believe to be true), which unfortunately is not going to get you anywhere. So, before you do this, actually sit down and think about why you want to do a master's in the first place.

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