WGU Cert Transfers, 68 CUs?

Hey everyone, I've been lurking on the forums for awhile and finally made the move to apply at WGU for the BSIT: Network Administration. I work in IT already for a MSP and my employer has agreed to pay for any certs that I want, so I'm trying to figure out how I can get the most CUs transferred in. My EC hasn't been much help other than sending me a PDF of the transfer evaluation guidelines. I'm holding off on officially submitting my application until I get some of these certs.

Based on that document, I created the attached tables and determined that the MCSA: 2012, Comptia Project+, CIW Javascript Specialist, CIW Web Foundations Associate, and CIW Web Design Specialist certifications would transfer in 68 credits.

Only 7 CUs transferred from my previous college work, but getting these certs on top of that would be 75 CUs with 47 needed to graduate.

I have a few questions before I spend the time getting these certs as it sounds too good to be true..

Is the table I made accurate? 68 CUs for 5 certs?
Is there a limit on how many CUs you can transfer in from certs or some other catch that will prevent me from doing this?
Is there a better combination of certs or one that I missed that would make it easier and/or provide more CUs?

I have been a single father since 19 years old, I'm 27 now. I chose to focus on my career and have done well for myself, but the lack of a college degree has always bothered me. I'm really excited to get started... thinking of the possibility that if I work my butt off I could knock out those 47 CUs and have a bachelor's degree in 6 months- without breaking the bank.

Which brings me to my final question...how are the gen ed classes at WGU? Is it realistic to think if I hunkered down I could knock out those 47 CUs in one term?

Any suggestions or feedback is greatly appreciated. Good luck to everyone else that is taking this journey too!

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Comments

ratbuddy

I say go for the MCSA if you're already close, but let WGU pay for your CIW and Project+ vouchers. You can study ahead of time and take the exams right after you start. WGU costs about $100/week, so as long as you can pass those four exams in under seven weeks (I'm estimating a cost of $700 for the three CIW plus Project+), you'll be ahead of the game. I think if you study ahead of time, you can do them in under two weeks, saving a good amount of money.

bittw

Thanks for replying!

The thing is my employer is willing to pay for the certs. In fact they already wanted me to get the MCSA and Project+, so I've been studying for those for months. I'm only one exam away from the MCSA. I told them about my desire to get a batchelors and they agreed to pay for the CIW certs too.

If I were paying out of pocket for the exams I would definitely go with your strategy. Since I'm not, I figured I'd take advantage of it and try and shorten my time at WGU and the amount of the student loan I'll need to pay back.

anoeljr

I didn't take any of the general education classes at WGU, but from what I've heard, you should have no problems with them. 6 months should be plenty of time to finish them. Take all the certs you can before enrolling into WGU, and then you will only have to be at WGU for a short time.

TheChameleon

In my spreadsheet I came up with 7CUs less. The only thing is that if MCSA also gives credit for the two security requirements.

On the transfer guidelines I had it showed MCSA "2003" for two security (DEV1/CTV1) but did not list 2008/2012. Everywhere else it listed MCSA 2003 or 2008/2012. Another thread someone said they received 39 CUs for the Network track which matches what I had. The other tracks the MCSA is less or more because of required classes.

If I can complete the MCSA I'll be ready to start WGU. How long did it take you for the three exams?

bittw

TheChameleon wrote: »

In my spreadsheet I came up with 7CUs less. The only thing is that if MCSA also gives credit for the two security requirements.

I talked to 3 enrollment counselors and 2 were positive the MCSA 2012 would transfer for the two security courses and the other wasn't sure, but felt like it would..crossing fingers.

TheChameleon wrote: »

How long did it take you for the three exams?

Well keep in mind I'm fairly experienced... I work for a managed service provider primarily doing projects, server deployments and server support. I have done probably 20+ Server 2012 deployments in the past year. With the first two exams I knew a lot of material and just needed to brush up on a few areas (more enterprise level stuff), the third exam I had to study for...and should have studied more as I only scored 717 (passing is 700). I studied one week for each, passed in a month.

bittw

TheChameleon wrote: »

In my spreadsheet I came up with 7CUs less. The only thing is that if MCSA also gives credit for the two security requirements.

EC contacted the transfers dept and they replied today that the MCSA 2012 DOES NOT give credit for the security courses. Bummer because I have the MCSA 2003, it's just older than 5 years. Looks like I'll be getting Security+ one way or another.