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Starting MS: ISA at WGU on September 1st 2014

aspiringsoulaspiringsoul Member Posts: 314
in IT Jobs / Degrees
Hey guys. I was juggling between attending a local B&M school, DSU's IA program, and WGU's ISA program and I have decided to proceed with WGU in September.

Any advice or tips that others who have graduated/currently attending would like to share? How would you rate your experience in the program? If I wanted to, could I start the Ethical hacking course first?

My local B&M canceled some Networking classes for their program due to low enrollment (and they were not able to hire an instructor in time to teach classes) which left me feeling apprehensive about signing up for a program for two years. I strongly considered DSU over WGU, but I have been so attracted to WGU's competancy based model since I discovered this site and read good reviews about student experiences in the school.

One of my friends actually just enrolled in the Accounting program for her Bachelor's.

I'll keep you updated on my progress after I begin.
Education: MS-Information Security and Assurance from Western Governors University, BS-Business Information Systems from Indiana Wesleyan University, AAS-Computer Network Systems - ITT Tech,
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    da_vatoda_vato Member Posts: 445
    Good luck to you in your venture.

    You can take which ever course you want to first. I took the ethical hacker course first because I felt I was ready for the test right away. There is a lot of writing in this course and beleive there was a major change recently where they don't offer a networking class but rather an imerging technologies plus the G2700 was replaced with a writing assignment.

    Keep in mind that this program is no longer NSA/DHS endorsed anymore... or right now. They have stated they intend to re-apply but need key positions filled before they can do so. Not sure if that matters any to you or not, I've never seen that as a requirement on a job posting.
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    aspiringsoulaspiringsoul Member Posts: 314
    Thank you da_vato. I had noticed that it was no longer NSA/DHS endorsed, but that does not matter to me much. I like how the C|EH, and C|HFI are included in the program (and those two certifications are on my list to pursue any way).

    What is your opinion for the materials included with the program? Were they sufficient?
    Education: MS-Information Security and Assurance from Western Governors University, BS-Business Information Systems from Indiana Wesleyan University, AAS-Computer Network Systems - ITT Tech,
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    da_vatoda_vato Member Posts: 445
    I didn't care much about the NSA/DHS thing either but I know some people made a big fuss over this.

    I would personally recommend getting the Matt Walker book especially since the new edition covers CEHv8. The videos provided are the official videos from EC-Council, they are ok but I had read Matt Walkers book before attending WGU and found I learned more there.

    For the rest of the program some material provided is not that great like the cryptography course. The recommended reading was so much deeper into cryptography than you would ever need like the math behind some of the algorithms.

    I am a physical book type person so I purchased physical copies of pretty much all suggested readings. Some were really expensive and I just didn’t feel like forking up the cash. Most of the time my CISSP books supplemented by additional resources not to mention experience got me through the classes.
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