Sick of WGU. Withdraw?

Well, I'm 50% through the MSISA and am contemplating withdrawing. I had my reservations about the whole mentor thing but had no idea I would be so annoyed by it. My mentor is a good person, but I just can't deal with the cookie cutter same BS lines every week. "You are great, you are making great progress, hoorah". What the hell? Other than the cheering her input adds zero value. The calls are just minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

Then there's the material. After 15 CUs I can categorically said I have learned ZERO. Given the few easy courses left and the capstone there's definitely not much for me to learn there. Going into the program my sole goal was to check off a box in my bucket list but at least I expected to gain some knowledge and somewhat grow as a professional. That is definitely not going to happen.

Then there's course mentors giving bad/incorrect advice, overly vague rubric, Taskstream feedback being awful, cohorts once per month on weird times (what's so hard about recording ALL of them?), and others. Don't even get me started on the EC Council certs.

The dilemma for me right now is that I can be doing so much more productive and career-enhancing things with the time I dedicate to WGU. Decision now is, do I suck it up and power through it? If anyone withdrew I would like to hear your story.

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Comments

Iristheangel

I feel your pain, Cyber. Halfway through my MSISA, I was bored out of my mind and was not learning anything new. I have countless posts on here where I was venting about how annoyed I was with the content of the MSISA degre. If I wasn't halfway through, I probably would have quit.

At this point, if you're halfway through I would say go for a finish. Even though it's frustrating to be spending money on not learning anything new. At the end of the day, you could always pick up some courses on Edx or CourseRA to keep you engaged with something interesting.

emerald_octane

pm 7char

olaHalo

Im glad Im not the only one who dreads talking to my mentor
So fake and generic every week

If I were in your shoes I would just suck it up and finish.

veritas_libertas

I would just get it out of the way.

McNinja

cyberguypr wrote: »

Dang, that's a lot of feedback. Thanks a lot for the insightful answers.

I want to clarify that I'm not saying that WGU, my mentor, or anything else (other than the stupid EC Council certs) suck. All I am saying is that it sucks for ME. I completely understand the need to establish some goals, provide guidance, fulfill accreditation requirements etc. I just wish they had an alternate system for people who don't need the hand holding.

In regards to my mentor/cheerleader, I don't think she's bad (initials are SG). Honestly I can't pinpoint anything she could do better. I am sure I would be equally annoyed by any other mentor. The only thing that would be ideal in my book would be to see an alternative to the mentor concept. I am sure it's not going anywhere anytime soon and that's perfectly fine as it seems to work for a lot of peeps or they at least tolerate it. It just makes me miserable and nothing can change that. Again, it's me, not them.

Da_vato suggested another better/more expensive masters program. That has always been my mid-term goal since day one. I will never go for a PhD but do want a better masters. Now that I am at a place with tuition reimbursement, I see this happening a few years down the road.

I going to try another mentor and see what happens. Right now I'm 70% inclined to keep going.

I'd say just keep going. I've had plenty of boring classes/instructors, but you have to think about what your opportunity cost for leaving the program - namely that it would take you longer and cost you more to finish, unless you find a cheaper school.

I plan on going to WGU when I have the money, so I like this thread.

datacomboss

I'd just fight through it, finish and move on.

aftereffector

I feel the same. I'm only 6 CUs in, but I don't see myself learning a lot of exciting new concepts in the next eight courses. However, I just want to get the block checked and move on; perhaps later I will apply for a more prestigious school to earn a business-related graduate degree, or perhaps I won't. Either way, WGU's MSISA will let me compete for federal jobs and will pretty much obviate my history undergrad.

N2IT

MBA is an MBA, MS is a MS and a BS is a BS. Sure where you went is HUGE if your are just getting started, but once you get experience it doesn't mean nearly as much. I am painfully finding this out, after spending 50,000 on my bachelors. The only time I have seen this not true is when you are going for executive position, but then again I have see CEO's for fortune 100 companies with a bachelors is business admin or accountancy. So at the end of the day I'm not sure what any of it means. I finally said screw it and listed my MBA on my linkedin and my signature blocks at work. I was going to list one of my pm certifications, but fact remains for me, the MBA is my most crowning achievement on paper so I went with that.

colemic

Just saw this thread... I also vote with finish it out. I kind of felt the same way about the material, but I attribute a lot of that to prior knowledge. I had a fantastic mentor, and we worked out a system where we emailed every week/every other week for status updates. Very useful while in Afghanistan.

At the end of day, it can give you a competitive edge in applying for jobs... regardless of what you have learned. Especially if you have tuition reimbursement, finish it out, then decide if you want a different one. (hint: your opinion might change after you have one master's degree, and begin another... mine sure did.)

N2IT

@ Colemic it gives you a huge competitive edge. ***Just agreeing with you. I actually stopped listing certifications and only list degrees now, since my experience is basically taking up two full pages. I barely have enough for my education. I keep my certifications listed on my LinkedIn page.

cyberguypr

Quick update: talked to the program manager and told her that something wasn't working for me but couldn't pinpoint what it was. She asked if my mentor was a problem. I told her what i mentioned before, that I had no issues with her but was open to trying another one just to change something and see how things work. I found interesting that she asked me if I had any issues with the mentor being a woman.

That was Monday of last week. Talked to the new mentor Wednesday. Informed her I have been going at an extremely accelerated pace and intended to keep it that way. Asked her to accelerate me into CHFI, which she did right away. She said she would release the voucher ofter I got 90% on the Ucertify 100 item tests. Sinc eI started watching the videos and was bored to death I did 3 of the qoo item tests that same night and got the desired 90+. I sent her an email asking if she had visibility into the results or needed me to send a screenshot. My plan is to take this test ASAP so I emailed her again Thursday night asking how to proceed. Another email Friday. One more this morning followed by an email a few minutes ago.. This lady is no where to be found. What the heck!

I don't know if this is a fluke or this mentor really sucks but this just keeps adding to my list of aggravations. I am really trying but I feel things are just not working out.

colemic

Send her another email, mention your frustration and disappointment and lack of response, and CC the program manager (if you have their email address), and anyone/any other email address you have for someone at WGU. Also hint that you will drop out if you don't get a really quick response. THAT is their golden metric (for mentors.) If they don't have time for you, well, you don't have time for WGU.

jesseou812

I feel your pain brother. It's all about having the tenacity to complete the program.

Chin up and finish.

demonfurbie

id stick it out and then look at come higher end certs to expand your knowledge base.

check your pms

bigdogz

cyberguypr,
You may want to see if you can get your same mentor. You told them you never had a problem with her and at least you have some proof of your issues.

Good Luck!!!

IIIMaster

I notice there is a bunch of WGU fellowship here. I wonder if some of these guys on here are paid by WGU?

colemic

I would say unequivocally NO. What there is, is a lot of people who have gone through WGU's various programs, and have firsthand experience with them.

bobloblaw

IIIMaster wrote: »

I notice there is a bunch of WGU fellowship here. I wonder if some of these guys on here are paid by WGU?

It's a non profit, champ. I highly doubt it. Plus there's a ton of objective naysayers that make solid points especially when it comes to their MBA programs (or any online MBA for that matter).

NOC-Ninja

Suck it up.
What is the whole point of getting a Masters? Is it to get to a manager/CIO/CEO position?
I know a lot of people at my work without any Masters that are in that position. I would only do that if my employer is willing to pay for all of the expense.

N2IT

I would stick through it unless you HATED it. Then reassess and come up with a plan. If you want to remain in IT the IT security degree is going to help not hurt.

cyberguypr

My sole purpose of getting a masters is checking off a personal goal. I will never in a million years go into management so that's not a driver here. When I enrolled in WGU my plan was to get the MSISA to check off that box, but with the idea to get another masters down the road that I really like along the lines of Norwich or SANS. That second masters was dependent of securing employment at a place with generous tuition reimbursement. I was able to secure that job last month so even if I send WGU to go pound sand doesn't mean I won't do a masters.

Like I said I am 70% inclined to finish WGU. Now only I have to convince myself that VLT2 is worth my time. This is the biggest obstacle right now as I hate the vagueness of the stupid rubric.

darkerosxx

Chitownjedi wrote: »

Not meaning to come off as being insensitive or negative so hopefully you don't take it that way. I just know from experience I've left situations that didn't meet my every single need, and realize that sometimes my sense of pride didn't always allow me to take full advantage of my opportunities. I've never regretted my decisions. I only wish I saw the positive out of them more when i was a part of them versus realizing years later what I had a chance to do if I wasn't blinded by wanting to get ASAP.

My opinion is the exact opposite. If I was paying to learn and I'm not learning, I don't think "oh, I should help them improve", I think "oh, I should change schools". But that's just me.

aspiringsoul

VLT2 has been a big stumbling block for me. I got frustrated, moved on to other courses, and I finally got the first task past the evaluator.

I definitely see a trend with other MS:ISA students completing half of the program and getting burnt out around VLT2. I also contemplated dropping out of the program...

That being said, this is a personal goal of mine, and I will not allow myself to drop out. Hoping to finish the program by July of this year.

JoJoCal19

Hey aspiringsoul, I 100% feel your pain and was literally about to pick up the phone to ring my mentor and tell them I'm dropping the MSISA as well. I had contemplated it for like a week after dealing with the same crap with Crapstream. I just finished the VLT2 class during New Year's week. I had Task 1 sent back for minor modifications which was my fault. They actually gave exact feedback and even gave me a link to the part of the coursework to use. That was a HUUUUUUUGE difference than what I'd previously had for feedback. I also knocked Task 2, 3, and 4 out on the first go. PM me if you want advice.

Also if there is ONE piece of advice to any WGU student, is to throw away all common sense with formatting and doing the assignments. When it asks you to create a memo, or white paper, or letter or anything. Forget what you have always done. After finding a thread here regarding formatting your assignments to make it foolproof for Taskstream graders, I've blown through tasks like nobody's business, and have only had like 2 of my last 20 tasks kicked back for changes. Here's the link http://www.rbradyfrost.com/blog/template-how-to-complete-wgu-taskstream-assignments/. In addition, I clearly spell out what I'm doing, for example when it asks for justification, I say "The justification for xxxxxx is that...". I make sure there is no doubt I'm answering what the rubric/task item asks for.

powerfool

I definitely get the sentiment about WGU, but I think that any program is going to be similar in that you will get out of it what you put into it. If you think you can get more doing XYZ, why not incorporate XYZ into what you are doing at WGU? A lot of it is writing... so you get some choice in your subjects, pick something that lets you go down that direction.

Verruckt

Another +1 for suck it up.

The reason I picked WGU was the competency based approach. I didn't want to "relearn" things and just wanted to apply prior / existing knowledge.

That said, I share the frustration in crapstream as well as the rubric and grading methods. Evaluations are sometimes a crapshoot, dependent on the evaluator, and the person doing the evaluation can sometimes be completely clueless.

SephStorm

Welcome to college IMO. I usually learn something in the first two weeks of the classes, and thats it. Honestly you can learn more by reading a book.

GSXR750K2

I just skimmed over this since it is an older post, but if the mentor's BS is a big source of your pain request a new one. You don't have to stick with the one you're given.

As for the material, my thoughts have been for years that college doesn't teach you what you need to know, they just "try" to teach you how to learn what you need to know (although some just charge you to have a professor read a book to you). Anything you would learn at Harvard can be learned sitting in front of a computer in a basement.

I've been fortunate enough to not need to deal with the CMs, and on the couple of occasions I've had something sent back for revision I disregard their "let's set up an appointment to talk" emails because I don't need a pep talk nor do I need the extra work they want to give me.

I've heard VLT2 is an odd ball, but if you've stuck with it this far you might as well finish so you can mark it off your list and use the piece of paper as a way to differentiate yourself from everyone else in the sea of bachelor degrees.

markulous

SephStorm wrote: »

Welcome to college IMO. I usually learn something in the first two weeks of the classes, and thats it. Honestly you can learn more by reading a book.

Unfortunately for us, HR won't acknowledge that and they still want to see a piece of paper before they let you through.

Boxxer

markulous wrote: »

Unfortunately for us, HR won't acknowledge that and they still want to see a piece of paper before they let you through.

Exactly! I realize this is an outdated post, but it still applies to people curious today.

The degree is really only useful to have for credibility reasons and to fulfill a job requirement. If anyone wants to learn and be challenged then one must go out and seek what they are looking for! IMO it takes more effort than just sitting in a classroom in person or learning online. Seek out an expert in whatever field you are pursuing and learn from them. Ask someone to be your mentor in your field and I promise you will actually learn something you don't already know.