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

gespenstern

Guys, just so you know. You are necroposting here and this topic no longer actual. The TS has finished his WGU MSISA and it actually didn't play well for him as AFAIR he was denied financing of another Master's degree with SANS which is very expensive and respected and could be a big win for him to get it for free if he didn't have an MS already.

powerfool

gespenstern wrote: »

Guys, just so you know. You are necroposting here and this topic no longer actual. The TS has finished his WGU MSISA and it actually didn't play well for him as AFAIR he was denied financing of another Master's degree with SANS which is very expensive and respected and could be a big win for him to get it for free if he didn't have an MS already.

Can you even get traditional financial aid for SANS? I don't think they are actually accredited, are they? I know they are respected and have put together good material (a variety of courses/certifications), but I thought financing was limited to more private options?

colemic

I believe it is accredited , as GI Bill covers it now.

powerfool

colemic wrote: »

I believe it is accredited , as GI Bill covers it now.

Must be new. That is cool.

JoJoCal19

No you cannot receive federal student loans for the SANS Master's degree. They do not qualify for Title IV funding. You can use GI Bill though.

JoJoCal19

gespenstern wrote: »

Guys, just so you know. You are necroposting here and this topic no longer actual. The TS has finished his WGU MSISA and it actually didn't play well for him as AFAIR he was denied financing of another Master's degree with SANS which is very expensive and respected and could be a big win for him to get it for free if he didn't have an MS already.

We are responding (at least I was) to aspiringsoul who posted in this thread as he is in the same predicament as the OP. So it was a continuation of the same topic.

colemic

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

No you cannot receive federal student loans for the SANS Master's degree. They do not qualify for Title IV funding. You can use GI Bill though.

You could use private loans though. I would imagine most people have to, with that sticker price.

JoJoCal19

colemic wrote: »

You could use private loans though. I would imagine most people have to, with that sticker price.

Yes you could, but that's an awful idea. I have enough private student loans. Not a penny more. If they had better payment arrangements and the price wasn't so high, I'd just self pay.

cyberguypr

"Better payment arrangements" and "SANS" are mutually exclusive

skibo187

I work for Raytheon, and they hired an IT security guy graduate from WGU and he doesn't know Jack from SH*T, and to make things worse I am in my second semester @ WGU and to be honest I havn't learned anything ! I have passed all my classes but I am cutting it short and stop spending my money and drop WGU, and start with UTSA There Cyber security course just went online, so for those that stay at WGU good luck wasting your time on a fly by night school!!!!

ira.a

I'm just frustrated because I'm watch kids at other colleges who are working with APIs, doing Data Structures, learning algorithms, and I'm having a **** time with their basic networking class and I'm a BS SD student? I understand competency, but this class doesn't help me get a programming job. Maybe if I want to go into DevOps, but they don't teach Puppet or anything useful for that.

Blucodex

What's a mentor? After the first month I switchesd to a 5 minute call every other week. The conversation goes like this:

Mentor: How are you?
Me: Great.
Mentor: Any questions?
Me: You know I don't have any.

Graduate level students will LEARN what they choose to learn. There is no hand holding here. Your boss is going to give you a task and expect you to complete it without asking a question every step of the way.

NetworkNewb

Blucodex wrote: »

There is no hand holding here. Your boss is going to give you a task and expect you to complete it without asking a question every step of the way.

The comments above you do say they are completing the tasks they are given, just that the tasks are pointless in actually learning valuable material.

Not all the time, but a lot of times you get what you pay for.

McxRisley

The complaints here pretty much solidify my feelings on people attending WGU. Also, I'm still trying to figure out where this whole " I need a masters to work in management" mentality came from. I know some places have it listed as a requirement, but that doesnt mean you absolutely have to have it. From my experience the one thing that is going to benefit you the most in pursuing a management role is management experience. I realize this is a catch 22 but most requirements in IT are.

Blucodex

NetworkNewb wrote: »

The comments above you do say they are completing the tasks they are given, just that the tasks are pointless in actually learning valuable material.

Not all the time, but a lot of times you get what you pay for.

I agree. OP said he just did it to check a box. ASU is regarded as a top Cyber program--the students think it sucks.

My point is this is the current state of academia. If you're expecting a college to teach you in-depth and up to date technical concepts you are searching in the wrong place. You need to dig in yourself. If you want to check a box or get a base level of knowledge college is perfect.

kiki162

I had a similar problem when I first started my Masters. The school was similar to WGU. My first class was super easy, boring, and annoying all at the same time. I changed schools, and now I'm 60% completed. Just finished a reverse engineering course that damn near killed me, but I got through it. With the amount of certs, and probably experience you have, you are better off at another school. Feel free to PM me with questions.

boxerboy1168

uhhhhhhh what?

I love WGU.

Then again I am motivated to get a degree and acquire the skills that the certifications represent. I don't care about the mentor they answer questions when I have them the rest I handle on my own.

Love it just praying I can achieve the degree.