Starting MS:ISA at WGU March 1st (now)

EnderWiggin

Thanks. Yeah, I'm anticipating CHFI will be a walk in the park. I'm shooting for mid-June on that one. Go right ahead, I'll answer any questions you have to the best of my abilities!

EnderWiggin

Had CHFI scheduled for yesterday, so I got myself enrolled into the Capstone on Wednesday to get the administrative stuff out of the way so I could hit the ground running as soon as I passed CHFI. But when I went to take the test yesterday, the exam voucher WGU gave me had already been used Sent an email to the team that handles the vouchers, haven't gotten a response yet. And I'll be having (minor, no worries) surgery next week, so I can't schedule the test then.... This is causing quite a delay. Not very happy with it. But at least I'm enrolled in the Capstone, I can get this knocked out over the next couple weeks while I wait to actually take the CHFI. Gonna be weird if I finish the Capstone before I get the CHFI haha. But ah well, I still have almost three months' worth of time to finish these last two things up to be done in one term!

PJ_Sneakers

Nice! I like how you're managing your time. I hope to keep a similar pace. Keep it up!

EnderWiggin

Thank you! I just have to put my head down and pound out this capstone, and get the CHFI figured out. Shouldn't be more than a few weeks, with any luck. The capstone looks ridiculously easy. They provide a template, where all you do is plug in your answers. It's not even a regular paper, it's more like a group of short-answer questions. I feel like it should be harder than this haha

PJ_Sneakers

That's great! I'm looking forward to getting started.

EnderWiggin

Well, I managed to get the CHFI scheduled for the day before my surgery, and knocked that thing out real quick. So now I'm down to just the Capstone, which is already frustrating the hell out of me. It's essentially just another Taskstream course, but with way more sections to have to get the three out of four mark The good thing is, there's a template for both the prospectus and capstone, but Taskstream still feels like they're looking for very particular key words. I'm at the point where I've lost my motivation, gonna have to work on building it back up and finishing this. Luckily, there's still a full two months in my term, so it shouldn't be a problem getting done in one term, but definitely not looking forward to this final project......

markulous

Congrats on the CHFI. Was it pretty easy?

Good luck with your surgery.

PJ_Sneakers

TaskStream is TaskStream. Stick to the templates and use keywords. It sucks, but the capstone for the BS was very much the same. Luckily my mentor gave me a list of dos and donts that helped a ton. I had no issues on TS and just made sure I "guided" the TS evaluators with the right verbiage.

EnderWiggin

markulous wrote: »

Congrats on the CHFI. Was it pretty easy?

Good luck with your surgery.

It was incredibly easy. Thanks, the surgery was Friday, and it went well. I'm already almost fully recovered.

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

TaskStream is TaskStream. Stick to the templates and use keywords. It sucks, but the capstone for the BS was very much the same. Luckily my mentor gave me a list of dos and donts that helped a ton. I had no issues on TS and just made sure I "guided" the TS evaluators with the right verbiage.

Yeah, that's what I'm going for. I got some notes from the mentor after the second rejection, and there definitely seems to be some keywords used there that I can incorporate. It's just frustrating having to come back to Taskstream after enjoying the three test-based courses lol.

EnderWiggin

In a surprising turn of events, my Prospectus passed with the revisions Tuesday morning, then I submitted my Capstone written report last night, it passed on the first try, and I have my oral defense schedule for two hours from now. Trying to hammer out this Powerpoint in time. It's not gonna look pretty, but it'll be done.

Edit: I passed! Going to work on a write-up of my experience at WGU for the following post

EnderWiggin

Now that I have officially completed all courses, I'm going to give a run-down of my thoughts on the program, and how I was able to be successful in just four months.

1. I had been studying for the CISSP for a few months prior to starting the program. The domains of the CISSP line up very well with the courses in the program, so I started out with a solid foundation to build upon.

2. My learning style is learn-by-doing. Having already built a decent foundation for the courses, I was able to jump right to the assignments in the performance-based courses, and know the general idea of what I wanted to write about. I simply needed to go through the course materials, and find the specifics necessary to fill in the details. This played well into my learning style.

3. My current job consists of a lot of sitting around and waiting. I was able to use my down time to work on my schoolwork. Between my down time at work, and my weekends, I was dedicating around forty hours per week to school.

4. The CEH was a lot easier than I expected. I only read through half of the chapters of the official coursework,, and read through the WGU-provided cram sheet, and then took the test. I initially took the test that soon because WGU offers two free attempts. So I used one attempt as a practice test, to gauge what the test would be like. I was then able to pass on the first go around. The CHFI was much of the same, I simply read through the cram sheet and took the test, passing easily.

5. The Capstone Prospectus was frustrating, but after a few rounds of revisions, it passed. The Capstone itself was even longer, but after having been through the prospectus, I was in the right mindset, and knew the general idea of what they were looking for. That submission passed on the first attempt. I then scheduled my oral defense for twelve hours later. I threw together a bare bones powerpoint, and gave my presentation. I talked for roughly seven or eight minutes about the project, and that was it. I passed that as well.

And that's it. All done. Got my master's knocked out in just four months. Feels weird, because I don't think it should be possible to do this, but they didn't receive regional accreditation for nothing. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

PJ_Sneakers

Like a damn boss! Man you've got me pretty excited about starting in a couple months!

I hope I can get it knocked out within a term. I'm actually thinking that after the MSCIA I might go for the MSITM right afterwards. Three of the courses will already be done, that would leave something like 6 classes and the capstone for a second MS. Might could get done with both within 2 or 3 terms, if dedicated.

markulous

Congrats! Huge accomplishment!

TranceSoulBrother

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

Like a damn boss! Man you've got me pretty excited about starting in a couple months!

I hope I can get it knocked out within a term. I'm actually thinking that after the MSCIA I might go for the MSITM right afterwards. Three of the courses will already be done, that would leave something like 6 classes and the capstone for a second MS. Might could get done with both within 2 or 3 terms, if dedicated.

Last I spoke with the advisors, they wouldn't allow me to do so, since the courses are so close to each other.
Give it a try and let us know what they say.

TranceSoulBrother

EnderWiggin wrote: »

4. The CEH was a lot easier than I expected. I only read through half of the chapters of the official coursework,, and read through the WGU-provided cram sheet, and then took the test. I initially took the test that soon because WGU offers two free attempts. So I used one attempt as a practice test, to gauge what the test would be like. I was then able to pass on the first go around. The CHFI was much of the same, I simply read through the cram sheet and took the test, passing easily.

How long did it take you to receive the voucher and schedule the test. I'm told it takes up to a week from when I send out the screenshots of the pre-assessments to actually sit in front of a webcam and get proctored.

TranceSoulBrother

EnderWiggin wrote: »

And that's it. All done. Got my master's knocked out in just four months. Feels weird, because I don't think it should be possible to do this, but they didn't receive regional accreditation for nothing. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

Congrats on getting it done.
Don't feel like you have to justify your degree. Haters will hate and achievers will go out there and get some.

I spoke with 2 of my Soldiers about the program. One of the sergeants took about a week and came to me last week saying that he will start on Aug 1. That's a guy who's a sole bread winner with a wife and 2 kids looking to advance with the minimal means of his paycheck.
Land of Opportunity!

PJ_Sneakers

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

Last I spoke with the advisors, they wouldn't allow me to do so, since the courses are so close to each other.
Give it a try and let us know what they say.

I asked my admissions advisor yesterday, and she said it would be allowed. Guess I will find out!

TranceSoulBrother

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

I asked my admissions advisor yesterday, and she said it would be allowed. Guess I will find out!

I will have to check the course list for MSCIA and see how it differs from the MSISA. I was told (and read somewhere on their policy) that if the two programs share too many classes in common, that they will not allow cross pollination. That is why I'm hoping over to the MBA once done.

Another point for you to pay attention too (don't know if it applies since you're staying in the same college while I'm hoping to the school of business): If you finish your classes with time to spare in your current term, don't apply for graduation but rather transfer to the other school and they will allow you to take two classes from the new program at no extra cost. Then you wait for the new term and complete the rest of the second program.

PJ_Sneakers

That's beautiful, I'll try it! Do you have to apply for graduation at the completion of both programs? As in, the first degree will not be conferred until the second?

TranceSoulBrother

yes, that's what the counselor told me.
If you have a commencement ceremony near where you live and want to attend, you can still apply to walk across the stage though.

EnderWiggin

Thank you everyone!

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

Like a damn boss! Man you've got me pretty excited about starting in a couple months!

I hope I can get it knocked out within a term. I'm actually thinking that after the MSCIA I might go for the MSITM right afterwards. Three of the courses will already be done, that would leave something like 6 classes and the capstone for a second MS. Might could get done with both within 2 or 3 terms, if dedicated.

It's definitely doable in one term, just have to never stop doing some work. If all active courses have their assignments dragging through taskstream, work on a non-active class, get those assignments written so you can just immediately submit them when they become active. Or study for the certifications, something. No breaks in work gets it done! I thought about trying to go into the MSITM now, and plow through that in two months, but.... I lack motivation at the moment, and I won't be able to get it done without that haha

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

How long did it take you to receive the voucher and schedule the test. I'm told it takes up to a week from when I send out the screenshots of the pre-assessments to actually sit in front of a webcam and get proctored.

Some of it will depend on the student mentor, as they have to approve you to request the voucher. So that will depend on how fast they respond, and what they want for 'proof' that you're ready to take it. My mentor just hit approve when I asked him to, because he had just seen me fly through six courses in two and a half months, so he basically just started letting me do whatever I wanted. After I requested the voucher from WGU, it took maybe two or three business days for the voucher to show up in my email. Then you have to schedule the exam, which you can't schedule it for within a few days of when you make the scheduling attempt. So I suppose about a week, all together.