When to start preparing for the WGU MS Capstone (hint, it's not when you think)

goatama

When I first embarked on this degree, I went through and downloaded all of the Tasks for each class in Taskstream, thinking it would help me get a step ahead. Yeah, not so much. I just started my last term on the first and discovered that two of the classes have been updated with different tasks just in the last couple of months.

Then, I'm going through each section in the capstone CoS and find this gem:



Yeah, that would have been GREAT to know a few months ago. So if any of you are in the MSISA program (or the Cyber Security one) you may want to "look ahead" as it were to get started on the capstone well in advance. I will definitely be having a conversation with my mentor as to why this hasn't been mentioned previously.

Tyb

It says that, but it doesn't take that long. I spent maybe 25 hours on the entire capstone.

goatama

Tyb wrote: »

It says that, but it doesn't take that long. I spent maybe 25 hours on the entire capstone.

Excellent. Thank you for that info, I appreciate it!

cshkuru

Myabe it doesn't take that long, but if the school puts something like that in the course of study then they should be prepared to support it. So if they are saying start planning months before you are taking the class then they should schedule it out in the degree plan.

adding a clarification - of course it is the students responsibility to manage their time and schedule accordingly but since the school expects you to make these decision based of mentor input and the degree plan then they should make sure that their recommendations are all coordinated.

netsysllc

I would expect it takes longer than 25 hours for most people to do the capstone.

aftereffector

Including the prospectus - from submitting my prospectus proposal and abstract to getting my capstone back and graded - I think I maybe had three or four weeks invested in the entire process, averaging no more than an hour a day (some days more, some less). On the order of 30 hours is definitely possible without investing a significant amount of effort into the process.

GSXR750K2

Yea, I almost fell into the FXT2 trap as well with the tasks that have been updated since January.

I haven't made it to the MS capstone yet, but my BS tech writing and capstone were about a week combined even though the COS says up to eight weeks if I recall. It all comes down to how much time you have to put into it. What helped me on the BS is I intentionally did some other assignments, such as English II, on the same topic that my tech writing/capstone would be on. So, when that time came I had a lot of ground covered from prior papers.

I'm sure the school works under some kind of assumption that each student has a family, job, and other obligations to deal with throughout the week, so they make time estimates that may be geared toward that. Like a "Lowest Common Denominator" kind of deal to keep from having people frantically trying to crank out a task.

cyberguypr

Prospectus to final acceptance was 1.5 weeks for me. I had a very clear idea of what I was going to do and the full approach since day 1 so that helped a lot. If you don't know what you want to cover and HOW, you will definitely need to start early.

goatama

I'm torn at this point. On the one hand, I want to do it up, make it really good because it's my Master's thesis. But at the same time, no one is going to appreciate it at WGU. So I can kill myself and make it amazing because people at work are probably going to see it, or I can just git 'r done and finish out the degree quickly.

Decisions, decisions.

yellowpad

My submission got rejected for grammar.

Hatch1921

yellowpad wrote: »

My submission got rejected for grammar.

Give https://www.grammarly.com a try or WriteClick | Educators | MyLiteratureLab | Pearson

I use Write Click and it's been a great help all though school.

Hatch

yellowpad

thank you for the suggestion. how good is grammarly? I am confuse with WriteClick. Is it a software? web-based? Is there a cost? To me, that is way too much info about nothing.

Hatch1921 wrote: »

Give https://www.grammarly.com a try or WriteClick | Educators | MyLiteratureLab | Pearson

I use Write Click and it's been a great help all though school.

Hatch