WGU MSCIA: Thoughts after 18 days

NotHackingYou

WOW! Great job!

Blucodex

Presentation submitted. 157th in line. Now, the wait......

devilbones

Blucodex wrote: »

Presentation submitted. 157th in line. Now, the wait......

Your done. Its pretty much just waiting for them to grade it now. You should find out by tomorrow. Nice job.

Blucodex

devilbones wrote: »

Your done. Its pretty much just waiting for them to grade it now. You should find out by tomorrow. Nice job.

It’s been confirmed! I will submit a reflection sometime next week about my experience. Feels good though and now I can work on my OSCP until CCNA Cyber Ops in April.

Blucodex

Alright, up early today so I might as well get my review out of the way but first a little background...

I started my BBA in Management information systems in 2007 and found myself in the position of being unable to transfer any classes from my A.A.S. in. My A.A.S. was from Charter College which held ACICS accreditation which I guess is being withdrawn. News to me, I just did a search to see what their accreditation was for this review.

Going part-time and taking time off here and there I finally graduated 10 years later in April of 2017. I knew I wanted to pursue a MS but wasn't sure when. With a recent move to AZ and student loans coming up soon I decided to go immediately with the goal of 1-1.5 years in mind. But once I started WGU I realized this was going to be fast paced for me. I really did not expect to finish in 5 months though!

I've attended three separate colleges now and I want to say the first thing to look at is accreditation. National accreditation sounds more legitimate than regional to the uneducated but it's quite the opposite. WGU is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) which provides accreditation for well known schools such as BYU, Washington State, U.W., and Oregon State. WGU is recognized and legitimate.

I think many people will discredit the college when they find out it's possible to finish in one-term. I myself have questioned it a little but the reality is when I look back I didn't spend any more time per class on my BBA. But due to semester limitations and class spacing (2x a week) I was forced to drag out my semesters. A HS student with no work experience or someone getting into a new field will definitely benefit from having ample time to absorb content. For those who've been in their field for awhile they just need the chains off because they probably already have a majority of the real-world experience academia can teach them--if not more. With 17 years workforce experience I should be able to pass a MS rather easily.

It's your education and you will get what you put into it. If you want to spend more time than the minimum and deliver exceptional content, you can do that. If you want to deliver what a legitimately accredited program deems necessary and only that--you can do that too.

Technology moves fast, sans some exceptional programs academia is behind the curve. If money wasn't an issue I would probably look at a MS from SANS. WGU's MSCIA is not a technical degree by any means. If you're expecting to obtain your degree and interview for a mid-level+ security position without already having a body of knowledge and experience you will most likely be dissapointed. I've read somewhere that the WGU MSCIA is basically CISSP prep. I believe that's just about spot on. With that being said, networking in your local market will give you better exposure and personality and passion are king.

I would recommend this program to anyone because it's cheap and legitimate. And I did learn about management and operations which will help my directly at my employer. But if you are looking to gain technical skills you will be better off at another program. I wouldn't call it a "check the box" program because I don't believe many colleges are technically advanced anyway. But they do put you in cooperative situations--for tenured professionals that's not really necessary.

If I was asked how to improve this program I would get rid of the C|EH and C|HFI certifications for those who already hold an equivalent. Provide an option for something like a CISSP, CISM, or even a SANS cert and allow it to provide 8CUs instead of the 8 for Ethical Hacking and Forensics.

Well, that's all I have. I had fun, it was exciting, I'm glad it's over and I can move on to more technical training now.

NotHackingYou

Congrats!

SoCalGuy858

Can anybody enrolled in the MSCIA give some insight into which courses have PAs, OAs or both?

jibtech

SoCalGuy858 wrote: »

Can anybody enrolled in the MSCIA give some insight into which courses have PAs, OAs or both?

If I recall correctly, there are two OAs for the MSCSIA degree: Ethical Hacking and Forensics and Network Intrusion. They lead to the CEH and CHFI certifications, respectively. Everything else is a performance assessment.

SoCalGuy858

Got it! Thanks for the info!

devilbones

jibtech wrote: »

If I recall correctly, there are two OAs for the MSCSIA degree: Ethical Hacking and Forensics and Network Intrusion. They lead to the CEH and CHFI certifications, respectively. Everything else is a performance assessment.

Secure software design, and secure network also.

Blucodex

devilbones wrote: »

Secure software design, and secure network also.

This is accurate for my enrollment. I had 4 classes done by taking a test. Probably documented in this thread but I get it, TLDR

ImThe0ne

How would you rate your average assignments or papers for each class? I am finishing my capstone for BS: Network Admin through WGU now and some of mine for this degree were completely pointless, I am planning on rolling into MS:CIA after graduation, hoping to get a better idea of what to expect.

Blucodex

ImThe0ne wrote: »

How would you rate your average assignments or papers for each class? I am finishing my capstone for BS: Network Admin through WGU now and some of mine for this degree were completely pointless, I am planning on rolling into MS:CIA after graduation, hoping to get a better idea of what to expect.

I had papers as short as 4 pages pass. But papers were usually no longer than 10-15 pages. My Capstone was around 40.

Perryblunt

@Blucodex I stuck on c700 FYP2 TASK 1, any pointer would be greatly appreciated. I already passed the test.

Blucodex

Perryblunt said:

@Blucodex I stuck on c700 FYP2 TASK 1, any pointer would be greatly appreciated. I already passed the test.

I'm not sure what task that is--been awhile.  But if you passed the course test aren't you done with the class?

Perryblunt

No, they now ask you to answer some questions and submit a Visio diagram for this course. It’s one of those class that has an O and P

Blucodex

Perryblunt said:

No, they now ask you to answer some questions and submit a Visio diagram for this course. It’s one of those class that has an O and P

I think I recall now.  Just make a basic diagram--they don't need it to be fancy.

Perryblunt

rubic

Blucodex

Perryblunt said:

rubic

Doesn't look familiar from my program.

Perryblunt

ok

siggo

Blucodex  what was your length of each paper written?