WGU IT Students Take Top Honors in National Cybersecurity Competition (Oct 1, 2019)

JDMurray

WGU students participated in a recent Cyber FastTrack competition.

"During the competition, nearly a quarter of the finalists were WGU students, and 19 WGU students were awarded scholarships—the most of any institution."

"Of the 24 perfect scores leading into the semifinals, nine were held by WGU students, the highest rate for any school"

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wgu-information-technology-students-take-top-honors-in-national-cybersecurity-competition-300929152.html

SecretUser

This is great to see! I'm surprised that WGU doesn't have a cybersecurity club so that we can compete in more competitions like this one. Our participation in other competitions (NSA code breaker, NCL, etc.) has been mediocre at best. Do you guys think that better placements in these types of competitions would add more credibility to WGU's IT degrees?

JDMurray

Yes, this sort of publicity provides a clear marketing advantage for new admits. WGU just needs to be forthcoming on what it takes to make their cybersecurity competition team and how many people can actually join.

JDMurray

And here is a follow-up WGU press release for WGU's cybersecurity program. The admission councilors had better be able to answer applicant's questions about WGU's cyber competition team(s).

WGU Offers Scholarships to Help Fill Cybersecurity Skills Gap

yoba222

Not fair. I'm saying this with sour grapes because when I returned to college I was barred from participating in the coding competitions because I was over 30 at the time. Wonder how many of the participants were far beyond the age of fresh from high school. Congrats though; always good when your school gets good recognition.

JDMurray

yoba222 said:

... I was barred from participating in the coding competitions because I was over 30 at the time.

Whoa, I do not think that restriction would fly in California if that school got any funding or contracts from the state.