Western Governors University?

apena7

i began my BS in IT program at WGU in october (200, and so far, i am very pleased with it.

sure, it has its little quirks as any college does, but you can't beat the options WGU provides. first, it's not too expensive -- i am paying cash for each term and i feel like i'm getting my money's worth.
you can take as many courses as you want at any time during the term, plus certification vouchers are included at no extra cost.
i work full-time and think WGU has plenty of flexibility. although you can study at your own pace, i tend to take each course one at a time and find this approach more manageable.

most likely, by the time you complete your degree, WGU will have earned more respect in the workplace. after all, not everybody has the luxury of going to a university and become full-time students, right? we have to work to provide for ourselves and our families and continue our educations in the most practical manner -- employers will soon catch on.

skrpune

Wow, we've got a great conversation going here! Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. I'm really quite torn at this point. I'm waiting on responses from WGU regarding what's transferring and what my financial aid status is...once I get that info, then I can gauge what the true cost in time & money will be and I'll be better able to determine if it's still a good option for me.

I'm steering away from going straight into a graduate program. I'm not even sure I want a masters, so I'm going to focus on getting my second bachelors and go from there. Besides, I don't have any recent schooling, so no recent professors that could write me a kick-arse letter of recommendation. And while I love my last boss, and I respect his computer technician skills, he's not exactly a letter writing type. No disrespect intended, but he can barely write a coherent friendly email let alone a full & persuasive letter of recommendation - it's just not his forte. My last boss before that doesn't "DO" letters of recommendation, and before that we're going pretty far back... If home life and finances and work will allow it, then maybe a masters is in the cards down the line, but just not right now.

SO, I bit the bullet and sent off an email to the comp sci department secretary at the local uni where my husband teaches. I crunched the numbers, and I could get a degree from there in about 2-3 years at about the same price as WGU. (Worst case scenario, I can get some intro level work done there & then apply to the online degree completion program at University of Illinois). I might be past the spring application deadline, so I'd need either their ok to apply OR their ok to enroll as a "student at large" so I could take some comp sci classes until I could be officially enrolled in the fall. If that won't fly, and if WGU is just not striking my fancy, then I can take some intro classes at a community college in the Spring & enroll in the university in the fall.

I've got a few options, and now I'm just waiting to see what people come back with in terms of deadlines, transcript reviews, etc. Thanks again to all for the great replies and for getting my gears turning on this - it's led me to a point where I feel a lot more hopeful about my chances at getting a degree in a somewhat timely manner, and knowing I have more than one choice really takes the pressure off.

mklaro

this post has reassured me in some ways, which is good. I was thinking about starting in Feburary but I may hold off just a bit longer to finish up some certs on my own.

skrpune

Okay, I've done some research and I'm starting to really lean away from WGU. WGU it's the most affordable online university out there and you get certifications along the way, but I'm not that enamored with it after taking into account all the reviews, their acceptance rates, graduation rates, etc. Also not knowing what their reputation is in the IT world/workplace, I'm a bit hesitant.

Plus, they've been a bit off with the information they're giving me. I have gotten two different answers about my eligibility for financial aid & how I'd apply: the first answer they gave me is that I wouldn't qualify at all because I already have a bachelors degree (WHAT?!) and would have to get all private loans on my own; the second answer was that I'm being considered as a first year undergrad and they might change that later when they see my transcripts and I should just fill out financial aid forms with whatever info I think is appropriate. ARGH!

Then I called the local university and asked their financial aid office what the deal is, and they said that as a second bachelors student, I'd be a 5th year+ undergrad and that I could get a max of $6250 per semester in combined subsidized/unsubsidized loans. They of course couldn't tell me if I'd get any subsidized loans because they're not FAFSA, but they sounded like they had a clue and had done this before, as opposed to the folks at WGU...and in doing some more research, it looks like they're right and WGU was wrong on two counts.

I'm continuing with my application at WGU, especially since I already paid for the app fee & got transcripts sent over, but unless they come back with a transcript review that results in an incredibly short academic program, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going there. I've spoken with someone at the local state university, and I'm applying there this week. Unless they reject me or unless the program is all filled up in the next couple days/weeks, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be physically going to a university this spring. And if all works out well, I will have a class schedule that's similar to my husband's teaching schedule so we can carpool! the only snag is that I just moved to the area, so I'm not a "resident" yet as far as tuition is concerned, so while the cost will be $220/credit by summer time (I'll be here for 6+ months by then), in the meantime I'll be paying $440/credit this spring, OUCH!! So, um, I think I might take a light courseload this spring if I go there!

meadIT

skrpune wrote:

Also not knowing what their reputation is in the IT world/workplace, I'm a bit hesitant.

You've mentioned this a couple of times. I'm not sure if you've seen this or not, but WGU does have representatives from some pretty major companies (HP, Google, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle) on their advisory board. This board helps set the cirriculum. I can't tell you how the degree is viewed at other places, but it seems to have the support of some pretty big players in the IT industry.

If it makes any difference, my current company had to issue with paying for my WGU tuition through our educational reimbursement program, so I guess it's worth something in their eyes.

skrpune

meadIT wrote:

skrpune wrote:

Also not knowing what their reputation is in the IT world/workplace, I'm a bit hesitant.

You've mentioned this a couple of times. I'm not sure if you've seen this or not, but WGU does have representatives from some pretty major companies (HP, Google, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle) on their advisory board. This board helps set the cirriculum. I can't tell you how the degree is viewed at other places, but it seems to have the support of some pretty big players in the IT industry.

If it makes any difference, my current company had to issue with paying for my WGU tuition through our educational reimbursement program, so I guess it's worth something in their eyes.

Hrm, interesting link. Didn't know that. (I do have to take industry/corporate associations with a grain of salt, because there are some online cert companies [i.e., CBT Direct] that have lofty corporate sponsorship and associations but use hard sell tactics or questionable practices in training of individuals.) I'll see if I can find some more info on what is involved with being on their advisory board and what kind of influence these companies have on the curriculum.

Very encouraging to hear that your employer is cool with tuition reimbursement.

I don't know what it is about WGU that's just not quite rubbing me the right way. If they weren't constantly emailing me (sometimes sending me the same message 2-3 times) at least once if not 2-3 times per day, I would probably feel less like I was getting a hard sell from someone trying to get me to buy a product. Maybe I'm being overly critical. I'm a pretty hard nut to crack and am a stickler for details, and I sometimes get too caught up in or hung up on said details. I'll try to check my paranoia at the door and look at them with a critical eye and less of a skeptical eye.

Your link got me more curious about corporate associations & so I did a little more googling and I found this link to the WGU alumni board...so it looks like WGU does try to solicit recruiters to solicit their grads, which is encouraging. They also have a career services page, which is also kinda nice.

Okay, so my opinion of WGU is starting to improve a bit again, so I will be keeping it on my list but it's just not at the top at the moment. If I find any other resources/links/info, I'll come on back to share...

meadIT

Here's a link to a WGU student forum that is not affiliated with WGU: http://valvetrades.net/WGU/forums/

Most of the people that post there are in the teaching college, but you may be able to get some more info from that site.

skrpune

meadIT wrote:

Here's a link to a WGU student forum that is not affiliated with WGU: http://valvetrades.net/WGU/forums/

Most of the people that post there are in the teaching college, but you may be able to get some more info from that site.

Good site, thanks for the link - I ran across it a couple weeks ago but forgot to bookmark it and then promptly forgot about it! I wish I had checked it out further before I paid the application fee, apparently if you can find a current student to "recommend" you then you can forgo the $65 app fee & the student gets an amazon gift card. There's even students on there willing to refer you, oh well.

There's both encouraging and discouraging info there - some disgruntled students, some happy students. I'll take some time to review further & post some questions too. Thanks again for the link!

meadIT

skrpune wrote:

I wish I had checked it out further before I paid the application fee, apparently if you can find a current student to "recommend" you then you can forgo the $65 app fee & the student gets an amazon gift card. There's even students on there willing to refer you, oh well.

Yeah, I wish I would have known that too. Would have saved me $65. I've referred a couple of people from here to save them the app fee.

skrpune

update: So I seem to be getting a cold shoulder from my enrollment counselor. To be fair, I emailed him Thursday afternoon and I sent him a follow up email Monday and it's now *only* Tuesday, but I would have hoped that he would have gotten back to me by now. At least a "hey, I'm working on those questions, get back to you soon" or "not sure, I'll forward your questions along to someone else" but maybe I'm expecting too much??

And maybe I'm being a bit paranoid about this, but I think the fact that I mentioned I was applying elsewhere has tossed a wrench in the works. I questioned the financial aid process - they want me to apply for a loan & sign a master promissory note now, and I haven't gotten a financial aid award letter from them yet...and without knowing the award, and without them having gotten back to me yet on my transcript review, I'm not feeling so hotsy about applying for a loan just yet!! I mentioned in my first email on Thursday that I had applied to another university and they're not making me apply for loans or sign master promissory notes just yet (since I haven't applied there yet either) and so I was a bit uncomfortable doing so at this point.

But in reading a horror story or two on the WGU Student Hall website, they DO need you to go to a 3rd party website (Elm Select, they switched over to their services a couple months ago) and apply for a loan and sign a promissory note before they will even give you an award letter. Barooo? Umm, if that's the case, then I might just have to stop the process here. I don't want to be applying for loans & signing master promissory notes for someplace that I'm not certain I'm going to. I'll wait & see if this fella ever gets back to me on my questions & the review process, but at this point, it's really looking like WGU is not going to be the place I go...

networker050184

skrpune wrote:

update: So I seem to be getting a cold shoulder from my enrollment counselor. To be fair, I emailed him Thursday afternoon and I sent him a follow up email Monday and it's now *only* Tuesday, but I would have hoped that he would have gotten back to me by now. At least a "hey, I'm working on those questions, get back to you soon" or "not sure, I'll forward your questions along to someone else" but maybe I'm expecting too much??

And maybe I'm being a bit paranoid about this, but I think the fact that I mentioned I was applying elsewhere has tossed a wrench in the works. I questioned the financial aid process - they want me to apply for a loan & sign a master promissory note now, and I haven't gotten a financial aid award letter from them yet...and without knowing the award, and without them having gotten back to me yet on my transcript review, I'm not feeling so hotsy about applying for a loan just yet!! I mentioned in my first email on Thursday that I had applied to another university and they're not making me apply for loans or sign master promissory notes just yet (since I haven't applied there yet either) and so I was a bit uncomfortable doing so at this point.

But in reading a horror story or two on the WGU Student Hall website, they DO need you to go to a 3rd party website (Elm Select, they switched over to their services a couple months ago) and apply for a loan and sign a promissory note before they will even give you an award letter. Barooo? Umm, if that's the case, then I might just have to stop the process here. I don't want to be applying for loans & signing master promissory notes for someplace that I'm not certain I'm going to. I'll wait & see if this fella ever gets back to me on my questions & the review process, but at this point, it's really looking like WGU is not going to be the place I go...

I had a similar issue with WGU. I was seriously thinking about starting one of their programs but their total lack of responding to my email requests for more information made me change my mind on them.....

Maybe they are already meeting their enrollment quota so they don't have to worry about new students.

mklaro

Here is an article that was posted on CNN's Time website.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1858876%2C00.htm

I found it interesting that one of the mentors they mention is from Granby, MA.. a stones throw from me. This person used to teach at UMASS.

I'm still up in the air about what to do.

skrpune

what I find most interesting is that WGU had time to email me a link to the Time article about themselves, but not to email me back in response to my questions. I'm not feeling the love man....

mklaro

yea see thats something that worries me.

skrpune

well I broke down and emailed my enrollment counselor AGAIN. Let's see if I get a reply this time. I resisted the urge to be all snarky-like with him, although I do feel like I have a right to be snarky since I've been ignored for almost a week...but that wouldn't get me anywhere, so I was respectfully short in my email. I asked him to at least email me to acknowledge that he's gotten my messages and told him that the lack of responsiveness is making me nervous, and I even bullet-pointed my questions to him so he didn't have to go to the trouble of reading through the first two emails.

I flat out told him that I would really appreciate a prompt response & that I kinda would have expected a response by now...and that if he can't answer my questions, then kindly forward the email(s) to someone else & cc me on them so I know I'm being taken care of. Here's to hoping that he gets the message that I'm not just going to scamper off into the corner and wait quietly whilst being ignored (please, no "don't put baby in a corner" references, I think I'm the only chick on the planet that hated that cheesy excuse for a movie! ). Maybe I just expect too much out of people, but I don't think it's too much to ask that someone who's supposed to walk me through the application & enrollment process EMAIL ME BACK, ARGH!!

mklaro

no not at all, well said. Let us know what happens. Im curious to see what their reason for the delay is

jnwdmb

I can say that my dealings with WGU have been much more pleasant. I contacted them and received my information packet quickly. I contacted the same evening that my information arrived and spoke to the enrollment counselor who had emailed me after my information request. He spoke to me for nearly 30 minutes until all my questions were answered and emailed me within a few minutes with the information that I requested during our conversation.

Now, onto my question for you guys.....I am thinking that even if the university itself is not a "real college" per se....wouldn't having a degree from an accredited school be enough to pass through HR filters when applying for positions? I know that some companies will pass right over you with out a bachelors, so by having it on your resume, wont you be able to get into at least an initial interview before the questions about its "validity" surface? If you get that far and have say an MCSE and X amount of experience, wouldn't the WGU degree serve its purpose (getting through the HR screen and into an interview where you can sell your skills and experience)?

skrpune

jnwdmb wrote:

I can say that my dealings with WGU have been much more pleasant. I contacted them and received my information packet quickly. I contacted the same evening that my information arrived and spoke to the enrollment counselor who had emailed me after my information request. He spoke to me for nearly 30 minutes until all my questions were answered and emailed me within a few minutes with the information that I requested during our conversation.

Now, onto my question for you guys.....I am thinking that even if the university itself is not a "real college" per se....wouldn't having a degree from an accredited school be enough to pass through HR filters when applying for positions? I know that some companies will pass right over you with out a bachelors, so by having it on your resume, wont you be able to get into at least an initial interview before the questions about its "validity" surface? If you get that far and have say an MCSE and X amount of experience, wouldn't the WGU degree serve its purpose (getting through the HR screen and into an interview where you can sell your skills and experience)?

FYI, I had the same good experiences with WGU at first (although that financial aid office did start steering me wrong pretty much from the get go) up until a few days ago, when my enrollment counselor apparently got sucked into a black hole somewhere! (I had no idea Utah was that dangerous.:D) They were super responsive and sent me info packets and multiple emails from multiple people, it's just that they've stopped responding as soon as I mentioned that I applied elsewhere. Hrm.

Anywho, to answer your question about passing "HR filters," the answer is probably yes in general. I'm a google-a-holic, so I google EVERYTHING...and I have done that when reviewing resumes in the past if I didn't recognize a school's name. And WGU does google pretty well, it's just that some people who do take that extra step of research may get turned off by the fact that it's an online university. It's just a bias that some people have against online schools. I'd say that WGU has a leg up on other online-only IT schools since it uses industry-respected certifications as its exams.

mklaro

jnwdmb wrote:

Now, onto my question for you guys.....I am thinking that even if the university itself is not a "real college" per se....wouldn't having a degree from an accredited school be enough to pass through HR filters when applying for positions? I know that some companies will pass right over you with out a bachelors, so by having it on your resume, wont you be able to get into at least an initial interview before the questions about its "validity" surface? If you get that far and have say an MCSE and X amount of experience, wouldn't the WGU degree serve its purpose (getting through the HR screen and into an interview where you can sell your skills and experience)?

This is the million dollar question right here. I only wish I could find a few people who have obtained the IT related degree from WGU that have put them on there resumes and received feedback about it. I would love to know how HR and companies react to that as proper schooling or whatnot. I guess this is the part I am hung up on the most.

Im going to take the assessment test since I already paid the app fee and see how it goes from that point. For those of you who took it was it difficult, did it take 2 hours like they suggest for it?

skrpune

mklaro wrote:

jnwdmb wrote:

Now, onto my question for you guys.....I am thinking that even if the university itself is not a "real college" per se....wouldn't having a degree from an accredited school be enough to pass through HR filters when applying for positions? I know that some companies will pass right over you with out a bachelors, so by having it on your resume, wont you be able to get into at least an initial interview before the questions about its "validity" surface? If you get that far and have say an MCSE and X amount of experience, wouldn't the WGU degree serve its purpose (getting through the HR screen and into an interview where you can sell your skills and experience)?

This is the million dollar question right here. I only wish I could find a few people who have obtained the IT related degree from WGU that have put them on there resumes and received feedback about it. I would love to know how HR and companies react to that as proper schooling or whatnot. I guess this is the part I am hung up on the most.

Im going to take the assessment test since I already paid the app fee and see how it goes from that point. For those of you who took it was it difficult, did it take 2 hours like they suggest for it?

It didn't take 2 hours, and boy howdie, did I want to smack whoever wrote those questions & answers on the test!! Some of them are really unclear. I know people complain about certification exam questions, but some of these were seriously flawed. I won't share specific examples (there's no NDA but I still don't want to go sharing test questions), but suffice it to say that there were at least a few questions that had more than one answer or had no correct answers. Gar. I'm a stickler for details, so that just ticks me off. It kinda made me wonder about quality control. And honestly, I haven't seen so many question about passive vs active words/sentences since grammar school.

The assessment was pretty easy overall. Basically, if you can perform basic math functions and know your 'orders of operation' and can write in complete sentences, then you have nothing to worry about. There are a couple different portions, and it's presented in sections too. I took probably a little over an hour, maybe an hour & fifteen minutes to do the whole thing, and that's only because I'm slightly (okay, very!) obsessive compulsive and took forever to do the essay part and kept getting interrupted by phone calls. (My enrollment counselor actually called me in the middle of my testing...this was before he dropped off the face of the planet...) When you get to the essay part, you're given a topic to write on - I think it was more than 200 words but less than 700 or so words. If you're less crazy than me, you can probably get the whole shabang done in under an hour's time.

I got my 'passing' result very very soon after I completed my assessment. Like, within the hour. I don't know if anyone even read my essay or if they passed it through a grammar/spelling checker in Word or what, but it seemed pretty flippin' fast.

skrpune

Update: I did get a response from my enrollment counselor this morning...said sorry, he's been swamped with emails and is catching up. Hrm. Not feeling the love, man, not feeling the love!

Anywho, here's the skinny. You are required to apply for a loan and sign the MPN before you get an official determination on student loans at WGU. He told me to contact the F.A. office if I had more questions, so I did. Luckily, I got the one person that folks over at the WGU valve-trade forum site said to talk to. I cold-called the department and she was the one who happened to answer the phone, much to my delight. Because she actually had a clue, yay! She confirmed that the MPN and loan app are necessary to be considered complete with the financial aid application process, BUT she offered some info - when they finish the review of my transcripts, then the financial aid office can tell me what level of student they will consider me as and my financial aid loan maxes will be dependent solely upon that. If they deem me a 3rd-5th year student, then I qualify for the max of $12,500 annually, or $6250/semester or term. This F.A. worker also told me that applying for a student loan will NOT show up on your credit report and won't negatively affect your credit score but I'm not sure if I believe her. Doesn't any loan application show up on there? She said that it will only show up once it's in repayment or arrears, and that it MIGHT show up as revolving credit once I have a loan set up but not until then. I dunno about that.

I'm a bit concerned that they haven't gotten my transcripts yet, or at least they don't know they have them yet...they were mailed out to them on 11/10, so they should be there by now...but they were under my maiden name, so they might be having trouble matching me up with my records. Gar. In one of my last emails to the enrollment counselor, I made sure to mention maiden -vs- married name so he could check with records to see if the records are in the "dunno" pile somewhere. I'm hoping they get or find them before the weekend, and apparently it takes 3-5 business days to review transcripts. At this rate, I'll be lucky to get a response from them on my transcript review before the Thanksgiving holiday, and I was kinda wanting to know what was up with them before then, phooey.

So that's the story thus far. And the saga continues...

@ mklaro - have you taken your assessment yet? Did you feel like yelling at the screen at some of those questions too?? (Without giving away too much...my *favorite* was the one where they give you a bunch of disjointed nonsensical sentences and ask you to make a logical, flowing paragraph out of them. GAH, it just won't happen! It's like being graded on shoving square pegs through round holes!)

darkerosxx

skrpune, what the people told you is true and your experience with financial aid there has been similar to my experience at the local university I attend, as far as loan, MPN, determination, etc..

skrpune

darkerosxx wrote:

skrpune, what the people told you is true and your experience with financial aid there has been similar to my experience at the local university I attend, as far as loan, MPN, determination, etc..

I know financial aid process varies from place to place, but I was hoping that WGU would follow the same procedure as it was described to be my the local university - where (as far as I've been told thus far) you get a determination on your eligibility and get a financial aid award/loan letter first and then you apply for a loan and sign the MPN.

Meh, we'll see how things go. I just have to feign patience for a while I guess...

mklaro

skrpune wrote:

@ mklaro - have you taken your assessment yet? Did you feel like yelling at the screen at some of those questions too?? (Without giving away too much...my *favorite* was the one where they give you a bunch of disjointed nonsensical sentences and ask you to make a logical, flowing paragraph out of them. GAH, it just won't happen! It's like being graded on shoving square pegs through round holes!)

Not yet. I plan on doing it this weekend. I will let you know how I feel afterwards hah! Thanks for all the updates about your financial aid progress (or lack there of)

This is by far the most comprehensive thread now that I can find regarding this school. Hopefully it will serve others who are thinking about signing up as well. If anyone knows of any other good threads about this school lmk.

smithjrwi

And, you are correct mklaro this is the most i 've read about this college in any forum since reading about this college in Time's. It does seem kinda shady but I'll try to weather the storm.
Thank all of you looking into this you saved me alot of time and headaches, and maybe some other people. IT all the way!!!

skrpune

Update on my adventures with WGU...

I called them on Monday the 24th to see if they got my transcripts yet. Two sets were sent from different places (did my first BS at one university, then took an intro CIS class at a community college) - I requested the university transcripts on the 6th and the community college transcripts on the 10th. No dice as of this Monday though, sigh. So I called again today to see if they got them, and they said no. I asked if they could look under maiden name & maybe also check to see if they just hadn't been processed yet as it'd been over 2 weeks since they were sent out. I was put on hold for a few minutes & when the rep came back on, she told me that had gotten the transcripts from the community college but not the one from the university where I got my BS. I asked her when it came in, and she said that she didn't know and they had just "found" it. Um...so was it lying around somewhere for a couple days, or did it just come in or what?? I bit my tongue and said I'd follow up again in a couple more days/after the holiday to see if the other transcripts were in.

A couple minutes later, I got a notification email from my enrollment counselor that my transcripts from the community college were in - sounded like an auto-response triggered by someone entering the receipt into the system. But then one minute later, I got a second notification email stating that my main university transcripts were in. Hmm. So I guess I had to call and ask them to go looking for them in order for them to find & process them?? Kinda didn't sit well with me. But whatever, I was glad that they were finally found & expected it to take a couple days for review, as I was told that the $65 application fee was put towards an intensive review of transcripts & records that would take 3-5 business days.

I received the transcript notification emails at 11:01 & 11:02am. Then at 11:59 am, less than an hour later, I got a notification email that my transcript evaluation was done & a report of the evaluation was attached. I was pretty surprised by what I found.

They did NOT do an intensive review of my transcripts & records. They applied my MCTS Vista (70-620) exam to Programming I & Programming II & Databases I. WHAT?! Those are supposed to be associated with CIW & Java certifications, how the heck does that exam certify experience/knowledge in those areas?!

They also applied a random women's studies class I took to the American/world history requirement, seemingly just because it was cross-listed as a history course (it was called "Healer & The Witch" - a study of women & witchcraft & healers/midwifery...um, yeah, that sounds like it's world/American history related!:D). And they didn't do any sort of review of the core classes I took - I was in the honors college as an undergrad and we didn't have to take "normal" history/arts/humanities classes, & we took a different set of core classes that covered those topics. Even though I took several honors curriculum courses covering culture, philosophy, arts, etc., they say that my humanities requirement isn't met and they now want me to take a humanities class. The fact that my honors curriculum courses were preceded with the letters "HON" rather than "PHI," "SOC," or other culture/philosophy/arts department letters threw them off. But shouldn't they be doing more than just looking at the letters & numbers for courses??

Also, as part of the honors curriculum, I had to do a senior research & thesis project, and I had to make a presentation at the end of senior year based on my research & thesis...but my transcript evaluation says that I have to do two more language/communications classes: essay & research class and a presentation class. Baroo??

I'm really not trying to sound like a bitter complainer here, but I had hoped they would have done a more detailed review. I know a lot of transfer students can be disappointed by the results of their transfer evaluations regardless of the institution, and I didn't expect everything to transfer and for me to only take a couple courses to get a degree. But I did expect them to spend more than 57 minutes doing their "intensive" review of my records, and I did expect them to have a little more of a clue and not apply a Vista certification to Programming & Database requirements.

I bet I'm the first person to ever ask for a degree requirement to NOT be waived, but that's exactly what I did. I emailed my enrollment counselor and let him know I was disappointed with the random application of my Vista cert to coursework that was in no way related, and I let him know that someone really needs to do a more detailed review of the honors college coursework because I am certain that I have done classes that will at the very least meet the humanities requirements if not the language/communications requirements. I also told him that while I appreciate a prompt response, it concerns me that the review process (which he originally told me would be very intense and they would research every course on my transcripts to ensure a proper review) took less than an hour's time. I requested a second, more indepth review of my records and even included a link to the honors college course descriptions so they could see what all those "HON" classes on my transcripts meant.

The most concerning part (beside the facts that they seemingly temporarily lost my transcripts & that they took less than an hour to do the review and write up of my transcript evaluation) is them waiving the programming & database coursework and associated certifications. Seriously - how is Vista related to either of those topics? It makes me question the validity of the program. I was actually looking forward to taking classes on programming & databases and doing the associated certifications. They would have been a welcome addition to my knowledge base and to my resume.

So there you have my not-so-little rant & update on the WGU application & review process. I don't anticipate a very positive response from my email. I was as respectful as I could be, but I was firm and honest about my disappointment.

I'll update the thread when I get a response back from my enrollment counselor, I'm very interested to see whether they will do another review of my records & if it will come up with a different result, and if they will "un-waive" programming & database coursework as I have requested.

MCPWannabe

skrpune wrote:

Update on my adventures with WGU...

I called them on Monday the 24th to see if they got my transcripts yet. Two sets were sent from different places (did my first BS at one university, then took an intro CIS class at a community college) - I requested the university transcripts on the 6th and the community college transcripts on the 10th. No dice as of this Monday though, sigh. So I called again today to see if they got them, and they said no. I asked if they could look under maiden name & maybe also check to see if they just hadn't been processed yet as it'd been over 2 weeks since they were sent out. I was put on hold for a few minutes & when the rep came back on, she told me that had gotten the transcripts from the community college but not the one from the university where I got my BS. I asked her when it came in, and she said that she didn't know and they had just "found" it. Um...so was it lying around somewhere for a couple days, or did it just come in or what?? I bit my tongue and said I'd follow up again in a couple more days/after the holiday to see if the other transcripts were in.

A couple minutes later, I got a notification email from my enrollment counselor that my transcripts from the community college were in - sounded like an auto-response triggered by someone entering the receipt into the system. But then one minute later, I got a second notification email stating that my main university transcripts were in. Hmm. So I guess I had to call and ask them to go looking for them in order for them to find & process them?? Kinda didn't sit well with me. But whatever, I was glad that they were finally found & expected it to take a couple days for review, as I was told that the $65 application fee was put towards an intensive review of transcripts & records that would take 3-5 business days.

I received the transcript notification emails at 11:01 & 11:02am. Then at 11:59 am, less than an hour later, I got a notification email that my transcript evaluation was done & a report of the evaluation was attached. I was pretty surprised by what I found.

They did NOT do an intensive review of my transcripts & records. They applied my MCTS Vista (70-620) exam to Programming I & Programming II & Databases I. WHAT?! Those are supposed to be associated with CIW & Java certifications, how the heck does that exam certify experience/knowledge in those areas?!

They also applied a random women's studies class I took to the American/world history requirement, seemingly just because it was cross-listed as a history course (it was called "Healer & The Witch" - a study of women & witchcraft & healers/midwifery...um, yeah, that sounds like it's world/American history related!:D). And they didn't do any sort of review of the core classes I took - I was in the honors college as an undergrad and we didn't have to take "normal" history/arts/humanities classes, & we took a different set of core classes that covered those topics. Even though I took several honors curriculum courses covering culture, philosophy, arts, etc., they say that my humanities requirement isn't met and they now want me to take a humanities class. The fact that my honors curriculum courses were preceded with the letters "HON" rather than "PHI," "SOC," or other culture/philosophy/arts department letters threw them off. But shouldn't they be doing more than just looking at the letters & numbers for courses??

Also, as part of the honors curriculum, I had to do a senior research & thesis project, and I had to make a presentation at the end of senior year based on my research & thesis...but my transcript evaluation says that I have to do two more language/communications classes: essay & research class and a presentation class. Baroo??

I'm really not trying to sound like a bitter complainer here, but I had hoped they would have done a more detailed review. I know a lot of transfer students can be disappointed by the results of their transfer evaluations regardless of the institution, and I didn't expect everything to transfer and for me to only take a couple courses to get a degree. But I did expect them to spend more than 57 minutes doing their "intensive" review of my records, and I did expect them to have a little more of a clue and not apply a Vista certification to Programming & Database requirements.

I bet I'm the first person to ever ask for a degree requirement to NOT be waived, but that's exactly what I did. I emailed my enrollment counselor and let him know I was disappointed with the random application of my Vista cert to coursework that was in no way related, and I let him know that someone really needs to do a more detailed review of the honors college coursework because I am certain that I have done classes that will at the very least meet the humanities requirements if not the language/communications requirements. I also told him that while I appreciate a prompt response, it concerns me that the review process (which he originally told me would be very intense and they would research every course on my transcripts to ensure a proper review) took less than an hour's time. I requested a second, more indepth review of my records and even included a link to the honors college course descriptions so they could see what all those "HON" classes on my transcripts meant.

The most concerning part (beside the facts that they seemingly temporarily lost my transcripts & that they took less than an hour to do the review and write up of my transcript evaluation) is them waiving the programming & database coursework and associated certifications. Seriously - how is Vista related to either of those topics? It makes me question the validity of the program. I was actually looking forward to taking classes on programming & databases and doing the associated certifications. They would have been a welcome addition to my knowledge base and to my resume.

So there you have my not-so-little rant & update on the WGU application & review process. I don't anticipate a very positive response from my email. I was as respectful as I could be, but I was firm and honest about my disappointment.

I'll update the thread when I get a response back from my enrollment counselor, I'm very interested to see whether they will do another review of my records & if it will come up with a different result, and if they will "un-waive" programming & database coursework as I have requested.

Skrpune, you don't go to a college like WGU for prestige. You go for an accredited degree in Information Technology. Don't put yourself through extra hoops expecting the school to be more than it is -- a way for someone to make a good amount of money while meeting standards of accreditation.

Back in the day, I was an honors student also. But I learned a lot about the difference between a profit-making university and a state funded one on tax dollars when I got my MBA. They are not the same, and you will see some differences. But quite honestly, if your objective is for career advancement, places like WGU aren't so bad. Taking certification exams is more difficult than my undergraduate exams in my opinion, so I don't think that you will be cheated.


If you want the traditional, more prestigous route, than look at the number of state universities offering information technology or computer science programs online. There are lots of them.

But trust me, you'll go through a long period of continuous frustration if you try to push the school into being something that it is not. Your 'enrollment person'/sales person is there to make a commission. Just take it and get the degree if you want rapid career advancement.

skrpune

Yeah, I realized that WGU isn't like other "real" universities, but I had hoped they would at least know that Vista has nothing to do with Java or databases!

I am going back to school to advance my career but I'm also going back to school because I'm a DORK and I love to learn, and I'd like to get more out of my education than just a piece of paper that says I know stuff. Sigh. I didn't expect the world from WGU, but this is just disappointing.

At this point, I'm just curious to see if they will do another review of my records & remove the waiver on programming & databases. Given their lackluster performance so far, I'm almost positive that I won't be attending WGU. It may work for other people, but it just doesn't seem to be a fit for what I want, which is a more challenging educational experience that will give me the tools & knowledge that I need & want, rather than just rubber stamping me.

I've followed up with the local state university that I applied to also, and they have one set of transcripts but are waiting on another (they were requested a few days after I requested the transcripts for WGU), and then they will begin their review of my records. Not to be cocky, but I'm pretty certain that I will be accepted there, so it's just a matter of what they will accept via transfer from my previous coursework. I've already spoken with someone in the computer science department here to give them a heads up about my non-traditional core classes from the honors program and they didn't anticipate I would have to take much in terms of gen. ed. classes other than a state-required IL constitution class/exam.

Meh, we'll see how this goes. Like I said, maybe WGU is for some, but I think it's not a match for me. I'll give them one final shot to perhaps redeem themselves or completely shoot themselves in the foot, and I'll wait & see what the local uni comes back with before I make my final decisions. But its really starting to look like I'll be going to a physical university rather than taking part in the virtual college program...

MCPWannabe

skrpune wrote:

Yeah, I realized that WGU isn't like other "real" universities, but I had hoped they would at least know that Vista has nothing to do with Java or databases!

I am going back to school to advance my career but I'm also going back to school because I'm a DORK and I love to learn, and I'd like to get more out of my education than just a piece of paper that says I know stuff. Sigh. I didn't expect the world from WGU, but this is just disappointing.

At this point, I'm just curious to see if they will do another review of my records & remove the waiver on programming & databases. Given their lackluster performance so far, I'm almost positive that I won't be attending WGU. It may work for other people, but it just doesn't seem to be a fit for what I want, which is a more challenging educational experience that will give me the tools & knowledge that I need & want, rather than just rubber stamping me.

I've followed up with the local state university that I applied to also, and they have one set of transcripts but are waiting on another (they were requested a few days after I requested the transcripts for WGU), and then they will begin their review of my records. Not to be cocky, but I'm pretty certain that I will be accepted there, so it's just a matter of what they will accept via transfer from my previous coursework. I've already spoken with someone in the computer science department here to give them a heads up about my non-traditional core classes from the honors program and they didn't anticipate I would have to take much in terms of gen. ed. classes other than a state-required IL constitution class/exam.

Meh, we'll see how this goes. Like I said, maybe WGU is for some, but I think it's not a match for me. I'll give them one final shot to perhaps redeem themselves or completely shoot themselves in the foot, and I'll wait & see what the local uni comes back with before I make my final decisions. But its really starting to look like I'll be going to a physical university rather than taking part in the virtual college program...

Hmmmm... very, very interesting. Here are two online schools that you should check out if you need the convenience of time with cheap prices and a state, tax-funded school:

http://www.athens.edu/academics/onlinedegree.php?Action=ViewDoc&SiteSection=Computer%20Information%20Systems

http://www.rsu.edu/academics/bulletin/2008-2009/docs/BS-bus-info-tech.pdf

These two online schools are very cheap and have the traditional type of state-funding. I almost attended both of them myself, but I elected to go for more prestige when I get a second Master's degree (software engineering). For my second Bachelors, I just want a degree in a computer related field.

Before writing WGU off, I wouldn't completely say that the certification based approach is a bad thing. In some ways, the school is very strict making people pass certification exams as opposed to regular courses where the overwhelming number of people pass just by completing the course and studying their 2-4 hours a school day.

Furthermore, I currently work as Microsoft Certified trainer. In two weeks, I'm teaching .NET. Nearly every one of my students will be computer science graduates -- and invariably, the question that I will get, will be, "can you teach me how to pass the certification test."

College studying is different than certification studying and it's a key skill to be mastered or one can quickly find themselves out of the 'technical loop.'

By making people pursue these entry level certs and pass the certification test, the school is taking a very bold risk as many people won't be able to do it. But my guess is that the graduates who do learn this skill will learn something far more precious than just the prestige of a Bachelor's in a computer related field -- they will learn how to keep their skills current.

I haven't given an update on my own career situation, but in 1 year, I've gone from making $6.50 an hour to now grossing 90K a year. The largest advantage for me is that I'm an independent learner.

Now, as an IT instructor, I can tell you that the skills that the college teaches aren't so bad.

But you will have to jump through hoops: the school is set up in a certain way. So, it's just a decision process. I got the impression that you will have to teach yourself everything from the school, but that could be far more valuable (especially in our field) than anything else.

skrpune

I don’t find fault with an independent learning program or certification-based program, but I do find fault with how WGU has chosen to waive three different classes/certs based on a completely unrelated certification. The Programming I & II and Database I requirements are supposed to be verified by CIW & Sun Java certifications…that’s got a big fat nothing to do with the topics covered on my Vista 70-620 exam! I find it somewhat scary that they’re willing to pass me on those three classes/certs based on me studying Vista for a month. Granted, I studied very intently, but I learned nothing about databases or programming. The other 'core' requirements being met or not met can be highly subjective and I know this, but in my opinion it's pretty clear cut that they made a judgment error in how they applied the Vista exam to unrelated topics/certs.

I just haven’t had a very good experience with them so far. I’m not trying to say that all online programs stink or that certification based programs are bad, but this particular one just doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea from what I've seen up until this point. It might work out okay for some, but it's not looking like I'm a member of that group.