Trying to decide on WGU

Hello I'm new to this forum. Is anyone attending or thinking about going to WGU. I've read alot of reviews about the school. Some of the feedback is good some not as much. Thanks

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sprint100

I go there right now and love it. I can only speak from the IT perspective and the other majors is where I hear the legitimate sounding gripes about the school/program.

qwertyiop

I started at WGU in February and I like it. So far im flying through my courses, well atleast the IT courses.

itTech250

How are the general ed classes?

qwertyiop

itTech250 wrote: »

How are the general ed classes?

I cant help you with that one because I'm working on knocking out my IT classes first.

apena7

I've been attending since Oct. '08 and it's going great.

The IT program covers several areas from Java programming to project management, so I feel like I'm becoming well-rounded in fields that I had no prior interest.

As with any school, YOU decide what type of education you receive. Learn the content backwards and forwards, not just to pass a test, but to be able to apply it in the real world when it reall counts.

Big Jizay

I've never attended this school, but here is a gigantic thread here on TechExams about WGU below.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/30564-western-governors-university.html

sprint100

itTech250 wrote: »

How are the general ed classes?

Since you can pick when you take the courses, I am knocking out the IT stuff first because of the certs achieved.

itTech250

I've attended online classes before, do they use a blackboard like setup for online classes?

shednik

The only issue I have with them is how I've been told they don't really do a GPA system, and I don't know how a grad school program would look at the degree itself. Has anyone ever applied to grad school with a BS from WGU, I'm just curious how it went.

jryantech

A.A. from a Community College -> B.S. from a State University

most Community and State colleges offer online courses and night courses. If your young might as well take day courses like the rest of us.

b1tbuck3t

shednik wrote: »

The only issue I have with them is how I've been told they don't really do a GPA system, and I don't know how a grad school program would look at the degree itself. Has anyone ever applied to grad school with a BS from WGU, I'm just curious how it went.

I got a list from WGU of graduate schools WGU graduates had gone on to. One of them was the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (Ranked as the #2 MBA program in the country).

I called their admissions group and they verified WGU was acceptable.

When I asked about WGU not having grades their response was "Stanford doesn't have grades and it's not a problem for them".

veritas_libertas

b1tbuck3t wrote: »

I got a list from WGU of graduate schools WGU graduates had gone on to. One of them was the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania (Ranked as the #2 MBA program in the country).

I called their admissions group and they verified WGU was acceptable.

When I asked about WGU not having grades their response was "Stanford doesn't have grades and it's not a problem for them".

I would like to see this list...

SrSysAdmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I would like to see this list...

Me too. Would also be curious if the individual got into Wharton because they knew somebody, had amazing business experience, or because of their work at WGU.

Wharton is an incredible MBA program, that individual must have had some sort of in with the school to gain entry, even if it was a 780 GMAT score.

bwcarty

itTech250 wrote: »

I've attended online classes before, do they use a blackboard like setup for online classes?

WGU classes are generally self directed and come in two formats - objective assessments and performance assessments.

Objective assessments courses require you to pass a test, which can be an industry certification exam for an IT course or a computerized final exam taken at a monitored facility for a traditional course. Before you are able to take the test, you'll be required to submit a passing score from a practice test to your mentor.

Performance assessments require you to complete specific assignments that are graded using rubrics that are included in the assignment. A Java course may require you to submit programs as your assignments while other courses require written essays.

Books for IT certification are generally provided by the school, as are digital copies of textbooks for most of the traditional courses. You'll have a syllabus for each course that gives you a breakdown of what you need to read/understand to complete the assignments, exams, etc.

Some classes offer additional learn material in the form of CBTs (not CBT Nuggets), and each WGU course also has an official online forum that you can use to contact other students or subject matter experts.

veritas_libertas

bwcarty wrote: »

Some classes offer additional learn material in the form of CBTs (not CBT Nuggets), and each WGU course also has an official online forum that you can use to contact other students or subject matter experts.

No, but I wish they did offer CBT Nuggets...

bwcarty

veritas_libertas wrote: »

No, but I wish they did offer CBT Nuggets...

Yeah, luckily for me, I have access to a streaming subscription through work.

I still end up buying the STS practice tests for each of my WGU IT classes, too. ExamForce just doesn't do it for me.

earweed

Exam force is ok for some courses.
I just took the javascript course and the exam force had 165 questions (several questions were repeated) which looked like someone had thrown the questions together at the last minute.

cablegod

After July, I have one class left. I'm finishing the Gen Ed stuff up now. They're not easy, but they're not too hard either. If you stick with it, it's doable. I should be done by Sept. 1.

earweed

The english courses were pretty easy. One you had to write a research paper and that took up a lot of time.

jahsoul

I start April 1st :w00t: but I had a quick question. Does anyone have a list of course prerequisites or can point me in the direction to find them???

cablegod

jahsoul wrote: »

I start April 1st :w00t: but I had a quick question. Does anyone have a list of course prerequisites or can point me in the direction to find them???

War Eagle! From the other side of the river

earweed

jahsoul wrote: »

I start April 1st :w00t: but I had a quick question. Does anyone have a list of course prerequisites or can point me in the direction to find them???

Here's a link to the student handbook. It may be helpful.
http://www.wgu.edu/sh

jahsoul

*hi5 @ cablegod!!!*

@earweed...I have looked through that but I couldn't find anything. I could have sworn at one point a while ago, I saw a list...might have been wrong. I'm just trying to see a few classes I will be able to schedule for the first term...

earweed

Are you transferring anything or starting from scratch?
You'll probably have IT Foundations your first term and Education without boundaries is your first class.
Your mentor will help you out pretty much with the scheduling though.

jahsoul

I've actually decided to start from scratch. I figured about IT Foundation I. I'm just really trying to figure out where did they slide in the CCNA for the Security concentration. Did they replace the Network+? I'm just asking because I already had certs that I was studying for but just really seeing what direction I should go my first term...

Essendon

Dont take this personally please, anyone. Why are so many people on TE studying at WGU, is it very good or is it okay and affordable? Havent read any other university being mentioned as much. Just curious.

Bl8ckr0uter

Essendon wrote: »

Dont take this personally please, anyone. Why are so many people on TE studying at WGU, is it very good or is it okay and affordable? Havent read any other university being mentioned as much. Just curious.

I think it is perfect for the type of person that would be on Tech Exams - A school that is designed to educate AND certify. I have seen it mentioned elsewhere (on the news and a few people I know have gone through the program) and most people say it is pretty decent (and the cost is very low for a BS program).

I think it is more respect than other "Tech" schools (Devry, ITT, etc), it has a very very respected nursing program and the credits actually transfer to other schools (which is huge). Just so you know I am not an WGU student nor do I plan to be BUT that decision was purely based on my personal education situation. If I did not live in the area that I live in, I would probably go for WGU.

fly351

Essendon wrote: »

Dont take this personally please, anyone. Why are so many people on TE studying at WGU, is it very good or is it okay and affordable? Havent read any other university being mentioned as much. Just curious.

Well I am new here.. and I just started researching WGU within the past couple days, so here is my unbiased opinion. The other two online schools I was fully researching was AMU and Devry and I have to say, neither of them compare.

Price-
AMU - $250 per credit hour. Books included in tuition costs, small added fees (like most colleges/universities)
Devry - $345 per credit hour. Books vary from $220 to $900 per semester (depending on how many courses/content)
WGU - Flat rate of like $2900 a semester. Books included in tuition, small added fees, and price of Cert's included as well.

Academic Calendar-
AMU - If you start their accelerated program, each course is 8 weeks long, but you can start a new course at the beginning of each month (causing an over lap in courses).
Devry - similar accelerated program, 8 weeks long but you don't start a new course each month (at least that's what I found).
WGU - 6 month long semester, start with 12 credits, but you can complete as many as you want/can within that 6 month for the same flat price.

Accreditations-
AMU - Regional in HLC. National in DETC.
Devry - Regional in HLC. No national. Degree in Networking accredited by ABET
WGU - Regional in NWCCU, CHEA, HLC, and WASC. National in DETC

Don't take this the wrong way, I actually like online degree's as long as they are from what appears to be a good university. When it's all said and done, it's just a piece of paper saying you put in your time; regardless if you get it from a online school/program or not. As others have said here, it's all about the person and presentation. I have met people with MCSE's, bachelors, etc, and are dumb as dirt.

edit: Oh, and WGU programs are based around you obtaining certifications, check out the IT Bachelor degrees to see each program.

earweed

+1 I did similar research before starting WGU and found WGU way above the others. U of Phoenix didn't stack up very well either.

fly351

After reading through the WGU Student Handbook, I found out I was wrong. Books are not included in the price of tuition, but they give resources for each course, and you can receive book "loans" from WGU's library.

Can anyone attending WGU shed some more light on this? Are the resources they provide (pdf's, websites, etc) efficient study material or do you often find yourself buying additional books?