Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

JamesKurtovich

I would love it if we could switch out CCNA Security for the CEH.

Elegyx

Just applied to WGU today (BS in IT: Security). Looked through there site though and couldn't find the answer to this question. I'd like to dabble in forensics possibly as a career at some point, do any of there IT degrees have a Forensics course in there program? It doesn't seem like they do.

hurricane1091

markulous wrote: »

Yeah, I mean it's not a bad cert by any means, but I don't see much ROI on it by itself, nor do I see a ton of additional info from it. If someone was going to go through the whole Cisco Security path then it's a different story. That was just my take though.

I've gotten lazy the past week or so, I'm done all the videos but need to go back and study some more. Have a book as well that's really boring. Still glad I did it though since the CCNAs knock out the hardest part of the degree basically in my opinion. I guess it was all meant to be.

JamesKurtovich

Elegyx wrote: »

Just applied to WGU today (BS in IT: Security). Looked through there site though and couldn't find the answer to this question. I'd like to dabble in forensics possibly as a career at some point, do any of there IT degrees have a Forensics course in there program? It doesn't seem like they do.

BS IT - Security Courses

It doesn't look like there's anything to do with forensics in the program. Someone who's actually gone through it all should weigh in.

I'd also like to know about the "Scripting and Programming" courses. Is it Java?

I applied to the same program myself just yesterday -- mainly for its Cisco certifications.

markulous

LordSevink wrote: »

BS IT - Security Courses

It doesn't look like there's anything to do with forensics in the program. Someone who's actually gone through it all should weigh in.

I'd also like to know about the "Scripting and Programming" courses. Is it Java?

I applied to the same program myself just yesterday -- mainly for its Cisco certifications.

No, there are no forensics programs in the BS IT Security. I've got a handful of classes left on this degree program.

I'm curious how old that is. I transferred in a Java course for "Software Fundamentals" but I never had to take any Java courses. They changed the degree program a few months after I started and got rid of any programming courses (thankfully).

GSXR750K2

I've only glanced over the questions from the past couple of days so I'll answer the ones I can based on what I've seen. I'm a student, so I don't work for WGU, but me and my mentor have a great relationship and we both stay on top of things and keep each other informed.

This one hopefully answers a couple of questions at the same time...the MTA and CIW exams are on their way out for a variety of reasons. DJV1 for example (MTA 98-361, Software Dev Fundamentals) is being replaced on March 1, 2015 with C173 (Python - Intro to Scripting and Programming) and C169 (Java - Application of Scripting and Programming). I looked at the COS for both of these courses today and neither seem very difficult. People who started in January or February of this year (maybe even some in December of 2014) have these courses out of the box. While I think it will be optional for those of us already underway, some people have been logging in to find their program changed, so if your mentor hasn't brought it up, ask them about it ASAP to find out how/if you'll be affected.

Second, the EC-Council "Certified Ethical Hacker" and "Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator" certs and related topics are encompassed in the M.S. Info Sec & Assurance program. They'll probably never be in the B.S. IT-SEC program for the simple reason of WGU wants to maximize their degree offerings (and those certs are much more specialized...B.S. degrees for the most part have an emphasis but in general are very broad in scope). WGU may be non-profit but they have bills to pay, so more diverse/advanced degree programs help keep the lights on.

To tie in with the "more degree offerings" sentiment, the B.S. Software Development program has been in beta/development for a bit and may be available now, and if not now, very soon.

Mainly to hurricane1901, my personal experience was any certs that I wanted to count towards getting me out of courses had to be turned in one month prior to my start date. I too got some conflicting info about it but that's how it turned out in my case. When I did the program switch that markulous mentioned I asked my advisor about doing another evaluation since I had earned my CCDA outside of and after I started WGU. I got a hold of the Records Dept. and they got it taken care of and it satisfied CRV1. This method may only work when there is a major program shift like the one starting in March.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the information! I received an email yesterday stating that I am cleared to start for March 1. I have 14 classes to complete for my Bachelor's. I'm hoping to complete them in two terms but we will see how that goes. I'm excited that Python will be included in my program now because that was something I wanted to dedicate some time to after I finished up my degree. Below are the classes needed to complete my degree:

C176 (actively studying, will probably take at the open of my term), C179, C376, C246 (held CCNA but let it expire), C247 (held CCNA but let it expire), C299 (held CCNA:S but let it expire), C393 (really? :P), C394(really? :P), C100, C173, C169, C175, C170, C484

I'm really excited to get started. I think my addiction to Destiny on PS4 is going to have to go back burner while I complete my degree.

GSXR750K2

xmalachi wrote: »

Thanks for the information! I received an email yesterday stating that I am cleared to start for March 1. I have 14 classes to complete for my Bachelor's. I'm hoping to complete them in two terms but we will see how that goes.

That is definitely doable in two terms. A way to help jump start it is when you talk to your mentor (if you haven't already) let him/her know what you've been studying for already and come up with a plan of attack to reach OTP (on time performance) as quickly as possible. Once you reach OTP you can accelerate your program and take on more courses. Just some planning advice to keep mind, the last month of your term is cut kind of short...assessments have to be scheduled by the 20th day of the last month of your term and any performance assessments (English paper, recorded speech, etc.) have to be submitted to TaskStream by the 27th day of the last month of your term. If you take on a course with six weeks or so left in the term, go ahead and tell yourself there's only four weeks left so you're not coming down the wire on being prepared.

You shouldn't have any trouble knocking some of those courses out quickly since you've been around long enough to earn a couple of CCNAs and for them to lapse. The CCNA-RS has changed since you took it last, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Greg2822

Is there any downside to transferring numerous IT certifications when enrolling? I am planning to enroll in the program for the B.S. - Network Administration in the near future. I currently do not have the money for this and want to work on knocking out the Security+ and Project+ certs in the meantime. I already hold the A+ and N+ and figure this will allow me to complete my degree even faster once I have the funding, as I'll only need two additional certs.

techfiend

The only downside of transferring is you may save some money if you can do it within a term. For example, going in for BS: net admin with just an A+ and all but 2 generals transferred. I figured I could do the n+ and s+ in 2 months and the other courses would take me more than 6 months but less than 10 months. So paying for 2 terms no matter what. Taking the n+ and s+ at wgu saved me $500+ and n+ labsim prepared me much better than exam cram did but they both missed classless subnetting.

Unless you have all your generals transferred and can work on it 50+ hours a week I don't think 1 term is realistic even with all the comptia's. 2 terms working on it 30 hours a week is hopefully a realistic goal.

They are in the middle of changing the mta and other cert courses and it sounds like other certs will not allow you to skip these. You have to give yourself a few months for these. They are doing this to give the near full cert students more of an education. Kind of crazy to obtain a bachelors degree by taking 1 cert test and writing a capstone.

Elegyx

Applied a few days ago and my transcripts are getting sent there (AS degree from a Community College in IT and some other courses here and there) so hopefully they arrive this week. I want to get into security/forensics so I went with the BS in IT: Security program. Looking at the certs you get. N+ and S+ are obviously going to be nice to have. It'd be nice if you could swap the Linux+ cert or any of the CCNA certs out for say a forensics cert or a different security cert but I guess it is what it is. They have those in there for a reason I would assume

I also applied for a couple of different scholarships so we'll see how that goes.

techfiend

It would be nice if they added a network engineering track that focused on cisco and maybe juniper. Then fix security with isc2 or something more sec focused than cisco,

Someone focused on routing and switching, like me, doesn't have a clear choice. Originally signed up for security because of the ccna until I found out I have very little interest in security beyond the common sense things. Also learning from this forum infosec opportunities are rare around here. I thought net admin track would accelerate my career but it's still not what I want to do. Network design and engineering is a large part of it and offered at many colleges, I'm surprised wgu doesn't offer it. I do think their net admin track is spot on, security? not so much.

raell

Hi folks - first post
Hey I am almost finished with my first term and I keep running into roadblocks...that said I was trying to do some research into how to maximize my time and effort towards completing as much as possible over the summer. One strategy I thought I would use is to organize all the classes that I needed to pass into groups and try to knock them out as efficiently as possible. But then my mentor tells me that if I take one class and pass, it also fills the requirements for two other classes. WTF I said - how do I know which classes fulfill each others requirements so I don't waste my time? Is there an easy way to tell which classes can be stacked like this? Any advice greatly appreciated...I am enrolled in the basic IT program, Bachelor of Science, Information Technology.

John-John

This BS in Software Development has me interested. I have applied to it and am in the process of getting all of my transcripts and classes transferred over from my BS in MIS. There are many do-it-yourself options in the realm of software development both online and offline. I was thinking of just spending this year taking various web classes from places like one month rails and Treehouse and then going to a bootcamp for three months. The cost of this would probably equal the cost of a degree at WGU, about 12k. The bootcamp thing would require me to leave my job though which has me hesitant which is why I am looking at WGU. I wonder if I could get a solid education here. I see it is mostly Java and SQL. The rest of it is stuff I learned in MIS; project management and databases stuff. It looks like it might not be teaching me a whole lot that I haven't learned before and I am afraid of that. I think once my classes are transferred in I will make my decision.

GSXR750K2

techfiend wrote: »

It would be nice if they added a network engineering track that focused on cisco and maybe juniper.

I agree. I would like to have seen the Network Admin track offer the CCNA and JNCIA for a better overall. A lot of the concepts obviously carry over between each other, but the implementation of each brand would be nice to know. I've been thinking about the JNCIA for that very reason...I'm decently versed in Cisco but Juniper has a strong following as well.

raell wrote: »

WTF I said - how do I know which classes fulfill each others requirements so I don't waste my time?

There's a chart on TE that has them listed. Some classes have been/are being dropped so the chart may be outdated to a degree. When I find it I'll edit the post to include the link.

An FYI for all, I got word back that C173 (Intro to Scripting and Programming) does NOT satisfy C169 (Applications of Scripting and Programming). This may change as the courses age (they are new) but for now that's what I've been told.

raell

GSXR750K2 wrote: »

There's a chart on TE that has them listed. Some classes have been/are being dropped so the chart may be outdated to a degree. When I find it I'll edit the post to include the link.

Thanks that would be great!

My mentor told me today not to bother with the Database Fundamentals and Database I courses. Says they are being replaced with in house courses because the MS MTA and CIW database certs just aren't recognized by employers.

Sounds like the other CIW courses (Web Dev, JavaScript) are staying.

Wish I knew of a formal resource that showed all these upcoming changes.

GSXR750K2

raell wrote: »

Thanks that would be great!

My bad, had quite a busy day at work and forgot about that. About to turn in for the night but I'll track it down, or better yet, while I'm on the call with my mentor I'll ask if she has a composite list.

raell wrote: »

Sounds like the other CIW courses (Web Dev, JavaScript) are staying.

From what I understand all of the CIW and MTA exams are getting dropped, I'll double check that tomorrow morning. They are great for people learning from square one with no knowledge or experience, but they are utterly useless in the real world...I'd say if anything they would reinforce how "green" a job candidate is if he/she tried to tout them as credentials.

raell wrote: »

Wish I knew of a formal resource that showed all these upcoming changes.

I keep up with the program changes for BSIT-Sec and have the program guides for the last three or four versions. A program other than that and I won't be able to tell you what has changed, and even then, this latest IT-Sec version has some existing courses renamed/renumbered so it makes it look like some changes have happened that really haven't.

I'll see what my mentor is in the mood to tell me tomorrow morning.

earonw49

Please keep us informed! Thank you for your assistance. My mentor doesn't know a thing or at least pretends not to.

markulous

xmalachi wrote: »

Does anyone have an idea of when I will get assigned a mentor? Do I have to do anything to trigger that process or will they just contact me? I have a meeting with my enrollment counselor today so hopefully if no one answers here she can give me some insight.

I was 3-4 days into my term before I heard anything from my mentor and that was because I was on the phone bugging them. If I were you, I'd call the first day of your term and ask to speak to your mentor to speed it up. Since then, he's been timely with everything but I was a little annoyed at first.

earonw49

xmalachi wrote: »

Does anyone have an idea of when I will get assigned a mentor? Do I have to do anything to trigger that process or will they just contact me? I have a meeting with my enrollment counselor today so hopefully if no one answers here she can give me some insight.

My mentor began communication a week from my start date. Call student services if you haven't heard from or have been assigned a SM a few days before your start date.

You can check if you're assigned a SM if you look on your my.wgu portal or use the PocketWGU app.

GSXR750K2

Okay...she has a list of what courses satisfy other courses, but given the program changes and course restructuring she's afraid sending it to me in its current form may cause more harm than good. She said to get with her during the second week of March and she'll have an updated list of what satisfies what. In the meantime, she said a general rule at the moment is if a course has "Fundamentals" in the name, its succeeding course will satisfy it (with a few exceptions). I guess that's why C169 doesn't satisfy C173 because it's an "Intro" and not a fundamental level course.

It also appears that DVJ1 may still be an option for those who are already in an older version of the program. She said she'll have to request a manual transfer for anyone under her who wants to transition from DJV1 to C173/C169, but that has to happen after March 1st so a partial enrollment may be needed to accommodate the courses being included in OTP (starting the term with less than 12 CUs and adding C173/C169 later to give 12+ CUs). Given the problems with DJV1 it might not be a bad idea for some to consider (that's my personal opinion).

xmalachi wrote: »

Does anyone have an idea of when I will get assigned a mentor? Do I have to do anything to trigger that process or will they just contact me? I have a meeting with my enrollment counselor today so hopefully if no one answers here she can give me some insight.

-EDIT-

Checked my WGU emails, I first spoke with my mentor on 2/26 for the 3/1 term start. I'd expect to hear from him/her sometime next week.

hurricane1091

Is every program changing? They cannot change it once I start, right? Does anyone know how long it takes for transcript/cert evaluation? Send in a request to all my colleges early last week to send it out, so they should have gotten it at the end of the week. I imagine this takes a few weeks though.

markulous

hurricane1091 wrote: »

Is every program changing? They cannot change it once I start, right? Does anyone know how long it takes for transcript/cert evaluation? Send in a request to all my colleges early last week to send it out, so they should have gotten it at the end of the week. I imagine this takes a few weeks though.

I believe that once you start, you are grandfathered into your class list and it can only change if you request it.

Transcript evaluation didn't take long. I think about 5 business days for me both of the times I did it.

GSXR750K2

hurricane1091 wrote: »

Is every program changing? They cannot change it once I start, right? Does anyone know how long it takes for transcript/cert evaluation? Send in a request to all my colleges early last week to send it out, so they should have gotten it at the end of the week. I imagine this takes a few weeks though.

The IT-Sec program is being revamped and the software side is going through some big changes with the inclusion of BS Software Development, other than that I can't say for sure what is being updated.

As far as transcripts and certifications go, you should get an email when they receive that particular item. In my case (and this may have changed since), I had to have everything turned in no later than one month prior to my start date (March 1, 2014), so I submitted my Cisco, MS, and prior college transcript to them in January 2014 and they sent me the Transcript Evaluation Results around the last business day of that month. I should note that I am in Arkansas, and March of 2014 was the first time the WGU had accepted Arkansas students (no idea why), so that may have been a factor in my timeline as well.

From my personal experience, I had the option of keeping my IT-Sec program as it was when I started. My mentor informed me of a newer degree version and I chose to go to that newer version because it gave me a net gain of 17 units...some courses I had already taken were re-weighted to be worth more and they dropped some programming courses, so for me in this particular case it made a whole lot of sense from an ROI standpoint to transition to the new program.

However, I've seen some comments of people logging in and finding their programs had changed over night. I don't think this is the norm. I mentioned it to my mentor and she was all "WTF!?" about it. When I transitioned to a newer flavor of the program, I had to do a "I understand I can't go back to how things were" form to acknowledge that I was accepting the updated program and all of its changes.

When you talk to your mentor, let him/her know that you're aware that there are changes afoot and state plainly that you would like to be notified of any changes in the future so you can decide if the changes are worth pursuing...don't ask, tell. Doing so puts them in the position to either say "okay" or making them explain why something can't happen, and in doing so may answer some of your questions without you having to ask them. You mentor is there to help you get your degree, not to corral you into the path of least resistance. If you find your mentor's style isn't in sync with yours, don't be afraid to request a new mentor. It's just business...you're paying WGU and the mentors' salaries, so don't let fear of upsetting someone get in the way.

hurricane1091

Thanks for the responses. I have not heard anything back yet. I did a transcript request from my most recent (and important since it is my IT degree) college last Monday, then did the other two schools on Wednesday. I've been under the impression that the program currently listed on the website was the program I was enrolling into. Don't know if that's the most recent or not I guess.

GSXR750K2

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I've been under the impression that the program currently listed on the website was the program I was enrolling into. Don't know if that's the most recent or not I guess.

In general you can go by the date at the bottom of the program guide PDF. 12/24/2014 is the latest version of several programs, so if you're starting now, that will be your outline. When that date changes you can ask your mentor about what has changed to see if it is advantageous for your to update to the newer version or stay with the one you started with.

Elegyx

I'm going to start the BS IT: Security program so I'm very interested to see what changes they are/will make to that specific program. If I had to change anything about it, I would drop the Linux+ and replace it with a forensics cert or another security cert. The CCNA: Security doesn't bug me to much anymore because DoD 8570 requires it now. Even though I don't work for the Government (yet anyway, have aspirations to) the 8570 is a nice little guideline to follow for certs to get if you're doing Security work.

hurricane1091

GSXR750K2 wrote: »

In general you can go by the date at the bottom of the program guide PDF. 12/24/2014 is the latest version of several programs, so if you're starting now, that will be your outline. When that date changes you can ask your mentor about what has changed to see if it is advantageous for your to update to the newer version or stay with the one you started with.

Okay, thanks bunches. Wonder when it will update?

GSXR750K2

It varies on when they update them. At the risk of polluting the water a little, here's the program prior to the 12/24/2014 update.

You can compare it to the current version and see a lot has changed, but like I've said previously, some of the changes are cosmetic (course number/name changes), so I'd say the two are more like afternoon and evening, not night and day.

hurricane1091

GSXR750K2 wrote: »

It varies on when they update them. At the risk of polluting the water a little, here's the program prior to the 12/24/2014 update.

You can compare it to the current version and see a lot has changed, but like I've said previously, some of the changes are cosmetic (course number/name changes), so I'd say the two are more like afternoon and evening, not night and day.

Looks like I'd have more of that done, damn.