Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

Hypntick

Hypntick wrote: »

Dear god how long does it take them to process transcripts? They've had them for 2 weeks now and still nothing. My enrollment counsellor has even put in an emergency request and it's been 4 days with nothing. Can't get financial aid started without that info, which is keeping me from buying some gear to study with.

So, I get an email from transcript validation. They got it done, yay. Yet they forgot to attach the file to the email.

An hour later I had the pdf in my email. I transferred in IWC1, SSC1, SST1, AXV1, TIV1, TNV1, TSV1. So that's 24 CU already done out of 122. I also plan on taking CIW v5 before I start in March so that'll be 27 total. That's not bad. I'm a little bummed that my previous programming stuff didn't knock out BOV1 and that my other college math classes didn't at the very least knock out one of those. Oh well.

Need to think about what I want to do first to see if I can knock a chunk of that down to a manageable level. Going for the net admin one, any ideas?

Edit: So I checked my transcript thing, again according to it i'll only need 70 CU. I'm confused. Does it not show everything you actually need?

sheckler

Hypntick wrote: »

Edit: So I checked my transcript thing, again according to it i'll only need 70 CU. I'm confused. Does it not show everything you actually need?

It doesn't show everything you need to graduate. It doesn't show things that can't be transferred, like capstone, tech writing, and some other stuff.

Hypntick

sheckler wrote: »

It doesn't show everything you need to graduate. It doesn't show things that can't be transferred, like capstone, tech writing, and some other stuff.

Gotcha, 95 CU it is. Shame too, I actually took a tech writing class in college years ago. Oh well.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

Gotcha, 95 CU it is. Shame too, I actually took a tech writing class in college years ago. Oh well.

I sounds like a lot, but trust me....you'll be amazed at how many CUs you can knock out. I went from being a freshman, to about a couple CUs shy of Junior status. (If you think along the lines of traditional credit hours.)

If I were you though, I would save your money and just get the CIW v5 voucher from WGU. (You paid for it already....). You're not going to lose or gain time by shelling out $150 before you start. With the certs that you have, plus a quick read on HTML, you'll bag this within the first week, if you want. CIW makes CompTIA look like Cisco/Microsoft combined....you won't even need a practice exam for it with your certs.

drew726

erpadmin wrote: »

I sounds like a lot, but trust me....you'll be amazed at how many CUs you can knock out. I went from being a freshman, to about a couple CUs shy of Junior status. (If you think along the lines of traditional credit hours.)

If I were you though, I would save your money and just get the CIW v5 voucher from WGU. (You paid for it already....). You're not going to lose or gain time by shelling out $150 before you start. With the certs that you have, plus a quick read on HTML, you'll bag this within the first week, if you want. CIW makes CompTIA look like Cisco/Microsoft combined....you won't even need a practice exam for it with your certs.

wow is it really that easy, I went a borrowed a javascript book from the library was about to go through 700 pages

erpadmin

drew726 wrote: »

wow is it really that easy, I went a borrowed a javascript book from the library was about to go through 700 pages

No, it is not really that easy. Work is definitely required at WGU. You have to prove competence in the classes required and it's a lot of paper writing and test taking. I still have to study for stuff like math. Then there are the MS exams I need to take, but I look forward to getting that done this year.

The only thing that's "easy" is that you essentially test out of stuff like English, which I did in my first term to get that out of the way. Science will be done after I'm done with my management and math come next week.

Read my posts in the Student Experiences thread from August 1st on til about November 27th. I pretty much have my WGU experience documented there.

Would

Did all of you have work experience in the IT field before enrolling at WGU? I see that it is a requirement..

veritas_libertas

Would wrote: »

Did all of you have work experience in the IT field before enrolling at WGU? I see that it is a requirement..

It also says that if you have IT certifications you also can enroll. You could always do the CompTIA triad before enrolling.

Online Bachelor Information Technology Degree | WGU College of Information Technology

drew726

erpadmin wrote: »

No, it is not really that easy. Work is definitely required at WGU. You have to prove competence in the classes required and it's a lot of paper writing and test taking. I still have to study for stuff like math. Then there are the MS exams I need to take, but I look forward to getting that done this year.

The only thing that's "easy" is that you essentially test out of stuff like English, which I did in my first term to get that out of the way. Science will be done after I'm done with my management and math come next week.

Read my posts in the Student Experiences thread from August 1st on til about November 27th. I pretty much have my WGU experience documented there.

i didnt mean it was easy sorry, i was wondering if the ciw exams were as hard as the microsoft ones

Would

veritas_libertas wrote: »

It also says that if you have IT certifications you also can enroll. You could always do the CompTIA triad before enrolling.

Online Bachelor Information Technology Degree | WGU College of Information Technology

Thanks for the reply. It also said an associates which I don't have an associates degree but I have completed over 100 hours of college in IT database then i switched my major to electrical engineering so I never got an associates in anything.. So maybe that will be enough

erpadmin

drew726 wrote: »

i didnt mean it was easy sorry, i was wondering if the ciw exams were as hard as the microsoft ones

No worries, I didn't take offense or anything. I just wanted to clarify the amount of work that has to be done, and didn't want to leave an impression that WGU is cake.

CIW v5 Associates (WFV1 @ WGU) is cake though if you have years of IT experience and/or the CompTIA Trinity (A+, Network+ and Security+). It was the one cert I didn't study for.

CIW Javascript (BOV1, formerly AKV1) does involve some studying though. People have used the mcmcse.com study guide to get them through. I haven't taken it yet though...planning on doing it in March.

westward

Hey everyone. I'm finishing an IT degree at WGU in 6 months. I was doing some updated research on WGU credibility, especially for getting a Masters down the road. I had a few questions, and there's some knowledgeable people here who I'm sure can help me!

WGU states it is regionally accredited by one accrediting board for the northwest. However, they also state elsewhere that they're the only college to be regionally accredited by every region in the country. But they are not accredited by the OTHER accreditation groups themselves. Isn't that contradictory?

Also, they also say they're accredited nationally by the distance learning group. Why bother with this, isn't national useless if you're regionally accredited?

Also, does anyone have an understanding of how a Masters school treats the completed "GPA" of WGU. I have all passes, on two "not passed" from not finishing the class during those 6 months.

I should add that I essentially transferred a two-year degree into WGU.


Thanks everyone.

petedude

westward wrote: »

WGU states it is regionally accredited by one accrediting board for the northwest. However, they also state elsewhere that they're the only college to be regionally accredited by every region in the country. But they are not accredited by the OTHER accreditation groups themselves. Isn't that contradictory?

It's a marketing thing. I think they were actually accredited at one time by the other accreditation agencies, but did not maintain those accreditations.

Also, they also say they're accredited nationally by the distance learning group. Why bother with this, isn't national useless if you're regionally accredited?

It's kinda redundant, yes, but it's a marketing thing. It actually says that WGU knows how to handle career-oriented distance learning programs, which is something WGU does.

Seems odd that you're picking on the school AFTER you've started with them.

Also, does anyone have an understanding of how a Masters school treats the completed "GPA" of WGU. I have all passes, on two "not passed" from not finishing the class during those 6 months.

WGU considers their passing grade to be equivalent to a B grade at any other school, and will supply documentation of this upon request. Technically speaking, all WGU grads leave with a B average, which should suffice for most grad schools.

drew726

looks like they didnt transfer over my one of my english classes for LAT1 because I only took 2 total and one of them was used for Communications Fundamentals. Oh well, should i get LAT1 out of the way first?

mokusei75

Hello,

I’m brand new to these forums having heard about them from a friend who is scheduled to begin courses at WGU. I’m just getting started in my IT studies mostly just self-study for the A+ at the moment but do plan on enrolling at WGU in their Database program. I would like to solicit some folks who are currently in the database administration field and/or enrolled in the WGU’s Database program for any information that you might be able to provide regarding what to expect either for employment opportunities, typical job duties and what you might think about the Database program and whether you think it’s a good way to “break in” to the database administration job role (Whatever that might be as I'm pretty much grasping at straws here).

Some background on me to know whom you’re dealing with: zero formal education in the field of computers however have been “attached” to one in some form or another since around 1999-2000. Have tinkered with one here and there before that as far back as early 1980’s with a Texas Instruments TI-86 monstrosity. Seeking a career change: at 35 years of age, husband and father of 3 and being the sole provider for the household, I need something more than the dead end data entry jobs I’ve been accustomed to over the last decade. Looking forward to finally getting off my duff and starting to be constructive with my time by learning the multitude of topics within the IT industry. Right now I’m leaning more towards database studies because straight networking, while fascinating, is not something I think I want to focus on. My friend suggested database as I would like to do some programming but didn’t think focusing solely on programming was a wise or stable choice with the whole outsourcing deal which I don’t really want to get into. So that leads me to probably one of my first questions: Is there a lot of programming in database administration? I see a javascript course or two in the program so I’m not entirely sure.

Long story short ( I know, too late ), I’m hoping to get some feedback and any advice that I might use to further drive home my decision on whether I want to focus on database administration. My overall knowledge of what each “branch” in the IT world does is rather limited so the more information I can get before I take the plunge at WGU, the better. In the meantime I’ll continue working on my A+ certification as that seems to be standard across the board.

Thank you for reading and I’m happy to be part of these forums.

rep21

Hi everyone! I'm Mokusei's friend. I'll be starting WGU at the beginning of June most likely.

I posted in this thread before and had a couple questions answered by erpadmin and others, but I forgot my pwd and it was tied to an email account I recently deleted. So I know there are some really helpful people here.

Since the last time I questioned everyone, I have become more interested in database administration. I was wondering if anyone had insight into the WGU database bachelors program? I think you take three database cert exams: one CIW and two MS, ultimately ending up with an MCITP: Database Developer cert. I know nothing about SQL or SQL server, so I don't even know if those are good certs or even if the WGU database emphasis is of any value in those who want to break into that area of IT.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any insight guys. Its much appreciated.

petedude

rep21 wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone had insight into the WGU database bachelors program? I think you take three database cert exams: one CIW and two MS, ultimately ending up with an MCITP: Database Developer cert. I know nothing about SQL or SQL server, so I don't even know if those are good certs or even if the WGU database emphasis is of any value in those who want to break into that area of IT.

The database track looks good to me. At moments, I find myself wishing I had gone into that track rather than the general IT track.

rep21

petedude wrote: »

The database track looks good to me. At moments, I find myself wishing I had gone into that track rather than the general IT track.

What makes you say that? Just because of the extra DB certs?

petedude

rep21 wrote: »

What makes you say that? Just because of the extra DB certs?

Actually, because I started my IT career in a mixture of programming/database support/client support and eventually moved more toward a mixture of networking/client support. I kinda miss working with databases sometimes.

petedude

myedjo24 wrote: »

I found the part of the interview from Frontline that got my attention for this post.
...

I realize there's a whole 'nother thread about this now, but I thought I'd chime in where I see it relating to WGU.

WGU was founded as a multi-state initiative from governors to provide a competency based education for adults who might not finish college otherwise. I would think it would be difficult for WGU to move to a for-profit model and still have that as its mandate. In fact, I think if they tried, they'd get an earful from sponsors/partners/governors/etc. who had backed them up to this point.

It's not to say that all non-profit to for-profit transformations are bad. I can think of two reasonably successful examples: Ashford University and Salem International University. Both schools have physical campuses and athletics as well as online programs.

But to say WGU would go that route. . . I'd think it unlikely. (Even though that doesn't necessarily stop WGU from working hard to earn a surplus-- the non-profit version of "profit".)

michaelcox

I have my intake interview with WGU tomorrow, followed by a scholarship interview with them...

earweed

petedude wrote: »

I realize there's a whole 'nother thread about this now, but I thought I'd chime in where I see it relating to WGU.

WGU was founded as a multi-state initiative from governors to provide a competency based education for adults who might not finish college otherwise. I would think it would be difficult for WGU to move to a for-profit model and still have that as its mandate. In fact, I think if they tried, they'd get an earful from sponsors/partners/governors/etc. who had backed them up to this point.

It's not to say that all non-profit to for-profit transformations are bad. I can think of two reasonably successful examples: Ashford University and Salem International University. Both schools have physical campuses and athletics as well as online programs.

But to say WGU would go that route. . . I'd think it unlikely. (Even though that doesn't necessarily stop WGU from working hard to earn a surplus-- the non-profit version of "profit".)

I hope they actually maintain their non-profit status as I think that gives them more legitimacy. However with their ever increasing enrollment and the strain on their infrastructure they do need to expand their facilities and increase the number of mentors/faculty.

nhpr

I came to this board to get information on certs and I find this thread. Now, I find that there's an institution of higher learning that shares some of my philosophies on education, and my interest has been piqued.

Anyhow, I was wondering whether or not anyone knows if WGU accepts advanced placement (AP) tests? I took thirteen or fourteen in high school about ten years ago -- most in subjects that are part of their curriculum. Does anyone know if, with a bit of cajoling perhaps, there would be any chance of them accepting these exams as a demonstration of competence in the subject?

What about high school classes that exceed their requirements? For example, in high school I took calculus, vector calculus, multi-variable calculus, statistics, and linear algebra. Would they consider that sufficient math provided I can prove that I've retained enough of it?

If they'll reduce the amount of time I have to spend on the degree, there's no question I'd sign up.

eansdad

nhpr wrote: »

I came to this board to get information on certs and I find this thread. Now, I find that there's an institution of higher learning that shares some of my philosophies on education, and my interest has been piqued.

Anyhow, I was wondering whether or not anyone knows if WGU accepts advanced placement (AP) tests? I took thirteen or fourteen in high school about ten years ago -- most in subjects that are part of their curriculum. Does anyone know if, with a bit of cajoling perhaps, there would be any chance of them accepting these exams as a demonstration of competence in the subject?

What about high school classes that exceed their requirements? For example, in high school I took calculus, vector calculus, multi-variable calculus, statistics, and linear algebra. Would they consider that sufficient math provided I can prove that I've retained enough of it?

If they'll reduce the amount of time I have to spend on the degree, there's no question I'd sign up.

I don't see anything about not accepting them but you would most likely have to talk to someone at the college. I doubt they will accept advanced classes that you haven't taken an AP exam on. Since the classes are at your own pace even if you did have to take them you could get them done quickly.

earweed

Having taen that much math in HS the math classes at WGU would be a breeze for you. I don't know if they set a time limit on the AP tests but if they don't have a set policy of a time limit then they should be good.
EDIT: Checked the student handbook and it says you must have scored 3 or better. It doesn't mention a time limit.

nhpr

Thanks for the quick replies. Looks like I'll be requesting some information from them.

jeffbates2002

Hello everyone.

I hope this thread is okay for posting this... I am looking for advice and input--even personal experiences... I have a bachelors in the social sciences and am strongly considering WGU; however, with the bachelors already, I'd like to go into the masters... here's the deal--no A+, Network+ or Security+--Sec+ required for entrance into the program...

Knowing I have some basics and CIW Foundations and Site Designer, but have only a little industry experience, would you suggest I enroll in the bachelors rather than trying to brain **** the certs and do the masters?

I'd be very interested in opinions here.

Thank you in advance.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

jeffbates2002 wrote: »

would you suggest I enroll in the bachelors rather than trying to brain **** the certs and do the masters?

I suggest you actually learn the material rather than **** on your tests....

jeffbates2002

by 'brain ****' what I was thinking and meant was, I'd buy CompTIA study texts and practice exams... not just practice exams hoping they ask the questions I'd studied...

So the question is, would you recommend studying for the certs and taking them on my own, then going into the masters program, or, given the limited IT exposure, do another bachelors and do the certs in that program?

erpadmin

jeffbates2002 wrote: »

by 'brain ****' what I was thinking and meant was, I'd buy CompTIA study texts and practice exams... not just practice exams hoping they ask the questions I'd studied...

So the question is, would you recommend studying for the certs and taking them on my own, then going into the masters program, or, given the limited IT exposure, do another bachelors and do the certs in that program?

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't know what a "brain ****" prior to writing that. But this board does not encourage their use or cheating of any kind.

In any event, I would suggest you take the certs on WGU dime. You won't have to pay out of pocket for vouchers; they're included in the cost of your tuition. The drawback to that is you're kind of in a time crunch. However, that can be managed by you.