Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

AintRite

Ok so I'm about to run out classes this semester and I have four months left this semester. I would like for someone to tell me what the easy classes are that i could get done pretty fast. I'm saving all my certs for the end so I would like to know the non IT classes. I'm in the

BoS - IT Security

TWA1
LET1
ORC1
IWC1
IWT1
MGC1
TWA1
KET1
KFT1

I think these are all of the non cert classes i have left.

Psoasman

AintRite wrote: »

Ok so I'm about to run out classes this semester and I have four months left this semester. I would like for someone to tell me what the easy classes are that i could get done pretty fast. I'm saving all my certs for the end so I would like to know the non IT classes. I'm in the

BoS - IT Security

TWA1
LET1
ORC1
IWC1
IWT1
MGC1
TWA1
KET1
KFT1

I think these are all of the non cert classes i have left.

I did the IWC1 and IWT1 in 10 days. MGC1 could probably be done in a week or so, provided you've worked in a corporate environment. Is ORC1 the Org leadership class? If so, that's another 1-2 week class. Not sure about the KET1 or KFT1, those would probably take longer, unless you have some programming experience.

AintRite

Thank you that was exactly what I was looking for. Looks like I may be able to get a few of these done.

loss4words

Quick question: In a scenario where no credits from previous education are transferred, and let's say I need to take 5 classes for Term 1, am I expected to finish all 5 within the 6 months period? What if it takes me longer?

I wanted to sign up for BS IT Network Admin, but I'm afraid that I will not be able to complete CCENT/CCNA in less than 6 months. I heard that it takes most people a year or more to be really ready for CCNA...Am I worrying too much?

erpadmin

loss4words wrote: »

Quick question: In a scenario where no credits from previous education are transferred, and let's say I need to take 5 classes for Term 1, am I expected to finish all 5 within the 6 months period? What if it takes me longer?

I wanted to sign up for BS IT Network Admin, but I'm afraid that I will not be able to complete CCENT/CCNA in less than 6 months. I heard that it takes most people a year or more to be really ready for CCNA...Am I worrying too much?

Yes, if you are enrolled in five courses (course that are added to your AAV), you have to finish those courses within six months. Your initial CUs are going to be 12 CUs worth, then you accelerate for other course. If it takes you longer than six months and you have courses remaining for courses that aren't MS or Cisco, then you will finish the course with a fail. For courses that are MS or Cisco, WGU gives you a month extension, but you have to ask for that in advance. This scenario is pretty much why folks are turning towards the regular IT degree. Regardless of emphasis, everyone gets a "Bachelor of Science--Information Technology" degree. Yes, the certs are nice, but if you want to do the IT program quickly and with little stress, the regular IT degree is the way to go. My third term was extremely stressful in trying to get my MCITP:EA cert....I did it, but not without almost losing my mind on one exam (70-643). The CCNA is another cert that you want to rush, either...unless you've been dealing with routers for a good while.

loss4words

Thanks erpadmin,

Your reply helped me understand that a traditional school will probably be better for me. Thank you!

archimedes

@erpadmin

If I read your signature correctly.. you received transfer credit for 10 courses and finished in 3 terms? If this is correct, can you give some pointers on your study habits and any advice in general would be greatly appreciated? I am starting my first term on 4/1 with no transfer credits. I would like to finish in 5 terms max but would love to pull it off in 4.

Cheers

erpadmin

archimedes wrote: »

@erpadmin

If I read your signature correctly.. you received transfer credit for 10 courses and finished in 3 terms? If this is correct, can you give some pointers on your study habits and any advice in general would be greatly appreciated? I am starting my first term on 4/1 with no transfer credits. I would like to finish in 5 terms max but would love to pull it off in 4.

Cheers

Every class that I finished I wrote in this thread (start with what I wrote on August 1, 2010).

I took the whole study-for-20-hours bit to heart. No one from work knew I had gone back to school...in fact the only time I ever mixed school and work was when I had a revision (LAT1 was a good example...and that was a stupid one on my part....[they got the wrong document...lmao.]) Had I used DropBox at the time, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but since I knew the name of the file, I just had wifey (the next best thing after dropbox, lol) email me the file.

In any event, I spent evenings and weekends working on CUs. You are probably thinking I had no life. You'd be wrong...I did. Most of the CUs got handled at night during the week. I spent the weekends also. I also worked, for the most part, on one course at a time (except of course for WFV1...that involved some study on HTML and that MCMCSE.COM study guide, but that's about it.)

If you read my posts from August 1, 2010 to January 2012, you'll have a good idea. You can start with this master post I wrote for my first term.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/51715-western-governors-university-questions-answers-threads-related-wgu-58.html#post514435

I was gonna edit it to include terms 2 and 3 but and include my MCITP:EA adventure thread in the Microsoft cert subforum but I always get busy. But every WGU pass in that very thread. Most of my study time happens in the evening, because I literally don't have time to do it at work. It is not even so much that it's frowned upon (and it is) but that I wouldn't have time to do it even if it wasn't.

erpadmin

loss4words wrote: »

Thanks erpadmin,

Your reply helped me understand that a traditional school will probably be better for me. Thank you!

As someone who has done/doing both, keep in mind that "traditional" online learning isn't necessarily better. Your professor's "lecture" will point you in the right direction, but you are still, for the most part, on your own. Not to mention that if you are ready to hand assignments in earlier than when your professor wants to, you are limited to when the professor wants to see it. The good thing about that is that it gives you time to make sure you add the stuff he wants to see. Not to mention, online quizes/exams (regardless of if they're proctored or not) are not easy [especially if they're non-proctored.] A good example is if a popular social network site [the most popular as of this writing] is considered a "social graph" or a "social networking site"? Guess what, both are right. HOWEVER, you have to look at the context of the question. Oh, and you have to choose one....there's no "all of the above." because the other choices are definitely wrong. But the way these quizzes are designed (by the textbook manufacturer, not the professor) test to see if you have read the chapter [or can use the index properly....lol.]

WGU helped me prepare in a lot of ways for handling classes done at the Master's level. [That, and prior coursework.....even if my mind was not right when I first attempted college....]

Take that for what it's worth.

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

But I think its clear that we all went/advocate for WGU because of its RA status.

Yep. That, and I was really enamored with the competency approach. Still am for the most part.

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

Here's something that many of you, both long-term students, new students and prospective students probably didn't realize. There's a reason why mentors have to talk to you weekly, and the reason is not as altruistic as it appears.

I'd been meaning to chime in on this thought for a few days now, and I ought to before I like, forget.

Federal aid is a primary factor, yes. But another is that at the time WGU opened up, there really weren't that many accredited or respected fully-online programs. I imagine not only the feds, but the school's accreditor(s) expected something to fill in for the traditional Platonic learning experience, where students have some sort of contact with an instructor. If you didn't at least have a mentor, the school would have been hit with a correspondence school-style stigma which has only recently begun to dissipate from distance learning programs. I imagine getting accreditation would have been more difficult without mentors.

usagent27

How is RIT1? it's one of the last non tech classes i have to complete.

itangel

I decided to take the Network Administrator over the Network Design and Management due to one thing the CCNA exam over the Network+ exam. I hope this works out for me since I feel it might be a tough exam to pass with a 13% pass rate.

SteveLord

Did anyone here receive the IT scholarship?

Information Technology Professionals Scholarship | Western Governors University

[h=4]Eligibility Requirements[/h] To be eligible for this scholarship, students must:

• Complete an application for admission.
• Submit official transcripts of all prior college work. (The best candidates will be able to demonstrate that they have obtained the equivalent of 2 years of completed college experience.)
• Have 6 or more years of IT career experience.
• Enter the degree program with 2 or more IT certifications.
• Be officially admitted to WGU.
• Be able to demonstrate financial need. Each applicant’s financial situation will be reviewed individually. This will require completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). (Preference will be given to those with modest income.)
• Interview with a WGU Scholarship Counselor prior to award decision.

Nobylspoon

I'm wrapping up my studies for 70-640 and about to spend the week drilling practice tests. How close are the Testout questions to the MS ones?

UPDATE: STS has a 35% off promo this weekend (STSFOOLS12) so I decided to order all 4 MCITP:EA practice tests. Total came out to be $228.

rep21

SteveLord wrote: »

Did anyone here receive the IT scholarship?

Information Technology Professionals Scholarship | Western Governors University

I don't have this specific IT scholarship, but I was able to get a different one that was for students who came in with an Associates degree. Its like $500 every term. Pretty sweet!

CompuTron99

Nobylspoon wrote: »

I'm wrapping up my studies for 70-640 and about to spend the week drilling practice tests. How close are the Testout questions to the MS ones?

UPDATE: STS has a 35% off promo this weekend (STSFOOLS12) so I decided to order all 4 MCITP:EA practice tests. Total came out to be $228.

Where you able to answer your own question?

Letter

I currently have a BS in Business Administration: Computer Info Systems degree from a fairly big-name university. I am working on my certifications while working at a local data center as a tier 3-type employee (been here for about a year and a half).

The problem is, my degree focused so heavily on business that I've literally been surviving on past experience, self-study and home labs as my education didn't get very technical.

I am strongly considering working on a degree from WGU to fill in the lack of IT education. I have the degree, but I didn't get much technical knowledge out of it.

Do you guys think I would get anything out of WGU or would I be spending my time/money better by just getting certs on my own?

Also, my current degree did land me a pretty nice management job which I quickly left! I want to work in the trenches not direct/delegate/hire/fire. So I took a night job at a data center which got me where I am now (initially for a huge pay cut, but I am now back to where I was almost).

I am scheduled to chat with a mentor on Monday.

Nobylspoon

CompuTron99 wrote: »

Where you able to answer your own question?

Yeah, I found the STS ones to be the best out of Testout, MeasureUp and uCertify.

swild

Letter wrote: »

I currently have a BS in Business Administration: Computer Info Systems degree from a fairly big-name university. I am working on my certifications while working at a local data center as a tier 3-type employee (been here for about a year and a half).

The problem is, my degree focused so heavily on business that I've literally been surviving on past experience, self-study and home labs as my education didn't get very technical.

I am strongly considering working on a degree from WGU to fill in the lack of IT education. I have the degree, but I didn't get much technical knowledge out of it.

Do you guys think I would get anything out of WGU or would I be spending my time/money better by just getting certs on my own?

Also, my current degree did land me a pretty nice management job which I quickly left! I want to work in the trenches not direct/delegate/hire/fire. So I took a night job at a data center which got me where I am now (initially for a huge pay cut, but I am now back to where I was almost).

I am scheduled to chat with a mentor on Monday.

Since you already have a bachelor's, I'm not sure that an undergraduate from WGU would be very helpful. I decided on WGU for several reasons: I needed to finish my undergrad, non-profit school, low cost, move as fast as I want, able to finish in 1 term, earns me a CCNA:Sec which I was going to do on my own anyways, pell grant, scholarship, employer tuition reimbursement. This way, I didn't pay a lot more than I would have just for the Cisco certs alone and I also get a BS out of it. Also, my employer wasn't going to pay for me to get a CCNA, but they will pay for me to get a BS.

It's not a very in depth program, and I don't know that it would help you much since you already have experience and a BA. You might consider their Master's program or just getting the certs that you want. The CCNA is far harder than any other course in the security emphasis program.

Letter

swild wrote: »

Since you already have a bachelor's, I'm not sure that an undergraduate from WGU would be very helpful. I decided on WGU for several reasons: I needed to finish my undergrad, non-profit school, low cost, move as fast as I want, able to finish in 1 term, earns me a CCNA:Sec which I was going to do on my own anyways, pell grant, scholarship, employer tuition reimbursement. This way, I didn't pay a lot more than I would have just for the Cisco certs alone and I also get a BS out of it. Also, my employer wasn't going to pay for me to get a CCNA, but they will pay for me to get a BS.

It's not a very in depth program, and I don't know that it would help you much since you already have experience and a BA. You might consider their Master's program or just getting the certs that you want. The CCNA is far harder than any other course in the security emphasis program.

Thank you for the response, exactly what I was looking for. I thought about the master programs. I am just worried it would be difficult for me considering the lack of related undergraduate.

I've been studying for the CCNA for about a year now; I have it scheduled for the 24th.

erpadmin

Letter wrote: »

Thank you for the response, exactly what I was looking for. I thought about the master programs. I am just worried it would be difficult for me considering the lack of related undergraduate.

I've been studying for the CCNA for about a year now; I have it scheduled for the 24th.

In your situation, you may want to look at a WGU-MBA-IT management. OR, look for programs that offer a Master's in Business Information Systems or something like that. Believe it or not, even if you had gotten technical knowledge as part of your degree, most programs in academia are teaching both technical and business. Heck, in the PeopleSoft ERP that I support, I see jobs all the time for a technical-functional person (someone who knows the business AND is technical [can program according to the business requirements].)

You are already working in the field. No college anywhere is going to be better than work experience. Keep up with your job and keep doing what you're doing. In another year or so, you will be able to write your own ticket...but don't discount that business knowledge you learned in school. You will learn how to leverage that as you progress in your career. Trust me on that.

jcole4lsu

Regarding admissions to WGU..
it says you either need an AS or one of several options, one of which includes:

Two or more upper-level networking courses

anyone know what all that would include? im taking two courses now, one of which covers the comptia net+ material, the other covers ms server 2008. would that count as "upper level networking?

erpadmin

jcole4lsu wrote: »

Regarding admissions to WGU..
it says you either need an AS or one of several options, one of which includes:

anyone know what all that would include? im taking two courses now, one of which covers the comptia net+ material, the other covers ms server 2008. would that count as "upper level networking?

"upper-level" is generally 300-400 level courses. I doubt it's 200-level.

I will tell you that A+ and Network+ counted as two certs I had earned prior to going to WGU. I actually met their current admissions policy prior to that becoming the rule. Between that and work experience, you should be good to go.

ArabianKnight

I am looking into the BSIT NDM degree plan at WGU and want to find out how many credits I can transfer in maximum. Also what are the non-transferable courses for this program currently? I talked to admissions a few days ago and they said I may be able to transfer more than 90 but that would depend on the specifics but she did not go into any detail. Assuming you have all the certs and gen ed courses complete and transfered what would be left? I think there are only 3 courses that you must take, the capstone, tech writing, and some other course.

Anyone in this program know about this, my goal is to transfer the max credits in before I start and they also keep changing the degree plan, and that makes it difficult to figure out.

erpadmin

ArabianKnight wrote: »

I am looking into the BSIT NDM degree plan at WGU and want to find out how many credits I can transfer in maximum. Also what are the non-transferable courses for this program currently? I talked to admissions a few days ago and they said I may be able to transfer more than 90 but that would depend on the specifics but she did not go into any detail. Assuming you have all the certs and gen ed courses complete and transfered what would be left? I think there are only 3 courses that you must take, the capstone, tech writing, and some other course.

Anyone in this program know about this, my goal is to transfer the max credits in before I start and they also keep changing the degree plan, and that makes it difficult to figure out.

Only an enrollment counselor can give you the most realistic response, but from what I can tell you, you must do a minimum of 24 CUs to complete ANY IT program at WGU. If it is less than 24 CUs, you won't be enrolled. However, I am sure you can waive transfer credit to do the 24 CUs at WGU and be done in one term.

As for the NDM program....heed this advice well from someone who completed it: the Microsoft exams have gotten harder. The whole "gun-to-your-head" deal I went through almost became a reality toward the bitter end. If you are staying true to your signature and want to do the Microsoft certs on your own, that might be a better deal. Otherwise, be prepared for failure of at least one exam and then being under the gun to complete the rest. The last time I took the 70-643 (which I took FOUR times...) I wasn't even sure if it was going to happen with a pass....but I spent so much time on RDS and Media Services and made sure I knew both inside out. And I still got a 700+ score. That exam is really not a joke. The 642 from what I'm hearing from current students seems to have gotten more difficult.

All I can tell you is invest in SelfTestSoftware.com practice exams for ALL the exams. Get the MS Press Books (2nd Edition) and lab the crap out of the objectives. The MCITP:EA is not to be taken lightly.

Cisco_R_Us

I am in need of a referral to waive the application fee to WGU if anyone would be available. Thanks

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

All I can tell you is invest in SelfTestSoftware.com practice exams for ALL the exams. Get the MS Press Books (2nd Edition) and lab the crap out of the objectives. The MCITP:EA is not to be taken lightly.

It is indeed not to be taken lightly. I've failed the Network Infrastructure exam twice, the second time by less than 10 points IIRC. My upgrade-MCSE-to-MCITP effort has been on the shelf for over a year now because of this-- I ended up deciding I would get more bang for the buck by pursuing college education in the short haul.

Legacy User

i was looking on the website and looked under the certifications you will learn with bs it nm. If you have the mcitp sa will that satisfy all the microsoft classes including the mta classes.

Nobylspoon

ArabianKnight wrote: »

I am looking into the BSIT NDM degree plan at WGU and want to find out how many credits I can transfer in maximum. Also what are the non-transferable courses for this program currently? I talked to admissions a few days ago and they said I may be able to transfer more than 90 but that would depend on the specifics but she did not go into any detail. Assuming you have all the certs and gen ed courses complete and transfered what would be left? I think there are only 3 courses that you must take, the capstone, tech writing, and some other course.

Anyone in this program know about this, my goal is to transfer the max credits in before I start and they also keep changing the degree plan, and that makes it difficult to figure out.

With Microsoft's recent certification changes, you might consider enrolling for the Network Admin focus instead. The MCITP certs are becoming legacy and both MCITP:SA and MCITP:EA meet the new MCSA requirement. You will likely get more value gaining a CCNA instead of the extra 2 MS exams required for MCITP:EA.

Just my opinion. If the degree plans didn't recently change to include the MTA certs, I would be switching over myself.