Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

demonfurbie

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.

i would go with the standard it degree and get any certs after wgu ... ccna and microsoft certs take alot more time than its worth while paying for wgu

by the time you get the certs done you couldve build a really nice lab and gotten better study materials than wgu provides you

ArabianKnight

I want to transfer either an AA or AS from COSC or TESC to WGU. Most.....well all of my classes I took are from Straighterline.

What gen ed courses will not get transferred, I am assuming it will say SL courses on my transcript that I transfer over to WGU.

Also I am getting mixed result if history is considered humanities as some colleges list this and others don't. If I have US His 1 and Western Civ 1 can I satisfy IWC1 and IWT1?

For example I took English Comp 1 and 2 from SL that would satisfy LAE1, QBT1, but not LUT1. Anyone had all three transferred over but did not really take a speech class. I am also prior service army and am curious as to what will cross over for basic training credits?

victoriarose

I hate to ask this for the fear of knowing the outcome but, what happens if you fail the 5th attempt on an assessment? According to the student hand book if not passed the student has to switch programs that doesn't have that course listed. If I'm reading that right, that sounds cruel and the fact that I waste money on a certain program is an outrage, I'm 3 classes away from graduating. Has anyone experienced not passing all attempts? I have to take my 5th attempt soon but I'm really worried about.

Psoasman

victoriarose wrote: »

I hate to ask this for the fear of knowing the outcome but, what happens if you fail the 5th attempt on an assessment? According to the student hand book if not passed the student has to switch programs that doesn't have that course listed. If I'm reading that right, that sounds cruel and the fact that I waste money on a certain program is an outrage, I'm 3 classes away from graduating. Has anyone experienced not passing all attempts? I have to take my 5th attempt soon but I'm really worried about.

If you were to fail a 5th time, you would have to wait a year to take the exam again, dated from the 5th fail. I did read on the exam rules that you could get permission from Microsoft to have more than 5 attempts. If you explained your situation, they might allow it. There are some people who have switched their emphasis due to the difficulty in the newer Microsoft exams.

Exam Retake policy

General Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Exam Retake Policy

If a candidate does not achieve a passing score on an exam the first time, the candidate must wait at least a 24-hour period before retaking the exam.

If a candidate does not achieve a passing score the second time, the candidate must wait at least a 14-day period before retaking the exam a third time.

A 14-day waiting period will also be imposed for the fourth and fifth subsequent exam retakes. A candidate may not take a given exam any more than five times per year (12 months). This 12-month period would start the day of the fifth unsuccessful exam retake. The candidate would then be eligible to retake the exam 12 months from that date. In order to take a given exam more than five times per year, a candidate must submit a request and obtain prior permission from Microsoft.

Microsoft Certification Exam Policies l Exam Retake Policy l Non-Disclosure Agreement for MCP Exams

KeithC

ArabianKnight wrote: »

.....well all of my classes I took are from Straighterline.

Have you checked out Western Governors University Degree Completion Pathways - StraighterLine ?

According to the transfer guidelines in the student handbook section to transfer LUT1 you need "One additional course in Speech and Communication, equivalent to 2 units."

For myself I transferred in LUT1 by taking a COMM 100 - introduction to interpersonal communication class at my local community college.

Legacy User

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


bump

KeithC

dmarcisco wrote: »

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


bump

No need to bump but you should really be asking a Enrollment Councilor. For the NM program (I am guessing you mean the Network Design and Management Program)

The MCITP:SA should satisfy the requirement for DHV1 and CWV1. As for the four Microsoft classes to achieve the MCITP:EA I can not see the MCITP:SA fulfilling all of the requirements but that should be answered from an enrollment councilor.

Psoasman

KeithC wrote: »

No need to bump but you should really be asking a Enrollment Councilor. For the NM program (I am guessing you mean the Network Design and Management Program)

The MCITP:SA should satisfy the requirement for DHV1 and CWV1. As for the four Microsoft classes to achieve the MCITP:EA I can not see the MCITP:SA fulfilling all of the requirements but that should be answered from an enrollment councilor.

I would think that the 640/642 needed for the SA, should satisfy 2 courses for the EA, leaving just the 643 and 647.

Lugz

Can anyone explain to me the point of WGU? From what I understand, you're essentially paying for a piece of paper, and nothing more. WGU isn't teaching you anything.

And on top of that, the admission requirements are a bit steep imo, since college is supposed to be about LEARNING, but WGU wants you to already be employed, in your field, before you can start taking classes. Just seems silly to me.

I have about two years experience in the IT field, but I guess that won't be enough for me to start taking classes to further my education. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Psoasman

Lugz wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the point of WGU? From what I understand, you're essentially paying for a piece of paper, and nothing more. WGU isn't teaching you anything.

And on top of that, the admission requirements are a bit steep imo, since college is supposed to be about LEARNING, but WGU wants you to already be employed, in your field, before you can start taking classes. Just seems silly to me.

I have about two years experience in the IT field, but I guess that won't be enough for me to start taking classes to further my education. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Your understanding is wrong.

Yes, you are getting a piece of paper, called a diploma, that many qualified people on this forum are working very hard to earn.
WGU is regionally and nationally accredited. By the same folks that accredit schools like University of Washington and BYU.
WGU provides resources to help you learn and succeed. Since it's online, a student needs to self-directed and motivated to learn. The coursework is not easy and it helps greatly to have some IT experience and education.
I like that it's affordable, who really wants to pay $20,000 + / year?
If you want to attend WGU, you can get a cert, like the A+ or CIW:Foundations. Your best bet is to get in contact with an enrollment counselor to answer questions. There is a thread for referrals, so you won't be out any $$$.

KeithC

Lugz wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the point of WGU? From what I understand, you're essentially paying for a piece of paper, and nothing more. WGU isn't teaching you anything.

And on top of that, the admission requirements are a bit steep imo, since college is supposed to be about LEARNING, but WGU wants you to already be employed, in your field, before you can start taking classes. Just seems silly to me.

I have about two years experience in the IT field, but I guess that won't be enough for me to start taking classes to further my education. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Just to add what Psoasman said - WGU actually forces you to learn to pass each class. I have had two easy not-really-learning-anything-classes at my local community college. WGU does not let people slide by. If you have performance assessments those are graded against a rubric by a member of taskstream that is independent from WGU.

The admissions process may look confusing but you only need
1: A high school diploma or GED
2: Ability to prove some kind of experience within IT (either by certification, resume, or associate's degree) [I wouldn't worry about the three years thing]
3: Be at least 16 years of age
4: Have a interview with an enrollment councilor
5: Pass the four iirc pre-admission assessments

That is more then my community college requires in only having to have an interview and prove some experience.

petedude

demonfurbie wrote: »

by the time you get the certs done you couldve build a really nice lab and gotten better study materials than wgu provides you

Not to mention you're trapped in WGU's term completion schedule. If you can't finish by the end of that term, you not only get a failing mark but you're out another $3K.

It's nice that WGU provides those kinds of programs, but they're not for everybody.

erpadmin

petedude wrote: »

Not to mention you're trapped in WGU's term completion schedule. If you can't finish by the end of that term, you not only get a failing mark but you're out another $3K.

It's nice that WGU provides those kinds of programs, but they're not for everybody.

I don't know if this is still the case, but I know students have gotten a month extension if they weren't passing the certs (certs being MS or Cisco.)
Other than that....yeah, the whole gun-to-one's-head approach is pretty much very stressful.

Hypntick

erpadmin wrote: »

I don't know if this is still the case, but I know students have gotten a month extension if they weren't passing the certs (certs being MS or Cisco.)
Other than that....yeah, the whole gun-to-one's-head approach is pretty much very stressful.

Depends, it actually helped me. Having an enforced deadline helped me out quite a bit.

KeithC

erpadmin wrote: »

I don't know if this is still the case, but I know students have gotten a month extension if they weren't passing the certs (certs being MS or Cisco.)
Other than that....yeah, the whole gun-to-one's-head approach is pretty much very stressful.

I grilled my mentor about a month extension just to find out the parameters to allow it. He told me only under dire circumstances like hospital, fire . . . could a term be extended a month. Unsure if that's 100% true or if he doesn't like giving them out. My mentor's initials are M.G.

Like Hypntick I also like the deadline as long as there isn't too much of a gap. As for now it doesn't really matter to me if there is a fail on my transcript. I would prefer not to have to deal with it but if it comes down to 5 weeks left in my term I would try my hardest to finish a MS class or whatever I would have next.

Lugz

KeithC wrote: »

Just to add what Psoasman said - WGU actually forces you to learn to pass each class. I have had two easy not-really-learning-anything-classes at my local community college. WGU does not let people slide by. If you have performance assessments those are graded against a rubric by a member of taskstream that is independent from WGU.

The admissions process may look confusing but you only need
1: A high school diploma or GED
2: Ability to prove some kind of experience within IT (either by certification, resume, or associate's degree) [I wouldn't worry about the three years thing]
3: Be at least 16 years of age
4: Have a interview with an enrollment councilor
5: Pass the four iirc pre-admission assessments

That is more then my community college requires in only having to have an interview and prove some experience.

Well, I guess that helps a bit. In total I have about 2 years IT experience, one and some change at a help desk position, and about one working at a PC repair shop. But this was back in 2005, so needless to say it's been a while.

My main worry is that the materials and exams that I'm required to consume and pass will all be based on the assumption that I have a large breadth of IT experience/knowledge, and if I don't possess that, it's simply impossible for me to succeed.

I'm certainly not starting from scratch, as I have a good amount of knowledge..I'm just not sure it's enough.

Honestly, my first choice is WGU. Their prices are actually resonable, they have a degree path I'm seeking(BS in Security, then MS in IA), but the entry requirements and the lack of professors to assist me is becoming a sticking point.

And as a slight aside and rant, I'm sort of disgusted with the whole online education "industry" at this point. Was really excited about Capella's IA BS degree...until I read the fine print and discovered they wanted to charge me almost $2000 for ONE TEN WEEK CLASS. It's borderline highway robbery, and hopefully this for-profit crap will be addressed in the future by congress.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

Depends, it actually helped me. Having an enforced deadline helped me out quite a bit.

No doubt, it helped me too...but I had too much going on during the last two months of my term. In fact, December was really stressful because I had wanted to be done with my program then. But I had (and have) a lot of stuff going on at work....which I believe was partially why it took four attempts to pass one exam. A weaker soul would have lost his/her mind. I was just reaching my breaking point.

Having said that, I have come to the realization that the degree, itself, was much more valuable (in my case) than the actual certs themselves. The only cert I'm going to actually look forward to within the few months (year tops) is the PMP (or CAPM). September is when I take a Project Management course that is geared toward teaching PM the PMI way (the professor is a PMP herself.) A classmate of mine couldn't spell project management prior to taking the course, but yet was comfortable enough to take the PMP exam (and passing it) in large part thanks to this class (with this particular professor teaching it.)

All I'm saying is that it needn't be so stressful to earn a Bachelor's, but at the same time, when all the work is done, the pride you feel will never go away. When it's your turn, you'll understand.

swild

Lugz wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the point of WGU? From what I understand, you're essentially paying for a piece of paper, and nothing more. WGU isn't teaching you anything.

And on top of that, the admission requirements are a bit steep imo, since college is supposed to be about LEARNING, but WGU wants you to already be employed, in your field, before you can start taking classes. Just seems silly to me.

I have about two years experience in the IT field, but I guess that won't be enough for me to start taking classes to further my education. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Their admissions requirements are steep for good reason. A lot of people just can't hack it in the IT field. Even at traditional universities, the dropout/change major rate is astronomical. Less than half the students in my CompSci I class continued on to CompSci II. We lost even more when they had to pass Differential Equations.

WGU wants to make sure you will be able to make it in their program. By having IT experience or an IT certification, you have proven that you probably have what it takes to be in the IT field.

The Microsoft MCITP and Cisco exams are SERIOUSLY no joke. The Microsoft MTA exams are much easier for the most part except for the Javascript exam. If you can't make it through an A+ exam all on your own, there is absolutely no way most people can make through the MCITP:EA or SA or CCNA with help.

All colleges have entrance requirements so that they can cater to the most qualified students for their program without having to slow down for students that are not able to do the work. You can't just walk into most 4 year universities and start taking classes. Most of them require you have a basis of education equal to a high school diploma or GED. If you don't have that, you will usually be required to take remedial courses so that you can catch up with everyone else. WGU requires a bit more since it is: 1)a college 2)online 3)has an IT curriculum 4)is not a diploma mill. Since it is an online college, WGU has to prove itself moreso than most other colleges because of the bad rep given by the diploma mills.

I have earned 9 certifications through WGU so far, with 3 more to go. Having them prove that you are able to do the program by completing just one certification on your own is not a big deal.

I don't mean to offend any of the people on this forum who benefited from the following programs, but WGU is not a diploma mill like University of Phoenix or ITT Tech (which I tried) or Capella(which I tried) where there are no admissions requirements and you pay an egregious sum of money for a piece of paper. They don't care if you learn anything or not. WGU is non-profit and uses industry standard certifications as the passing grade for most of it's classes. There are a lot of community colleges that teach to the A+ or CCNA official curriculum, but then don't have you take the certification to pass the class, therefore not proving that you have any remarkable level of competency.

If you look for news stories about education, you will find several independant articles about WGU, including one round table disscussion about the state of education with President Obama that WGU was invited to attend.


In end, you have to earn the education. You get a lot of great resources, but you have to enforce your own deadlines in order to finish. There are course mentors, and just like a traditional college, some are much better than others. You do have help from the mentors and the community of other students.

erpadmin

Lugz wrote: »

And as a slight aside and rant, I'm sort of disgusted with the whole online education "industry" at this point. Was really excited about Capella's IA BS degree...until I read the fine print and discovered they wanted to charge me almost $2000 for ONE TEN WEEK CLASS. It's borderline highway robbery, and hopefully this for-profit crap will be addressed in the future by congress.

The for-profits were smart enough to become a powerful lobby.....trust me, it will be the markets, not Congress, that will determine whether for-profits exist or not....a lot of traditional schools are starting to play ball and directly compete with the online for-profit model. I'm living proof of that.

When I attended WGU, there were a number of folks who had no prior experience in IT at all that have passed the program successfully. Ultimately, it will be incumbent on you whether you want to succeed in obtaining a WGU degree or not. That success will then translate into doing well in a traditional online environment, such as the one I'm in. But it's all dependent upon you.

KeithC

Lugz wrote: »

snip.... the lack of professors to assist me is becoming a sticking point.

I'm confused about some of your misinformation. Every class has a course mentor (professor, subject matter expert . . .) I am in the research class right now and I would guess there are ~10 course mentors. The course mentors for LAT1 are available through email, 1-866 phone number, live chat (which sometimes they will call you for clarification of your issue.

demonfurbie

on most of my classes if i ever had a question it was answered better than at a normal school

Hypntick

demonfurbie wrote: »

on most of my classes if i ever had a question it was answered better than at a normal school

Totally agree with you there, getting actual one-on-one help is a great thing. Earlier in my degree I had a bi-weekly call with one of the course mentors, was the only reason I was able to pass the class honestly.

Legacy User

Oh sorry meant BSit network administration if the mcitp sa will satisfy the Microsoft requirement including mta classes.. For the guy that said the diploma is just a piece of paper I agree but so are the degrees anywhere else from schools big or small. It just comes down to how you apply the skills you learned while earning this "piece of paper". I mean for me its just another credential for the resume which will allow me to apply for the jobs that post 4 year degree required.

erpadmin

KeithC wrote: »

I'm confused about some of your misinformation. Every class has a course mentor (professor, subject matter expert . . .) I am in the research class right now and I would guess there are ~10 course mentors. The course mentors for LAT1 are available through email, 1-866 phone number, live chat (which sometimes they will call you for clarification of your issue.

The one time I had called a course mentor for LAT1, it was just to get guidance on my topic. Initially, she had wanted to hang up the phone and bolt as she was going on medical leave. As someone who has "been there," I sympathized and I asked her if there was anyone else around I could talk to as I just needed clarification on something. She spent five minutes with me, but the five minutes was all I needed. I wished her a speedy recovery, and thanked her....a few weeks later, I was done with the course.

The course mentors will help ANY WGU student, but the best way for them to help you is for you to have worked through the issue first, and then contact them only when you can't get around a particular issue.

KeithC

erpadmin wrote: »

The one time I had called a course mentor for LAT1, it was just to get guidance on my topic. Initially, she had wanted to hang up the phone and bolt as she was going on medical leave. As someone who has "been there," I sympathized and I asked her if there was anyone else around I could talk to as I just needed clarification on something. She spent five minutes with me, but the five minutes was all I needed. I wished her a speedy recovery, and thanked her....a few weeks later, I was done with the course.

The course mentors will help ANY WGU student, but the best way for them to help you is for you to have worked through the issue first, and then contact them only when you can't get around a particular issue.

Yes I agree but for example I contacted the Math department because of a rejection in one of my QLT1 task. I performed the work but I would get caught up in one little error. For LAT1 I have been calling & chatting because I feel the course is a little less structured. Maybe because it's tailored for the different learning types. Like for my rough draft did I need to paraphrase or synthesis.

I feel that I am paying for these classes and as such if I am stuck or need a clarification I won't waste a ton of my time when I could be completing the class.

In the end their are professor type people for each class (some course mentors even watch over a few classes that are relevant like the BOV1 course mentor).

Nobylspoon

Have any of you obtained a student membership to ISACA? Just curious what you submitted for your proof of full time enrollment.

erpadmin

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Have any of you obtained a student membership to ISACA? Just curious what you submitted for your proof of full time enrollment.

You don't have an ID card from WGU? You can request one from the resources tab. All you have to do is send them a image of a passport photo of yourself. The ID card comes in about a week or two.

Nobylspoon

erpadmin wrote: »

You don't have an ID card from WGU? You can request one from the resources tab. All you have to do is send them a image of a passport photo of yourself. The ID card comes in about a week or two.

Just a student ID won't cut it...

These are the only documents that will be accepted in verifying your full-time student status:

• A screen shot or a copy of your current class schedule with the name of the institution, name of the student, date and number of credit hours currently taking; or
• Copy of a letter from the institution's registrar on university letterhead specifying that the applicant is currently enrolled as a full-time student

erpadmin

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Just a student ID won't cut it...

You can request enrollment information from the WGU portal.

Log on to the Portal.
Click on the Resource Tab
Click "My Enrollment and Loan Deferment History"
Click on the "Obtain an Enrollment Certificate" link. You'll get a PDF that will state you are a bonafide WGU student (or in my case, that I was one, but if they have access to the clearinghouse directly, they'll see that I'm a graduate.)

Hope that helps.

Edit: if you do that, plus a screen shot of the current courses in your AAV, you should be good to go.

Nobylspoon

Thanks!