Western Governors University Questions and Answers / Threads related to WGU

demonfurbie

ya may wanna just study for the ceh because the tasks may change (rare but still) and when ya start just ask for the voucher right off

Hypntick

Oh i'm doing that as well, i'd like to knock out 3 written classes and the CEH studies before the start date. That will go a long way toward helping me finish in a single term.

lelei

I've been reading these forums since January, and the posts here are how I "discovered" WGU and decided to enroll. So, a big thank you to everyone who has posted info

My start date is Aug 1st, and I am a bit worried about the math courses I need to take. It's my weakest subject, so I am very worried about getting stuck on the classes I need to take. Could anyone send me the syllabus for QLT1, GAC1 and HTT1? Also, any suggestions on things I could do before my courses start to prepare for the classes?

My certs transferred in well, so I mostly have gen ed classes to knock out. I'm hoping to finish in two semesters max, and the Math is the only thing that I worry about getting hung up on. I did take college algebra at a community college, but I had to take 3 remedial courses in order to get to that point

N2IT

Task 1 Supply Chain Passed!

kgb

N2IT wrote: »

Task 1 Supply Chain Passed!

Congrats man!

cpierce

Woohoo passed CUV1.

12 days and 1 class down. I'm feeling pretty good about being able to complete my goal of 1 year.

TLeTourneau

Great job N2!

Great job cpierce, keep it up!

YuckTheFankees

Awesome job Pierce. I start August 1st, I'm really interested on how many credits I will average per term.

kgb

YuckTheFankees wrote: »

Awesome job Pierce. I start August 1st, I'm really interested on how many credits I will average per term.

When I started, I was shooting for 20-30 a term. However, once I got into the system I've absolutely falling in love with the self-pace aspect of WGU. It's probably borderline compulsive behavior. It's a rush to see how fast I can finish a class... I don't know if I could go any faster than I'm currently going, I've finished 32credits in 2.5 months, I'm basically trying to knock out 1 class a week.

Drovor

For the financial aid students, when did you get awarded your funds? I started July 1st but I am still waiting for financial aid to go through. I already spoke to the financial aid office and they make it seem like it was normal to take a month or so to clear. I just don't understand since I had applied to the school and financial aid a few months before my start date.

I was told to hold off on accepting my AAV until the award was processed just in case I am not on the hook for more than originally thought. I have access to the learning resources for my first class, WFV1, but I can't schedule the test which kind of throws off my original plan for this class.

swild

go ahead and start studying on the next class. You don't have to accept your AAV for 30 days and it may take longer than that for Financial Aid to go though. I was first cleared to start Nov 1 but told them that I wasn't going to start until I knew how much aid I was getting. They don't want to waste the manpower on a student who isn't serious about starting so they wait until the student has shown they are really committed. I didn't get to start until Jan 1 because of Financial Aid. It took them 2 months. If I would have started on Nov 1 and my financial aid didn't come through, there is no way I would have been able to afford the entire cost on my own.

Technically you are not a student until you accept your AAV. Whatever you do, even if it puts you behind, don't accept your AAV until your financial aid comes through. Aug 1 you will have to decide if you want to wait to enroll until Sept 1 or start without aid and possibly have to pay the entire amount out of pocket. At least you get to study on your classes now, if you do have to wait until Sept, you will be ahead.

Drovor

Thanks for the info swild. Yeah I will just hold off on accepting the AAV although I didn't know what would happen at the end of 30 days without financial aid or accepting my AAV. I know at this point I couldn't afford to pay for the degree myself. Without qualifying for financial aid I would not have applied for WGU to begin with.

Did they ever mention what your expected award would be? How close was is to what they did award you?

swild

The anticipated amount was exactly right. I didn't understand some of the stipulations about the Pell Grant, so I received half of what I expected. They tell you an amount for 2 semesters and you can only use half per semester. I was only attending 1 semester in that school year so I thought it would all apply to the one semester.

Drovor

Hopefully I can get the amount that was estimated then. Majority of my tuition would be covered which is what I need. I wasn't sure if it was for the year or not so I had asked the financial aid office and they let me know that it was for the year. Would have been nice if it was for one term though.

lhobley

This thread is very useful. Thanks!

NoTime2Burn

Anybody on here get through KFT1, specifically the UML part?

I've finished the "busy work" tasks 1-3, and now am working on Task 4.

I've wrote close to 2000 lines of code for the final application and tester script, finished my 220 page long test plan (no joke, I have 201 test cases), and commented the code so much my "/" key is about to fall off . All that's left is the UML stuff and I'm completely perplexed by it.

Seems like they want an awful lot of information on the use cases, (Like a few hundred use-case-blobs) because of the fact they want all the requirements. Every thing I've found online suggests something WAY simpler, like maybe 10 use-case-blobs. If anybody has any examples of what they are looking for, I'd really appreciate it. I've checked the message boards @wgu, but there are only a few links and they don't seem to show anything about the functional requirements being related to use-cases.

I hope I'm just reading the requirements wrong...

They really make you earn your 4 credits on this class...

demonfurbie

its like flow charting

dbrink

Hello Everyone.

I ran across this site while doing some investigating into the MS-Info Security and Assurance at WGU. A little background on me. I have a BS in Business Admin with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. I have about 12 years of experience in IT with some being desktop support and the past 8-10 years being Systems Administration, some Linux but most Windows. Right now I mainly handle the messaging environment for an organization of about 30,000 users. I handle Exchange, Lync, Enterprise Vault and do a lot of automation and scripting with Powershell. Regarding certifications, I have my A+, Linux+, an expired Red Hat Certified Technician, and an MCSE in Windows 2000. I really lost faith in certifications after finishing my MCSE due to all of the braindumps available on the Internet and seeing people who couldn't network 2 computers together passing the exams. I'm over that now and have looked at taking my Exchange certification tests.

I've been working towards starting a Masters degree program for the better part of 10 years. I wanted to get a Masters in Computer Science so I went back to a local University (45 minutes commute) and took prerequisites since my undergrad was in business and I didn't have the Maths and Computer Science courses to enter. I was almost done with my prerequisites when I quit for personal reasons (marriage, kids, long commute, etc). Last summer I decided to pick up again so I started back in a distance education program at a different University in my state. I've taken some good classes and enjoy it but when looking at the classes I have to choose from that they offer as distance education, they don't offer much on what I really want to do. Security!! I have an extreme desire to learn more about penetration testing, forensics, and malware. I've looked at other places that offer a MS in some sort of security based program but all are pretty expensive. That is when I discovered WGU a few days ago and the MS in ISA really sounds like something I'd enjoy.

After reading on this site and other places it seems like the type of degree I'd want to pursue. I really do like the self-paced based degree instead of sitting through hour long lectures. If I can grab some materials and pass a test in a month then why shouldn't I be able to? I'm assuming this is kind of how the CUs at WGU work.

I sent in an inquiry a few days ago and I am supposed to get a call on Monday to talk to an enrollment counselor. I'm hoping to get more information then.

The plan I have in my head is to stop school where I am currently attending and take a 12-18 month break due to our family expecting a third child. During this time I can start working on studying the materials for the CCENT, Certified Ethical Hacker, and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator exams. Then hopefully when I start I can knock those out pretty quick. I'm currently reading a lot of material when I can about penetration testing, forensics, and malware reverse engineering. I also listen to quite a few security related podcasts (pauldotcom, liquid matrix, and a couple of others) and check out a few blogs.

My question for anyone who has been in or is currently in this program is how feasible is it to finish the whole program in a year? My current pace to get my Masters in Computer Science would have me finishing in about 5 years and I just can't fathom doing that right now especially when I won't even be doing any security related classes. Even if I take 18 months off and then do a year at WGU that would put me finishing in 2.5 years....much better and I'll be learning something I want to learn.

I've rambled enough. If anyone has any insight on my situation I would definitely appreciate it. Until then, I'll just have to wait for my talk with an enrollment counselor.

Thanks!!

demonfurbie

with your experiences id suggest looking at the mba-it program

MBA in Technology Management | Online MBA | WGU College of Business Online

and fill in the sec aspect that you want with a high end comp sec cert like cissp.

dbrink

Thanks for the suggestion but I have no desire to get into management. I want to stay in the trenches and stay technical. My good friend and former manager took the manager position over our Windows Systems Engineering team and all he did was sit on phones calls in meetings day in and day out. There is no way I could do that...just not my style. He finally resigned and took the team lead position just so he could get back to being technical.

I know that any Master's degree is going to be geared a little towards management but I feel the MS-ISA still has alot of technical requirements that I am interested in.

Thanks again.

Valsacar

I'm in the program, it is possible to finish it in a year. I started May 1st, and you can see from my signature block how far I've gone. I wouldn't really waste time and (more importantly) money trying to study for the certification exams before you enroll. They provide you with all of the materials and books, as part of tuition, so no need to buy them yourself. Keep in mind that certifications get updated, so you could study and find things changed and you'll need to study more (or the program could change as well).

I work full time, have a wife and son, knock out courses and still have time for a beer or two at the pub. It's do able, if you have good time management, and balance things with your schedule and previous knowledge. When you know you'll have time work on new material, if you know a big project is coming up at work then work on courses you're already familiar with so you don't need as much time to complete them. I generally have 2-3 courses open at a time, normally one I'm comfortable with and one I think I need to take more time on, so I can flip between projects as my work schedule changes. You have 6 months to complete (basically) 3 courses, so if you need to take time off you can do that (I'll be doing no course work during the last 2 weeks of August due to work, but I'm ahead of schedule so it's not an issue).

dbrink

Thanks for the info. I won't really spend any money preparing for the certifications, I already have a subscription to Safari Books Online that I use for work. I intend on just getting a book or two every month and reading it, something dealing with forensics, pen testing, etc. Essentially just learning the different topics that are required for the exams and not the certain exam specifically.

Thanks for the input.

MiikeB

Is it just me or is the WGU MBA IT management all writing papers?

I have a start date of Sep 1 for MS ISA but I think I need to switch to the MBA IT Management because it doesn't look like I will have access to a testing center (I am in Afghanistan and the one we had closed from what I hear). I have a BS IT from WGU so I assume I wont have any problems switching.

demonfurbie

i think the wgu network is all papers/web cam tests as well

Valsacar

Most Masters level programs are all about writing papers, and MBA should be basically two things. Writing papers, and making WBS.

techie2012

NoTime2Burn wrote: »

Anybody on here get through KFT1, specifically the UML part?

I've finished the "busy work" tasks 1-3, and now am working on Task 4.

I've wrote close to 2000 lines of code for the final application and tester script, finished my 220 page long test plan (no joke, I have 201 test cases), and commented the code so much my "/" key is about to fall off . All that's left is the UML stuff and I'm completely perplexed by it.

Seems like they want an awful lot of information on the use cases, (Like a few hundred use-case-blobs) because of the fact they want all the requirements. Every thing I've found online suggests something WAY simpler, like maybe 10 use-case-blobs. If anybody has any examples of what they are looking for, I'd really appreciate it. I've checked the message boards @wgu, but there are only a few links and they don't seem to show anything about the functional requirements being related to use-cases.

I hope I'm just reading the requirements wrong...

They really make you earn your 4 credits on this class...

I'm just going to throw this out there and say that you did too much. Not that what you have accomplished is not worth your while but in regards to the actual requirements, its way overboard. You only needed a single test case for each method invoked by your student class and sub classes. ex: a test case for add, delete, update, edit and query which means 5 test cases. Then for the uml, you can use the visual paradigm that the course study recommends to create UML diagrams by reverse engineering the code. But good work though

CoolAsAFan

Hey guys, does anyone know if I took BS InfoSec, does WGU offer and other programming classes outside of my degree requirements that I'm allowed to take? Thanks.

petedude

techie2012 wrote: »

Not that what you have accomplished is not worth your while but in regards to the actual requirements, its way overboard.

The cool thing about overkill is that you will learn things no one else will. That, and maybe you'll have an easier time with the Taskstream graders.

NoTime2Burn

Thanks guys. I did get a 4.0 on every category. Thing is, the way I look at it, if it's got my name on it, it should be properly debugged and tested. I actually went light on the proper testing, but at 201 I called it good.

I used to do QA for a major software company. This sounds stern, but is completely true. You need to imagine the most stupid thing a user could ever do, then multiply it by 10, and then program for that user. The part I completely disagreed with on the task is the extensive use of strings for the database. String manipulation is asking for trouble. isResident() should be a binary value in the database. While I'm at it, Level should have been a byte. Those things alone would have saved 38 bytes per record, which is a lot when you have a lot of students, and you're paying top dollar for storage space.

I actually started to implement it that way until I got to the database part and realized how they set it up.

Jasiono

Question

When receiving your transcript from WGU, at the end of each semester, is everything calculated as Competency Units or is everything converted over to college credit?

My HR department is giving me a hard time a out this.