Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)
veritas_libertas
CISSP, GIAC x5, CompTIA x5Greenville, SC USAPosts: 5,735Member ■■■■■■■■■■
This thread is intended for students to write about their experiences at Western Governors University.
Please keep it civil, and do not spend your time bashing the school, and its policies. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you have a problem you need to take it up with your professor or mentor. Please no Flaming on this thread.
You can ask for help with a referral (used to avoid paying the application fee) on the following thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/55634-wgu-refer-friend-thread-those-seeking-referral.html
Please keep it civil, and do not spend your time bashing the school, and its policies. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you have a problem you need to take it up with your professor or mentor. Please no Flaming on this thread.
You can ask for help with a referral (used to avoid paying the application fee) on the following thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/55634-wgu-refer-friend-thread-those-seeking-referral.html
Currently working on: Linux and Python
Comments
- Education Without Boundaries: A class to introduce you to how WGU's classes function, and how to use the WGU online portal.
- IT Fundamentals I: Based on the CIW Foundations certification
- IT Fundamentals II & III: Based on the A+ certification
I now have the two language classes to do, and I just added the Operating Systems class (based on the MS 70-680 certification.) If everything happens right I should be able to finish seven classes during this first semester. If I am able to finish seven classes this semester I will have seventeen left to complete. I intend to graduate at the end 2011 which means I will have to be doing at least five classes per semester to get there. I honestly don't see this as being a problem.WGU has enabled me to have the freedom to move as quickly or slowly as I need to with my Bachelor degree program. I'm newly married and I also work full time. For those reasons my life is busy as it is, and I don't need it to get any busier.
I have been thinking about that problem lately. I actually think the same kind of problem happens at every college and university. I can't even tell you how many times I had problems with community college, and don't even get me going about trying to enroll at the University of South Carolina. I think in the next couple of years WGU will start sanding down more of the rough edges.
I think they put the "new guys" in as enrollment counselors, which is why so many are clueless. Mine was.
Hopefully the college experience increases once I get a mentor. So far, the concept seems to be perfect for myself. I'll be at good head start with my transfer credits and certifications. I have to go get my CIW Associates at the start, I'm kind of looking forward to that (even though they consider it lesser than the A+, but a certification is a certification!) and it is part of the tuition so it is a win/win.
I'll keep you guys updated with my experience with them. I'll be enrolling in the following months.
And same here, married and work full time. I plan on working as hard as I can but I don't intend to attempt 30 hours like some of the people say they have done
Can you go into some more detail on the mentors? Such as:
How do you communicate with them? I've read that you keep in touch with them on like a weekly basis but how? email? WGU chat program? phone? video conference?
Are the mentors truly knowledgeable? Or are they just googling an answer for you?
They, at least mine, answers email questions pretty quickly. The questions you should have for the mentor shouldn't be something you could google, but something about your program. My mentor is pretty knowledgable and if she doesn't know she'll tell me and find the answer.
As far as the mentors knowing everything, no. Mine didn't know about the March 1 changes until the middle of Feb.
I completed EWB which, while I thought it was annoying, it serves a purpose in getting people acquainted with where everything is. Think of it as a tour of WGU.
I feel like they should have waived IT 1 as well, considering they let you transfer in up to 70% of the degree. It wont take long to knock out though, so no real worries.
For somebody like me, that hates traditional college processes and methods, WGU is a godsend. It's cheap(er) and, as veritas said, you generally can go as fast or slow as you need.
I started on January 1st. The counselors were ok and the mentor is ok too.
I got some transfers since I had some certifications already.
Currently enrolled in the general IT track but definitely considering to move either to the Security or the Network Design and Managmeent.
I completed EWOB, LAC1, WFV1, and TSV1.
On tuesday, I accepted to do LAE1 and ABV1.
I took the Win7 pre-assessment and got spanked so I guess I'll need to study more.
Definitely not as easy as the Vista exam was. This early taste of exam was hard.
WGU fits quite well for my needs. I am employed, have a side business and have a family.
I am able to do all of this on my own terms and still learn what I need.
I would not consider traditional classroom education anymore.
From my experiences with exam force it isn't as good as measure up (Took exam force with Proj+,Net+,Sec+, and JavaScript). The exam force for Javascript was a joke, there were only 165 questions in the test bank and several were repeated.
As for the CBT's WGU provides most are pretty good. For the A+ and Net+ you have Mike Meyers video and a different Comptia guy for the Sec+.
The CBT for the Prog 1 class, JavaScript Fundamentals is not really necessary unless you just want to learn JavaScript programming. The test,and the text, have not been upgraded since 2003. Your best bet when doing that course is to read the book twice, be farmiliar with syntax, and (if you're like me) type in your lab programs after having looked at the completed lab file to give you an idea of what to do.
I'm studying for my 70-640 exam now and had to purchase the Labsim CBT as I found the IT Academy learning resource to be unsatisfactory. My mentor and the course mentor say they are going to recommend the Labsim for these courses to the program coordinators. IT Academy is geared more towards an audience of people with more experience with Server 2k8 than I have, one lab in particular you had to write, off the top of your head, a script for server core installation ( I had to take 2 tries, **** and print instructions and do it again). I've since practiced this on my VM and still needed the book to know how to write the script.
That is pretty cool...
From my observation, they've been doing that pretty well. In fact, given my observations over the last few months (e.g. my experience with them, reading student forums) I'm glad I didn't hop on board when I originally heard about them a few years back. That would have been REALLY frustrating.
--Will Rogers
The Java Programming course did get you the Sun Associate cert then they changed the course to performance assesment and then deleted it from the program entirely.
They were slow in changing from the XP client system to where Vista was only offered for a few months before WGU switched to Windows 7.
The database and web design class have been deleted. Some classes which used to be objective assesments are now performance and the list goes on and on.
All in all I'd say my experiences here have been very good though. As far as WGU deleting Java, web design, and database I was given the option to go ahead and take them if I wanted to but I decided to not take them.
Heaven help ExamForce if their products for WGU are as glitchy as their MCSA exams. If I sign up with WGU (as appears likely) and I have the same problems with the CIW/etc. from ExamForce. . . I'll be bugging WGU to prod ExamForce for fixes, as ExamForce doesn't pay much attention to individual users.
--Will Rogers
Speaking to my relationship with my mentor, it's fairly minimal thus far - really hasn't been much in depth conversation needed thus far since things have been going fairly smooth. He is a pretty laid back, but still aware of looming deadlines approaching and does have a sense of motivation in his discussions but ultimately he hasn't tried to press me hard or lecture me, just has offered helpful suggestions and gave me the space to choose to use it or not. I've been running into struggles thus far in my program after completing the first class (Network Security I, which entailed the Network+ cert). The remaining two courses are Wireless Security I (CWSP cert - PW0-204) and Leadership and Professionalism. Since finishing the Network+ factors in my life outside of school and work have been taking a significant toll on my motivation and drive to succeed (divorce pending). That being said, my mentor has been understanding and providing suggestions and motivation but ultimately it's my rear that needs to just suck it up and deal with the tasks at hand.
Course related I'm honestly up in the air on this one so far but giving it time and keeping an open mind. Now I am in a graduate program, and as a result of that I would expect graduate level work. WGU obviously bases many of their courses on a pass/fail setup based on the students ability to pass a particular certification exam. While I knew this going into the program, now that I am into it I suppose I would expect more research and writing papers to really deep dive into particular topics. Studying for a certification, even if it's a more difficult one, to me doesn't quite equal what I would expect of a graduate level class. The Network Security I course was a prime example, passing the Network+ exam. That, in my opinion, is far too easy for any graduate program and something I would consider prerequisite knowledge going into a graduate program such as this. Some of the other technical courses do lead away from certifications and seem to require research and paper writing so I'll see how things go.
That's about all I can provide so far as to my thoughts. Like I said though, as I continue to make progress while I get my head back into the game - I will post updates.
If you don't feel just studying for the cert gives you enough out of the class, put a little extra into it. Sometimes the Course of Study will guide you down a more beneficial learning path.
1. What degree did you graduate with (BS/MS in X)?
2. Do you think that the degree has proven to be worthwhile?
3. Has it improved your salary?
4. Has it landed you a better position?
Thanks
I am interested in signing up at WGU (Applied last night). I was just curious at how many of my credits will be waived. I have completed my associates degree 3 years ago and since I have earned A+ and N+ certifications. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Let me point you to the right thread for that: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/51715-western-governors-university-questions-answers-threads-related-wgu.html
By the way, welcome to TE!
Oh, and just noticed you are from South Carolina!
Be sure that EVERY topic covered in the degree is one you feel comfortable with covering on your own and learning on your own before starting.
I am terrible at Math and underestimated the levels of math that WGU goes to. While im making considerable progress, its throwing off my predicted timeline by quite a bit. WGU has fairly good resources (free tutoring, conference calls, decent math learning lab, etc) to help, but some people just have a hard time with subjects without a body there to help them understand it.
WGU is definitely a test of your own desire and self motivation to complete a diverse set of tasks, don't take it too lightly.
+1, Very good advice! I would also advise you to do the primary certification of your major. I really wish I had! If you are planning on getting into Cisco or Microsoft than do the CCNA or MCITP:EA first. It will save you time and frustration.
All good questions. I hope some alumni pop in and let us know. I've checked the various WGU boards around the 'net, and haven't seen any feedback along these lines yet.
--Will Rogers
Didn't even crack a book for IT 1.
2 classes in 2 weeks.
Now THAT is amazing! I can't wait to start!