Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

heatters

I am currently debating on attending WGU and I found this site. After looking at some of the previous posts most peoplle seem satisfied. Has anybody had issues with Mentors?

Steve

sheckler

Some people haven't liked their mentor, but you can ask the school to be assigned to someone different if that happens. Most of us have been happy though.

echo465

My mentor is great, except that even she can't get me out of this damn javascript class.

Excellent1

erpadmin wrote: »

Remember...whether one is taking tax dollars out of my pocket to fund one's education ( :P [relax, don't take that negatively--a small part of me wishes I could still get federal aid as well] ) or paying out of pocket/using loans...you are still paying for the service. If you are unhappy with the service, say so.

As I think I've mentioned before, meekness is not among my character flaws. My mentor is neither a help nor a hindrance to me--she simply is. The communication I share with her is a matter of form, nothing more. Don't get me wrong, she's a great person, but I don't find myself needing her assistance. Should that change, I will certainly make sure I get the assistance I need.

As a corollary to the above, rest assured, I am paying for my education, not you.

heatters

Does WGU still offer refer a friend? I did not see any mention of it on the site.
Steve

Psoasman

heatters wrote: »

Does WGU still offer refer a friend? I did not see any mention of it on the site.
Steve

Here you go. I got my referral couple of weeks ago.
http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/55634-wgu-refer-friend-thread-those-seeking-referral.html

someuser23

I'm starting my B.S in Health Infomatics but I'm debating it now and thinking if it's wise to rank up more loans at this time. I owe 28k already so I'm kinda debating it.

I like the school though, I'm still on the EWB.

echo465

Scott LaRock wrote: »

I'm starting my B.S in Health Infomatics but I'm debating it now and thinking if it's wise to rank up more loans at this time. I owe 28k already so I'm kinda debating it.

I like the school though, I'm still on the EWB.

28k, ugh. At least WGU isn't very expensive, as far as schools go. How many semesters are you looking at? Any financial aid available?

erpadmin

Excellent1 wrote: »

As I think I've mentioned before, meekness is not among my character flaws. My mentor is neither a help nor a hindrance to me--she simply is. The communication I share with her is a matter of form, nothing more. Don't get me wrong, she's a great person, but I don't find myself needing her assistance. Should that change, I will certainly make sure I get the assistance I need.

As a corollary to the above, rest assured, I am paying for my education, not you.

The only thing I needed my mentor for is to just get me in the next class as quickly as possible. I was more than satisified getting that done.

My main thing is that sometimes folks are willing to accept things for what they are, and that needn't be the case. If something is not right, it's within one's right to make it right.

someuser23

echo465 wrote: »

28k, ugh. At least WGU isn't very expensive, as far as schools go. How many semesters are you looking at? Any financial aid available?

Yeah, I got 1800 a year so I took out the rest in loans but I've decided to get something out of my old degree instead of taking out new loans. I didn't get a formal education, mostly a accelerated one from crappy schools so it's probably best to just start from scratch and make something out of my degree that I already have.

I'll probably fail some of these math and science classes on a college level, without the basics it will be a waste.

Better to work on paying down my loans before taking out any new ones.

P.S My degree plan has me graduating in May 2015 lol....

Hypntick

Posted in the MS section as well but may as well put it here as it applies.

After much delay and a ton of stuff at work and life slowing me down, I finally had the chance to re-sit this test. I know I changed a right answer to a wrong answer, but nevertheless I still hit over 700. Some seriously nasty stuff this go around as well. Used the Kaplan selftest, the MS press book, the Sybex book, Labsim, Technet, a test lab at my home, and my day to day work on Server 08 R2. On to the 70-640

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

Posted in the MS section as well but may as well put it here as it applies.

After much delay and a ton of stuff at work and life slowing me down, I finally had the chance to re-sit this test. I know I changed a right answer to a wrong answer, but nevertheless I still hit over 700. Some seriously nasty stuff this go around as well. Used the Kaplan selftest, the MS press book, the Sybex book, Labsim, Technet, a test lab at my home, and my day to day work on Server 08 R2. On to the 70-640

Congrats!!

Seriously, if you heed nothing else, heed this: KEEP GOING! It only gets harders if you procrastinate between exams. Three to five weeks between exams seem to be ideal.

someuser23

How hard is the coursework in WGU? I didn't fair well with college algebra last year at a CC. I'm mostly worried about the Math and Sciences the most. I don't want to waste money if these classes are ahead of me currently.

jmritenour

Scott - the coursework is really not that hard. I haven't had a college level math class in a long time, but I passed quantitative literacy without much trouble. Honestly, the two science classes I had really weren't very far beyond high school level bio, chem, physics & geology.

Hypntick

erpadmin wrote: »

Congrats!!

Seriously, if you heed nothing else, heed this: KEEP GOING! It only gets harders if you procrastinate between exams. Three to five weeks between exams seem to be ideal.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have already requested the 640 voucher and have a date of Dec 10th in mind. Provided no more life issues pop up, i'll be golden. After that, on to the 646! Then probably the 2 science classes, javascript, and a math. Puts me right where I want to be by term end.

someuser23

jmritenour wrote: »

Scott - the coursework is really not that hard. I haven't had a college level math class in a long time, but I passed quantitative literacy without much trouble. Honestly, the two science classes I had really weren't very far beyond high school level bio, chem, physics & geology.

I'm making sure, I'm not a career fellow and never was so these higher level classes I won't pass them right now. I'm making sure I can handle this before I jump in. I'm doing Health Informatics.

joehalford01

Sounds like you earned it! Congrats!

Hypntick wrote: »

Posted in the MS section as well but may as well put it here as it applies.

After much delay and a ton of stuff at work and life slowing me down, I finally had the chance to re-sit this test. I know I changed a right answer to a wrong answer, but nevertheless I still hit over 700. Some seriously nasty stuff this go around as well. Used the Kaplan selftest, the MS press book, the Sybex book, Labsim, Technet, a test lab at my home, and my day to day work on Server 08 R2. On to the 70-640

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

Congrats!!

Seriously, if you heed nothing else, heed this: KEEP GOING! It only gets harder if you procrastinate between exams. Three to five weeks between exams seem to be ideal.

Much truth to this. Momentum can be hard to recapture once lost.

If you need a break, you may want to take a bunch of objective assessments (exams) together, then take breathers before/after/between courses requiring performance assessments. You may find a brief break desirable after some performance assessments anyway.

Hypntick

petedude wrote: »

Much truth to this. Momentum can be hard to recapture once lost.

If you need a break, you may want to take a bunch of objective assessments (exams) together, then take breathers before/after/between courses requiring performance assessments. You may find a brief break desirable after some performance assessments anyway.

Oh i'm good, just had a lot of life stuff pop up lately. Training 7 new people at work doesn't help matters either. Get pretty tired by the time I make it home every day. Trying to shoot for Dec 10th on the 70-640, I know not to underestimate these things anymore.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

Oh i'm good, just had a lot of life stuff pop up lately. Training 7 new people at work doesn't help matters either. Get pretty tired by the time I make it home every day. Trying to shoot for Dec 10th on the 70-640, I know not to underestimate these things anymore.

Dude, I have 40-60 hours a week dealing with whiny developers, planning and implementing upgrades (PeopleSoft and SQL Server), doing production support, and not to mention having a (seeming) choatic home life (including dealing with a house fire in my first WGU term.) S--t is always going to come up.

Trust me, if I can do it, so can you. I don't presume to be smarter than you or anyone, but if you put in the work and keep going, you're gonna get through. When you feel the most beat is when you get to knocking out assessments. I wasn't trying to be a hero and do all 96 CUs in one term (or even two). But my mentor convinced me that three was doable (I was thinking four myself, but I now see that he was right).

I guess the great news for your is that once you get your certs out of the way, the GE stuff will pretty much fly (well...after LAT1...) You don't want to start LAT1 toward the end of a term.

KrisA

erpadmin wrote: »

I wasn't trying to be a hero and do all 96 CUs in one term

So on that note, I asked a serious question today on how much a person accomplished in 1 term. She believed the highest was a transfer did 80 something CU's in 1 term and got the degree. Unemployed single - explained a lot, but that is some serious motivation. I would love to hit a high mark especially first term. I did the pre-assessment for BAC1 this evening and hit an 80% and no single domain was below the cut percentage of 64%. This is reassuring since most that I have not had to do for over 12 years. My "fear" of not knowing what to expect from the Gen Eds is officially gone.

erpadmin

KrisA wrote: »

So on that note, I asked a serious question today on how much a person accomplished in 1 term. She believed the highest was a transfer did 80 something CU's in 1 term and got the degree. Unemployed single - explained a lot, but that is some serious motivation. I would love to hit a high mark especially first term. I did the pre-assessment for BAC1 this evening and hit an 80% and no single domain was below the cut percentage of 64%. This is reassuring since most that I have not had to do for over 12 years. My "fear" of not knowing what to expect from the Gen Eds is officially gone.

She must be talking about our own Alif S. Ekin. LOL. (RoadWarriorsLive did it as well, but Alif is still around...though I believe Road was married with kids.)

I don't knock guys for doing a program in one term. I equate those guys to expert ice-skaters and me the guy trying his best not to slip on my skates. Those guys had passed me like 5, 6 times....and on the 7th and 8th are doing figure 8s around me. But I'm just trudging along.

That's what you have to do...just trudge along. Don't try to be a hero....just do what you can. (If possible, try to keep 100% SAP. )

acv987

Would anyone be able to help me out with a referral?

heatters

I was wondering if most people try to go into the certification classes first or try to get the required courses done before concentrating on the technical classes?

Hypntick

heatters wrote: »

I was wondering if most people try to go into the certification classes first or try to get the required courses done before concentrating on the technical classes?

A healthy mix of the two has worked for me so far. Doing the MCITP stuff now as it leads to a direct increase in salary where i'm employed. However once done with those this term I plan to roll in some gen ed stuff.

erpadmin

heatters wrote: »

I was wondering if most people try to go into the certification classes first or try to get the required courses done before concentrating on the technical classes?

Depends on what you're comfortable with. I opted to do the Microsoft Exams last (though not on purpose...). Part of the reason I did this was I wanted to knock out the easy stuff first. I threw some certs in there too, like Security+, CIW 1D0-510, etc., but I knew CompTIA/CIW certs weren't going to keep me up at night. (Though I expected Security+ to be really hard...Darril Gibson's Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead made that exam a breeze.)

Psoasman

Got my official email from my EC yesterday, that I'm cleared to start. Just waiting for my transcript evals and scholarship review.

erpadmin

Guys...the WGU-IT programs have changed again!!

I know they'll be someone who will post about this, but I figure let me be the first to do so...

The IT programs have just gone through another drastic change. For the Network Design and Management, for example:

LAT1 is now called QBT1 (and is worth 3 CUs....lmao.....)

CIW 1D0-520 Site Designer has been added to the emphasis (CUV1)


CUV1, DHV1, CWV1 and DEV1 have been added...these are Microsoft remedial courses that I guess you have to take before you can take the five MCTS exams for the MCITP:EA. (Web, O/S, Network and Security.)

You must now take the 2011 Objectives Security+ (SY0-301) [I'm pretty sure if you took Security+ within five years, this need not apply to you....otherwise it'll be 301 for you.]

Geography is included (really?! LMAO!!) (BVC1)

LET1, ORC1 and MGC1 have now been replaced by one 3 CU class (BNC1)

Lastly, Tech Writing and Capstone went from being 13 CUs to 7 CUs.

I think that's about it....if you change emphasis now...you might have to take those Microsoft remedial courses...might be a good deal, might not.

http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/prog_guide/BS_IT_NTDM.pdf

You might want to check your intended/current emphasis to see what's changed for you. You do NOT have to take the new changes if you don't want to.....fortunately, I'm just about done, though Geography seems easy enough.

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

Geography is included (really?! LMAO!!) (BVC1)

You might want to check your intended/current emphasis to see what's changed for you. You do NOT have to take the new changes if you don't want to.....fortunately, I'm just about done, though Geography seems easy enough.

You're surprised? WGU still has a little ways to go in earning liberal arts cred, I'm sure. Their becoming a state school in many areas ups the ante quite a bit, and quickly.

And, erp, if you take that Geography course. . . you're a masochist.

Hypntick

Net Admin now contains ICND2 as well. I wonder what this means for those of us that are at pretty much the halfway point. Wonder if I can change things up a bit and get the ICND2 covered, was going to take that anyways once I graduated.