Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

petedude wrote: »

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.

There is no way in Hades....

I didn't realize that geography was a college course. Usually, that stuff would be covered in one of the other social sciences or history. I think this depends by region. I was always pretty good at geography though. If I had to take the WGU all over again, that would have been one of my first classes, for sure.

If they want to up their liberal arts cred though, they need to start with their Natural Sciences.

KrisA

erpadmin wrote: »

You must now take the 2011 Objectives Security+ (SY0-301)

Yes I found this out the hard way yesterday. The 201 stuff is still listed and the LR's are still listed for the 201, but they will only cover 301 test. I am hoping that Darril's book in addition to the differences he has posted on his website will be enough to complete this.

Hypntick wrote: »

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.

I was planning on doing the ICND2, once I finished up WGU, too. I have a phone call w/ my EC tomorrow. I'm going to ask about the changes.

echo465

It looks like there are a ton of changes. I'm going through everything now and updating the Google spreadsheet at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Atq7-3_hxom0dDN5V0pFWGdWbkdQQ3BBRTZ1aHEydGc

veritas_libertas

It appears that the MSISA program has been rearranged as well.

veritas_libertas wrote: »

It appears that the MSISA program has been rearranged as well.

I wonder why they dropped the CCNA

It looks like for the bachelors degrees they added a bunch of windows fundamental exams

"The Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) is Microsoft’s newest suite of technology certification exams that validate fundamental knowledge needed to begin building a career using Microsoft technologies."

Probably because people keep failing the hell out of the 70-6** exams.

jmasterj206

sheckler wrote: »

I wonder why they dropped the CCNA

Interesting that it is down to 4 certs and they dropped the oral defense of the capstone.

This is even more motivation to get through the 70-642. I certainly don't want to get stuck switching emphasis and taking the fundamental MS classes.

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Interesting that it is down to 4 certs and they dropped the oral defense of the capstone.

Huh? I didn't have to do a oral defense?

Was this just in the NA emphasis?

erpadmin wrote: »

Huh? I didn't have to do a oral defense?

Was this just in the NA emphasis?

He's talking about the Masters

KrisA

Does anyone have the previous PDF information on BS:NA? I wanted to compare the two and see what are the differences. If so shoot me a message and I will get my email to you.

KrisA wrote: »

Does anyone have the previous PDF information on BS:NA? I wanted to compare the two and see what are the differences. If so shoot me a message and I will get my email to you.

If you already started your term just go into your degree program in the WGU Portal. Compare that against the new program and see if you want to stay current or upgrade next term. The smart thing to do is do classes that share both this term. Then if you want the upgrade, talk to your mentor. The change won't happen until term 2.

Cpl.Klinger

Talked to my enrollment counselor today, and am hoping to be set for a January 1 start date. He's going to see if they can skip on waiting on my CC transcripts (they'd come out for the semester after the deadline for January 1 starts) since my undergrad transcripts and certs will be taking care of a lot. He said it wouldn't make sense to wait for them, considering I'm knocking out pretty much all of my lower division stuff anyway. He's calling me back tomorrow, so hopefully he'll have good news. While I'd take the 30 day+ break, I want to get going at the same time.

Now to start studying like mad for Network + next week....

veritas_libertas

A few updates that I thought everyone would find interesting. I just got off the phone with a mentor and there was a big meeting about the changes to the IT programs. If you are in the current programs (Pre-November) than you can switch to either the old versions or the new versions of the IT program. The new changes reflect the problems they are seeing with students passing the MS programs, as well as a strengthening of the liberal arts classes.

Also, I was told that there is most definitely a MS in Networking coming out next year. Overall I think the changes will be good but, I'm glad I don't have to take those classes.

Finally got my transcript review back today. All that work doing pre-nursing finally paid off.
Should be able to start EWB next week, it is now required to finish that before your official start date.

veritas_libertas

Psoasman wrote: »

Finally got my transcript review back today. All that work doing pre-nursing finally paid off.
Should be able to start EWB next week, it is now required to finish that before your official start date.

Cool. Welcome to WGU.

dt3k

I got sick and missed an exam at VUE for ICND2 (BSV1). I rescheduled my 2nd attempt but I don't feel like I'm ready for it and the class deadline is near. I'm already in good standing for the term, what happens if I don't finish this course? I feel like I need to start over and retake this class and go through the material again, how does that work?

Is it a completion deadline you set with your mentor, or is the end of the term coming up? If it's just a date your mentor set, that doesn't matter. If the term ends and you don't complete the class then you get a "not complete" on your transcript. But that's not really a big deal, you can just pass the class in the next term.

sheckler wrote: »

If the term ends and you don't complete the class then you get a "not complete" on your transcript. But that's not really a big deal, you can just pass the class in the next term.

Actually, it is a big deal if you're a scholarship student or financial aid student.

What will happen is if you end up with a fail, then your SAP gets dinged. One class might not bring your SAP down to 67%, but a couple will and your Financial Aid might be in jeopardy.

If you're a scholarship student, if you have less than 100% SAP, you could lose your scholarship funding as well.

This might not be dt3k's case, but if anyone else were in his position and were getting some sort of aid, they'd want to care about SAP. Stuff does come up and stuff happens, but if one can avoid it, one should always try to main 100% SAP. I'm not trying to say that having less than 100% SAP makes you a terrible person or anything like that; it's not the end of the world. But if you can help it, try to do 100% SAP.

Psoasman wrote: »

Finally got my transcript review back today. All that work doing pre-nursing finally paid off.
Should be able to start EWB next week, it is now required to finish that before your official start date.

I notice you didn't transfer BVC1....you have got to take that as your first class and let us know how it is. I'm really, really curious about how this class is.

Do EWB on a weekend...you should be done in 5 hours.

Finally, Welcome to WGU, brother!

Geography rules. I took it in community college, as well as Oceanography.

erpadmin wrote: »

I notice you didn't transfer BVC1....you have got to take that as your first class and let us know how it is. I'm really, really curious about how this class is.

Do EWB on a weekend...you should be done in 5 hours.

Finally, Welcome to WGU, brother!

I actually did receive credit for it. You can receive credit for this CU by taking a course in social sciences, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology - which I have taken, economics or political science. I am going to take the geography to have something to break up the monotony of project management

Psoasman wrote: »

I actually did receive credit for it. You can receive credit for this CU by taking a course in social sciences, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology - which I have taken, economics or political science. I am going to take the geography to have something to break up the monotony of project management

Oh, if it's like that, then you're good...that's actually what I figured. In fact, Geography seems to have taking over the SS(x)1 courses, which I would have gotten credit for anyway since I had taken Western Civ1 and 2, soc, anthro and psychology, so I would have never taken that too.

That geography course really looks cake though.

BTW, don't fear project management. You'll be amazed at how you can apply that to your current job. Believe me...project management is where IT is heading.

I actually enjoyed Geography in school and I don't mind project management, the course I took in college was taught in a dry, high-level way, so I did not enjoy it as much.

spiderjericho

WGU has finally received all of my transcripts. Now, all I need is for them to evaluate it, so I know what transfers (I have a AA and a BA plus numerous certs). I think I want to knock out the technical writing (if the one I took at UMUC doesn't transfer), the Capstone, the Java class and Microsoft objective to start out. Anyone think that might be a little much. And for my Capstone. Would someone who's completed it allow me to communicate with them via pm to bounce around the idea I have and find out if it's feasible for the project?

spiderjericho wrote: »

WGU has finally received all of my transcripts. Now, all I need is for them to evaluate it, so I know what transfers (I have a AA and a BA plus numerous certs). I think I want to knock out the technical writing (if the one I took at UMUC doesn't transfer), the Capstone, the Java class and Microsoft objective to start out. Anyone think that might be a little much. And for my Capstone. Would someone who's completed it allow me to communicate with them via pm to bounce around the idea I have and find out if it's feasible for the project?

Technical Writing isn't quite what you might think. It's really a part of Capstone in the sense that you have to present a proposal (Tech Writing) that will become your project (Capstone). I don't see how they will waive that, as you they are kind of symbiotic.

I don't know what certs you have, but you will probably be done in one term. If you need someone to PM about captsone, feel free. It was definitely easy for me since I based it off work, but the capstone can be tailored to a lot of stuff in IT depending on emphasis.

petedude

spiderjericho wrote: »

Now, all I need is for them to evaluate it, so I know what transfers (I have a AA and a BA plus numerous certs). I think I want to knock out the technical writing (if the one I took at UMUC doesn't transfer), the Capstone, the Java class and Microsoft objective to start out.

To chime in behind erpadmin: Technical Writing from another school will NOT transfer in as such given that WGU's TWA1 could also be called "Capstone Proposal Preparation."

I would bounce your project idea around with erpadmin (and others as appropriate), then review the proposal with the TWA1/Capstone mentor before charging on ahead with writing the report. There's really no reason in delaying that writing, even if your mentor wants you to wait to submit it. (It wouldn't hurt, either, to take Project Management before writing the proposal or starting Capstone as the PM stuff can be helpful with the scheduling/coordination parts of those courses.)

The Capstone is intended to be the last, or one of the last, courses to be completed. It can be done early, but don't be surprised if your mentor's hesitant to approve that one. That course is supposed to highlight competencies you've gained over the course of the program, so it's intended to be done near the end.

I would suggest focusing on the Microsoft exams and brainstorming for the technical writing-- those are going to probably be the tougher hurdles.

spiderjericho

Thanks for the info Epradmin. That makes a lot of sense. If that's the case, it's not a big deal. I still have all of the work from my UMUC class. My new idea is WAN upgrades for an enterprise going from OC-3 or OC-12 to 1 gb. This will probably include upgrading flash and RAM for the Border routers. And tweaking BGP. I took the Project+ exam last December when I began to take interest in WGU. The only cert exams I'll need is the Java and the Microsoft. I hope my AA eliminates all of the lower-level requirements. I'm real interested to see what classes I'll need to take. And I appreciate ear you two. I'll definitely hit you up once I find out WGU's Degree Plan for me.