Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

samueee

Hello all!! first time posting here.

I just started WGU, on April 1st. So I have been at it 11 days, I have taken and passed AGC1, BBC1, and CLC1. I also submitted LAE1 yesterday.

I had my second weekly call with my mentor last Monday. She told me she cannot open up any courses until they are cleared out of my degree plan. Is this true? She said the most she could add was two, I didn't find this acceptable. It seems like I am being held back. I would of thought I could just keep knocking them out, I feel like she is making this harder than it needs to be. I could pass several tests TODAY if approved. I would of thought that passing several exams back to back would inspire some trust in my abilities. I Guess not...

The end of my term is not for 24.5 weeks, seeing as I did 8 cu's in my first 7 days I would think its reasonable to think that the next 4cu wont take 5.5 months. I know I'm a noob - but seriously I'm pushing my mentor.

Any advice of what to say or do? I have read through most of the pages here and have found a few nuggets but no concrete answers.

Thanks to all in advanced!


______UPDATE______ make that 10CU's in 10days. I just got a pass notice from taskstream for LAE1.

erpadmin

samueee wrote: »

Hello all!! first time posting here.

....snip.......

First of all welcome to TE and congratulations on beginning your WGU journey.

You are at the "getting to know you" stage with your mentor. While you are certainly off to a great start, your mentor just wants to make sure you are the real deal. Your mentor is actually doing you a favor, so just (for now) work within the parameters you are given.

If you were done with your first term with like 30 CUs+, I would give you different advice. But since you've just started, just see how you handle the next two courses. Trust me, for a course like LAT1, it is almost impossible to knock that out in two days (as opposed to LAE1). The course takes at a minimum three weeks to a month and that's assuming you have a fulltime job. I actually had to take a week off from work JUST to deal with the final stages of LAT1. Another course like that (and this is only because I'm not a math wiz) was QLT1 (though I didn't need to take time off from work for that.)

See how well you do on the next two courses. Once you're done with those, get two more (or even three). Continue at the pace you want to give yourself until you get to the final month. Your goal (and your mentor's, because she gets heat from her boss) is to finish a term with a good number of CUs with 100% SAP. Prove yourself to your mentor and then you will see them playing ball.

samueee

Excellent - thanks for the prompt reply. and the welcome to TE... I've been stalking for about two months.

Basically, I need a reality check and a small dose of patience. I knew that, but sometimes you need someone to tell you to take a deep breath.



(BTW, LAT1 is that the same as QBT1) Its listed as:

QBT1
Language and Communication: Research



in my degree plan.

I guess I could unofficially start on that.


Forgive my excitement. I have been out of the school world for 7 years now and I feel like I have a new lease on life because of WGU!

petedude

Melika635 wrote: »

Need a little encouragement... GUT1 Task 4 is killing me. slowly. painfully. Someone please tell me I will figure it out and it will all be just a memory soon.

It will. You will wonder what to do with all that free time, and will strangely miss coding obscure Java syntax along with reading weird Java texts.

erpadmin wrote: »

Maybe an unborn baby.....probably a zygote or something.

Thanks for the memory jog. I actually have referred to it as a "mini-PMP", not a "baby PMP". Old age, ya know.

RPGChai

Just took and passed my WSV1 (CIW Web Design Spec) test this morning. I'm wondering: how much more depth is there to the JavaScript class past what was covered in WSV1? I guess I'm wondering if having that base knowledge means that I can fly through the full JavaScript class in a couple of weeks.

jmasterj206

The javascript cert does deal with a lot of syntax. It isn't terribly hard either. I would suggest reading the CIW materials and take a look at youtube for thenewboston javascript tutorials. It has been awhile since I took it, but this helped too. http://www.mcmcse.com/ciw/javascript_guide.shtml

Raidersfan81

RPGChai wrote: »

Just took and passed my WSV1 (CIW Web Design Spec) test this morning. I'm wondering: how much more depth is there to the JavaScript class past what was covered in WSV1? I guess I'm wondering if having that base knowledge means that I can fly through the full JavaScript class in a couple of weeks.

I'm doing the same thing you did. Just passed Web Design about 10 days ago and moved on to Javascript. It goes into more depth, but it doesn't seem to hard either so far. I'm on lesson 7 right now.

Nobylspoon

NOLAJ wrote: »

Cool!! Nobylspoon and I have the same mentor (T.M.), he also sends out a monthly newsletter. Kinda makes you feel like they are not looking at you like you're "just a number."

Well we DID have the same mentor. TM was just promoted and had to transfer most of his students to other mentors. My new one is EG. She was an enrollment councilor who just became a student mentor. I haven't had a call with her yet.

erpadmin

samueee wrote: »

Excellent - thanks for the prompt reply. and the welcome to TE... I've been stalking for about two months.

Basically, I need a reality check and a small dose of patience. I knew that, but sometimes you need someone to tell you to take a deep breath.



(BTW, LAT1 is that the same as QBT1) Its listed as:

QBT1

Language and Communication: Research




in my degree plan.

I guess I could unofficially start on that.


Forgive my excitement. I have been out of the school world for 7 years now and I feel like I have a new lease on life because of WGU!

Sounds like it is the same class, WGU changes the program up ever several months or so. Current students then have the option of staying within the program they started with (like the MCSE 2K3 guys I walked with) or upgrading to the new program. Most folks tend to stay within the program they started with. I did want to take what is now the current Javascript exam, but course mentors were playing games, so I opted to take the older exam so I can move quickly.

In any event, I know how you feel. I was exactly the same way when I first started. I had done my first 12 CUs in 26 days and I felt proud. I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for the support that I found on TE, WGU would have been yet another school I dropped out of. You sound like you will do very well....just relax, breathe and do your WGU work at a very comfortable pace. Spend a few hours reading this particular thread. I promise you any (general) questions you have was probably already answered.

Also, pay it forward as well...share your experiences so that you can impart that knowledge on another newbie.

You will be fine.

erpadmin

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Well we DID have the same mentor. TM was just promoted and had to transfer most of his students to other mentors. My new one is EG. She was an enrollment councilor who just became a student mentor. I haven't had a call with her yet.

Oh heck!! Bro, you better lay down the law swiftly and early!! Be polite, but let this lady know you won't tolerate nonsense.

Hypntick

So tasks 1-3 on LAT are approved. Just submitted 4 and 5, time to hurry up and wait. Been a rough couple of days at work, but when I get home tomorrow i'll start in on GAC1 studies. Need to finish up LAT, LUT, and GAC by the end of this month to keep on schedule. Looking over HHT and QLT, i'm not as worried as I thought i'd be, will try and knock those and IWT out next month.

Agent6376

@Hypntick - LAT1 was the top of the mountain for me, I kept momentum afterwards and cleared through the rest of the program fairly well. Good luck on tasks 4 and 5, the hard part is behind you from tasks 1-3 imo. Writing is the fun/easy part.

Nobylspoon

erpadmin wrote: »

Oh heck!! Bro, you better lay down the law swiftly and early!! Be polite, but let this lady know you won't tolerate nonsense.

Yeah, I just hope she isn't like most of the enrollment councilors. If I have any issues I can just contact my former mentor, her new boss

NOLAJ

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Well we DID have the same mentor. TM was just promoted and had to transfer most of his students to other mentors. My new one is EG. She was an enrollment councilor who just became a student mentor. I haven't had a call with her yet.

I'm with EG as well now. Good for TM!! Knocked out Sec+ this morning, 7 courses left to graduate!

NOLAJ

Will someone shoot me the link for the books 24x7 site for WGU. I see we can't log in to the normal books 24x7 site. I usually just link to the site through one of the emails from 24x7, but I cleaned my email out and deleted them all.

demonfurbie

NOLAJ wrote: »

Will someone shoot me the link for the books 24x7 site for WGU. I see we can't log in to the normal books 24x7 site. I usually just link to the site through one of the emails from 24x7, but I cleaned my email out and deleted them all.

mobile.skillport.books24x7.com

group code is wgu

NOLAJ

demonfurbie wrote: »

mobile.skillport.books24x7.com

group code is wgu

Thank you!!

Hypntick

And LAT1 is frickin done! On to LUT1. Also had my mentor add my 3 math courses to my AAV today. Going to work on those over the weekend.

NOLAJ

Hypntick wrote: »

And LAT1 is frickin done! On to LUT1. Also had my mentor add my 3 math courses to my AAV today. Going to work on those over the weekend.

Nice!! Getting close!

jmasterj206

Does anyone have any good link on creating arrays from textfields in Java? I am struggling mightily with this first task. I almost to the point of transferring to another school so I don't have to deal with this.:)

joshmadakor

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Does anyone have any good link on creating arrays from textfields in Java? I am struggling mightily with this first task. I almost to the point of transferring to another school so I don't have to deal with this.

If you transfer schools over that, you might not get very far. Is there nothing in the provided curriculum that covers this kind of thing?

petedude

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Does anyone have any good link on creating arrays from textfields in Java? I am struggling mightily with this first task. I almost to the point of transferring to another school so I don't have to deal with this.

You should be able to do something like declare myArray = new String[24]. I'll try to look and come back for this.

jmasterj206

joshmadakor wrote: »

If you transfer schools over that, you might not get very far. Is there nothing in the provided curriculum that covers this kind of thing?

Ha, Programming seems to be pretty tough to learn without a structured classroom. The first task is pretty indepth for an intro to programming class.

petedude

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Ha, Programming seems to be pretty tough to learn without a structured classroom.

Yeah, but not to the extent that math is tough to learn independently.

jmasterj206 wrote: »

The first task is pretty indepth for an intro to programming class.

It is. They probably should have made the first tasks text input-based, then gone on to GUIs in the later ones.

There's a lot that could be done to improve the Java courses, IMO.

swild

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Does anyone have any good link on creating arrays from textfields in Java? I am struggling mightily with this first task. I almost to the point of transferring to another school so I don't have to deal with this.:)

I suggest taking a look at Java for Programmers by Deitel. It will get you through both Java classes with plenty of good code examples to build from including Arrays, sets, maps, and GUIs.

erpadmin

Well, I'm going to officially retire my signature. I want to open it up for what I'm currently doing (my Master's programs) and perhaps other certs I may want to work on. So far, those of interest at this time would be the PMP, the 70-646 and the SQL Server DBA:2008 exams.

I will leave my signature here for TE prosperity but I now I can add some additional stuff to it for prospective students to look at:


WGU Courses Completed beginning on August 1, 2010 (Term separated by | AND classes were done in order):
EWB2, LAE1, BBC1, TSV1, WFV1, LAT1, LUT1, CLC1, TPV1|LET1, ORC1, MGC1, QLT1, QLC1, INT1, AKV1, AHV1|TWA1, AIV1, CPW3, ABV1, BIV1, BHV1
Courses Required For Me To Graduate WGU with BS - IT: NDM : D-O-N-E!!!!!
Classes Transferred: BAC1, INC1, TEV1, TTV1, QMC1, SSC1, SST1, IWC1, IWT1, TNV1

Hypntick

Waiting to hear back on HHT1, also QLT1 task 1 is done with. Provided HHT1 comes back fine i'll try and finish out LUT1 and QLT1 this week. Will re-do the pre-assessment for GAC1 tomorrow night. Momentum is gathering!

samueee

So I passed MGC1 today, bringing my total CU's to 14 since my April 1st start date, I am unofficially working on QBT1 aka LAT1 now.... Any QBT/LAT Tips??

An update: My mentor has been giving me a little more freedom since I've been proving my abilities, she was nice enough to add and approve MGC1 on friday that I passedtoday . I am hoping to take my A+ exams this weekend, and the CIW web foundations. I feel ready due to my practice scores and 5+ Years of experience in the IT field.

Valsacar

I finally start May 1st, did that wonderfully entertaining EWB yesterday. Since the system was nice enough to let me see everything, I've already started on JFT2 (took Org Beh in my BS, same book) and LKT2 (my Company gives Books 24x7 access). Plan to be ready to submit stuff as soon as things actually start.

erpadmin

Hypntick wrote: »

Waiting to hear back on HHT1, also QLT1 task 1 is done with. Provided HHT1 comes back fine i'll try and finish out LUT1 and QLT1 this week. Will re-do the pre-assessment for GAC1 tomorrow night. Momentum is gathering!

Why not throw on LUT1 too? LUT1 is not LAT1; you just write a script, get your pretty mug in front of a camera, and have a spouse/relative ask questions you provide that "audience" and you answer it with the "teleprompter." (the "audience" member holding your script in front of you.)

It's based off the LAT1 work you did...you should be able to knock that one out within 3-5 days. A whole week tops. But you'll be done with the English component.


EDIT: I was just saying (at the time) that LUT1 will really be a quick one to do...I see now that you are knocking that out.

Valsacar wrote: »

I finally start May 1st, did that wonderfully entertaining EWB yesterday. Since the system was nice enough to let me see everything, I've already started on JFT2 (took Org Beh in my BS, same book) and LKT2 (my Company gives Books 24x7 access). Plan to be ready to submit stuff as soon as things actually start.

Unofficially, I'm done with the Org Beh course at my school and will update my thread as soon I'm done here. WGU's undergrad Org Behavior course did a nice job in prepping me for this particular course. I've read a lot of people complaining about that course and I'm curious to hear from you and N2IT on how this particular course fared with you. If I were to ever transfer to WGU's Master's program, I am confident I would not have to take it.