Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

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

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Psoasman

Hypntick wrote: »

On a related note.....capstone is passed! No more Taskstream! GAC1 is scheduled for next Saturday night, and the practice tests that come on the 70-680 book CD i'm hitting 70% or better without studying, i'm feeling really good right now.

Congrats!! Looks like that tunnel is getting really close for you.

NOLAJ

Hypntick wrote: »

I used the development of a comprehensive security policy that we (my job, an MSP) can shop around to clients as a managed security service. It covered pretty much every competency that they could want on the paper and was something I was in the process of doing anyways. On a related note.....capstone is passed! No more Taskstream! GAC1 is scheduled for next Saturday night, and the practice tests that come on the 70-680 book CD i'm hitting 70% or better without studying, i'm feeling really good right now.

Congrats!!

Melika635

My Capstone passed too! Just ABV1 left for me.. I'm giving myself a few weeks to be ready for me. Hopefully by end of June...

TLeTourneau

Hypntick wrote: »

<SNIP>On a related note.....capstone is passed! No more Taskstream! GAC1 is scheduled for next Saturday night, and the practice tests that come on the 70-680 book CD i'm hitting 70% or better without studying, i'm feeling really good right now.

Congratulations! I can't wait until I'm there

As far as 70-680 goes, pay attention to GP's and deployments, just saying.

Hypntick

Melika635 wrote: »

My Capstone passed too! Just ABV1 left for me.. I'm giving myself a few weeks to be ready for me. Hopefully by end of June...

Congrats on the pass! Depending on how quickly I can read the book and feel comfortable, i'm shooting for a schedule date of June 30th. That would bring me to 1 year and 4 months total from start to finish. As I first set a goal of 1.5 years with a fallback plan of 2 years, I think I did pretty well for myself overall. With a job switch, promotion, and a few other interesting setbacks, I could have done it closer to a year but I have no regrets.

erpadmin

TLeTourneau wrote: »

As far as 70-680 goes, pay attention to GP's and deployments, just saying.

Ditto.

Congratulations Hyp and Mel! The end is most certainly near!!

Just heed TL's advice about GP and deployments...I focused much of my studying on both, but there was so much GP studying for the rest of my EA cert, that 70-680 was a nice pass.

foofighters

I'm considering enrolling in WGU in the fall. My current diploma is purely technical, I took no general education courses. Am I safe to assuming that I'll have to do all of them? I'm considering enrolling in straighterline courses now so I don't have to do them when I start at WGU, has anyone here done this? Was it easy enough to do?

I'm debating trying to challenge a couple of the general education courses, however I would like to go through the course material for some of them, specifically the english ones as I want to practice and improve my writing skills. I also like the fact that if I took six months at straighterline to do all my general education courses (hoping it won't take that long), $99/month + $39 per course would be roughly $800-900 which is much cheaper wasting a term at WGU.

demonfurbie

just a heads up for people that are nearing the end

they no longer will extend your term if you have to get a full new term so plan accordingly

jmasterj206

Hmmm, so no more month extensions anymore if you are on your last class? I wonder if you go another term and finish right away if they will give you some money back?

demonfurbie

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Hmmm, so no more month extensions anymore if you are on your last class? I wonder if you go another term and finish right away if they will give you some money back?

not sure i think we are in a similar situation so im just gonna cram it up and get done at the deadline

themagicone

AFAIK the policy is that if you start a new term and only have 4 CU to complete they will refund you 1/3 of your money. Now if you have 16 to do and finish it in 2 months there is no refund. Congrats everyone on getting to the end.

Psoasman

Melika635 wrote: »

My Capstone passed too! Just ABV1 left for me.. I'm giving myself a few weeks to be ready for me. Hopefully by end of June...

Congrats to you! Keeps me motivated seeing people finishing up their degrees.

Krones

I am about to graduate with my Associate of Arts from my local community college and plan on attending WGU. I took MS Networking 1,2,3,4 AKA 70-680, 70-646, 70-642, 70-640... All MOAC courses where virtual labs are completed through Microsoft's IT Academy. The irony is WGU switched to this curriculum but since they were listed as 200 level courses on my transcript they do not qualify to fulfill admission requirements. It boggles my mind that a course that is just the same as ones WGU offers (minus the certification requirement for credit) is not enough for entry into the IT Security program. So, for anyone without the certifications and IT experience that wants to attend WGU based on past credits will more than likely need to have taken 300 level courses in IT.

erpadmin

Krones wrote: »

I am about to graduate with my Associate of Arts from my local community college and plan on attending WGU. I took MS Networking 1,2,3,4 AKA 70-680, 70-646, 70-642, 70-640... All MOAC courses where virtual labs are completed through Microsoft's IT Academy. The irony is WGU switched to this curriculum but since they were listed as 200 level courses on my transcript they do not qualify to fulfill admission requirements.

So...why not forgo the IT Security program, and just do Net Admin? If it were me, I would take the certs prior to WGU [based on you taking MOAC courses.] Only thing you'd have to worry about is that CISCO exam, but then you could just take WGU's learning resources, plus spend a little money to get equipment, your own resources like selftestsoftware.com exams. But you would then be able to really be done with a WGU program in one term.

IT Security will always be available to you if that's what you want to pursue as a career. Remember, you will only get a "Bachelor of Science--Information Technology" degree, regardless of what you're emphasis is.

Krones

I do not think the MOAC courses adequately prepared me for the actual certification exams but it is a certainly a good starting point. I am in no rush to finish once I start at WGU, but I agree with you that anyone that is paying out of pocket should try and bone up on some of the tougher exams before starting their program.

spiderjericho

So my journey to start WGU has been a slow process. I've had to jump through financial hoops and family issues since October to get to this point. After failing to get military tuition assistance (already have a BA) and scholarships, I had to pay for the tuition myself.

So, last night, I just completed the Education With Borders orientation class. Man, that sucker was long (yes, yes, that's what she said, get your mind out of the gutter). But it was definitely full of usefull information.

I also had a short conversation with my mentor. I didn't get his last name, but his name is Mika. He said he works out of Phoenix.

So on June 1st, I'll be starting:
CUV1
BOV1
BNC1
MGC1

Afterward I'll have the following courses left to complete my degree:
DFV1
SBT1
RBT1

Hopefully, I'll be able to knock it out in one term, especially with the news they don't do extensions anymore. I'll be using Swild's thread as a template for providing tips on the programming/web classes/tests. And I've been bouncing off ERP an idea for my Techwriting/Capstone.

I look forward to stopping by and providing my experience and communicating with everyone. It's going to be an interesting six months, since I just got to a new duty station and have a sick baby daughter.

angjen0816

I am starting to get frustrated with WGU. I inquired about the program about a week ago and I have already been through 3 enrollment counselors without getting a single call from anyone. I keep getting emails asking when to call me, I tell them when, and then nothing. I have completed the application, the entrance tests, and the financial aid paperwork already, on my own. My newest counselor wrote me last night and asked when to call me, I said anytime as I am a stay at home mom. Today he says he won't have time till next week. WTF!

Psoasman

angjen0816 wrote: »

I am starting to get frustrated with WGU. I inquired about the program about a week ago and I have already been through 3 enrollment counselors without getting a single call from anyone. I keep getting emails asking when to call me, I tell them when, and then nothing. I have completed the application, the entrance tests, and the financial aid paperwork already, on my own. My newest counselor wrote me last night and asked when to call me, I said anytime as I am a stay at home mom. Today he says he won't have time till next week. WTF!

The enrollment counselors are often the most frustrating part of the process. I suspect they are swamped with all the new students enrolling.
You might try calling student services and see if they can speed things up.

themagicone

Is anyone else getting utterly frustrated with taskstream? My entire masters program is via TaskStream. But each task is take 3 to 5 days to come back. It is really slowing me down. Might be that my program is new but that in itself is hurting. Course mentors are still trying to figure out courses and I'm trying to pass them. I don't think they expected someone to want to finish 8 CU in a month.

jmasterj206

I feel your pain magic. I took 5 days to evaluate Task 1 of the second programming class. All that task entails is a survey on working together on programming a small program.

WGU

Turned in Task 1 of LYT2 on the 10th and it was graded by the 12th - Passed. I am optimistic. Turned in paper on 16th and waiting non-patiently to see if they get to it today; else sadly Monday.

Courses Completed at WGU: JFT2, TFT2, FXT2, JIT2, BFC2
Courses Required For Me To Graduate WGU in MS: IT Network Managment: LYT2, LZT2, SJT2, TGT2, MAT2, MBT2, MCT2, MDT2, MNT2
CU Done this term: 1 Total CU Done: 9
Currently working on: LYT2, LZT2, SJT2 Graduation Goal: 05/2013

themagicone

WGU - did you get started before the term? If not, how have you do so much so far? I've been working 4-6 hour+ a day on the degree and I'm just starting the papers for LYT2. How is BFC2 and then FXT2 - is that pretty simple at JIT2?

Hypntick

For task stream, 3-5 days is par for the course, especially after the 15th of the month. You may get lucky earlier in the month and get a 1-2 day. But i've never had it less than 1 day.

WGU

I had completed the other classes as part of the MSISA degree program. Since I have been in IT for a while, I signed up for the three courses on the 2nd which are IT focused. Took the pre-assessment for BFC2 the same day and scored well. So requested it scheduled with my Mentor and took the exam on the 10th. I also looked at the Task on LYT2 and found the first tasks to use my existing knowledge base and worked on the paper. I too spent similar stretches of time and turned in my first paper. Was nervous after reading the posts about the long wait times lately; was happy to see the quick turnaround.

Have a strong network background, I was able to also start on the SJT2 task. It was a long task but having Visio and completed similar real world projects in the past, I completed and turned in it. I think this one may come back for minor revision(s).

themagicone: I have read your posts and look forward to learning/working with you as you and I are completing the same program. This program is different than the MSISA which relied on mostly objective assessments.

Courses Completed at WGU: JFT2, TFT2, FXT2, JIT2, BFC2
Courses Required For Me To Graduate WGU in MS: IT Network Managment: LYT2, LZT2, SJT2, TGT2, MAT2, MBT2, MCT2, MDT2, MNT2
CU Done this term: 1 Total CU Done: 9
Currently working on: LYT2, LZT2, SJT2 Graduation Goal: 05/2013

WGU

themagicone, the BFC2 course was not that difficult - some laws, networking and security and lastly, project management/stakeholders. JIT2 was extremely difficult for me, ironically, Tasks 1 and 3, I was able to complete with 1 time revisions but Tasks 2 took me 4-5 tries because it seemed slightly confusing and redundant in writing up.

themagicone

It's funny you say task 2 on JIT2. The same thing happened to me. I got the risk register perfect 4.0, part 3 was passed but they kept getting me on the BCP. How is a ethical use policy part of a contingency plan? I understand the protection part but why do I need to explain how they plan to keep records safe in normal day to day activity? But alas I passed on 3rd try. Just finished my COS readings for LYT2. Waiting on grading for task 1, then going to start task 2 tonight.

WGU

Happy to report that I just got my results for the SJT2 course (9:16 p.m. MT) and its a pass! Going to keep working on LYT2 and sign up to TGT2.

Courses Completed at WGU: JFT2, TFT2, FXT2, JIT2, BFC2, SJT2
Courses Required For Me To Graduate WGU in MS: IT Network Managment: LYT2, LZT2, SJT2, TGT2, MAT2, MBT2, MCT2, MDT2, MNT2
CU Done this term: 4 Total CU Done: 13
Currently working on: LYT2, LZT2 Graduation Goal: 05/2013

natv

My term officially only starts in June but I wanted to get a head start on one of the classes I want to take first term that I feel will take me a while to go through (DFV1 - Microsoft 98-363: Web Developer Fundamentals)

The COS had the learning resources listed and I was able to log into CourseSmart with my WGU login and pull up the book for the course. I'm finishing up the first of the 7 lessons. Question for anyone who has taken this course...

- I answered the multiple-choice/fill-in-the-blank review questions at the end of the section, but not finding the answers in the back of the book. Google'd this and it seems those are only in the instructor's companion site. I understand I have to wait until I'm enrolled but how will that work.. will we be submitting our answers to the course mentor or will the answers be posted somewhere, or in the student companion I'll later have access to?

- If anyone recalls the "Proficiency Assessment" Scenario at the end of Lesson 1 (Displaying State Data) - I'm wondering how far we need to go with this.. it's asking for me to put together a contact form that is passed to an approval/verification page and then some other action after that (not sure how much info I can provide here without breaking NDA..). My question is that in this first section of the book, it only partially covered this, it certainly didn't cover how to actually submit a form where the user gets sent to a different page.. I'm not sure how far to take this... should I be seeking out further resources and learning to complete this at this point?

Any feedback would be great, I'm hoping before I start the term I can have much of this done, probably I'll run into similar issues in the other lessons too. Any advice you can offer would be great.

Thanks

themagicone

Most of the time you are not required to turn in or pass anything inside the COS. For cert test it's just request the voucher and take the test. Taskstream classes just start writing and turn them in. The only time I've ran into issues with the COS is when I failed the 70-680 3 times and I had to prove that I was working in the COS.

natv

Thanks, and I finally did find the review question answers as well as the steps to complete the exercises, so now I can see where I got stuck