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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Comments

geekoncall

OK, my term started 1st of March, my mentor added 4 courses (13 CUs). I just finished LAE1. I asked my mentor to add a new course and she told me, she can't add. She can only add 1st of every month so I would have to wait until 1st of April. Is that correct ? I see many people do like, finish one and add another one, so how come she says she can add only on 1st of each month? any comments..

nosoup4u

I have to finish the block of classes that are open before my mentor will add any

PurpleIT

geekoncall wrote: »

OK, my term started 1st of March, my mentor added 4 courses (13 CUs). I just finished LAE1. I asked my mentor to add a new course and she told me, she can't add. She can only add 1st of every month so I would have to wait until 1st of April. Is that correct ? I see many people do like, finish one and add another one, so how come she says she can add only on 1st of each month? any comments..

That's not correct. My mentor adds a class any time I complete one, but if you have three still you are already enrolled in what's the rush? One thing to keep in mind is that in order to have satisfactory academic progress you need to complete a certain percentage of your classes in any given term and she may want you to get your first 3 classes done before she adds another.

My mentor talked about this with me and it makes perfect sense - after the 12 CUs I was enrolled in initially I have never been in more than two classes at any given time. I only study one class at a time, but it's nice to have the option to try something different for a few days if I need a mental break.

DPG

Passed MCG1 today. I can't believe this is worth the same amount of CU's as the Windows 7 exam (4 CU).
Next up is Project+.

spiderjericho

Started my term on the 1st and only have one class, DFV1 to pass to get my degree. But I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself because of the material and subject matter.

i just spoke to my mentor and he said DFV1 is going away May 1st. I wish I knew what they were replacing it with (like the CIW Site Administrator).

Hypntick

FMV2 is scheduled for Saturday morning, will start work on JIT2 Sunday night, hope to finish that in a couple of days and submit. Should be able to knock out 3 of the 6 classes remaining within the first month I would think.

zidian

spiderjericho wrote: »

Started my term on the 1st and only have one class, DFV1 to pass to get my degree. But I'm finding it difficult to motivate myself because of the material and subject matter.

i just spoke to my mentor and he said DFV1 is going away May 1st. I wish I knew what they were replacing it with (like the CIW Site Administrator).

It is being replaced by a task stream course and exam. There will not be a certification.

Leftwhite

Hello.

I am looking to enroll into WGU for the Information Security and Assurance BS and then ideally the Master's after.

I am essentially starting from having a very BASIC understanding of this subject.

I do phone/email support for a living, but nothing specific to any certs or working networking/security knowledge.

What I am wondering:

1. Is this degree ideal for someone like me, with no previous employment background specific to this field, and:

2. If not, what is recommended as far as a self-taught startup (would like a recommendation for this either way, if possible), to familiarize myself with basics/specifics/terminology etc.

I am very quick learner, have been watching a lot of very general videos/intros to the field, but would love some input on my position related to this particular degree from WGU from those who have taken it before - what your prior experience was, your opinion on what i should know ahead of time, and how entry-level this particular course structure may or may not be.

Let me know if I'm in the wrong thread, totally new to the forum.

Thanks in advance -

Joey

Hypntick

@Leftwhite I can't speak to the BS in security, I took the network admin path. However I am enrolled in the MS:ISA currently. From what I recall of the courses for the BS, Cisco might be what trips you up. If you have no experience in networking, it might be a good idea to start studying for the CCENT and see if you can take care of that on your own. I think that would give you at least a fairly decent understanding of what you have to look forward to in that program. From the MS:ISA side of things, it would help to have at least some experience with policy development and risk management. Not to say that you can't work your way through it, it just may be harder for you, however I can't say for certain not knowing your full background.

Hope this helps, and if you have any questions, i'll be more than happy to answer what I can.

Edit: I'm just going to append this here. FMV2 is done! Seriously one of the easiest certs i've had to take, if you've got Network+, a little bit of sysadmin experience, basic security knowledge, and common sense, anyone should be able to pass it. Taking the evening off and then on to creating my risk register for JIT2 tomorrow.

ehnde

Hey guys, I'm dropping out of WGU

I started in the Security track and couldn't do the java in a reasonable time frame (I'm not a programmer and don't know java, so this is a serious undertaking). Not wanting to waste time/money, I switched to the Network Administration track but have failed the 70-640 Active Directory exam 3 times. My biggest problem with this exam is that I have no interest in Microsoft server technologies. My last score was a 550 and I've made no real progress.

My second biggest problem with the 70-640 exam is a lack of time. I have 4 kids in my house, actually just bought a house, and carry alot of responsibility at work! When I started at WGU in 2011 I had plenty of free time...now, not so much.

I'm going to step back for a couple of years and work on things I enjoy, like Linux+ and becoming more adept with VOIP. I'm 31 CUs from a B.S. in IT, but it might as well be 100 CUs right now. I've been paying out of pocket and it really stings to pay for a term and make no progress. Two years from now after some independent study, I'll reevaluate where I stand and do the track I am best suited for. This is a tough pill to swallow.

nosoup4u

Why not just go straight BS, to avoid the 70-64x's? Your so close, don't give up now!

demonfurbie

id say go the standard route and hit me up ill help ya as much as i can with java

Psoasman

You are close to being done, don't give up. If you quit now, you may not ever go back to it. Java sucks, but it's doable. You can post for help, many of us have been through it.

chrisguy

How quickly can the average WGU student progress if he/she studies 15 to 20 hours a week?

Psoasman

It depends on how well you retain the material. I think I read you had 16 years of experience? If so, then some of the classes may be very easy for you. I was able to finish a few classes in less than a week, but I put in an average of 30 hour/week.

chrisguy

Hello. Yes, I have 16 years in the IT field and have actually held the same position for all of those years but I want to move on and I need to earn my degree. My first cert was A+ and goeas all the way back to 1998. I have obtained six certifications over the years but only one is whithin the last five years. I wish I could receive some type of credit for all of this experience and training.

chrisguy

I workd full-time and may have some trouble putting in more than 15 to 20 hours a week but I studied for all of my certifications over the years while working a full-time and a part-time job. I hope I am still able to focus like I used to.

chrisguy

I would love to recieve a referral from a current WGU student if anyone is able to help out.

Thank you.

Psoasman

chrisguy wrote: »

Hello. Yes, I have 16 years in the IT field and have actually held the same position for all of those years but I want to move on and I need to earn my degree. My first cert was A+ and goeas all the way back to 1998. I have obtained six certifications over the years but only one is whithin the last five years. I wish I could receive some type of credit for all of this experience and training.

While you may not get credit for older certs, the knowledge gained will aid you in moving through the current certs. For example: if you started at WGU and then proceeded to do the Network+ exam pre-assessment and got 85%, you could then just schedule the exam and be through the course in 2 weeks, compared to a person with less experience who may take 4-5 weeks.

Avery Harris

I see a lot of discussion about the various IT programs, but has anyone gone through the BS in Health Informatics program? If so, how would you judge the difficulty, how well did it prepare you for the RHIA exam, and how were your job prospects afterwards?

xocity

Just got back from taking the CIW Web Foundations Exam. It was one of the easiest tests I've ever taken. Studied for a week, did decent on the site development portion even though I didn't care for it much. Updated my Sig, and now for some Math. One step at a time guys, and before you know it, a future post will say that im graduating

murdatapes

Went to my old school where I was in an A.A.S. degree to see where I was and how long I had to finish that up. Looks like it would take me 9 semesters there to finish up. With going part time(only thing I can do) 2 classes per semesters. So 2 years to finish up the A.A.S. So I decided to take the plunge and start at WGU in 2 months. What was the most anybody has ever tooken in one term? Class wise. I 'am only asking because I would like to push the button on this, and finish hopefully in 2 years (B.S. IT Management). I was measuring the up the classes to see if I could press on the gas pedal and think I could get it done with pushing hard at it, but wanted to see what was average classes tooken by someone to finish in a shorter time frame then the full 4 years. I only work 4 days a week and no kids at the moment would like to smash it and get it done.

thanks

olaHalo

xocity wrote: »

Just got back from taking the CIW Web Foundations Exam. It was one of the easiest tests I've ever taken. Studied for a week, did decent on the site development portion even though I didn't care for it much. Updated my Sig, and now for some Math. One step at a time guys, and before you know it, a future post will say that im graduating

congrats
I hope the CUV1 (CIW Web Technologies) is just as easy. It looks pretty tame...

arwes

Gotta love waking up to see an email titled "Notification of Evaluation Completion" versus "Notification of Work Sent Back"! LUT1 is done, so glad I don't have to record that all over again. Looks like I'll be taking the BVC1 assessment this weekend, hopefully on Saturday because Sunday is going to be hectic with Easter stuff and Monday my dad's going in for sinus surgery. My mentor's out today, but I'm going to get her to enroll me in BNC1 tomorrow and I'll probably take the preassessment for it sometime this week after a quick material run through.

The last week and a half has been fun. My boss went to the Philippines (and won't be back for another week) on a church trip around the same time we got in 8 new workstations. So I've been working on getting a common image made up, and I'm constantly distracted by other things. And our training department is my "backup" (the IT department is just me & my boss). They got really testy when I floated the idea of driving 60 miles to take the DFV1 test, so my mentor was nice enough to put it on the back burner to let me do things that can be done via OLP.

Speaking of DFV1, I did a quick Google search for a 98-363 study guide and came across one on the Certiport site of all places. Have any of you used it in your studies?

zidian

murdatapes wrote: »

Went to my old school where I was in an A.A.S. degree to see where I was and how long I had to finish that up. Looks like it would take me 9 semesters there to finish up. With going part time(only thing I can do) 2 classes per semesters. So 2 years to finish up the A.A.S. So I decided to take the plunge and start at WGU in 2 months...

swild finished 60 credits in one term http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/73130-wgu-challenge-finish-1-term.html. I completed 26 in my first term and could have finished 29 if I worked as hard my first 2 months as I did my last 4 months. I've seen another thread on the WGU communities where a guy finished 79 in six months. I'd say the average for an accelerated student is somewhere around 20 to 25.

kgb

arwes wrote: »

Gotta love waking up to see an email titled "Notification of Evaluation Completion" versus "Notification of Work Sent Back"! ...

Isn't that the truth. I can still remember that feeling:)

arwes wrote: »

...Speaking of DFV1, I did a quick Google search for a 98-363 study guide and came across one on the Certiport site of all places. Have any of you used it in your studies?

If that's the 50-65page pdf, then yeah, I used those for all my MTA's. It was just another resource.

However, DFV1 and every MTA...it's all MeasureUp. I do believe it's part of the learning resources available for DFV1 as well (wasn't when I took it).

murdatapes

zidian wrote: »

swild finished 60 credits in one term http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/73130-wgu-challenge-finish-1-term.html. I completed 26 in my first term and could have finished 29 if I worked as hard my first 2 months as I did my last 4 months. I've seen another thread on the WGU communities where a guy finished 79 in six months. I'd say the average for an accelerated student is somewhere around 20 to 25.

Yup, ive see that too zidian. Good to know if I go at a steady speed I can get through it. Excited about going and learning, so I will have a solid education to bring out of it.

psiebert

Has anyone taken the BS with the software concentration? Thinking about enrolling and just wondering how intense it is. For the record I'm a web programmer right now working primarily in PHP
Paul

Rosco2382

psiebert wrote: »

Has anyone taken the BS with the software concentration? Thinking about enrolling and just wondering how intense it is. For the record I'm a web programmer right now working primarily in PHP
Paul

If you go for it let me know how it is. I plan on enrolling in it in December. finishing up my aas atm.

zidian

psiebert wrote: »

Has anyone taken the BS with the software concentration? Thinking about enrolling and just wondering how intense it is. For the record I'm a web programmer right now working primarily in PHP
Paul

I am doing the Software Track right now. I just finished my first term and focused on mostly non software related stuff. It hasn't been too bad so far. One of the biggest complaints on the software track is how difficult two of the WGU-Non Cert classes are. Those are both getting changed starting May 1st to a better system.

I completed 7 classes in my first term taking things like the A+, Project+, a couple MTA exams (Windows 7 and Databases). I also threw in the business class (Organizational Behavior and Leadership) and the first class most people take DHV1: CIW Web Foundations Cert.

All in all I'd say it has been pretty easy so far. My background is 3 years of software development and a personal hobby of building computers. The hardest of all my exams so far was probably the first half of the A+. I have bad habits from my hobby of calling components by their generic name instead of the A+ name so fixing that muscle memory took some time. The second half of the A+ is more about applying what you know so I found that to be pretty easy and took it on 1 week of study.

This next term I'm hoping to do at least 10 classes if not more. I'm not sure if I can finish all 15 I have left in one term, but I'll be coming out of the gates swinging in April with an exam in the first week.

All the different tracks have some components of the others mixed in. For example, the software track includes the Security+ and the Network+ that you see on the other tracks as well.