Student Experiences at Western Governors University (WGU)

cshkuru

Kind of disappointed. Had my first bad WGU experience today. I finished off my BSIT and decided I wanted to go on and pursue the MSITM. Last week I filled out the paperwork and submitted it. Today I received a call from an enrollment counselor. The guy knew nothing. This is paraphrased but a pretty accurate representation of the call.

"Hello is Chad there?"
"Yes, this is me"
"Hi, this is Chris from WGU. I am calling because you showed interest in the Masters Of Science in Information Technology Management. Can I ask how you heard about us"
"I just finished my Bachelor's at WGU and I wanted to keep going on" - Note I had filled out the application for WGU grads and included my Student ID number.
"Oh Congratualtions, You'll have to talk to your Continuing Graduation Specialist. I uh don't know who that is"
"OK"
"I see you wanted to start on the 1st of June. That might be tight"
"No, I wanted to start the 1st of May"
"Oh, that won't be possible"
"why?"
"I don't know you will have to talk to your continuing graduation specialist but I think it's because it's after the 15th of the month"
"It seems like it would be pretty simple, all they should have to do is activate the course of study"
"It's not that simple, that's why you have to speak to your continuing graduation specialist"
"OK, when can I talk to them."
"I don't know I'll have to schedule something with your continuing graduation specialist"
"OK, can you schedule something"
"I'll try, but I don't know who they are"

Pretty frustrating. Now if there were issues like student aid or transferring in courses or whatever I can see where the time svhedule might be tight but that's not the case. I jst want to pay my tuition and start. Also the idea that this guy is calling me knowing that I am a returning student and not having the name of my "continuing graduation specialist" handy just pisses me off.

srabiee

Continuing education students definitely have to go through a special department (Continuing Education). I had to deal with those hurdles as well. You don't have to re-apply to the school or take entrance exams, nor can the enrollment department help you with the process (as you already know).

I will PM you with the phone number that you need.

cshkuru

thanks. greatly appeciated. how are you liking the program so far.

srabiee

durena01 wrote: »

how was the capstone project in terms of difficulty regarding those who finished the BS in security

I completed the capstone in BSIT: ND&M, but they are all very similar. It's not difficult at all, just fairly time consuming. I think the most difficult part for me was coming up with something to write about. Once I got the first few pages typed up, the paper went pretty quickly. My prospectus was about 23 pages and my capstone was about 30 pages or so. (You write the prospectus first, then build upon that for the actual capstone paper)

Don't worry too much about it. I thought it was going to be a big deal but the whole thing (prospectus and capstone) only took me 2.5 weeks to complete. It passed on my first submission.

srabiee

cshkuru wrote: »

thanks. greatly appeciated. how are you liking the program so far.

I'm enjoying it for the most part. Some courses are a lot more engaging than others. Also, some of the provided material is outdated.

The tasks are all performance assessments, i.e. papers. Lots and lots of papers! I really miss the multiple choice exams from the bachelors program, lol.

I'm hoping to finish the entire degree in 8 ~ 10 months. I'm completing a course about every 3 weeks at this point, but it's definitely a lot of work.

cshkuru

So after yesterdays frustrating call from WGU I called the number provided by srabiee. No answer so I left a message. Tried again this morning. Still haven't heard anything back. Not a lot I can do about it so I guess I will just grind out the time until someone calls.

Nemowolf

cshkuru wrote: »

So after yesterdays frustrating call from WGU I called the number provided by srabiee. No answer so I left a message. Tried again this morning. Still haven't heard anything back. Not a lot I can do about it so I guess I will just grind out the time until someone calls.

So i ran into this issue when i was first enrolling. I started the process in October and made it clear that I had no interest in starting Dec. 1. They told me that they had to move deadlines for enrollment because of the holidays so if you hadnt enrolled before the 10thish of Nov cut off you would default to a Jan 1 start date because Dec. was also a short month for them and all the dead lines moved up.

Take the break for what it is and good luck!

Nemowolf

Anyone have pointers for CJV1 - Database I (CIW Database Cert)?

srabiee

cshkuru wrote: »

So after yesterdays frustrating call from WGU I called the number provided by srabiee. No answer so I left a message. Tried again this morning. Still haven't heard anything back. Not a lot I can do about it so I guess I will just grind out the time until someone calls.

Let me know if she doesn't return your call and I will find you another person in that department.

hurricane1091

Edit: Nevermind. Again.

cshkuru

Thanks I may take you up on that - on the other hand as long as it goes on like this I will continue to have amusing stories like this to tell:

At work doing Nessus scans on a network segment as part of our required annual baselines - phone rings:

"Hello"
"Hi this is Clint (not real name) from WGU is Chad there"
"Speaking"
"Oh Hi, I see that you are interested in applying to attend the MS ITM graduate program. Is that correct?"
"Yes it is"
"Great. Oh I see you are a WGU graduate. You'll have to talk to a Continuing Graduate Specialist. I believe Fred (Not real name) will be your counselor would you like to talk to him now?" - Progress has been made a name has been been found. I feel confident that I will soon be on my path to IT management greatness.
"Yes I would thanks" On Hold for approximately 2 seconds
"Oh, I'm sorry Fred is out of the office until the 27th. Could I have him call you in a couple weeks?" - Hope shatters
"Is there another counselor available? I would prefer to get this going as soon as possible. I've been thru the WGU enrollment process before and I know that it sometimes takes longer than anticipated." I swear I really am being this polite. I don't want to have my application flushed never to be seen again and at the end of the day I know this guy is just trying to do his job so I am trying not to jump down his throat for what is really beyond his control.
"Well there is one other counselor but I'm not sure if she is in either. Let me check."
"Great" On hold for 5 seconds this time.
"Melissa (not real name) isn't here either. I'm not sure when she'll be back, but Fred will be back on the 27th"
"Is that Melissa X?"
"Yes. Would you like her contact information"
"I already have it. I've left her voice mail. Would you just send her an email asking her to contact me."
"She's out of the office. I can give you her contact information"
"Thanks but I already have her contact information. Could you just send her an email asking her to please call me."
"Would you like her contact information?"
"No please have her call me"
"Okay" - Wait, what? I feel new stirrings of hope, but don't worry in about 5 minutes they will be destroyed
"I don't want to be a jerk (blatant lie I really really want to be a jerk, but I am restraining myself) but maybe it would be a good idea to see if the counselor is in the office before calling people to have them speak to the counselor"
"You're right sir, we could do soooo much better. I don't know why we do it this way. I will pass your suggestions on to my manager as soon as we are off the line." - Touche you little dweeb. You got me.

We hang up - literally 2 minutes later I get an email from WGU

"My name is Fake Fred, and I am your new Enrollment Counselor at WGU Washington. Until now, another enrollment counselor has been assigned to help you determine if WGU Washington is the right place for you to reach your education goals. But I have been asked to work with you because of the huge volume of inquiries we've been receiving.

Making a decision about going to college can be challenging, so let me know how I can help you. While an online education isn't for everyone, WGU Washington has developed its programs so that you'll feel connected...never alone."

I have to say I really feel connected and like they value me as a person now. I hope they can help me decide if WGU the challenges of an online education is for me. On the plus side I now have another name of someone I can talk to. I called literally the minute I got the email but apparently Fake Fred had already left. Hopefully he will be back before the 27th. If he turns out to be another "Oh you need to talk to a Continuing Graduate Specialist" type I will just have to start burning up phone lines to "Melissa"

Oh also when I went to email Fake Fred - There was one name in the body of the email and another in the actual email header so maybe Fake Fred doesn't know he is my new enrollment counselor.

srabiee

Do you need the extension for the continuing education department supervisor? I have had to speak with her on several occasions when I felt like I was getting the run around. LMK

cshkuru

Let me see what tomorrow brings. If they can't straighten things out a bit, then yes I will ask for it.

TheChameleon

I am not breaking NDA but pointing to some resources that I used and I found useful but I also have some database experience. I passed.

First I read the exam outline from CIW for what was going to be on the exam as all exams:

CIW exam outline:
http://www.ciwcertified.com/_resources/objectives/1D0_541.pdf

Review their course description and study the content areas:

http://www.ciwcertified.com/proddesc/COURSE_DESC/CCN03CEDBDMPR802.PDF


This book is listed as Creative Commons license:

http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CS403-1.10-Database-Systems-for-Management-CCBY.pdf


Watch Database Video Course:

If you have Lynda access: Watch the Online Video Course Foundations of Programming: Databases

Otherwise Free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9KEBexzcM


Reviewed these flashcards.
https://quizlet.com/51512764/ciw-database-design-specialist-flash-cards/

If you can find it, buy the book from CIW or Amazon and then put it back online for sale as used for the next person!

http://www.amazon.com/Database-Specialist-Development-Official-Curriculum/dp/0742328171/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1429817082&sr=8-2&keywords=CIW+Database+Design

If you can find the Instructor version, that one is better and has answers to quiz questions.

If you are already in WGU, I'm sure they provide all the study guides don't they?

Nemowolf wrote: »

Anyone have pointers for CJV1 - Database I (CIW Database Cert)?

Ruminus

The last few posts have been about students having issues. I know they come up and I've had some minor ones myself such as issues with Financial Aid and no one being at the office of the Salt Lake testing center when I've been schedule for an exam. These items have been the exception thus far so just to post something positive so any prospective students who TL; DR the thread can see something upbeat I'm slapping this up here.

I love WGU, I love that they actually expect us to be adults, and really love the fact that we're not dependent on classmates (I'm looking at you, UofPhx). The self-paced competency based approach has allowed me to plow ahead when I have the available mental clock cycles or dial it back a bit when I'm over-taxed with work or other obligations. I'm hoping to complete this BS:IT by 12/31/16 and that will put it right at 2 years. Yes it's a different experience but if you can motivate yourself and don't require a lot of hand holding you'll do just fine. Oh, and as long as you don't like busy work. If you want busy work, go elsewhere. The ~$3000/6mo flat rate doesn't hurt either.

cshkuru

As the complainer allow me to rebut, I had a great experience with WGU as an undergrad. I recommend the school constantly. My complaint is with their admissions department now that I want to move on to the MS ITM.

ashernatanel

A bit stuck and frustrated in terms of my enrollment at WGU. They received my transcripts on Monday the 13th, and I've been waiting for an email about my evaluation. After speaking with my enrollment counselor this afternoon, it turns out they can't give me one, because my current semester is still in progress and is listed as so on my records. So she's pushed back my enrollment date from July to August, so I can resend the transcripts once this semester is finished.

Which really sucks, but is not the end of the world. However, my problem is that it was my intent to continue taking some classes at my community college even after starting at WGU, mainly French and higher levels of math that WGU doesn't offer. In fact, I've already registered for a math class this summer, and I'm dismayed to discover, that when checking my transcripts as of today, that it already lists the class and states "Summer 2015 In Progress", just like this semester. So when I send my transcripts AGAIN in June, I'm still going have the same problem of WGU not accepting them.

I've emailed my enrollment counselor to see if there's any sort of work around, but I'm pretty bummed nonetheless. I'm so eager to start that I'd start today if they'd let me.

cshkuru

drop the summer class, get accepted then readd?

TechBoy2015

Hello all! Thanks for the information. I've been combing thru the posts regarding WGU and it sounds like a good school. I have a question regarding certification testing center locations. When you schedule/complete a certification exam, must you provide the details of the testing center to WGU? Details such as name and/or location of the testing center? I ask because I currently work as an overseas contractor for the remainder of 2015, and I've just read WGU denies enrollment to overseas contractors. I plan to enroll while on vacation in the US, using my US mailing address. I'll reside in the US in 2016, so no problem. But for now, I'll have to use overseas testing centers. Any information is greatly appreciated!

JamesKurtovich

Passed my C376 OA yesterday with an 89%. That's 8 CUs down since starting this month.

I'm thinking of investing in a laptop specifically for WGU. It's hard to stay focused when using my gaming machine, especially now that GTA V is out.

Elegyx

Completed the Orientation (ORA1) last night so on track to start May 1st! I really hope I can just plow through the stuff I know so that I can get to the things that I need to learn that way I can complete the program sooner.

TR4V1STY

LordSevink wrote: »

Passed my C376 OA yesterday with an 89%. That's 8 CUs down since starting this month.

I'm thinking of investing in a laptop specifically for WGU. It's hard to stay focused when using my gaming machine, especially now that GTA V is out.

Dude, im in the exact same boat as you. I have completed 10 units since starting this month. I also have been playing a lot of GTA on my gaming rig. Luckily for me I have a 8-5 desk job, I can study during downtime with no gaming distractions .

my steam name is travisim0, i need help beating that damn prison break heist.

Codyy

Anyone taken DJV1 recently? I asked my mentor to add it to my plan but he really wants me to take the new C173 and C172(I think it's 172) instead. Supposedly DJV1 used to be fairly easy but it's gotten much harder over the last year or so ..like much harder than a MTA exam should be. Can anyone confirm this? I'm trying to complete this within 2-3 weeks, certainly not something I want to spend months on. I believe the new classes that replaced DJV1 are easier, but I'd really rather not replace 1 class with 2 if possible.

techfiend

C173 is hell, I've already failed the assessment twice. I don't think the study material matches well with the test. The pre-test OTOH matches well and is pretty easy to pass. You may want to wait for this course to mature a bit. Don't get caught up in the web crawler and pagerank exercises like I did, it's very advanced stuff and definitely doesn't belong in the course.

hurricane1091

I passed the CCNA Security so far 1 month into WGU (had studied for a while before starting). Up to 86CU. Working on Linux+. Would like to take first half 5-14, then the second half around 6-30/7-1 area and give me 3 months to hopefully bang out Project+, a business principles class, and something else. So far so good. Mentor is supportive and lets me do what I want.

Nemowolf

Codyy wrote: »

Anyone taken DJV1 recently? I asked my mentor to add it to my plan but he really wants me to take the new C173 and C172(I think it's 172) instead. Supposedly DJV1 used to be fairly easy but it's gotten much harder over the last year or so ..like much harder than a MTA exam should be. Can anyone confirm this? I'm trying to complete this within 2-3 weeks, certainly not something I want to spend months on. I believe the new classes that replaced DJV1 are easier, but I'd really rather not replace 1 class with 2 if possible.

There was a recent thread here concerning DJV1 and how hard the test is comparative to the other MTA tests and the opinion of the guy i ended up talking to from the thread basically came down to this: Unless you have been in a .net development job dealing exclusively with the code for the last two-ish years, your never going to be 100% ready for the test. Its not impossible to pass but the amount of material you have to learn and then the amount of material you have to independently learn because its not explicitly covered in the course materials is just staggering.


I am switching to Python and Java personally as those are much more requested skills for system administrators. Lately i have noticed that MANY job postings on Dice and LinkedIn for System Admin type work is asking for Python and Java for some reason. I am not sure what tools or scripting lately has become the flavor of the month but its becoming wanted.

Jasiono

My mentor told me that if I take the ICND1 and ICND2 courses that it will knock off the need for the Network+ course. I'm wondering why they would even put Network+ in if they are just going to pass you for it if you get your CCNA. Made no sense to me but hey, 1 less course I have to worry about. She also thinks that I can knock out the remainder of my 26 credits in one term, considering they are all easy classes. The hardest ones I have are the CCNA and CCNA security ones, everything else is management, capstone, technical writing and another management course, project+.

cshkuru

The idea is that you use the easier course to build to the harder ones so that you have a base of knowledge. I would expect that if everyone starts with the course skipping stuff that seems to be going on now that they will change the structure of the program at some point.

SteveLord

Anyone here start or finish their degree with almost nothing transferred? (no prior college experience, handful of certs)

If so, how easy/difficult has it been for you and how long did it take/will it take to complete the degree?

TheReceiver

SteveLord wrote: »

Anyone here start or finish their degree with almost nothing transferred? (no prior college experience, handful of certs)

If so, how easy/difficult has it been for you and how long did it take/will it take to complete the degree?

There is a member here that has completed the degree with one cert (as needed for entry) and passed within one year. Though obviously your results will vary pending the efficiency of your work ethic