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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Elegyx

Completed the orientation so starting in on the courses now for the A+. Question for you guys that are doing the Security track. Where exactly do you take the pre-assessment exam? I want to do that first thing and see how I score because if I score well I'll just go ahead and take the A+ exam right away. Seems like it'll save me A LOT of unnecessary reading.

techfiend

Does A+ use labsim/testout? If so, it's in the testout main page. Otherwise in course page on wgu portal, assessment page.

BookFella

I’ll be starting on June 1 the BS IT – Security program. With my AAS and certs I transferred in 68 CU’s but I’ll have to take the A+ exams again since the current A+ that I hold is well over 5 years old so it wasn't accepted. Other than that, I’m super excited to get this going!!!!

TechxWizard

Has anyone taken courses online for WGU? and how are they.
I live on the East Coast and was considering taking online courses if they are offered?
I would like to avoid relocating but its not out of the question.

markulous

TechxWizard wrote: »

Has anyone taken courses online for WGU? and how are they.
I live on the East Coast and was considering taking online courses if they are offered?
I would like to avoid relocating but its not out of the question.

Probably 99% of the posts here are by people that attend WGU online. Check out their website for the list of their programs and talk to an enrollment adviser. It's all online and at your own pace.

TechxWizard

Wow. that's awesome. Thanks Markulous!

f16jetman

This thread makes me realize I need to get my butt in gear. I am halfway through my first term at WGU and have only completed 8 cu's!

JamesKurtovich

C476 has turned out to be mostly review. It's weird solving problems with skills you still remember from the 5th grade.

henrylalfonso

I am trying to decide to either go Software Development course with WGU or ( Trident University BS CS)

techfiend

Has anyone completed the relatively new C169 project? I've really been struggling with it, I had a software engineer take a look at it today and he said it was very advanced, the type of thing he did as a senior during a CS BS degree. If you've completed it, how long did it take you? Did you have the grades in an array list? Did you have the print methods in student or roster class?

Also C170 project is apparently at a fairly advanced level, does anyone have experience with it?

vmixer

Hello. I am new here, but I start WGU on June 1st. I am counting down the days until I can do EWOB. I have poured thru this and the other threads here and want to thank everyone for the information. Its been an invaluable resource to me, esp since I am coming in with only 3 CU, for a math class of all things.

I am doing the BS in Accounting but my background is in engineering. I have been working as technician for 20 years and I have a small real estate business on the side. I would like to grow that business and get out of engineering entirely. Or move into the finance department where I currently work if I have to keep the day job for benefits. I am very lucky that I currently work part time, about 30 hours a week. Married, no kids, I hope to knock this out in under 2 years.

After getting my BS in Accounting from WGU I plan to continue with Masters in Finance or Accounting (hopefully at a state university) and work towards a CPA. My brain still works like an engineer/gamer, so I am digging the comparisons of passing classes to leveling up and grinding etc.
/v

JamesKurtovich

vmixer wrote: »

My brain still works like an engineer/gamer, so I am digging the comparisons of passing classes to leveling up and grinding etc.
/v

WGU constantly reminds you of the progress you've made. It's one of my favorite things about the school.

Jasiono

I just took the Organizational Behavior exam and passed it with a 75%.

First day back I was told to take the preassessment and work off of the coaching report so I did that. I got a 51% and ended up having to do 3 competency areas. I read all the material but I skimmed everything I already knew and read slower in the areas that I did bad on in the report.

Took it a second time and got 71% and went back to the report and skimmed every chapter very quickly, only reading the terminology in the blue highlighted areas.

Took the assessment the 3rd time and got an 83%, and an hour after that I took the actual exam.

I will say this:
The final exam is very familiar when comparing it to the preassessment, but the wording is totally different, if that makes sense. Everything is asked at a different angle.

I had a lot of trouble because I am not used to the level of language the answer bank had (English is my second language), such as the word "aloof", but what helped me tremendously was:

ELIMINATION

Eliminate the wrong answers.

The course mentor is an amazing man and very positive. I would love if he were a mentor in my other courses as well.

In the famous words of Jim (the mentor) - You WILL pass.

Jasiono

One weird thing was that my grades were flopped per competency on the final vs preassessment.

I always got a 100% in the performance evaluation and roughly a 55% in the individual behavior, but on the final I had a 50% on the performance and 83 on the individual behavior.

This was the first test I had to look back over my answers on, and I'm glad I did because I changed about 4 answers.

TheReceiver

I just got pushed back to July 1st start date which is mildly irritating considering the goals I have in mind.

Is there anything like audible or something so I can play the books while in my car and make some use out of my commute?

Guess I'll start working on MTA: Software development to get a little more transfer criteria to make up for the time lost.

How long does it take for you guys to complete your General Education courses on average if you compiled your hours?

cshkuru

I don't know what track you are on but some of the course textbooks are on audiobooks. Mainly the soft / business courses. What I did for a number of courses is record the chapter summaries myself and then play them while I was commuting. In some course I also did the study questions. MTA course I found some "15 minute" study sheets I carried around and read whenever I had down time.

cshkuru

Get this out of the way upfront - I got my Bachelor's from WGU. I think it is a great program. My current ongoing frustrations are with the admissions office, which as near as I can tell has always been WGUs weak spot.

OK so a couple weeks ago I posted about the issues I was having in getting accepted to the MS-ITM program. I got past those hurdles and got accepted so I am thinking great the hard part is over.

Whoa there Mr. Optimistic, not so fast.

My admissions counselor calls me late morning / early afternoon Friday. Tells me I have been accepted. Like I said, Great. Then he starts going on about how we need to get cracking on Financial Aid. I stop him and tell him I am not using financial aid. I have told them that multiple times before because it keeps coming up as a road block.

He pauses for a second and starts again. I stop him again "I AM NOT USING FINANCIAL AID. I AM PAYING CASH"

"Oh, well in that case you need to pay your tuition by May 22nd, nothing can move forward until you pay your tuition"

"OK, I am just waiting for the bill" (I believe this was on May 1st)

"Oh, you haven't recieved it yet? Well it should post within 3 to 4 business days"

Wednesday comes and goes, no bill. We are supposed to talk again on Friday so I decide to wait until then. Friday afternoon. Still no bill. I mention it. He promises to check on it. Tells me that as soon as I pay I will be assigned a mentor and we can decide what my course of study will be. Great looking forward to it. Bill finally posts at 3am Tuesday morning. I happen to here the ding so I wake up and pay.

Thursday comes around and I haven't heard anything about mentors or course selection so I am going to bring it up when he calls on Friday Call comes thru Thursday afternoon - different guy. My counselor is out for a couple weeks.

"First thing you need to complete your financial aid package"

"I have already paid my tuition"

"Oh, well then Tomorrow your course portal will open up and you will need to complete Education Without Borders as soon as possible. Nothing can move forward until you finish that."

"I did EWOB as an undergrad do I need to do it again?"

"Oh", No Pause, No Typing, Nothing, "I just checked they want you to do it again."

"OK, Well I'm here to make the process easier" (He didn't appear to catch my sarcasm which make me hate him)

"Counselor 1 (I forgot the clever alias I used before) said that I would be assigned my mentor and we could discuss the course of study."

"Well we can't do that until you complete EWOB, and then counselor 1 should be back in two weeks or so. He will take care of it"

That works out perfectly (not) because that is the last day before the term starts.

Also guess what didn't open up the next day. Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

That's right the course portal for EWOB. Fortunately I am off on Monday so I intend to spend a good portion of the day on the phone getting this mess sorted out.

Like I said I love the academic side but man the admissions office needs work.

Nemowolf

Agree 100%. The school has some serious deficiencies when it comes to the administrative side of things and it has only gotten worse of the last couple of years.

Febreezy

First time posting here, so please excuse my griping.

Just want to chime in on admissions; I am super bummed out at the application process so far. I was stoked about being able to enter the program in June and was super diligent about completing every request as soon as possible. But every time I talk to my enrollment guy, it's like he forgets the progress we've already made, and asks me the same things we've already talked about. I would have also rather just been given a list of every single thing I need to do, instead of "get your transcripts in" then "Submit your VA forms" then "Send in your military transcripts".

Now, even though I sent in my military transcripts last Thursday (which btw are unlikely to give me a single CU, so why ask for them?), the cycle filled up the next day. So now I am feeling like I missed out because someone wasn't on the ball enough to press a button. I really hope the actual school part is smoother sailing.

hurricane1091

Febreezy wrote: »

First time posting here, so please excuse my griping.

Just want to chime in on admissions; I am super bummed out at the application process so far. I was stoked about being able to enter the program in June and was super diligent about completing every request as soon as possible. But every time I talk to my enrollment guy, it's like he forgets the progress we've already made, and asks me the same things we've already talked about. I would have also rather just been given a list of every single thing I need to do, instead of "get your transcripts in" then "Submit your VA forms" then "Send in your military transcripts".

Now, even though I sent in my military transcripts last Thursday (which btw are unlikely to give me a single CU, so why ask for them?), the cycle filled up the next day. So now I am feeling like I missed out because someone wasn't on the ball enough to press a button. I really hope the actual school part is smoother sailing.

Admissions suck, I complained a ton during it. Gets better once you start though.

Taking 1st half of Linux+ Saturday hopefully, requested my voucher so we'll see. Kind of a week behind where I originally saw myself though.

cshkuru

Good luck. Personally I found the first half of Linux + to be one of the tougher exams I took at WGU. Part 2 was a breeze.

So back to my ongoing WGU saga -

So Sunday morning I check again to see if my course portal had opened up and EWOB was available yet. It hadn't. I started digging around in the resources tab looking for some contact info and maybe some more information on the admissions process so I can be armed for the call I plan to make on Monday morning. As I am doing so I stumble across a link to the EWOB course page.

Color me embarrassed.

I start working thru the course - it is essentially the same course as last time so I am not sure why I have to do it again, but OK trying to keep the process moving. Work thru everything except ordering the student ID card and submit my 20 hour / week study plan to the orientation folks.

Whew, that's out of the way. Kick back and watch the extra-rapey Game of Thrones episode and the, in my experience, super true to life Silicon Valley episode. Yay things are back on track. Life is good. (Well my life, Sansa Stark's and Tyrion Lannister's are both sucking pretty hard).

Monday rolls around, head out to take care of a few chores. Takes much l;onger than planned so I don't actually get a chance to follow-up with WGU, but no problem because my heart is pure and I have completed EWB as instructed. (Guess where this is going)

This morning I get up, check my email there is a response from the Orientation folk - "Your schedule looks great, but we don't show you as accepted for enrollment. You may want to check on that"

G******IT!!!!!!!!!

Try to call but it's before business hours so I head to work. Go to do my server room walk thru and the electricians are there cutting power so they can drop a new circuit in the building. I was off yesterday so I had no heads up. Half my servers don't come back up when they transfer trip switch flips over because my co-worker put the redundant supplies on the same circuit. Not a huge deal most of it was non-critical stuff but the authentication servers, the log server and mt Cisco Prime appliance are all down. Cisco Prime and RSA can take up to 45 minutes to get fully up. Get them started on the restart process and start my morning checks.

Checks which normally take 1/2 an hour end up taking about 3 hours. As I am doing my checks I call WGU.

Random guy answers. Tell him I want to talk to a continuing grad specialist. He asks if I am Chad, which is a little creepy, but it turns out he isn't psychic he plugged my phone number into the system. Tells me my counselor is out for an extended period. I ask to speak to someone else. No one is available but he takes a message to have someone call and puts me in the scheduling system so that it is official and the have too. Yay helpful guy. (Seriously. Kudos to this guy for great customer service. I wrote his name down but forgot to bring it home).

About an hour goes by. I get a phone call, not WGU. Guy out at a Nuclear Power Plant trying to put in a server and can't see the shared drive. Not my network but no one else is available to help and they have a 30 minute window to finish up (part of an annual maintenance cycle as I understand it). As I am on the phone with him get a call from another site. Guy can't reach a router. It's been down for a week, we sent out a notification but he is new to the district so we didn't include him on the list.

Both of these guys are still on the line guess who calls - WGU. Answer explain tell him I will call back in 10 minutes.

Call back - Voice mail

Leave detailed voice mail.

Get a call back about an hour later.

"Hey I checked, they orienation guys didn't know you were a continuing grad. You're fine. Your tuition has been received and You're cleared for enrollment."

"OK, so what about getting my portal opened so I can actually do EWOB and get that out of the way"

"Oh you don't have to do that."

"What? Last week you insisted I had to (this is the guy I talked to last week)"

"Oh yeah, no any grad starting before July is waived"

"So why did I pull my hair out trying to do it"

"Well, I guess you'll just be extra prepared"

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Anyway, you're all set. Your mentor will get in touch with a week or so before classes start."

"Classes start in 11 days so next week some time?"

"I would suppose so"

Needless to say at this point I have no faith in ever hearing from a mentor. I will be like the man who never returned riding the rails of Techexams.net with my fate still unlearned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh994JcEfkI

Danielm7

cshkuru wrote: »

"Hey I checked, they orienation guys didn't know you were a continuing grad. You're fine. Your tuition has been received and You're cleared for enrollment."

"OK, so what about getting my portal opened so I can actually do EWOB and get that out of the way"

"Oh you don't have to do that."

That was my impression when I called them about the MS program, sorry you got so jerked around.

cshkuru

Thanks. The actual completion of the course is no big deal. Took a couple hours including time spent making lunch and coffee. It's the lack of preparedness and consistency that is frustrating at this point. Also I hope people understand I am still a big fan of WGU, and that while the admissions process has degenerated into a farce at this point the actual school is (in my opinion )a great opportunity / value.

markulous

TheChameleon wrote: »

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?

My mentor stated this went to an in-house exam rather than a cert. Is that true? Not sure if the material changed or the exam itself is any different now.

gex598

There are no more CIW certs, they are now all in house courses.

markulous

gex598 wrote: »

There are no more CIW certs, they are now all in house courses.

I'm guessing the material hasn't changed. But I've noticed in house courses typically have a lower passing score than certs, so I'm curious if that's changed.

techfiend

The in house database and programming cut scores are in the 60's. With the programming courses they are difficult to achieve if programming isn't your thing.

markulous

I was hoping it wouldn't be too hard. Last class before my tech writing and capstone so I'm antsy about graduation.

Shdwmage

I was talking to my mentor about the changes to the Network Administration Degree. It does appear that they have indeed taken out the CIW certifications. They were crap and no one knew who they were anyhow. Apparently they took a lot of the web-coding stuff out of the degree as well. My term doesn't change until August so I won't really know whats different until then.

Examity

I'm looking to start at WGU in July with the either network admin or security program. Are any additional study materials(books/videos) required for the classes? If so, do I purchase these on my own or are they included with the tuition? If I need to buy them myself, which ones do I need? I would like to get a head start on things.