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

Jasiono

Winzer wrote: »

Why oh why must they use UPS to ship the webcam... it's by far the worst shipping company there is. Always a nightmare to get your stuff from them if you're not home 24/7. Not the mention their overpriced 'brokerage fee'.

/rant

lol
When I started WGU again I thought I would have to buy the webcam again but held off on it until I had everything in order. Next thing you know, I got an email saying that my success kit was on the way.

To keep on topic of your post, yes, UPS sucks. Because of their slow shipping speed and misplacing the package several time (went to California and New York before PA), I had to wait a whole week to take my exam that I was ready for

JamesKurtovich

This is week 2 or 3 on the Logic and Critical Thinking course. I'm hoping to wrap this thing up soon.

markulous

Anyone take C170 Data Management Applications yet? New course to replace the crappy CIW one. Not a bad course if you don't mind SQL. I finished the exam part and I'm about 80% done with the assignment.

TR4V1STY

zidian wrote: »

That is fantastic progress!

The Net+ I thought was the easiest of the A+/Net+/Sec+ courses, so I bet you can do that one pretty quick too.

Thanks man! I worked with my mentor to push the easy (for me) classes to the front.

I have been doing desktop support for 6~ years so the A+ and 'intro to IT' classes came natural. Then i knocked out Algebra, Geography, communication, and org behavior/leadership. - 25 credits.

I'm actually having a hard time with the N+ i think... lots more memorization... idk

techfiend

C170 is next for me after C175. The latter seems to be only 15-20 hours of study that I'm grasping fairly well. Is the test close to the pre-test? Are the questions all answered in the study material?

N+ was the most difficult of the comptia trinity for me. It's a lot of new material while security+ builds off of n+

JamesKurtovich

It took 2 days for my TaskStream button to appear on the Assessment tab. Weird.

With only three modules to go, I'm going to try to wrap up this Logic course either this week or next week, finish Task 2, and study up for the OA and move on.

markulous

techfiend wrote: »

C170 is next for me after C175. The latter seems to be only 15-20 hours of study that I'm grasping fairly well. Is the test close to the pre-test? Are the questions all answered in the study material?

N+ was the most difficult of the comptia trinity for me. It's a lot of new material while security+ builds off of n+

I would say the pre test is close to the actual exam. Exam is a bit more in depth I thought though. The exam reflects the reading material very well so follow your coaching report and you shouldn't have any issues.

techfiend

Thanks, might take the pre-test today. C175 looks like quite a bit longer study, maybe 40 hours to read and 10-15 hours on the project. Does that sound about right?

dark3d

I started the IT-Security course of study February 1. I stayed home at night and on weekends. I have had no social life since Feb 1. However, the good news is that I just submitted my Capstone.

Transferred in 34 credits from B&M. I had no certs that were valid to fulfill the enrollment requirement, so I decided to kill two birds and obtained my CISSP.

95 credits. 5 1/2 months. I broke my mentor in. At first he tried going by the guidelines, but by the end he was my strongest ally.. I never had to wait for enrollment or test authorization. Much respect to him!

'People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.' -George Bernard Shaw

Jasiono

I love mentors like that!
My mentor is doing the same. I took my first course and passed it in 2 weeks since I had to wait for the camera and the second one 2 weeks after that, had a death in the family, but all I have now is both of my ICND courses, CCNA security, Capstone project and 1 more business class and I will be done. I have 4.5 months to finish. I think it's doable.

dark3d wrote: »

I started the IT-Security course of study February 1. I stayed home at night and on weekends. I have had no social life since Feb 1. However, the good news is that I just submitted my Capstone.

Transferred in 34 credits from B&M. I had no certs that were valid to fulfill the enrollment requirement, so I decided to kill two birds and obtained my CISSP.

95 credits. 5 1/2 months. I broke my mentor in. At first he tried going by the guidelines, but by the end he was my strongest ally.. I never had to wait for enrollment or test authorization. Much respect to him!

'People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.' -George Bernard Shaw

techfiend

Congrats dark3d! That amount of credits in 4.5 months is ridiculous. Do you have cisco, java and sql experience?

Like you, I haven't much of a social life since February completing 39 cu's. Looking to change that soon as I'm down to cisco, linux and capstone with 7 months to complete. I'm kind of concerned but know I can do it! Posts like yours fuel me.

dark3d

I would hit all of the Cisco stuff all at once. However long you study for ICND1 I would add 50% of that time in studying for ICND2. It's a little harder. The same goes for Sec. They bumped the passing score instead of making the test more difficult. The content is deceptively easy. You need to KNOW it.

Just don't let up and take any breaks. Every day that you don't study or learn is another day that you are going to be without that degree.

The WGU courses are easier. If you read the material at all, then you will quickly narrow down your multiple choice answers to one of two answers. They usually also throw specific wording in the question to indicate the correct answer.

techfiend

Would you say CCNA Sec is a quicker study then CCENT? I notice the official study guide that wgu has for the former is 550 vs 900 so less reading. I read lammle's ccent study guide 2 years ago and that seemed like less but apparently it's 744 pages according to amazon, I don't think that prepared me all that well but was an easy read. One of my weak areas back then was osi model but grasped it well for network+ and subnetting came fairly easy, will just need a refresher.

Security+ I had no issue with and it was a lot of fun, which hopefully bodes well for me on the ccna: security.

SteveLord

Do WGU emails come slow? I talked to counselor and their VA dept. Received no emails they claimed they sent me and it has been an hour. (Yes, I know to check spam...nothing.)

I also see nowhere in my student portal where I can submit documentation.

Hope the enrollment process isn't as ugly as others have reported. :-\

**EDIT - Talking to them and finally got 1 email. Even my WGU mailbox isn't getting anything, but it works as I sent a test to it. Doh!

techfiend

markulous and others that have taken the C170 exam. There's a very large section, all of lesson 5 at least, of the study material that seems a lot like a man page except I have nothing to do look up so it's incredibly boring. Is this information required for the test?

I can see why they want you to know it for the project but I can go look it up later if I need to, no way will I remember half of the arguments and I'm kind of looking to just skim over it and move on.

markulous

techfiend wrote: »

markulous and others that have taken the C170 exam. There's a very large section, all of lesson 5 at least, of the study material that seems a lot like a man page except I have nothing to do look up so it's incredibly boring. Is this information required for the test?

I can see why they want you to know it for the project but I can go look it up later if I need to, no way will I remember half of the arguments and I'm kind of looking to just skim over it and move on.

Yes, lesson 5 is huge. I'd probably skim through it and revisit depending on what your coaching report says for the Create Table portion. There was a good amount in that lesson that I didn't see to relevant.

krays

I just wanted to thank all of your for posting your experiences as well as your innumerable posts with information and resources. I was on the fence about going back to school and partly thanks to much of the information I have found here, I am now a student at WGU as of June 1st in the BSIT: NA track.

My enrollment experience wasn't bad at all. The guy was a little annoying and clueless but I was already expecting that. Generally, he did what he was supposed to do and got the job done. My experience seemed to be a lot smoother than many others that I've read about here, so perhaps in some ways they are getting better?

I only transferred in 13 CU so I've got a LONG way to go. Passed my first class last Friday and a little more than half way through the second, so things are going smoothly so far. Ultimately we've all got lives and obligations but I figure the best way to keep motivated is to remember why we started school in the first place; to get through the endgame material and walk away with that degree.

Thanks to everyone for all of the invaluable info in these forums, and good luck to all my fellow Night Owls.

techfiend

Skimming the rest, about half, saved a few hours and I able to do the easy exercises. Kind of disappointed how easy they are in C170 plus the end lesson exercises are often repeats.

Lesson 6 ends after listing the objectives, it's not supposed to be is it?

How useful are the labs? Some of them are incorrect when they match the correct answer.

markulous

techfiend wrote: »

Skimming the rest, about half, saved a few hours and I able to do the easy exercises. Kind of disappointed how easy they are in C170 plus the end lesson exercises are often repeats.

Lesson 6 ends after listing the objectives, it's not supposed to be is it?

How useful are the labs? Some of them are incorrect when they match the correct answer.

Hmm...I just clicked on it and you're right, it just lists the objectives and that's it. I don't remember it being like that at all, so I'd assume something is up with Uceritfy.

Labs are useful. They at least give you some hands on experience. I'd recommend doing all of them.

I just submitted the assignment portion of this class and Taskstream really makes you feel like you've done nothing at all. I submitted 18 pages and I think out of the 20-some odd objectives on there, I completed a few of them. No clue either what they are talking about on half of the stuff.

techfiend

I talked to CM about it, they are notifying ucertify to fix lesson 6, after I read that I'm going to test, then project. So the project is really difficult or does the rubric not describe it well enough?

I was told by a dba that it's a solid project and very realistic in the real world, he also said the same thing about the java project. He has a CS degree from a state school and said he didn't do anything half this involved in the degree, just some really small projects.

markulous

techfiend wrote: »

I talked to CM about it, they are notifying ucertify to fix lesson 6, after I read that I'm going to test, then project. So the project is really difficult or does the rubric not describe it well enough?

I was told by a dba that it's a solid project and very realistic in the real world, he also said the same thing about the java project. He has a CS degree from a state school and said he didn't do anything half this involved in the degree, just some really small projects.

I have zero clue if this is very realistic to the real world as I don't have squat for SQL experience.

The project wasn't too difficult at all as far as the rubric, it's the damn CrapStream people that can't grade your stuff right and leave vague feedback. I asked my mentor about it and he reviewed everything they said and it didn't make sense to him either. Project itself only took me a few days to do and was a little fun doing.

ImThe0ne

techfiend wrote: »

Would you say CCNA Sec is a quicker study then CCENT? I notice the official study guide that wgu has for the former is 550 vs 900 so less reading. I read lammle's ccent study guide 2 years ago and that seemed like less but apparently it's 744 pages according to amazon, I don't think that prepared me all that well but was an easy read. One of my weak areas back then was osi model but grasped it well for network+ and subnetting came fairly easy, will just need a refresher.

Security+ I had no issue with and it was a lot of fun, which hopefully bodes well for me on the ccna: security.

Didn't see anyone answer this for you. I thought CCNA:S was as easy as CCENT, if I remember correctly there was a lot less info for CCNA:S than CCENT. After I took my CCNA:S I was told that I could walk into a Security+ test and pass it, with them telling me that, I would think you more than likely already know a large majority of the info since you have already passed S+.

techfiend

markulous: That's too bad, probably just the grader. Taskstream has been hit and miss for me, I've sent things that get sent back on a few objectives, then make one little change and it passes. They seem very picky on semantics. SQL can be pretty useful in systems work but I don't see how it could be of much benefit in networks. I too find it kind of fun to work with it and I was expecting it to be just as bad if not worse then programming. All in all pretty solid for a new course, soundly beats the other ones I've completed.

ImTheOne: Thanks, that gives me even more encouragement of reaching my goal. In fact it might shorten my goal 2 months the way I've been going lately. The tips in organizational behavior have really improved my study and test methods. It's too bad I didn't take it earlier but I hear it's often an intro course. A bit off topic, but has the CCDA helped in your career? I'm debating whether to study it after I graduate, move on to CCNP, or go for a wgu masters and get the CEH.

markulous

This was the second time I've had the issue with them though. With the arts class they nitpicked the heck out of it and could not be more vague.

cshkuru

techfiend wrote: »

SQL can be pretty useful in systems work but I don't see how it could be of much benefit in networks.

If I understand it correctly (and it's possible I don't - I am a bit of a moron) in order to be accredited the IT programs must meet the recommendations of the ACM curriculum recommendations. Part of their recommend core curriculum is Databases. To me it looks like it is recommended in all study areas.

IT Model Curriculum | SIGITE

SouthernJourneyman

This has thread has been a great read(no I have not read all of it, it's 270 freakin pages) and makes me feel better about choosing WGU. Like many I have was slightly worried about the whole online stigma but things have changed in the last few years. Now just have to take the entrance exam and get my transcript sent over.

ImThe0ne

techfiend wrote: »

ImTheOne: Thanks, that gives me even more encouragement of reaching my goal. In fact it might shorten my goal 2 months the way I've been going lately. The tips in organizational behavior have really improved my study and test methods. It's too bad I didn't take it earlier but I hear it's often an intro course. A bit off topic, but has the CCDA helped in your career? I'm debating whether to study it after I graduate, move on to CCNP, or go for a wgu masters and get the CEH.

Meh, I enjoyed CCDA and the knowledge I gained from it, however it doesn't have much to do with my job. In actuality, I am a Server Engineer and only use my networking knowledge when I am troubleshooting an issue in the Data center with our network team. I would imagine if you are looking to get a position as a Network Engineer or are a consultant designing networks, it would greatly benefit you to have it. It wasn't a very difficult test either, I had a voucher that was set to expire and ended up having to cram the majority of my studying into a 3 day period. Passed with like an 850 I think, not a difficult test, just a decent amount of info.

Codyy

Anyone have any tips for C278 - College Algebra? This is possibly my weakest subject. I took the pre-test and a screenshot of all the questions, my plan is to make sure I know how to answer all of the question-types that were in the pre-test ..and then hope the actual exam is similar. I only left myself a couple of weeks to knock this out, unexpectedly taking CISSP set me back a couple of months.

TR4V1STY

Codyy wrote: »

Anyone have any tips for C278 - College Algebra? This is possibly my weakest subject. I took the pre-test and a screenshot of all the questions, my plan is to make sure I know how to answer all of the question-types that were in the pre-test ..and then hope the actual exam is similar. I only left myself a couple of weeks to knock this out, unexpectedly taking CISSP set me back a couple of months.

I just passed that class two weeks ago.

I found that the Pearson mymathlab course material was pretty in depth, maybe a bit overkill. The real WGU test was maybe 15% easier than the mymathlab practice tests. So, if you can pass the mymathlab preassessments with a 80%+, i'd say you are good.

Other than that, I am a visual learner so I watched Khan Academy videos and went through most of the interactive exercises in the E-book.

prtexas

Ok, so here is my big question. 44yrs old, 10 yrs in IT field, mostly linux oriented, no certs or degree. 25 yrs ago I took 1 year 1/2 of college. None of these courses will transfer, all music courses, will AGU "find out" about it if I dont tell them and just say "never been to college."? Reason I'm asking is when trying to get transcript online was adv will not release due to past due bill from 25 yrs ago of $536. How do you prove a negative? (ie that you don't owe it when they say you do from 25 yrs ago.lol) Anyway, I can pay it to get the transcript if I absolutely have too....but since I will be doing student loans I would rather not have to pay out that kind of personal expense for something that wont go towards IT degree. Have not started the app process yet before I find out what others think on this issue.

2nd question - I read on a board a few years ago they were offering to waive the $65 app fee if you get a referral from existing or past student. Is this still true? If it is still true, can I get a referral from someone for myself and a co-worker who will also be going to start WGU about the same time?

Have a few other questions, but will wait for answers to these two first.
thanks,
JP