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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erpadmin

earweed wrote: »

I FINALLY got my Amazon gift card for referring Erpadmin. Now just to figure out what to get with it.

ALL RIGHT!!! Gives me hope that I'll see mine!

tanix

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Well since starting at WGU in March, I have already completed four classes:

Education Without Boundaries: A class to introduce you to how WGU's classes function, and how to use the WGU online portal.

IT Fundamentals I: Based on the CIW Foundations certification

IT Fundamentals II & III: Based on the A+ certification

I know have the two language classes to do, and I just added the Operating Systems class (based on the MS 70-680 certification.) If everything happens right I should be able to finish seven classes during this first semester. If I am able to finish seven classes this semester I will have seventeen left to complete. I intend to graduate at the end 2011 which means I will have to be doing at least five classes per semester to get there. I honestly don't see this as being a problem.

WGU has enabled me to have the freedom to move as quickly or slowly as I need to with my Bachelor degree program. I'm newly married and I also work full time. For those reasons my life is busy as it is, and I don't need it to get any busier.

How many hours a day do you devote to study?

veritas_libertas

tanix wrote: »

How many hours a day do you devote to study?

Two hours if I am lucky. Usually it ends up being more an hour. This semester has been unusually difficult, and I only believe I will get 4 classes done this semester. We will see.

neuropol

Passed both A+ exams to complete TEV1 and TTV1. Scored 870 on the Essentials and 855 on the Practical. Not bad for a Mac guy.

That completes my schedule for the term. Already have Security+ materials coming to finish that by years end. Completing TSV1 will put me at 19 CUs for the term. Term ends Jan 31, so hopefully I can fit a bit more in there, too.

themagicone

neuropol wrote: »

Passed both A+ exams to complete TEV1 and TTV1. Scored 870 on the Essentials and 855 on the Practical. Not bad for a Mac guy.

That completes my schedule for the term. Already have Security+ materials coming to finish that by years end. Completing TSV1 will put me at 19 CUs for the term. Term ends Jan 31, so hopefully I can fit a bit more in there, too.

Congrats! Security+ isn't too bad, just a lot of lingo to remember. I just passed it with 850. Good luck!

petedude

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Passed MGC1 on saturday without even studying a lick. 72% and the cut score is like 51%.

Beginning to think there won't be any challenging classes in this degree path.

Do you have any programming classes? Those might be a bit tougher.

And don't get me started on cut scores for WGU's own exams.

earweed

petedude wrote: »

Do you have any programming classes? Those might be a bit tougher.

And don't get me started on cut scores for WGU's own exams.

I have noticed that a lot of the cut scores are actually below a statistical "D"
NDM has no programming courses now, unless you count JavaScript.

uhtrinity

earweed wrote: »

I have noticed that a lot of the cut scores are actually below a statistical "D"
NDM has no programming courses now, unless you count JavaScript.

I believe it is due to the overwhelming amount of material that can be present on a single exam.

For example, in a regular university you might pick 3 of 5 domains for electives, but in a WGU exam you might see material from all 5 domains, but you are still expected to be proficient in 3 of the 5 ..... hence low cut scores. That is my take anyway.

MS and Comptia exams are similar. You have to show proficiency in minimum number of content areas, but not necessarily all areas.

earweed

I recently checked out the client/server community over at wgu and the very top entry said that Labsim was now available as a learning resource for ABV1 though it's still not listed on the COS learning resource tab.
In the same community the course mentor even advertises a site where you can upload a pdf of any of the MS Press training kits you could want. I wont mention the name and the mods may even delete this entry but aren't those upload sites violating copyrights? EDIT: It's not a torrent site.

BlackBella

Hola everybody,

Finally out from hiding after 2 weeks. I start at WGU October 1, 2010 for BSITDB. I have no idea how many of my credit hours from my 1st Bachelors will transfer over, but it's fine with me.

I don't work, no man, or kids, so plenty of time to study I presume.

Get use to the screen name, because if I not in the books, running, or training, I will be here.

Tchuss loves,

BlackBella

jmasterj206

Well I finished up AKV1 (Javascript) today. A lot of people in the communities seemed to have trouble with it, but I didn't think it was too bad. Thanks for the advice too Earweed. Off to MGC1!

veritas_libertas

Got a nice 2GB WGU flashdrive in the mail today. It wasn't cheap like I thought it was going to be. Impressive...

Unfortunately I didn't receive the nice mug, sticky notes, etc. that my coworker who just started out received...

earweed

Labsim has now been added for the following courses AHV1, AIV1, AJV1, BHV!, and BIV1

jahsoul

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Got a nice 2GB WGU flashdrive in the mail today. It wasn't cheap like I thought it was going to be. Impressive...

Unfortunately I didn't receive the nice mug, sticky notes, etc. that my coworker who just started out received...

How you end up getting that? They need to hook me up...

*calling Liz* lol

earweed

jahsoul wrote: »

How you end up getting that? They need to hook me up...

*calling Liz* lol

You get that after you finish your first term and make SAP. I got squat when I did almost 2 years ago.

jahsoul

earweed wrote: »

You get that after you finish your first term and make SAP. I got squat when I did almost 2 years ago.

I'm guaranteed to make SAP even if I don't pass Project+ tomorrow. lol. Sweet, I'm getting something for free...oooow.

I'm just reading the whole booking, praying, and winging it..

erpadmin

jahsoul wrote: »

I'm guaranteed to make SAP even if I don't pass Project+ tomorrow. lol. Sweet, I'm getting something for free...oooow.

Trust me....you paid for it...

That is pretty cool to know though....

jahsoul

erpadmin wrote: »

Trust me....you paid for it...

That is pretty cool to know though....

LMBO....I guess I did didn't I. lol. It would be sweet in they throw in a sweatshirt or hoodie..lol

earweed

jahsoul wrote: »

I'm guaranteed to make SAP even if I don't pass Project+ tomorrow. lol. Sweet, I'm getting something for free...oooow.

I'm just reading the whole booking, praying, and winging it..

Making SAP is completing everything you sign up for, not just the 12 CUs required to be full time.
I'm sure you've got this Jahsoul.

msteinhilber

Well it's been about 8 months or so since I started my first term at WGU, but it's soon going to come to an end. I haven't officially done so yet, but tomorrow I plan to contact my mentor and the other appropriate staff to withdraw from the school. My first term wasn't much of a success, having only completed EWB and the Network+ class and leaving LDP1 (a leadership class) untouched. At the time I blamed my divorce which was then still in process and the stress from going through the process of losing my house and having to work with my bank to do a short sale. Term two came around recently, and I just wasn't feeling it yet so I took a month term break and started up again this September. I set out on just a small course load, a couple leadership courses that really would be a breeze to complete if I applied myself but I'm just not onboard for this.

I talked things through with a good friend, I wouldn't even really call it a two sided conversation but one of those where you just start speaking your mind and the other party sits and listens with little to no input. It took that to organize the thoughts that were shuffled around in my head but just not connected. The stress of life events may have had some slight factor in not getting the work done, but it wasn't the main factor preventing my progress. Not sure why it took this long to realize it, but I'm just not interested in pursuing my Master's degree at this time.

I knew from the start that I looked into WGU largely in part because my finances were in shambles from recent events, and it would be a convenient way to stave off student loans while furthering my education. Looking back, I clearly should have thought it out better but had a lot of other things going on and overlooked my options. As far as advancing my career goes, working on a Master's at WGU in the long run might help but isn't going to do much for me until I complete it (IMO). Seems the best short term strategy is to focus on certifications I've wanted to do that are going to help me better in the short term. In the mean time, I'll have 6 months before loans come due which is time I can use to study for certifications and work on finding a better paying job (and eliminating another significant source of stress in my life). After those 6 months goes by, if I'm not in a financial situation where any of the repayment options on my loans are feasible I'll just seek a deferment for some time and re-evaluate my situation again after that point.

So it's back to just following my own path that I set for myself and obtaining some certifications. Not much different I suppose than what I would have done at WGU as the program covered several of the one's I desire. But it's easier to justify spending a few hundred here and there rather than a few grand every six months plus some costs for books now and then at WGU. Overall I'm pretty excited despite having essentially give up almost 3k for my first term which basically bought me Network+ which is rather pointless at this point in my career. It's just nice to feel like you're headed in the right direction finally, and having a huge amount of stress lifted from your shoulders is nice as well.

erpadmin

@msteinhilber

Hey man, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do. What you went through would have made weaker men jump off a bridge. I don't see it as you quitting, but more of a strategic retreat. Better you doing this, then continuing something where your heart and head isn't 100%.

Do what you need to do, and if you want to continue your studies at either WGU or elsewhere, you can always do that. Plus, when the deferments, forebearances run out....there's always another school.

Best of luck, once again.

msteinhilber

erpadmin wrote: »

@msteinhilber

Hey man, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do. What you went through would have made weaker men jump off a bridge. I don't see it as you quitting, but more of a strategic retreat. Better you doing this, then continuing something where you're heart and head isn't 100%.

Do what you need to do, and if you want to continue your studies at either WGU or elsewhere, you can always do that. Plus, when the deferments, forebearances run out....there's always another school.

Best of luck, once again.

That's the plan. I do desire to earn a Master's degree at some point, just now wasn't the right time. Maybe in a year, maybe two, who knows - but when the time comes I'll be sure it's a decision being made because it's what I want to do and not what I feel I have to do.

Thanks for the well wishes though, looking forward to drawing up a plan for self-study and moving forward that way

earweed

Best wishes MSteinhilber in the future and good luck in your studies.

erpadmin

Well, I completed 1 task for LAT1 (the annotated bibliography). I really did think I would blaze through this class and LUT1 like I did for LAE1. I was sorely mistaken, but jmasterj206 did tell me as much. Mind you, LAT1 is not difficult. It really isn't. It's just a friggin lot, and with work getting busy (yet another PeopleTools Upgrade...yay!

), I have been getting drained.

I do have 13 days of vacation left for the rest of the year, and next week I'm off....so whatever is not done this week, I'm spending the whole week next week wrapping up. Regardless of if LAT1/LUT1 is finished, WFV1 will be scheduled for that Saturday. I'm not really worried about it though as I have many HTML resources...that's really the only thing I needed to bone up on.

I had thought that I'd get 30-40 CUs.....but it's not happening. At best, after I'm done with these classes, I'm just going straight to AIV1 (70-642) and prepping straight for that. I do want to be a MCTS before the end of this year....

Then I will map out the next term to see what can be knocked out. If all goes well, that's 25 CUs.

So, two months went by and I still have 12 out of 19 CUs done. October should be a better month, I'm hoping.

earweed

I see you knocking out AIV1 in about 4 weeks time. That's how long I took.

veritas_libertas

Just came back from a victory. I passed MGC1, after being defeated last time do to only a few hours of sleep the night before.

petedude

uhtrinity wrote: »

I believe it is due to the overwhelming amount of material that can be present on a single exam.

For example, in a regular university you might pick 3 of 5 domains for electives, but in a WGU exam you might see material from all 5 domains, but you are still expected to be proficient in 3 of the 5 ..... hence low cut scores. That is my take anyway.

MS and Comptia exams are similar. You have to show proficiency in minimum number of content areas, but not necessarily all areas.

You might be right, but it's harder to sell your "competency score" (aka passing grade) as equivalent to a B if it's not hitting that number statistically.

jmasterj206

erpadmin wrote: »

Well, I completed 1 task for LAT1 (the annotated bibliography). I really did think I would blaze through this class and LUT1 like I did for LAE1. I was sorely mistaken, but jmasterj206 did tell me as much. Mind you, LAT1 is not difficult. It really isn't. It's just a friggin lot, and with work getting busy (yet another PeopleTools Upgrade...yay! ), I have been getting drained.

I do have 13 days of vacation left for the rest of the year, and next week I'm off....so whatever is not done this week, I'm spending the whole week next week wrapping up. Regardless of if LAT1/LUT1 is finished, WFV1 will be scheduled for that Saturday. I'm not really worried about it though as I have many HTML resources...that's really the only thing I needed to bone up on.

I had thought that I'd get 30-40 CUs.....but it's not happening. At best, after I'm done with these classes, I'm just going straight to AIV1 (70-642) and prepping straight for that. I do want to be a MCTS before the end of this year.... Then I will map out the next term to see what can be knocked out. If all goes well, that's 25 CUs.

So, two months went by and I still have 12 out of 19 CUs done. October should be a better month, I'm hoping.

ERP,
I agree with you that LAT1 isn't hard. It is just a lot of busy work. It really depends on the graders too. Sometimes I would get the results in a day or even hours and others it took almost the full 72 hours. I did get a little angry at some of the grading tactics, because there just wasn't consistency between the graders.

I'm with you too on the 25 credits. I've seen a lot of people pull out the 30-40 cu's per semester and thought I could do the same, but I doubt it. I have my initial 13 credits done and have MGC1 scheduled for the 10/16 and hope to finish LET1 and ORC1 by the end of my term Jan. 31.

earweed

I still wonder why they changed that course from when I took it. LAT1 and LUT1 were just 1 class where you did the paper and the presentation. It was a long drawn out process since taskstream took forever on every one of my assignments but I just worked on the next task while witing for the grader to get around to grading the task.

themagicone

Just passed the final math class today. 57% with a cut score of 56%. 45 CU done, I have 1 more month left of my term. I'm going to try my best to get ABV1 and HVC1 done by the end of term. Not sure it's going to happen though. Good luck to everyone else.