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

uhtrinity

themagicone wrote: »

I'm sure that there is a way around the fee to apply for the MBA. That is my plan also. The MBA in IT Management seems a better fit than the Infosec one. I'm hoping to be done with my BS in October next year and then jump right on the MBA.

There is no fee fee for continuing students. If you weren't a continuing student there is also the refer a friend program that work for both undergrad and grad programs.

jmasterj206

Excellent1,
INT1 is basically 3 tasks. The first 2 are powerpoint presentations. I may not remember the numbers correctly but I think the 1st one requires 8-10 slides on a scientific concept has changed over time. The 2nd requires 6-8 slides and looks at a ecosystem and how humans have changed it. The 3rd portion is your actual experiment which requires, I think, a 4-8 page paper. Your experiment can be popping different types of popcorn and showing the results. It can be on fuel mileage. It is pretty easy. You have to find 2 similar experiments by others and do a literative review, come up with a hypothesis and all that good science stuff. All in all conducting the experiment took longer that the actual writing part.

erpadmin

Got the confirmation that the LET1 book was at my PO BOX. The PO is tiny and when I came through the door, they had the package ready for me.

The sorting bent the corners a bit and ripped through the shipping envelope, but otherwise, book is in great shape and very readable. The content doesn't seem to be unfamiliar so I imagine this is going to be a quick skim/read.

After sleeping it over, I think I'm just gonna handle LET1 the way apr911 did and complete it by that weekend. I typically don't like to take vacations in the beginning of the year...the earliest I will do it is Memorial Day weekend. I will do as many tasks as I can that evening of 2/1, but I'm not going to dedidcate the whole day to it. This will most likely be done by end of Saturday...Sunday at the latest. However, I believe I'm going to schedule ORC1 to be done on 2/12. MGC1 I'm gonna look at that one more time and see if I can complete that the week after. Then I'll work on QLC1/QLT1 and INT1. We'll see how it goes.

thenjduke

erpadmin wrote: »

Got the confirmation that the LET1 book was at my PO BOX. The PO is tiny and when I came through the door, they had the package ready for me.

The sorting bent the corners a bit and ripped through the shipping envelope, but otherwise, book is in great shape and very readable. The content doesn't seem to be unfamiliar so I imagine this is going to be a quick skim/read.

After sleeping it over, I think I'm just gonna handle LET1 the way apr911 did and complete it by that weekend. I typically don't like to take vacations in the beginning of the year...the earliest I will do it is Memorial Day weekend. I will do as many tasks as I can that evening of 2/1, but I'm not going to dedidcate the whole day to it. This will most likely be done by end of Saturday...Sunday at the latest. However, I believe I'm going to schedule ORC1 to be done on 2/12. MGC1 I'm gonna look at that one more time and see if I can complete that the week after. Then I'll work on QLC1/QLT1 and INT1. We'll see how it goes.

I am going the same route you are man. I plan on doing it Jan 1st and knock it out over the weekend. I got 11 classes left and I want to be done. I want to get out of NJ

By the way man I am back

Excellent1

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Excellent1,
INT1 is basically 3 tasks. The first 2 are powerpoint presentations. I may not remember the numbers correctly but I think the 1st one requires 8-10 slides on a scientific concept has changed over time. The 2nd requires 6-8 slides and looks at a ecosystem and how humans have changed it. The 3rd portion is your actual experiment which requires, I think, a 4-8 page paper. Your experiment can be popping different types of popcorn and showing the results. It can be on fuel mileage. It is pretty easy. You have to find 2 similar experiments by others and do a literative review, come up with a hypothesis and all that good science stuff. All in all conducting the experiment took longer that the actual writing part.

Thanks for the info. I approved INC1/INT1 earlier today and I'm hoping to have them done by the end of the month. Should be doable even with family time, provided I continue to get up at 4:30 to 5:00 AM. That usually gives me a couple of solid hours to work on things before the house gets busy.

I took a month and 2 days to drag myself through LAT1. Once I finally forced myself to start it, I had it completed in 6 days without any tasks needing resubmitted. Hopefully I can keep up some momentum going into the last 2 months of this term and knock out some of these gen eds and a couple of the lower hanging certs (project, java).

It's looking like this next term will be the term of MS certs, for better or worse, so I'm trying to clear my slate to focus on them.

jblake1986

jmasterj206 wrote: »

I would get a hold of an enrollment counselor jblake. Your transcripts I would guess would be fine, but since you don't officially graduate until April I would talk to them to sort that out. If you need a referral I can help you out with that.

How do I contact you for a referral?

Excellent1

Just finished ORC1/MGC1 today. They are very close to the pre-assessment and have very generous cut scores. Just tossing that out there for anyone looking to take them any time soon.

If you don't have any background with leadership training and/or organizational business terminology, you'll definitely want to use the learning resources to get ready for these.

INT1 task 1 begins...now.

apr911

Hey all,

For those of you interested, I had a conversation with one of the EC's the other day about continuing at WGU for the masters program.

This is the process for continuing at WGU:

1. Finish current degree program

2. Contact Admissions department, get an EC

3. Contact Mentor, make sure all forms are filled out and filed indicating degree completion.

4. Contact Financial Aid (if needed) to discuss redoing the package for a graduate degree. You may need to refile FAFSA depending on time of year.

5. Contact your EC to get enrolled

6. Get Started on your Masters!

Continuing students do not have to pay the application fee, take the readiness assessment or even fill out the application. It is all done based on your original application and is done on the backend, behind the scenes, by the ECs.

-APR911

tpatt100

Talked to my mentor before my Christmas break and was told WGU is relaunching the Masters program for IA. I got the PDF outline showing the changes and I agree with them. Current students can continue on or switch in the summer which I am going to do. They dropped the CWSP which makes sense since they did not require the CWNP. They also dropped the Network+ and switched it for the CCNA classes which kind of makes sense.

eansdad

I can see dropping the net+ but they should have added the 2nd exam for the CWSP not take the one out. Not to mention they changed the BS degrees also. They split the Cisco into the 2 exams instead of 1 and for the BS it is now 3 CUs ea but the MS it is 2 CUs ea? Huh? So how do course changes effect current students?

jmasterj206

I am not sure where they get their ideas sometimes. I see in the networks administration degree they are now requiring the first half of the CCNA. I guess if you are going to offer it at least do the whole thing. Network + is still a 6 credit class where this is 3? So now you are required to have MCITP:SA, 1/2 CCNA, and Win 7 Configuration for the NA.

Introduction to Networking (BRV1)
Proctored at an authorized Pearson Vue Testing Center, computer-based Cisco CCNA

ICND1 - 640-822 exam.

erpadmin

eansdad wrote: »

So how do course changes effect current students?

I am inclined to believe that for current students, these changes do not apply. This will be for the new students when they start their programs. I even checked my AAP and my coursework has not been changed to reflect the new change. Otherwise, I would have had to take one more new math course and it's a Taskstream at that.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/483517-post281.html

jmasterj206

I sent an email to my mentor about these changes, but she is on vacation. If anyone gets a solid answer on this will you please post.

themagicone

Few things....

First did anyone else notice the updates on the coaching reports for objective assessments? Now each section is divided in to sub objectives and they have points. Now I can get a better idea of where I need to study on pre assessments. This is a lot better than just the 2.1 56% and not knowing exactly what needs to be studied.

Second... The JavaScript class. The new class is coming out on February 1st. The new test covers new stuff like ajax and a few other new techs. For that one you can decide if you want to take the old class or the new one. Being I wasn't going to start working on it till then, I'll take the new one.

petedude

themagicone wrote: »

... The JavaScript class. The new class is coming out on February 1st. The new test covers new stuff like ajax and a few other new techs. For that one you can decide if you want to take the old class or the new one. Being I wasn't going to start working on it till then, I'll take the new one.

Interesting-- Feb. 1, eh? There were also postings on WGU's discussion boards about changes to LET1 and the Java classes. I asked about these and didn't get any response, so I suspect these changes will be ushered in Feb. 1 as well.

earweed

The Javascript class needed some updating IMHO.

Excellent1

earweed wrote: »

The Javascript class needed some updating IMHO.

Agreed. The course book I was sent was written in 2003. That doesn't mean it's completely useless, of course, but there is some definitely dated material in there.

petedude

jmasterj206 wrote: »

I am not sure where they get their ideas sometimes. I see in the networks administration degree they are now requiring the first half of the CCNA. I guess if you are going to offer it at least do the whole thing. Network + is still a 6 credit class where this is 3? So now you are required to have MCITP:SA, 1/2 CCNA, and Win 7 Configuration for the NA.

I'd rather they use the CCENT in place of the Network+, but then I haven't looked at the Network+ objectives lately to see how much overlap exists.

themagicone

Well just took MGC1/ORC1 and I'd have to say the finals were easier, much easier, than the pre assessments. I didn't really see anything that was the same between them, just that the final was easier. Got 74% on MGC1 and 69% on ORC1. Pre assessment scores were 72% and 53% - and I barely studied for them. Got 5 days till vacation, have my 70-680 test on Thursday - wonder if I can fit in LET1 before I leave... Hum

eansdad

petedude wrote: »

I'd rather they use the CCENT in place of the Network+, but then I haven't looked at the Network+ objectives lately to see how much overlap exists.

Well for the Security track it is now BRV1 - Intro to Networking and BSV1 - Network Fundamentals. I guess they view the CCNET lower then Net+?

jmasterj206

I'm still on the fence with these changes. My issues is that I am changing emphasis next term which begins February 1st. I am not sure if they will let me go the new route or keep the old one. I wouldn't mind adding the CCENT to the resume, but it is going to add some time to my completion date. I posted the question on the WGU discussion boards but that doesn't get much action.

I do laugh as though it seems the treat the CCENT as lesser than the Network +. For the NA they took out the IT portfolio class and added the CCENT. Quite a difference in difficulty...lol

lenell86

where are you guys seeing these changes? Are they on the website? I am intrigued so I can make a better educated guess wheather I should do NDM or Security track.

jmasterj206

Online IT Degree | Information Technology Bachelor Degree | WGU College of Information Technology

Click on the program emphasis and about half way down there is a "view the pdf program guide"

lenell86

ahh ok so they updated the PDF secretly. I had just downloaded the PDF's to both the NDM and Security programs just last week and the date of the PDF on the bottom of the pages are 10/22/10 and now when I redownloaded them, they show a date of 12/10/10. Sneaky sneaky sneaky...

eansdad

My mentor is looking into if the maths QLC1 and QMC1 would satisfy the new math courses HHT1 and GAC1. If they do I might transfer from Security to Network Administration since they added CCNET (BRV1). Was only taking Security for the CCNA but would rather take the MCITP:SA instead of the web design and extra programming class.

veritas_libertas

eansdad wrote: »

My mentor is looking into if the maths QLC1 and QMC1 would satisfy the new math courses HHT1 and GAC1. If they do I might transfer from Security to Network Administration since they added CCNET (BRV1). Was only taking Security for the CCNA but would rather take the MCITP:SA instead of the web design and extra programming class.

Have you heard what the difference between the new and old math courses is?

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Have you heard what the difference between the new and old math courses is?

I just bought the QLC1 textbook off from ebay and my niece will be loaning me her scientific calculator (she won't be needing it for her next semester).

How are you doing in QLC1 and is it really that bad? I only ask because you started it awhile ago and since math is my enemy I might actually have to go through COS on this one myself.

I just want to plan accordingly.

veritas_libertas

erpadmin wrote: »

I just bought the QLC1 textbook off from ebay and my niece will be loaning me her scientific calculator (she won't be needing it for her next semester).

How are you doing in QLC1 and is it really that bad? I only ask because you started it awhile ago and since math is my enemy I might actually have to go through COS on this one myself.

I just want to plan accordingly.

I'm terrible when it comes to math which probably part of why I find programming difficult to grasp. My semester ends in February so will see if I make it

QLC1 is broad and since I'm weak in math it feels like a lot of different concepts to relearn or in my case learn.

I have to take the Project+ in two weeks so I'm placing my primary focus on that and then I'm going to take another crack at QLC1.

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I'm terrible when it comes to math which probably part of why I find programming difficult to grasp. My semester ends in February so will see if I make it

QLC1 is broad and since I'm weak in math it feels like a lot of different concepts to relearn or in my case learn.

I have to take the Project+ in two weeks so I'm placing my primary focus on that and then I'm going to take another crack at QLC1.

Ahh ok. For programming, it's all about logic, which is the only reason why math geeks are better at it then mere mortals. However with programming, it isn't necessarily a math deal...it's all about logic and syntax. If you can get those down, it's not a terrible chore.

Yeah, thanks for the response...I will focus solely on QLC1 and QLT1 when I'm done with the three management courses. I'm almost certain I can get that hat trick done within February.

Two weeks? You pushed Project+ back?

themagicone

Let me give some advice on taking the math tests... They give you a problem say 3x + 5 = 17. Answers are 4, 9, 2.5, 6. Just substitute each answer in till the problem is true. Works on pretty much every question. They give you a problem and the answer - just try each answer till the question works. As long you know basic algebra you'll pass the test with ease. That's what I did.