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

arield

jmasterj206 wrote: »

Some can thrive in this environment others cannot. That is why most people here on TE doing well in this environment. We have all studied on our own for certification. As I told my mentor once "This isn't my first rodeo".

Very well said. Bravo

hiddenknight821

erpadmin wrote: »

The 22% graduation rate is very misleading. It doesn't take into account that the majority of WGU are transfer students, as opposed to people who are doing college for the first time at WGU. This was a very big topic in the WGU communities. This was my personal response to it back in Janurary.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was worried for a second. To be honest with you, I don't want to underestimate WGU at all, because the school I attend was pretty tough enough already, and writing isn't my thing. Nevertheless, I want to give WGU a shot if my financial situation with my current school doesn't work out for me next year since I have used up my 4-year scholarships.

jmasterj206 wrote: »

I am pretty sure that is why they have changed the admission requirements for the IT programs requiring you to either have and associates in IT, certification, or relevant work experience. I would imagine it would be rather tough for someone without any of these to succeed in the program if you didn't work at it. Also, a lot of people see dollar signs when they decide to go into IT and just jump in finding that it is much harder than posting on facebook or twittering. We all know how those dollars signs work out too. As to your question of it being hard it really isn't any harder than a traditional university but you need to be self motivated. It is not like you sit in a classroom for 16 weeks with a teacher giving lectures. You are responsible for doing the research and working on the class. Some can thrive in this environment others cannot. That is why most people here on TE doing well in this environment. We have all studied on our own for certification. As I told my mentor once "This isn't my first rodeo".

I agree with you that self-motivation is definintely the key to success in this program. However, my primary concern is the amount of time I take to complete my self-study. I noticed that I tend to self-study faster when I have jobs to keep me busy, but not too busy. Now that I am an unemployed former student, I have been cutting slack lately.

...or maybe it has something to do with me knowing that I would never get the money to schedule the test on the date I expected to take it since I am running short on cash.

erpadmin

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

I agree with you that self-motivation is definintely the key to success in this program. However, my primary concern is the amount of time I take to complete my self-study. I noticed that I tend to self-study faster when I have jobs to keep me busy, but not too busy. Now that I am an unemployed former student, I have been cutting slack lately. ...or maybe it has something to do with me knowing that I would never get the money to schedule the test on the date I expected to take it since I am running short on cash.

That was exactly WHY I went the WGU route...to force me to get certifications I would have otherwise never got on my own. I always wanted to be an MCSE, and MCDBA, but I had no motiviation to do it. I knew I could do it, but I couldn't be bothered. I was already working with servers and felt I had nothing to prove to anyone. I also wanted to go back to school, and not party my life away. However, that too fell to the wayside. Every couple of years, I would always do a search on Thomas Edison State College, online schools to see what I could do to perhaps get my BS in SOMETHING (at this point). That's when I found WGU. Then I found that it was popular on this site.

The one sell that had gotten me to sign up with WGU was the regional accredidation.....(in NJ it's Middle States). That means I could go to a school like Seton Hall, for example, and get my Masters--which I plan on doing as I want to be an adjunct. I don't know where I'm getting my Masters but I know I want it.

The point is, if you need that mental gun to your head to do something...going the WGU route might get you to do it. You have to do 12 CUs a term, but you got guys that do much more than that (some at least double, others a whole program in one term. ) You work at your own pace though, and it's ok.

never2late

Any of you taken the CIW ID0 - 541 Database Design exam? I have it scheduled for today. WGU offered two LR's for the class - CIW and UCertify. My past experience with other CIW exams have shown that the CIW LR is all you really need to pass their exams.

There is a wide disparity between the CIW LR and UCertify. I focused 95% on the CIW LR but decided to take a look at the UCertify today and there are subjects that CIW does not touch. Beginning to worry that I may have goofed and not studied the material fully. Those of you that have taken the exam, tell me if the CIW LR is sufficient or should I reschedule?

veritas_libertas

The semester has almost begun again for me.

LET1, HHT1, and AIV1 (70-642)

Any advice from those of you who have taken these classes?

petedude

never2late wrote: »

. . .
There is a wide disparity between the CIW LR and UCertify. I focused 95% on the CIW LR but decided to take a look at the UCertify today and there are subjects that CIW does not touch. Beginning to worry that I may have goofed and not studied the material fully. Those of you that have taken the exam, tell me if the CIW LR is sufficient or should I reschedule?

My suggestion is to focus on the uCertify. Yes, it's overkill compared to the CIW resources, but that's a good thing. When you get to within 5-10% of passing on uCertify, take the preassessments again.

themagicone

never2late wrote: »

Any of you taken the CIW ID0 - 541 Database Design exam? I have it scheduled for today. WGU offered two LR's for the class - CIW and UCertify. My past experience with other CIW exams have shown that the CIW LR is all you really need to pass their exams.

There is a wide disparity between the CIW LR and UCertify. I focused 95% on the CIW LR but decided to take a look at the UCertify today and there are subjects that CIW does not touch. Beginning to worry that I may have goofed and not studied the material fully. Those of you that have taken the exam, tell me if the CIW LR is sufficient or should I reschedule?

Let me know if you want a study guide. I got done with that one in last month. I wrote a huge study guide and passed it with flying colors.

sheckler

I'd be interested in it, taking it next.

Lemonade727

themagicone wrote: »

Let me know if you want a study guide. I got done with that one in last month. I wrote a huge study guide and passed it with flying colors.

I'll be studying for it during my term break and taking it right at the start of my 2nd term so I would be interested in the guide as well.

never2late

petedude wrote: »

My suggestion is to focus on the uCertify. Yes, it's overkill compared to the CIW resources, but that's a good thing. When you get to within 5-10% of passing on uCertify, take the preassessments again.

I took the test yesterday and passed missing only 2 out of 50 questions. The CIW resource is all you need for this exam. While the uCertify is a great resource the material goes well beyond the scope of the exam. All the questions I came across were straight from the CIW LR.

Only six classes left till graduation. I am starting the ABV1 - Windows 7 now and giving myself a goal of 6 weeks for the materials before taking the exam. Any suggestions for outside resources is appreciated. WGU has the Labsim and MS literature, along with corrections and an errata page. I am sure, since this is my first MS class, that I need all the help I can get.

erpadmin

veritas_libertas wrote: »

The semester has almost begun again for me.

LET1

Any advice from those of you who have taken these classes?

1) Get the book

2) Use the book's index to read the 2-4 pages on each task.

3) Write your papers.

4) Pass.

The alternative will be to use the Internet to do a search on stuff like Bases of Power, Leadership, etc...however all of the answers are in ONE book. It'll make your tasks much easier to do.

LET1 is basically a class on reading comprehension. When you get to bases of power just keep this in mind: You will not be repeating bases of powers....each scenario wants a demonstration of how each of the five correlates with the scenarios. What I'm finding out from students who email me about it is that they get tripped up with the second scenario...but if you get the first scenario down, the second one is easy as it only cares about the one of the two people. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

As for HHT...I think that's one of the new math. If math is weak for you, utilize the math labs and take as long as you need...you'll want to work through it as comfortably as you can.

jmasterj206

veritas_libertas wrote: »

The semester has almost begun again for me.

LET1, HHT1, and AIV1 (70-642)

Any advice from those of you who have taken these classes?

HHT1 isn't bad. It is just one task with many parts. If you have to take GAC1 I would suggest doing them back to back because they both use the same COS and overlap.

themagicone

Can anyone verify something about GUT1 for me? To me it seems that Task 1-3 are just turning in a checklist. I could just fill those out and send them in. The only task that asks you turn anything in is the final. For who has finished GUT1, did they call the person you listed on the checklist at all? Just trying to figure out how much time I need to devote to it.

JoshD779

erpadmin wrote: »

1) Get the book

Definitely get the book. I started LET1 on Tuesday, and by that evening I'd turned in task 1. That first essay took maybe an hour total to write because I had the book with essentially all of the info the rubric was looking for right there.....Passed with 4/4. I wrote about 2/3 of task 2 last night and I'll be turning it in today. It looks like it is easy to move quickly through this class if you've got the book.

Also, I'm scheduled to take Security+ on Monday. Term 4 is off to a solid start.

Everyone

I don't know if I'm just being impatient, but it's been 2 days since I've heard anything from my enrollment counsellor now. I missed 2 e-mails on Tuesday because they got blocked as spam. I asked that they be re-sent but still haven't gotten anything. I made sure wgu.edu was added to our whitelist, and haven't seen anything get caught in the spam filter since Tuesday.

Oh well, I'm still not able to get PMs on here for some reason, so I can't get my voucher to apply yet anyway. $:\$

veritas_libertas

JoshD779 wrote: »

Definitely get the book. I started LET1 on Tuesday, and by that evening I'd turned in task 1. That first essay took maybe an hour total to write because I had the book with essentially all of the info the rubric was looking for right there.....Passed with 4/4. I wrote about 2/3 of task 2 last night and I'll be turning it in today. It looks like it is easy to move quickly through this class if you've got the book.

Also, I'm scheduled to take Security+ on Monday. Term 4 is off to a solid start.

I'm on a term break, so I can't see my AAP. What is the name of the book?

demonfurbie

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I'm on a term break, so I can't see my AAP. What is the name of the book?

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th ed.)Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 9780131890954

erpadmin

demonfurbie wrote: »

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th ed.)Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 9780131890954

There's a 14th edition to this book, but make sure you get the 12th edition one. You can use www.davescampus.com to help you get the cheapest book available. (I got my book for around ~$23 and was able to pass it on to another TE member for cost. The condition was exactly what I wanted...no writing/highlighting.)

veritas_libertas

demonfurbie wrote: »

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior (12th ed.)Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 9780131890954

Are you sure? That is the book I used for ORC1.

petedude

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Are you sure? That is the book I used for ORC1.

Yup. Same book for both courses.

The 10th and 11th editions are available on Kindle as well. A bit pricey, but might be worth it if you'd benefit from that form factor.

sheckler

I have the LET1/ORC1 book if anyone wants it for the price of shipping.

Lemonade727

sheckler wrote: »

I have the LET1/ORC1 book if anyone wants it for the price of shipping.

I ended up ordering it online yesterday, found a used copy for $13 shipped so I picked it up. I'm sure one of the others on here would like to snag it though.

I know it's free in ebook form through WGU now but I would much rather have the actual book for me to flip through for these, plus it could come in handy for future references.

Shecky

sheckler wrote: »

I have the LET1/ORC1 book if anyone wants it for the price of shipping.

PM'ed you.

JoshD779

3.8/4 on task 2 for LET1. I got dinged for a couple of typos. Now it's final review time for TSV1, then I should have the rest of LET1 done within the next week.

themagicone

Got my grade back on GTT1... Got all 4's on both tasks! Now onto GUT1... Not looking forward to it...

demonfurbie

im annoyed the akv1 test is annoying

im going for networking not programming ive always hated programming

Jourdsh

I have a quick question, I had to delay my starting of WSU until June 1st, when I originally wanted to start May 1st. In the meantime I have been studying Security+ and Network+ like a madman. How likely is my Mentor to let me have vouchers to take these certs as soon as my enrollment officially begins?

veritas_libertas

Jourdsh wrote: »

I have a quick question, I had to delay my starting of WSU until June 1st, when I originally wanted to start May 1st. In the meantime I have been studying Security+ and Network+ like a madman. How likely is my Mentor to let me have vouchers to take these certs as soon as my enrollment officially begins?

It depends on the mentor. Mine is very open to letting my just kill the certs as quick as I can.

drew726

You definitely don't need to read the whole LET1 chapters to do the tasks, but I did because the book I found rather interesting. Took me about a week to finish everything.

thenjduke

I am done with LET1 one if anyone needs the book.