WGU vs. DeVry?

I'm currently considering a bachelor's in information system's security from DeVry but read they only give 30 credit hours in a specialization. How does WGU's BS in IT look in general? Edit: My eventual IT goal right now is pen testing.

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Valsacar

Mmm, spoon fed overpriced for-profit education...

HLRS

Devry is for profit which is a red flag, so WGU over Devry. rather go to a state college where you can get free tution.

spiderjericho

Dunno, despite the cost (if you opt out of a state school), it looks like webgeek preferred the educational experience and the quality of the Capella over WGU.

I'm pursuing my second degree, opting to go through WGU because of the model they used. But to me the p, besides the certs built into the curriculum, the school's main advantage is its simply a quick means to an end in obtaining a Bachelor's or Master's. Despite my dislike for online schools, I'd say I preferred the experience I had at UMUC over WGU.

Also, the program does leave itself open for cheating by using cert exams for tests when a crappy student wants to simply brain **** through exams. And the student not really digesting the information, instead powering through assessments. Even the mentor's can sometime pressure you, since GPA doesn't matter just passing.

Valsacar

I can understand some of that, I'd rather see them use more GIAC certs (especially for the Forensics, CHFI just isn't that great feeling... and Ec-Council doesn't strike me as a very professional organization from my experiences and using their official training).

UMUC I thought most of their physical classes were good, but I really didn't like their online experience. Too many professors that tried to run it like a physical class, and some of their tests were just out of whack. I had a Java class (online) with them, terrible experience overall, but the final exam just topped it off. A 100 word VOCAB test and 2 had written classes (like pen and paper, no compiler, nothing). Excelsior's online classes were better IMO compared to UMUC.

spiderjericho

Oh, I'm no saying UMUC is perfect. I agree. The online classes seem to try to emulate "live" class rooms a little too much. Throw onto that the requirements for exams, papers, participation and the semesters used to be 16 weeks. Also, unlike WGU, cert-related exams didn't lead to the exam, they just aligned with exam objectives (though I can't say how much). I took a CCNA course, and it was terrible. The final was just a mirror of the questions from the book. I really wasn't proficient afterward. It wasn't until I took a Cisco Netacad CCNA course for two months where I became confident.

Having said that, I don't feel as fulfilled when compared to UMUC. 0 student interaction. 0 concern for the quality of your work except for meeting assessment objectives. No instructor interaction. And not a whole lot of time to digest information unless you stick to your degree plan without accelerating.

I'm I poo pooing on WGU. No, I want an IT degree and WGU is the quickest and cheapest way for me to get it based on their model.

I'm 36 years old, so my time is ticking. And I'm happy a school like WGU exists to enhance IT, teaching, nursing (I pray they do residencies for patients sake), etc professionals.

webgeek

We have no tests at Capella

All course work is discussion and assignment based. Yes a lot of writing but in the end, I do feel like it provides a better overall experience than WGU.

WGU sucked me in, promising me the IT cert world, but when questions needed to be answered, no one was around. Felt like I was in a cave all to myself. It sucked!

erpadmin

(deep sigh...)

As a WGU graduate, let me bring this discussion home from a perspective of a WGU graduate:

1) I was able to enroll at a B&M school in graduate certificate program that is terribly demanding. I didn't matriculate because I was not sure if I'd be able to personally hack a program. You can read about that here.

2) WGU's one course that every student who has ever taken it hates (me too), LAT1, got me into writing BETTER quality graduate-leve college papers (in APA format no less). I never had a problem writing papers...but I can write them BETTER. I do not believe that a school like Devry would have prepared me for Master's level work (unless it was for another for-profit school...and I had no interest in that jazz.)

I'm not going to s--t on Devry though...there are people who all they want to do is gain a "checkbox" in a technical setting and you know what, God Bless. However, if you want to do something within academia...WGU, with it's regional accreditation and non-profit status (which means that they're not looking to squeeze more money out of you for shareholders...they actually care if you fail or not) will provide a degree one can be proud of. I'm proud of it, the WGU graduates I interact with (mostly here...and at times in the LinkedIn groups) are proud of it, and the degree will gain you entry to a brick and mortar school if you so desire to continue on with one. That's what matters to me and that's why to me, WGU is a better alternative than Devry. However, if you just want to gain a higher level knowledge-set in the technical arena, Devry might just do it...though I could never recommend that, personally.

demonfurbie

to me wgu is a school for working professionals also for the people who are always in the back of the class at a b&m school because they already know most of the stuffs

N2IT

To piggie back off of ERP I agree. I am enrolled in the MBA program and it's not a joke. It will take me a full year of studying hard and doing a TON of research and writing papers. Like ERP mentioned they are strict with the format (APA). Not only that they demand you meet their exact criteria when writing research papers. It's challenging but this adventure has really started to give me a lot of business intelligence. Just in 4-5 months time I have grown tremendously. I will be extremely proud of myself once I graduate from the program. And not only that I will be much more valuable to any organization, in either a business or IT role.

@ Demonfurbie At first I didn't know what to think about your post, but after giving it some thought I agree. So far out of all the courses I passed at WGU, HR was covered in my undergrad so that went fairly quickly and risk management I just self studied and used my real world knowledge from my previous job. So I agree it seems like it's aligned more with people who have experienced real world IT/Business.

Iristheangel

webgeek wrote: »

WGU sucked me in, promising me the IT cert world, but when questions needed to be answered, no one was around. Felt like I was in a cave all to myself. It sucked!

As many have stated, WGU isn't for everyone. It's an approach that requires a lot of self-discipline and sometimes finding your own answers.

Valsacar

@Iris, that sounds almost like the real world. Self-discipline and googling... I mean finding your own answers.

erpadmin

@demonfurbie, I don't care if I could teach the course myself drunk and otherwise...I tend to sit in the front or middle. I don't just want to pass, I want an A...

(though I'd live with a B if it was course that was superduper hard.)

And to N2...HR courses are like the easiest As ever...for the simple fact that if you ever had a job (private or public sector) everyone understands HR-speak...there is nothing special about HR courses...I don't care how "hard" they are.

chrisone

Valsacar wrote: »

@Iris, that sounds almost like the real world. Self-discipline and googling... I mean finding your own answers.

I would have to disagree with you on this one, unless you are a one man IT team (Manager, Network Engineer, Server Engineer, Programmer, etc) lol

The fact is you will always work with other IT staff and coworkers. I enjoy feeding off other engineers and having that extra eye for someone to help me when i am stuck. I agree with you that one should research on his own and try to figure out what you do not understand, but I have actually ran into a problem or two where i couldnt find an answer on google to be honest. Like Iris said WGU fits the needs of certain groups of people perfectly. I am also sure WGU does a great job in that, i have heard great things on this forum about WGU. Sometimes others like to learn and challenge classmates in a study group. I think that is fun than to sit alone at home. Group projects and interaction with other students is great and teaches you how to work with coworkers in the real world IMO.

If you already have work experience and just need a degree then WGU is perfect. Going to a 4 hr class after work is painful

glad that ish is over lol

erpadmin

chrisone wrote: »

Group projects and interaction with other students is great and teaches you how to work with coworkers in the real world IMO.

Group projects and interaction in a scholastic setting is fine if you are in high school, or in college immediately out of high school gunning for a bachelor's. In that respect you are right. When you are an adult student (and adult is > 24) that has already started working, you pretty much learn how to work with coworkers on the job...the days of the asocial tech guy that can't be bothered working with others are over; that guy (or gal) is called "[soon-to-be] unemployed".

Group projects in a graduate setting, IMO, is overkill, and I know that I haven't seen the last of them. I was lucky that I was part of a team that was fun to work with. In fact, just the other day I just emailed my former team lead a question about the PMP educational requirements regarding the class I'm going to take, and a few weeks ago, I was invited and went to another member's graduation party and bought her a $25 gift card, where I met another team member. While I hated the grade we ended up with (B), I was very proud to work with that team, as they were cool as hell and we kept out schedules and deadlines. Other groups in my class were not so lucky. One group got like a C+, others got Bs and really bad feedback from the professor. Only one group got a perfect (and that group's lead invited me to be a part of her group....lmao!!) The team lead had told me that a member of another group was in her group in another class. She didn't call him out by name, and I didn't ask for it, but she told me that that guy did no work and skated by. I would hate to have a group of skaters and I already know how I'm going to deal with skaters (though I hope I never have to, but welcome to the real world, right...)

My preference would be not to deal with groups, but to engage with my fellow students via discussions or other engagements. However, I would not shy away from them.

With WGU, there's only two courses I'm aware of where you must include one other person. One are the programming courses (not in my emphasis...I had to deal with MCITP:EA) and the other is LUT1, (WGU's public speaking course.) I needed my fiancee's sexy voice to read questions in the background. The grader gave me the highest mark for that...lmao. Everything else is pretty much solo work at WGU.

chrisone

Lesson here is to have a female with a sexy voice lol

wait what were we talking about here?

HLRS

@ webgeek, Capella is equal to Uni of Phoenix which is very much frowned on by emloyers

astrogeek

To me Devry and ITT Tech seem like schools you go to when you're fresh out of high school and need someone to hold your hand along the way. WGU seems to be more aimed at older people that are already in the industry looking to get a degree they never got when they were younger. Kinda apples and oranges if you ask me because at the end of the day it's what you make of the education, but neither school is really offering any significant difference with the degrees they provide.

The name of the school is irrelevant anyway, it's your work ethic and passion - if you don't have those qualities it doesn't matter what school you go to. Community colleges are also a great resource as they are very affordable and often have online/night classes available. I also think there is something to be said about a student that sees value in a school that saved them thousands of dollars, as compared to a student who puts themself into $30k+ in debt at another school for virtually the same degree.