WGU Plan Realistic Timeline?

Greetings,

I have been a long time stalker of this forum. Just a bit of background on myself, I have worked for a network design and installation company for the last 8 years, with 5 years before that as installation and repair technician. I work a normal 7am to 5pm hours and I'm married with 3 kids. I am very interested in obtaining a bachelors from WGU in the network admin field. Due to financial reasons I would like to pass through WGU as effectively as I can. My goal is to complete the 70-640, 70-646, and 70-680 exams before enrolling. I would be able to dedicated 2-3 hours during weekdays during evening, and 8 hours during Saturday. So effectively 23 hrs of study a week minimum.

If I understand the enrollment process correctly I can transfer in the following:

A+ 701
A+ 702
Project+
S+
MCTS: 70-640, 642, 646
MCTS: 70-680
CCNP (in lieu of CCNA, ICDN1)

Which if my math on CECs is correct would be 46 hours out of the required 120 hours I can bring to the table.

So my question is if I budget 3 semesters to complete this am I being realistic?
Do you think that 2 semesters is possible?

Thank you for your input, and please feel free to share your experiences.

Best Regards,
Jon

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Comments

Iristheangel

Completely realistic. I completed 98 hours in 3 semesters. There are some machines on here that have done similar in one semester but I think 3 is a safer bet if you want long-term retention

kgb

Iristheangel wrote: »

... I think 3 is a safer bet if you want long-term retention

I mean no disrespect, but I don't understand that logic. Let's say he does finish in 1 term. I will totally agree with he probably won't retain/know as much if he spent 1year longer on the material. I will argue in that extra year, instead of paying $6k to WGU, he can continue his studies and he will know just as much if he had taken the full 1.5years enrolled at WGU.

I hear that quite a bit, "if you really want to learn..." To me, it's the same mentality that says a college class has to be 12-16 weeks long, because that's how long it will take you to "really" learn the material.

My only point is if you can finish ASAP, you are only saving yourself money. There's no downside unless you never plan on continuing your studies after school.

To answer the OP, I totally agree with Iris in that 3 semesters is very realistic.

swild

It really depends on your personal ability to retain information and your drive to study on your own. If you are like me, the gen eds are going to be the toughest since you have the least desire to learn that info. If you are able to learn quickly, or have a decent background in the topics, then 2 semesters is a reasonable goal, 3 without a doubt.

Thanks to my time spent at a state school, I transferred in the equivalent of an associate's degree and didn't have to take the majority of the gen ed classes. I was able to pull off 60 credits in a single term, but that included CCNA, which was the most time consuming (about 2 months). The majority of classes I was able to knock out in one to two weeks. The real trick is getting the tests scheduled fast enough, as they require them to be scheduled a week out, and usually you have to prove that you are able to pass the exam, before they will schedule it (depending on your mentor).

nerdinhiding

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I am kind of nervous about the general ed classes but I am very motivated to get this done. My company is set to close when the president retires in another 3 years or less. After that happens the sky is the limit. We even sold our house to be ready in the event that I need to relocate. (I was even cruising the California forum earlier). When I started this idea in my head it was just to get the big check mark for my resume that is missing, but honestly I hope I do get to take away more from it than that. After WGU is accomplished I will most likely resume the CISSP after that. Our industry changes so quickly I have always considered continuing ed. a way of life. 60 credits in one term is quite an accomplishment, I can only hope to move at that pace!

Best Regards,

Jon

Bundiman

Jon,

I am just starting this April and only transferring in the Cisco certs. I have the same family size and work times as you as well. I have the same time frame in which to complete my degree as you. I would like to be down in two terms but three is more realistic.

nerdinhiding

@Bundiman -Keep in touch let me know your progress, I wish you all the best.
I am going to enroll as soon as I complete the 640, 646, and 680. I will probably be MS brain dead by then but at least I find the content a pleasant change from Cisco which is what I mainly deal with at work. I hope to enroll in June.

Best Regards,

Jon

Iristheangel

kgb wrote: »

I mean no disrespect, but I don't understand that logic. Let's say he does finish in 1 term. I will totally agree with he probably won't retain/know as much if he spent 1year longer on the material. I will argue in that extra year, instead of paying $6k to WGU, he can continue his studies and he will know just as much if he had taken the full 1.5years enrolled at WGU.

I hear that quite a bit, "if you really want to learn..." To me, it's the same mentality that says a college class has to be 12-16 weeks long, because that's how long it will take you to "really" learn the material.

The reason I say this is because I've seen a lot of people complete tasks without ever reading/knowing the material by just tweaking performance assessments they get punted back to the point where it gets accepted or passing the tests with a low pass percentage. That's probably one of my biggest gripes with WGU - the low passing score threshold and ability to resubmit most of the performance assessments for an unlimited amount of tries. Yes, they may be "completing" the course because they got a 55% on a test but if they didn't study the material, did they really learn something? Would a 55% *REALLY* fly in a B&M college? I'm not trying to be negative as far as WGU. I've recommended the school many times over. I graduated from there and it's gotten me pretty far. I just hope they increase the scores and make it a bit more difficult to slide by because I really care about WGU succeeding and being a credible university. Don't get me wrong: I believe in the competency model, but I don't believe in setting the bar low for it.