How WGU works?

Good day all,
I was looking to enroll in WGU. Heard so many things about it and I'm not liking my current experiences at UMUC... I talked to a counselor and he said I would have to take 4 classes within six months. My question is for anyone who has done this is "how much is the workload like and if I were to do 1 class at a time would I be able to finish the 4 classes in 6 months?" I looking to go into the networking field.

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Danielm7

Most people do classes one at a time, you'll be fine. There are a ton of posts about WGU here, check the sticky threads too. If you're coming from UMUC just make very sure you understand the WGU "class" model very well before you make any big decisions.

Scyphn

Okay sounds good. I'm sure I can do classes back to back as long as it's 1 at a time. What do you mean by "class model"?

Danielm7

You are likely used to more traditional classes. In most cases WGU hands you material, ebooks, some videos, and leaves you to learn it. You can hit up class mentors if you need help, but you study, pass a test or write a paper and the "class" is done. It's not typical or traditional.

Scyphn

Well that doesn't sound bad at all. That's what I was doing at UMUC. I just finished two classes there. And like you said they gave me the materials or sent me to like an online module thing with a test at the end. Thanks for the insight good sir. Did you yourself go to UMUC?

Danielm7

Nope, WGU. I've been through a few B&M schools many years ago, I was just comparing UMUC closer to that where WGU is very non traditional.

trueshrewkmc

@Scyphn I am an alumna of UMUC Masters in Cybersecurity program. I stopped at 3 classes and picked up a Masters certificate. Got tired of the group projects and the mandatory postings. Just started WGU in Masters Cybersecurity program. Can get Microsoft Dreamspark software through WGU program and tuition is a lot cheaper.

Scyphn

I too noticed that tuition is cheaper granted I'm in the military and get TA but anything leftover generally goes to my books/materials you know. So overall you favor WGU more than UMUC then correct? Because I don't like the sound of group projects much either. Thanks for insight as well!

trueshrewkmc

UMUC has group projects in the graduate level programs. Don't know if this is true for undergrad or not. Group projects seem to be a very common requirement for online school graduate programs.

So far I haven't had to buy any textbooks for WGU either. There's an e-textbook for my current class, but I have downloaded it for offline reading. I'd really rather read a whole bunch of articles that are curated / selected by a professor than a textbook/primer.

My undergrad program was liberal arts B&M all the way. I'm not sure that WGU is a good school for undergrads. It's not structured enough. I worry about students who earn their undergrad and grad degrees from WGU. They don't really experience what it's like to work from a syllabus and sit through lectures delivered by a professor who teaches a topic from his/her own perspective. The lecture element is missing from UMUC classes too.

Got almost no useful feedback on my UMUC papers either....I was usually not happy with what I turned in, but I knew it would pass muster anyway. My expectations for WGU on paper grading are pretty low. Beating students over the head with TurnItin and rubric requirements will probably not spark any genuine academic discourse.

WGU requires a lot of self discipline and it's a very atypical academic environment. I would not have wanted to attend WGU as an undergrad. If I had military TA money and access to a B&M, I would attend a B&M. If I had military TA money, a lot of self discipline, and a burning desire to pick up a college degree quickly, I'd attend WGU.

Scyphn

trueshrewkmc wrote: »

UMUC has group projects in the graduate level programs. Don't know if this is true for undergrad or not. Group projects seem to be a very common requirement for online school graduate programs.

So far I haven't had to buy any textbooks for WGU either. There's an e-textbook for my current class, but I have downloaded it for offline reading. I'd really rather read a whole bunch of articles that are curated / selected by a professor than a textbook/primer.

My undergrad program was liberal arts B&M all the way. I'm not sure that WGU is a good school for undergrads. It's not structured enough. I worry about students who earn their undergrad and grad degrees from WGU. They don't really experience what it's like to work from a syllabus and sit through lectures delivered by a professor who teaches a topic from his/her own perspective. The lecture element is missing from UMUC classes too.

Got almost no useful feedback on my UMUC papers either....I was usually not happy with what I turned in, but I knew it would pass muster anyway. My expectations for WGU on paper grading are pretty low. Beating students over the head with TurnItin and rubric requirements will probably not spark any genuine academic discourse.

WGU requires a lot of self discipline and it's a very atypical academic environment. I would not have wanted to attend WGU as an undergrad. If I had military TA money and access to a B&M, I would attend a B&M. If I had military TA money, a lot of self discipline, and a burning desire to pick up a college degree quickly, I'd attend WGU.

Thank you for you informative reply. I appreciate it all. That puts a lot of things in perspective for me. I have access to a B&M school but due to me being active duty with a mid size family(Wife 3 kids) if would be easier and more convenient for me to attend online you know what I mean. With that being said that "burning desire" is there but I'm a little discouraged at the 4 classes within 6 months. Overall I think I can do it though. I just don't want to jump into and then have to maybe xfer back if I can't handle it. See where I'm coming from?

supafish9

Just wanted to add some of my experience about the number of classes within a timeframe. I'm using the GI Bill, so I'm required to knock out 18 credit units per term in order to keep full pay. Talk with your mentor about having a couple easy classes at the beginning of the term to get you to that benchmark, and then you can take some harder ones after the 18 minimum so you're not sweating for time.

trueshrewkmc

I'm using the GI Bill too. I don't know how TA works because I've never received it. I'd think that taking less than a full load of credits would mean TA pays less money to the school. Of course WGU would want you to take a full load of credits because they receive full tuition if you do. For GI Bill recipients, we have to take a full load/be considered full time students to get housing pay.

For graduate level students WGU seems to want a 20 hour per week commitment. In orientation there's a spreadsheet they want you to complete to outline when you will work in those 20 hours. This is about the amount of time my UMUC classes seemed to take up. I've been too distracted lately to do 20 hours a week.

Consider doing an honest assessment of how much time you are spending on UMUC classes and see if you can commit to that level for WGU classes.

WGU classes seem to be set up to last 6 weeks each. I think this is half or less than half an average UMUC semester. There's also a lot less content.

WGU wouldn't transfer my UMUC classes, so I have lost 18 hours of graduate credit. (It is not unusual for online grad schools to accept 6 credit hours or less at the graduate level.) To me it was worth it to escape the postings and the group projects.

Scyphn

@Supafish: Yeah that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. Just might consider that.
@True: The way TA works is that they will cover all of my classes whether one or four. TA pays it all. I'm an undergrad but 20 hours a week sounds a bit much for me. And six week classes with less content isn't what I'm aiming for either. Sounds like I maybe sticking it out at UMUC for a bit longer then but no biggie. It isn't all bad.

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