MSISA Complete!

I just defended my Capstone at WGU for my MSISA. I just submitted my graduation request, I had the entire program done in 7 weeks (Start Feb 1st)

Great program overall, just worried it may look odd finishing a masters in under 2 months, any thoughts?

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GarudaMin

nelson8403 wrote: »

I just defended my Capstone at WGU for my MSISA. I just submitted my graduation request, I had the entire program done in 7 weeks (Start Feb 1st)

Great program overall, just worried it may look odd finishing a masters in under 2 months, any thoughts?

Congrats!
Well, you have to describe the circumstances. Are you working during the time of the program? How many hours did you dedicate per week? Prior work experience that apply toward MSISA? Did you bypass any class because you already have certifications? Etc... But, damn, under 2 months?

xocity

Need more details lol. What is your background, how much did you study? That's an awesome accomplishment.

zxbane

Insane that it can be completed in that short of a window. I know many here love WGU but to me I couldn't imagine many employers giving it much credibility being completed in such a short time.. Just my personal opinion. Conrgats regardless!

cyberguypr

Then those employers clearly do not understand WGU's model.

srabiee

zxbane wrote: »

Insane that it can be completed in that short of a window. I know many here love WGU but to me I couldn't imagine many employers giving it much credibility being completed in such a short time.. Just my personal opinion. Conrgats regardless!

Prospective employers will never need to know this information. Simply list the graduation year on the resume and be done with it. If they ask (they won't), inform them it was a standard, regionally-accredited 2-year program and leave it at that.

Danielm7

7 weeks, do you already work in infosec and have a ton of experience? How many hours a week were you doing to knock out a whole masters that quickly?

Danielm7

srabiee wrote: »

Prospective employers will never need to know this information. Simply list the graduation year on the resume and be done with it. If they ask (they won't), inform them it was a standard, regionally-accredited 2-year program and leave it at that.

Completely agree, bad enough some places might question a school they have never heard of, no point in also trying to explain extreme acceleration.

JoJoCal19

Wow I think you beat the other guy that posted here not long ago and was roasted for completing it in like 3 months. I say hats off to you! As others have asked, I'd love to know your situation with work and study schedule.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!!

nelson8403

Thanks guys i luckily had a job where I was able to commit a lot of time to school and I didn't have huge experience in the infosec field but I had my cissp ccna security etc.. I started a new job the end of February otherwise I bet I could have had it done in 5, I had to take 2 weeks off to get accostimed to the new job

nelson8403

I was able to almost commit 50 hours a week to studying and working on papers and my mentor was a huge help. I was able to schedule what I wanted, when I wanted it. I think I passed the CEH CHFI and the VUT2 all in the same week (CHFI was very much a rehash of CEH not sure I liked that cert)

N2IT

2 months for a master degree? Holy smokes!

Maybe you can get your PHD is 1 month?!

NOC-Ninja

Congrats!

Im not sure if studying for 2 months on a master's is a good thing or a bad thing. Dont get me wrong. I'd love to get a masters degree in 2 months.

How would employer(s) think/feel about masters degree in 2 months?

UnixGuy

How much did you actually learn in 2 months?

nster

nelson8403 wrote: »

I was able to almost commit 50 hours a week to studying and working on papers and my mentor was a huge help. I was able to schedule what I wanted, when I wanted it. I think I passed the CEH CHFI and the VUT2 all in the same week (CHFI was very much a rehash of CEH not sure I liked that cert)

nelson8403 wrote: »

Thanks guys i luckily had a job where I was able to commit a lot of time to school and I didn't have huge experience in the infosec field but I had my cissp ccna security etc.. I started a new job the end of February otherwise I bet I could have had it done in 5, I had to take 2 weeks off to get accostimed to the new job

50 Hours a week for 7 weeks for me is already worth at the very least 4-6 months at a normal pace. The fact that you have a Bachelor's in IT Security + some infosec experience AND CISSP & CCNA Security is worth a lot as well. To me, all this is worth at least 1-1.5 years, so still up to twice as fast as I'd expect with that kind of background

It's all a matter of perspective. Congratulations, though I'm scared stories like yours might make WGU have to forcefully slow students down to retain credibility despite it being detrimental to it's students. Hopefully that doesn't happen but it is unfortunately a risk that may come with competency learning in a society that may not understand it.

H3||scr3am

Wow, congratulations on completing the entire degree in such a short amount of time, that is impressive

I hope to accomplish the same degree at some point, but don't feel as though I'd be able to accomplish it as quickly as you did. Do you have any advice or tips for anyone in the program so that they might be able to follow in your footsteps?

nelson8403

Sure, the best advice I can give you is to not be intimidated by the classes, there are two classes in particular about security standards and regulations that I dreaded.
Just start writing and even if you know it'll come back submit it to task stream, let the graders tell you what to improve. They'll tell you exactly what to add, what was satisfactory and what is missing. Don't skip a day or you'll find yourself putting it off longer and longer

cyberguypr

How much can you learn in 2 months means nothing. I'm in my second and last term in the program, 80% done, and haven't learned A SINGLE thing. Actually I think a part of my brain and soul died by having to take EC Council certs.

da_vato

Nelson8403, Congrats on completing your degree, that is quite a feat. I'm amazed at the amount of time you were able to devote every week.

cyberguypr wrote: »

How much can you learn in 2 months means nothing. I'm in my second and last term in the program, 80% done, and haven't learned A SINGLE thing. Actually I think a part of my brain and soul died by having to take EC Council certs.

Everyone's mileage varies of course but I think you probably under valued your level of knowledge prior to pursuing this degree. I pursued this degree not expecting to learn too much but rather to obtain more accolades to allow my resume to check more boxes than the competition.

This is not to say I did not learn anything from the program but I knew I wasn't going be learning new aspects that I had no experience with. I really feel you get out of it what you put in... which in retrospect I feel I wasted my time doing original research for my capstone, where I could have just expanded upon a common topic like a BCP for a small business for example and been finished much quicker.

N2IT

I felt that strategic management program was excellent. I paced myself which took me a little longer than a year and a half. I read most of the recommended material and even quite a bit extra curricular material. I strictly focused on the business courses and I took away a lot.

I had some lofty knowledge gaps previously now I have less gaps. It also helps on my resume applying for jobs.

da_vato

N2IT wrote: »

I felt that strategic management program was excellent. I paced myself which took me a little longer than a year and a half. I read most of the recommended material and even quite a bit extra curricular material. I strictly focused on the business courses and I took away a lot.

I had some lofty knowledge gaps previously now I have less gaps. It also helps on my resume applying for jobs.

did you intend for this to be posted on the "quality of the WGU Masters programs" thread?

nelson8403

I'd agree with cyber guy it's not that I didn't learn anything, but this degree just reinforced the things I did know, now I can say I have my masters even though most of the information coming from the degree was just a refresher.

I did enjoy it for the most part, the eccouncil certs definitely could be replaced with something else. Maybe following along with the bs it security and offering ccnp security for example, but the eccouncil exams were poor imo

zxbane

Nelson, I appreciate the honesty about what was learned. That is one of the biggest showstoppers for me when it comes to WGU. I can't imagine learning a ton in 2 months and I would prefer to go through a program where I would step away really feeling like I got my money worth and learned a ton. That is what makes me lean towards DSU, Capitol College etc, some of the other popular programs you see mentioned on the forums here. But like you said, now you have a M.S. degree and it is something you won't have to worry about.

olaHalo

zxbane wrote: »

That is one of the biggest showstoppers for me when it comes to WGU. I can't imagine learning a ton in 2 months and I would prefer to go through a program where I would step away really feeling like I got my money worth and learned a ton. But like you said, now you have a M.S. degree and it is something you won't have to worry about.

Ironically I never viewed school as a place to learn things. Its just a checkmark on a resume now. While some things must be learned in school, most things can be learned anywhere.
If you want to improve yourself in most things you can do so with books, people, or online.
Im in my last semester at WGU and everything I learned I taught myself through books and labbing; which I couldve done without WGU.
This is just my opinion though.

Anyway congrats OP. I may try and emulate what youve done.

quarq

congrats dude! and like they said, don't worry about employers. just list the date of graduation... no one will ever ask how many semesters you were in school.

UnixGuy

My personal opinion is that if you want a masters degree just to tick a box then by all means shoot for the one that will cost you the least money and will take the least amount of time, but my question is why?

Master degrees are not job requirements really. Personally if I wanna do a masters degree I'll try to shoot for the best possible value in terms of education and reputation. Of course you can go through a degree and learn nothing, but there is an ample opportunity for learning and growth by doing degrees. It 'can be' more than a tick box but YMMV.

aftereffector

High-end GS jobs pretty much require a masters... though I definitely agree with you!

Congratulations OP! I'll use your experience as motivation when my lazy butt wants to slack off during VUT2.

aspiringsoul

Congrats!

Although reading posts like this make me feel like a lazy person...

GreaterNinja

I'm in the MS ISA program as well. Quite impressive! Congratulations! I'm just pacing...25% done this term.

aderon

Haha a master's in two months?! That's actually pretty impressive.

Honestly I would just list the graduation year on your resume and if someone reviews your transcripts and gets curious about the dates, then you can address it at that time.