MS:ISA begins June 1

I recently applied to WGU for the MS:ISA program, and barring an issue with the last bit of paperwork, I am all set up to begin the courses on June 1.

I know the program has its goods and bads, but I needed something to take up some of my time while I look for a job. Every time I finish studying for a cert and take the test, I'm bored out of my mind the next week so I start anew. I graduated last December, and since then I've gotten a new cert every month (except for May as I prepare for WGU).

I've also applied to the Georgia Tech OMSCS program, and my goal is to eventually complete both programs.

I know it is still a ways away from June, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

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Congrats on the pass!! Did you have to deal with much of EC-Council's shenanigans trying to get the voucher and get authorized to take the exam? I'm going to be taking the CHFI soon for my Master's and the CEH was a nightmare trying to do it on my own.

goatama wrote: »

Congrats on the pass!! Did you have to deal with much of EC-Council's shenanigans trying to get the voucher and get authorized to take the exam? I'm going to be taking the CHFI soon for my Master's and the CEH was a nightmare trying to do it on my own.

Honestly, once I had scored high enough on the practice test for my Student Mentor to approve my scheduling of the certification exam, I clicked the "Schedule Test" or whatever button under the Assessment Tab in the Course page, and I was emailed a voucher. I logged into my PearsonVUE account, scheduled the test like I have so many others, and used the voucher during the payment process. It was easy and pain-free.

Edit*: Though for some reason, I received another email today with the same voucher code. I'm wondering if it was the original email that was sent that I had never received.

Thank you all for the support.

Weekly Call #6
Just finished my sixth weekly call with my Student Mentor. Now that I've completed FNV2 Ethical Hacking and my scores have been posted, I'll be trying to rush through the UVC2 Cryptography course, hopefully scheduling to take the exam next Friday (July 24th).

As an aside for anyone accessing Skillsoft courses (specifically the CISSP 2012 Cryptography Domain for the UVC2 Cryptography course), when you get to the screen that mentions "Web Accessibility, Play This Course, Ask My Mentor" you can edit the course name in the URL address to change versions. I changed from sp_cpte_a05_it_enus to sp_cptf_a05_it_enus in order to access CISSP 2013 Cryptography Domain which is a Java-Free and newer version of the material.

After Cryptography, I'll add in FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning to focus on completing my two remaining performance assessment-based courses by the end of July. While I work on these papers, I may occasionally throw in some CHFI videos, but I'm not planning to focus on FMV2 Forensics and Network Intrusion until after I've finished the majority of tasks. I'm hoping that since one of my B.S. degrees was partially in Computer Forensics, FMV2 Forensics and Network Intrusion and the CHFI exam should be mostly review.

xeruan wrote: »

Weekly Call #6
[...]

As an aside for anyone accessing Skillsoft courses (specifically the CISSP 2012 Cryptography Domain for the UVC2 Cryptography course), when you get to the screen that mentions "Web Accessibility, Play This Course, Ask My Mentor" you can edit the course name in the URL address to change versions. I changed from sp_cpte_a05_it_enus to sp_cptf_a05_it_enus in order to access CISSP 2013 Cryptography Domain which is a Java-Free and newer version of the material.

[...]

Awesome tip, thank you!

Received my email about EC-Council Aspen today, and registered for access. I then used my CEH transcript as CEUs for my Security+ certification, which shouldn't expire until 2021 now, and I'm going to try to use my CHFI exam to extend my CEH expiration once I've earned it.

I've made it through about 1/3 of the material I've wanted to so far for the UVC2 Cryptography course. I'm currently only going through the Skillport and UCertify material, but my goal is to finish another 1/3 or more of the material tonight. With this goal in mind, tomorrow I'm hoping to retake the pre-assessment test for the 2nd time in order to score the required 80% so that I can schedule the exam for next week. I was relatively close last time when I took it at the end of May, but I wanted to make sure and refresh my memory of the material since I only have a limited number of attempts.

I was going to do the UVC2 Cryptography Webinar last night, but the course mentor that was hosting is out of town for the week. She'll be back next week though, so my hope is to attend on Tuesday night to get a few extra pointers and then hopefully take the exam a few days later.

Way to go man! So are you at 15 Cu or 18 CU complete? Either way impressive.

GreaterNinja wrote: »

Way to go man! So are you at 15 Cu or 18 CU complete? Either way impressive.

15 CU completed so far, but hoping to make it 18 next week by taking the UVC2 Cryptography exam.

Since I'm at the 50% mark, I thought I'd give an update of my progress.

Current Progress - WGU MS:ISA (began June 1, 2015) 4.5 months remaining

Course Code - Competency Credits/Assessment Type - Course Name
Completed
LYT2 - 3/P - Current and Emerging Technology
TFT2 - 3/P - Cyberlaw, Regulations, and Compliance
LOT2 - 2/P - Hacking Countermeasures and Techniques
VUT2 - 2/P - Vulnerability Assessment
JIT2 - 2/P - Risk Management
FNV2 - 3/O - Ethical Hacking

In-Progress
UVC2 - 3/O - Cryptography (planning to test between July 22nd - July 24th)
VLT2 - 3/P - Security Policies and Standards (1 task complete, 0 of remaining 3 submitted)

Remaining
FXT2 - 2/P - Disaster Recovery Planning, Prevention, and Response (1 of 3 tasks completed)
FMV2 - 3/O - Forensics and Network Intrusion
LQT2 - 4/P - Information Security and Assurance Capstone

WGUProgress.jpg

After enrolling in UVC2 Cryptography on Tuesday, I've completed the uCertify and SkillSoft materials, and took the pre-assessment a bit ago. After scoring a 91% on the pre-assessment, I've requested scheduling, and am hoping to take the exam next Wednesday or Thursday. Here's to hoping that this time next week I'll have completed another course, and be one-step closer.

Edit*: The exam has been scheduled for next Thursday morning (July 23rd). Since I don't feel like I have too much more to study, I may start working on the tasks for my next two courses to try and knock out a couple before hand.

I have to admit, it feels kind of nice to get back to the performance assessment-based courses. With the pre-assessment for UVC2 Cryptography done, and the exam scheduled, I feel like there isn't really more that I can study so I plan to switch gears until next Tuesday. Next Tuesday evening, I'll attend the UVC2 Cryptography Webinar and then I'll spend some time Wednesday reviewing some of the material just to get a refresher.

Until then, I've been working on FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning Task 1. While I'm not actually enrolled in this course yet, I wanted to get my last PowerPoint done and out of the way. I've made all of the slides for the Task, and tomorrow I'll begin working back through the slides to add presenter's notes. Sunday/Monday/Tuesday morning, I'm hoping to be able to make the necessary revisions for VLT2 Security Policies and Standards Task 2 that got returned before moving on to Task 3. If I can get those 2 tasks submitted for evaluation before my exam, I'll be left with 3 tasks to complete during the last week of July.

While I had initially wanted to have every class but my capstone completed, I'll be 1 class (and potentially 1 task) short, though I still feel like I've made good progress and kept close to my goal. During the month of August, I'll be focusing on completing FMV2 Forensics and Network Intrusion first, but occasionally working on parts of the capstone.

I'll probably wait to post more on this at the beginning of August, but I now have to decide in the next 2 weeks if I'm going to take a break from school, or immediately continue on.

Weekly Call #7
There isn't much to this week's call, I'm still slowly progressing toward the UVC2 Cryptography exam on Thursday (July 23rd). I've completed FXT2 Task 1, but won't be able to submit until I've enrolled in the course after completing Cryptography.

I haven't done much else this past week due to a family health issue, but I'm still hoping to mostly stay on my pace of completing both VLT2 Security Policies and Standards, and FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning by the end of July, leaving FMV2 Forensics and Network Intrusion to be completed during the first two weeks of August.

Overall, I think the pace is still doable, and at the very least, I will have 20 competency complete with only an additional task or two necessary to get to 23 units by the end of the month.

Hey, you're doing great, keep it up!

ratbuddy wrote: »

Hey, you're doing great, keep it up!

I appreciate the support.

Just got home from a 27 minute attempt at the UVC2 Cryptography objective assessment and passed with a 79%. While this isn't necessarily as high as I would have hoped to score, due to some family medical issues over the last few days I hadn't looked over any of the material since before I took the pre-assessment and scheduled the exam. Overall though, a pass is a pass, and I can't complain too much as it is another course complete, marking 18 completed competency units since beginning June 1.

Now that I've passed, I'll be enrolling in FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning, and I'll look toward finishing FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning and VLT2 Security Policies and Standards over the next week or two. While I might not be able to complete them both by the end of the month due to some unexpected events, my hope is to have at least one course complete and the majority of the tasks for the remaining course.

Ooh, how did you find UVC2 compared to the preassessment? I ask because I just got a 75 on the pre, cut is 65, and I dunno if that's too close on this one.

ratbuddy wrote: »

Ooh, how did you find UVC2 compared to the preassessment? I ask because I just got a 75 on the pre, cut is 65, and I dunno if that's too close on this one.

The course mentor said to expect a 5-10% drop between the pre-assessment to the assessment score, which I can sort of agree with since I had a 91% on the pre-assessment and dropped 12% for the assessment getting a 79%. If I had reviewed the material before the test, I feel like the gap would have been smaller, but I didn't look at any material over the course of the week.

Some of the questions (at least to me) felt ambiguous between two answers, but overall, I felt that the pre-assessment (from what I remember) set a pretty good expectation for the assessment.

Weekly Call #8
Another week gone by, and not much to add. With my dad being in the hospital most of last week, I didn't really get any of the tasks done that I had hoped to. I was still able to pass the Cryptography exam to add another 3 competency units to the completed pile, but didn't end up submitting anything to Taskstream.

With only a few days left until the end of the month, I'm hoping to get all of the tasks for FXT2 Disaster Recovery Planning submitted, but I won't really have any time for revisions. Either way, both of the classes should be done within the first week of August moving me two steps closer to being finished.

I went ahead and enrolled in FMV2 Forensics and Network Intrusion, primarily to give me a kick-start in resuming my course activities. Hopefully in the next few days, when I provide an end of the month update, I'll be able to post a bit more progress than I've made the previous week.

I think I somewhat confused my Student Mentor initially when I asked a question today - whether or not I could submit my graduation paperwork after the term ends. I think he understood when I explained my reasoning, wanting to show that my undergrad was December 2014 and my grad was December 2015, showing an accelerated but still normal progression of a 4+1 degree line. While I'm proud of the work that I've done so far, and the speed at which I've been able to accomplish my progress, I want to give the illusion that I completed my degree in a "normal" amount of time. I know how much I've worked, and the tasks required, but if I can lessen the amount of judgement based on someone thinking they understand how I completed my program in a few months, I want to. I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to passing HR filters and getting past resume readers.

Edit*: I just fully realized it more when I refreshed my degree plan and was scrolling down - I've now either completed, or enrolled in every course but the capstone.

With July now over, I am now 1/3 through my first term at WGU working on my MS:ISA. I had talked about providing another progress report, so here it goes. Since beginning in June, I've now completed 18 competency units, and enrolled in 8 more that I hope to have completed by the end of August.

End of July Report - WGU MS:ISA (began June 1, 2015)

Course Code - Competency Credits/Assessment Type - Course Name
Completed
LYT2 - 3/P - Current and Emerging Technology
TFT2 - 3/P - Cyberlaw, Regulations, and Compliance
LOT2 - 2/P - Hacking Countermeasures and Techniques
VUT2 - 2/P - Vulnerability Assessment
JIT2 - 2/P - Risk Management
FNV2 - 3/O - Ethical Hacking
UVC2 - 3/O - Cryptography

In-Progress
VLT2 - 3/P - Security Policies and Standards (1 task passed, 1 of remaining 3 completed, 0 submitted)
FXT2 - 2/P - Disaster Recovery Planning, Prevention, and Response (2 of 3 tasks completed, 0 submitted)
FMV2 - 3/O - Forensics and Network Intrusion (10% of study material complete)

Remaining
LQT2 - 4/P - Information Security and Assurance Capstone

Definitely an inspiration!

Weekly Call #9
This will be a fairly short update as since Friday evening, I have done nothing for my remaining tasks. My Student Mentor mentioned that we won't have a call next week due to the Summer Meetings/Commencement, so I'm hoping that I can get all of my remaining tasks passed before my next call on the 18th.

TranceSoulBrother

Great to read about your progress.
I was informed today that I was accepted into the program, to hopefully start September 1. I will find out more on Monday.

Reading through your progress, do you feel that it is possible to replicate it if one is dedicated and diligent in studying. My current condition will afford me some flexibility and time to finish the degree in 6 months, but is it also dependent upon the mentor too to support a fast enrollment and completion process?

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

Reading through your progress, do you feel that it is possible to replicate it if one is dedicated and diligent in studying. My current condition will afford me some flexibility and time to finish the degree in 6 months, but is it also dependent upon the mentor too to support a fast enrollment and completion process?

Thanks for the support, I always hope I can help/inspire others through my journey.

I definitely think it is possible to replicate my progress, and even if my progress isn't exactly matched, there is a fair bit of wiggle-room to complete the degree within 1 term. Like I had mentioned in a post earlier in the thread, as long as you can work at a pace of completing 1 task about every 5 days, you'll have nearly 1 month to complete the capstone, and complete the degree in a single term.

Depending on your background, you might even be able to complete faster than I. I'm not currently working (actively looking though), but the only work experience I have is ~5 months as a Student Security Analyst, and ~1.5 years as a Website Developer (both occurred while I was a student working for the University while I pursued my Bachelor degrees). I've been exposed to a lot of the material from my previous coursework, and I generally pick up IT/Technology related information fairly quickly, but most of the degree is fairly new to me.

I think the Student Mentor can help to provide a fast enrollment/completion environment, but I think that it ultimately comes down to you. I've had times where I've been waiting for a grade or finishing the last task for a course, only to take a break and work on a course that I wasn't even enrolled in just to change it up. In my experience, I've only had to wait at most a day (generally 2-8 hours), for my Student Mentor to allow me to enroll in my next course, but even still, you have access to the necessary materials for all of your courses so it is up to you to continue and work on the tasks beforehand. I completed the tasks for VUT2 Vulnerability Assessment before I was even enrolled in the course, while I was still waiting for my previous three courses worth of tasks to be graded in Taskstream.

Hopefully this helps, but if anyone ever has any questions, feel free to ask.

TranceSoulBrother

Thanks for the info and advice. I will engage heartily in this program. My job only pays for one degree, so I will pay for this one on my own (use it for experience and the credential to teach) so that I can use my job's tuition reimbursement for another dual MBA/MSTM program later

This thread is great. A wonderful blueprint.

Congratulations on your amazing progress and pace to achieving your goal.

I appreciate the support. I'm just glad that I can help others through my journey.

So a quick update - I've done absolutely nothing task related for the last week and a half... I've slacked off far more than I wanted to, though admittedly, I needed a bit of a break. I have another weekly call on Tuesday with my Student Mentor, and I don't want to report that I've done nothing during the two weeks since we last spoke so I'm hoping to knock out another task or two this weekend to show that I'm putting forth some effort.

TranceSoulBrother

I'm glad to report that I finally got accepted in the MSISA. Starting Sep 1.
Currently going through the Orientation stuff. It was an ordeal getting in there. Kept getting bounced between Enrollment and Admissions and Orientation to gain access to the site for the past 2 weeks, after I paid my fees. Now waiting for contact with my course mentor and start the program.
I'm trying to emulate your path, in so far as I want to capitalize on being deployed overseas, without "too much family distraction" in the evening, other than my planned gym fitness plan.
My job will keep me very busy and rather stressed out daily, but hope to knock out a ton once I get assigned an understanding and motivating course mentor.
I might start my own thread later or just post updates as necessary.

Congrats on your acceptance, Trance.

I apologize to everyone for not having updated much of anything over the last few weeks. I've been dealing with a family health issue over the last few weeks, but yesterday after another checkup, my dad was fully cleared with no need for surgery or any followup (turns out the initial doctor was wrong with his initial diagnosis, which I'm grateful for).

In other news, I need to pick up my pace with my remaining MS:ISA courses because I need to finish my degree by the end of this term so I can begin another program. While I was originally accepted for this Fall, because I was already enrolled in the MS:ISA program I decided to defer my enrollment to Georgia Tech until January 2016. Next year, I'll begin taking classes in the Online MS in Computer Science program that was started several years ago, and I have to say, I'm excited to begin that program.

In even more news, I'll be flying to St. Louis the week after next for a job interview. I somehow seemed to have passed the phone interview, and was asked if I would be in the area at any point for a face-to-face interview (I'm born/raised and continue to live in NE Texas). While I'll be paying for the trip, I decided that it was an opportunity that I couldn't really choose to pass up because: a) it's the area that I am actively looking to move to, b) it'll be the first TRUE interview I've ever done (my only other interview was talking to a friend before I was hired as a Student Security Analyst my last semester at school), and c) even if I don't get the job, I feel that there are only positives from the situation. I was able to book everything (flight, rental car, hotel) for flying in, staying 1 night, and flying back out at just around $288. I have saved some money back just for this type of thing, so I'm looking forward to the experience as this could be my first actual job (not counting the several federal work studies I did for financial aid while in school).

Sorry about the absence and the long post, but thought I'd provide at least some progress, even if it isn't in regard to my studies.

Best of luck in the interview!

Interesting thread, I'm curious though, why are you taking this and then going for another MS afterwards? Especially with so little actual IT experience, isn't it a bit of overkill? I'm going to go for an MS once my tuition reimbursement kicks in, so I'm not knocking education, just the idea behind multiple masters degrees is close to the same discipline.

Danielm7 wrote: »

Interesting thread, I'm curious though, why are you taking this and then going for another MS afterwards? Especially with so little actual IT experience, isn't it a bit of overkill? I'm going to go for an MS once my tuition reimbursement kicks in, so I'm not knocking education, just the idea behind multiple masters degrees is close to the same discipline.

Once I learned about the program at Georgia Tech, that was my original and primary goal. I initially applied to the program in January 2015 to potentially begin in Fall 2015, but by the middle of May, I hadn't heard any response. The program is fairly selective, and due to the program primarily being for working professionals, I honestly didn't think I would get in the first try. While this is anecdotal, from everything I've seen and read about the program, unless someone was well established in the industry, it has taken most others applying 2 or 3 times before they were eventually accepted into the program.

Because I hadn't heard anything by mid May, I thought I would look at other options since it could be August 2016/January 2017 before I was able to begin at Georgia Tech. WGU was a cost-effective solution that gave me some certifications that would be applicable for trying to find a position and a higher degree, so I applied and was accepted.

Is it overkill? Probably, but considering I will be able to achieve both MS degrees for a COMBINED 10k in tuition, I feel that it is overall an opportunity. I'll have a Information Security and Assurance Masters in a short amount of time that I feel can help me set myself apart from other applicants. I know that there is also some hesitancy from some hiring managers with online universities, and to alleviate any issues with that, I'll also be able to add a Computer Science degree from a Top-10 US school, which adds even more to my resume. Granted, I also understand that education != experience, so my plan had always been to find a job while I worked through the program.

tl;dr - Didn't think I'd get into Georgia Tech so quickly, so WGU was a stop-gap for the downtime I would have while looking for a job. Got accepted to Georgia Tech while enrolled in WGU, and figured I'd finish both since it will cost me <10k for 2 MS degrees.

I feel like I've meandered through your question, and I'm not sure if I've answered it. If not, please let me know and I'll try to address it better.

Still haven't done much with WGU over the last few weeks, but I received another call for an application I submitted a week ago - and was able to squeeze in another interview while I'll be in town before I fly back home. That makes two interviews in as many days, and I'm hoping at least one of them works out.

TranceSoulBrother

xeruan wrote: »

tl;dr - Didn't think I'd get into Georgia Tech so quickly, so WGU was a stop-gap for the downtime I would have while looking for a job. Got accepted to Georgia Tech while enrolled in WGU, and figured I'd finish both since it will cost me <10k for 2 MS degrees.

I feel like I've meandered through your question, and I'm not sure if I've answered it. If not, please let me know and I'll try to address it better.

Congrats on the acceptance at GT. Do you have much programming experience or do they have on-ramp classes for non-programming IT students?

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