Bad Review for WGU: Dishonest, Incompetent, and Unreliable

[Merlin]

Who should choose WGU?

• You're not transferring or are willing to start from scratch
  
• You can finish in few enough terms that the cost is still competitive with the Big 3
  
• You don't care about your GPA (including job minimums, graduate school requirements, etc.)
  

Regarding the CS program, would GPA matter for the job opportunities after graduating with the CS degree? I have heard some say that it only matters for some jobs where there is a GPA cutoff but only up to that point.

First of all, if you take courses at WGU rather than transfer them in from alt. ed. sources, then you will have a GPA. WGU lists a 3.0 GPA equivalency on their transcripts. This is why I recommend that anyone who is planning to attend grad school should try to find out how their destination school evaluates incoming credits for entry purposes. Some will want to look at the last 60 credits in your undergrad degree, others will only care to see the specific courses that are pre-requisites for people entering the program. Once you know what that means, you just need to make sure that you cover all the courses and credit requirements that you need as classes taken at WGU directly rather than transferred in from ACE providers.

As for your question, unless you're coming into a job without any prior work experience, most hiring managers will probably not care about seeing a transcript or checking your GPA. Beyond that, this only really comes up is when you're applying to graduate schools or internship programs.

My TESU transcript is almost completely based on alt. credits

Since you are applying to PhD programs, how would you be able to get in if you have mostly alt credits? I heard that since they are not RA credits they would not be able to satisfy admission requirements.

Good question. And the answer is, it depends. Getting into a Ph.D. program depends a lot on how well you impress the admissions board. They want people with a strong academic and research background, but more than that they want people who are passionate and demonstrate qualities that suggest they will complete the program and go on to publish papers that make their school look good. So things like references, professional resume, professional accomplishments, and prior published works factor more heavily into the evaluation than GPA and test scores.

While I don't have the most amazing academic resume, I do have a pretty spectacular professional resume and list of accomplishments in my field. I don't have much in the way of academic references, but I know and have worked professionally with several Ph.D. holders who would probably write me a letter of recommendation talking about my research qualifications, etc. if asked nicely.

I've spoken to a few graduate advisors/research coordinators and gave them a rundown of my background and what I am trying to do. In each case they said that I should apply since I would probably be a strong candidate. While I don't look like the average Ph.D. applicant, that is actually a point in my favor since they are not just looking for professional students, but rather passionate researchers who can follow through and get published. The fact that I have a lot of hands-on coding experience and I am an older student will also work in my favor.

So, I think my chances of getting into a Ph.D. program somewhere is pretty good. I don't expect to get into a top program like Standford or Berkeley (and I'm not applying to anywhere like that). Plus I'm mostly interested in part-time distance-learning programs and I won't need a full-ride scholarship/fellowship, so it sounds like those should increase my chances as well since my requirements are low which means they can still bring in another full-timer in addition to me.

That said, in the meantime I'm strongly considering picking up a second bachelor's degree in computer science since that should help my entrance chances. I'm planning to do so at WGU so the bulk of my recent credits (and my CS core courses) will all RA credits rather than alt. ed. credits.

Worst case, if I don't find a Ph.D. program that works for me in CS, I may try to get into the Georgia Tech OMSCS, since that was my original goal. I can mostly do the same stuff I wanted to there as I would in a Ph.D., though it is more of a taught degree rather than a research degree. As an alternative, I can always pursue a business degree like a DBA or Ph.D. in Leadership at a school like U Cumberlands since I have a significant background in business as well as technology.