WGU Business courses changed - not for the better

[dfrecore]

So I've been looking at the WGU transfer guidelines for the new business degrees, and they've made a ton of changes and most aren't good.

1) They got rid of the actual BS in Accounting and BS in Marketing, and now those are just concentrations
2) They increased the number of courses/credits that are non-transferable: now, it's anywhere from 9-14 courses, and 30-43cr, that you must do there
3) They changed the BSBA in Management to 3 different "options" but do not spell out what those options are (WTH?) 
3) The degrees are STILL super wonky in terms of what they consider "core" and what they consider "major" coursework, and then what's required for the different degrees.  Nothing feels cohesive, and like they gave it a lot of thought as to what they wanted the degree to be about.  An HR degree should have all those HR-related courses, but then why do they need Ops and Supply Chain, Technology Apps in Healthcare, and Healthcare Values & Ethics?  Those would be normal in a Healthcare Management BSBA concentration, but certainly not an HR concentration.  Same with Marketing: why Ops & Supply Chain and Compensation & Benefits?  They make no sense in that degree.  

Overall, WGU is still a good buy if you can get through quickly - but they've definitely made it harder to do in a single term.

And, for Business, I think they are not the best choice in general; I think you can find a degree you like better, and that feels more cohesive and like it's a well-thought-out major at many other schools.

[MNomadic]

Hopefully WGU's IT programs are still good.

[goldendoodle101]

Seeing all these changes makes me so happy that I graduated right before the new degree plans went into effect. I also saw that the BSBA Management degree has 3 different options, but I too haven't seen anything that plainly states what those options actually are. It is definitely a bit confusing.

[Merlin]

Hopefully WGU's IT programs are still good.

WGU is known more for their IT degrees than their business degrees, so we should hope they pay more attention there.

There haven't been too many recent changes to the IT degrees that I am aware of. I know they made a couple of certificate changes and swapped some of the database courses around a few months back, but that's all I've noticed. Of course, I haven't really been scrutinizing changes to the degree plans. I do try to keep up with the FB and Reddit forums and the chatter on the IT discord though and those kinds of changes tend to get talked about when they happen.

[rachel83az]

Without knowing what the courses are about, I can see Healthcare Values and Ethics maybe fitting into an HR degree. People get sick at work. Though you shouldn't actually take care of them at work, you need to have policies in place that reflect that sickness happens and how to deal with it.

Similarly, I can see marketing needing to know about the supply chain so that they don't over-promise how many units can be provided.

But those are tenuous connections and the others certainly make no sense at all, IMO.

[bluebooger]

... I also saw that the BSBA Management degree has 3 different options, but I too haven't seen anything that plainly states what those options actually are. It is definitely a bit confusing.

https://www.wgu.edu/online-business-degr...ogram.html

Results-focused curriculum: Learn business administration and management from the best.
At the core of WGU’s three business management degree options is a set of rigorous, highly relevant competencies -- the concepts you need to master in order to be a successful business leader.

* Download the Management program guide

We developed our online business management degree program with significant input from experts and business leaders who serve on our College of Business Program Council. You’ll become an expert in areas relevant to a business career.

* Download the Marketing emphasis program guide.
* Download the Healthcare emphasis program guide.

[dfrecore]

... I also saw that the BSBA Management degree has 3 different options, but I too haven't seen anything that plainly states what those options actually are. It is definitely a bit confusing.

https://www.wgu.edu/online-business-degr...ogram.html

Results-focused curriculum: Learn business administration and management from the best.
At the core of WGU’s three business management degree options is a set of rigorous, highly relevant competencies -- the concepts you need to master in order to be a successful business leader.

* Download the Management program guide

We developed our online business management degree program with significant input from experts and business leaders who serve on our College of Business Program Council. You’ll become an expert in areas relevant to a business career.

* Download the Marketing emphasis program guide.
* Download the Healthcare emphasis program guide.

Honestly, I just don't believe them.  I think they got a certain number of courses that were highly relevant, then still had space to go, and threw in some additional courses randomly.  There is just no other these make any sense.

---

Without knowing what the courses are about, I can see Healthcare Values and Ethics maybe fitting into an HR degree. People get sick at work. Though you shouldn't actually take care of them at work, you need to have policies in place that reflect that sickness happens and how to deal with it.

Similarly, I can see marketing needing to know about the supply chain so that they don't over-promise how many units can be provided.

But those are tenuous connections and the others certainly make no sense at all, IMO.

Healthcare Values and Ethics is about value and ethics in healthcare management, not HR.  Yes, HR does benefits - but this is not what that is.  It's just silly.

[Merlin]

I think they got a certain number of courses that were highly relevant, then still had space to go, and threw in some additional courses randomly.  There is just no other these make any sense.

---

Healthcare Values and Ethics is about value and ethics in healthcare management, not HR.  Yes, HR does benefits - but this is not what that is.  It's just silly.

I imagine that one of the prime reasons for this change is to reduce the number of courses (and probably teacher salaries) they have to support. My guess is that they threw in some shared courses from other degrees (Healthcare Management in this case) because they were tangentially related. That or they didn't have anything better to use so this just ended up being the random course that got the short straw.

[dfrecore]

I think they got a certain number of courses that were highly relevant, then still had space to go, and threw in some additional courses randomly.  There is just no other these make any sense.

---

Healthcare Values and Ethics is about value and ethics in healthcare management, not HR.  Yes, HR does benefits - but this is not what that is.  It's just silly.

I imagine that one of the prime reasons for this change is to reduce the number of courses (and probably teacher salaries) they have to support. My guess is that they threw in some shared courses from other degrees (Healthcare Management in this case) because they were tangentially related. That or they didn't have anything better to use so this just ended up being the random course that got the short straw.

Yes, that's the way it seems.  They didn't want to add new courses that would make more sense, so they just added other courses from other degrees.

Honestly, it would make more sense for them to just have some electives instead.  That way YOU choose which courses you'd like to take instead of them doing it.  If you're more interested in Marketing or Accounting for instance, you can choose some of those.

I'd still probably opt for another school for a business degree; most schools have a more rigorous business portion of the degree, and better concentration courses.

[natshar]

Apparently all these changes were made March 1st. They haven't changed anything since then I think. I guess didn't notice it until now. But maybe I'm wrong.