WGU MBA/MSML Progress Share

[RANSOMSOUL]

Inspired by the many before, here is the start of the progress with my Master's journey with WGU. My actually start was delayed 3 times with WGU, so don't be afraid to push back the date if you find yourself struggling with decisions. I was set on Amberton University as my school of choice initially due to a couple of key factors:

12 Credit transfer - any graduate credits (Vesi Courses at $285 x 4= Major Deal)
No Exams or Capstone (enjoy writing and felt nice to have exams behind me)
Positive reputation (little online/not a negative - solid local reputation)

Patten University was the next hot contender:

Price with the possible speed of completion is excellent (4-month terms x $1396 = Crazy!)
California Based (Oakland-Northern California)
1 Paper + 1 Exam = Course (How hard could that be?

I ended up passing on Patten because I was not comfortable with the learning material - felt a little like, here you go & good luck. Envisioned a little more sexiness to completing a master. Did not need my hand to be held but it would be nice to tell me I am pretty from time to time at least

This brings us to the 'Chosen One - WGU'!!! I did everything I could to now choose them even though there were countless positive reviews, examples of success and by far the largest support network amongst the schools I was looking at. As mentioned, after pushing back my start date 3 times, I finally committed to March 1st and this is how everything has rolled out so far:


Orientation: Complete 2.15

MBA/MSML - Managing Organizations and Leading People – C200: Complete 3.11 (2 Papers 30 Pages)

MBA/MSML - Management Communication – C204: Complete 3.22 (2 Papers 15 Pages, 1 PowerPoint/Presentation 10 Slides)

MBA/MSML - Ethical Leadership – C206: Complete 3.30 (3 Papers 24 Pages)

MBA/MSML - Managing Human Capital – C202: Complete 4.3 (Exam)

MSML - Strategic Management – C209: Complete 4.5 (2 Papers 32 Pages)

MSML - Becoming an Effective Leader – C203: Complete Date 4.10 (2 Papers 21 Pages)

MSML - Business Acumen – C201: Complete 4.13 (Exam)


Mental fatigue has kicked in a bit and I am looking to shut it down for the month and get back on track May 1st. The classes, my mentor, and school flexibility have been more than I could have expected. Excellent experience and for those dedicated and discipline, WGU is a value choice.

[mednat]

Inspired by the many before, here is the start of the progress with my Master's journey with WGU. My actually start was delayed 3 times with WGU, so don't be afraid to push back the date if you find yourself struggling with decisions. I was set on Amberton University as my school of choice initially due to a couple of key factors:

12 Credit transfer - any graduate credits (Vesi Courses at $285 x 4= Major Deal)
No Exams or Capstone (enjoy writing and felt nice to have exams behind me)
Positive reputation (little online/not a negative - solid local reputation)

Patten University was the next hot contender:

Price with the possible speed of completion is excellent (4-month terms x $1396 = Crazy!)
California Based (Oakland-Northern California)
1 Paper + 1 Exam = Course (How hard could that be?

I ended up passing on Patten because I was not comfortable with the learning material - felt a little like, here you go & good luck. Envisioned a little more sexiness to completing a master. Did not need my hand to be held but it would be nice to tell me I am pretty from time to time at least

This brings us to the 'Chosen One - WGU'!!! I did everything I could to now choose them even though there were countless positive reviews, examples of success and by far the largest support network amongst the schools I was looking at. As mentioned, after pushing back my start date 3 times, I finally committed to March 1st and this is how everything has rolled out so far:


Orientation: Complete 2.15

MBA/MSML - Managing Organizations and Leading People – C200: Complete 3.11 (2 Papers 30 Pages)

MBA/MSML - Management Communication – C204: Complete 3.22 (2 Papers 15 Pages, 1 PowerPoint/Presentation 10 Slides)

MBA/MSML - Ethical Leadership – C206: Complete 3.30 (3 Papers 24 Pages)

MBA/MSML - Managing Human Capital – C202: Complete 4.3 (Exam)

MSML - Strategic Management – C209: Complete 4.5 (2 Papers 32 Pages)

MSML - Becoming an Effective Leader – C203: Complete Date 4.10 (2 Papers 21 Pages)

MSML - Business Acumen – C201: Complete 4.13 (Exam)


Mental fatigue has kicked in a bit and I am looking to shut it down for the month and get back on track May 1st. The classes, my mentor, and school flexibility have been more than I could have expected. Excellent experience and for those dedicated and discipline, WGU is a value choice.

Awesome work! Keep it up! Your description of patten is dead on. I think you'll continue to like the experience at WGU, they do an awesome job. The biggest challenge is the temptation to delay working.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Thank you mednat! Your WGU shares were one of the best drivers for me while doing my BSBA and entertaining to continue on.

Appreciate the advice. I front loaded my classes heavy for the first two months to allow for a break. I'm currently ahead of my one term pace by three classes. After close of May, I'll only have Data Driven (pitched as the toughest paper/exam combo) and the Capstone.

[bjcheung77]

Haha, seems we're all looking at similar programs as I also have Pattent/WGU on my list when I "finish" my undergrad studies.
Thank you for your updates, very informative to have read your info - as well as others who have gone the Patten/WGU route.

[tesu-acct-student]

Thanks for posting these details. I was wondering how much writing vs. testing is involved in the final assessments. It seems that there is far more writing than testing.

[RANSOMSOUL]

There have been some awesome posts on WGU when the program was 100% writing. I would have enjoyed that format challenge. This balance of both exams and writing has been enjoyable as well.

Here's the breakdown:

MBA
Managing Organizations & Leading People - 2 Papers
Global Economics - Exam
Managing Human Capital - Exam
Management Communication - Presentation, Powerpoint & Paper
Marketing - Paper & Exam
Accounting for Decision Makers - Exam
Ethical Leadership - 2 Papers, Exam or 3 Papers (newly revised April 1st)
Financial Management - Exam
Data Driven Decision Making - 2 Papers, Exam
Operations Management - Exam
Capstone - 3 Papers, Oral Presentation

Total: 11/12 Papers, 7/8 exams, 1 Team Simulation, 2 Oral Presentations

MSML
Managing Organizations & Leading People - 2 Papers
Business Acumen - Exam
Managing Human Capital - Exam
Management Communication - Presentation, Powerpoint & Paper
Becoming An Effective Leader - 2 Papers
Leading Teams - 1 Papers, Team Project (Paper/PowerPoint)
Ethical Leadership - 2 Papers, Exam or 3 Papers (newly revised April 1st)
Data Driven Decision Making - 2 Papers, Exam
Change Management & Innovation - 2 Papers
Strategic Management - Exam
Capstone - 3 Papers, Oral Presentation

Total: 16/17 Papers, 4/5 exams, 1 Team Simulation, 2 Oral Presentations

[RANSOMSOUL]

Couple updates -

1. I had an entertaining conversation with a course mentor on Effective Leadership. As mentioned prior, WGU revised the course on April 1st. A student can either complete the course under the original format (1 Exam & 1 Paper) or transition into the new format (2 Papers). The course mentor reached out and laughed how they should have guessed it could happen but did not expect someone would submit the assignment just days after the revision. The funny part, I was frustrated even though working on two other courses, that it took me two weeks to knock out. He asked for me to share the assignment because it was the first submission and subsequently first papers approved.

"You want to read my work? Well, of course, I would love to share it"

He was actually super cool (even prior to the interest in my writing and we ended up talking about life and travel for over 80% of the call.

2. Even though I said I was going to shut it down, mednat got in my head with

The biggest challenge is the temptation to delay working.

Thanks, A Lot mednat!!!

To press on a little more, I ended up tackling Change Management & Innovations. My wife has banned me from courses and we are planning on a school-free weekend in Carmel starting Friday. WGU vs Carmel is a very very easy decision and I had no problem agreeing to this plan.

[rebel100]

Good thread, I'm following. Good luck!

[JTP]

Wow! Your progress has been impressive.

You're definitely motivating me to step my game up for my WGU masters.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Carmel-by-the-Sea was amazing as always and just what I needed to reenergize (or turn off) my brain. If I were to ever write a book, it would have to be a stretch of extended time there.

Progress Update:

MSML - Leading Teams C205 - Task 1 Complete (1 Paper - 5 pages)

May 1st - Leading Teams C205 - Start Task 2 - Cohorts project (says it takes 5 weeks but have been told a strong team can move way faster)

Interested to see how this whole team thing is going to work out. There will be four on the team with a selected leader and specific tasks given to each person. A group powerpoint will be completed and submitted for a final approval.

May Mission:

MBA/MSML - Date-Driven Decision Making C207
MSML - Leading Teams - C205 (5 weeks...Haha - not part of our plan WGU

This will put me ahead of my Capstone start goal by one month.