WGU MBA Reddit - Finish in 1 term

[bjcheung77]

The reason I posted this is because I am looking at their Masters degree programs as there seems to be a "stall" on Walden's MBA front. I don't see their program for Walden Tempo Learning and haven't seen it for the last couple of months. I should email them and see what's up with that... They still have their other Tempo programs running accordingly, but I feel like completing an MBA before the MS Psychology - I just hope to see Walden get their MBA Tempo up again.

For the most part, I understand the people who can complete the WGU programs in a term are highly educated in that field and have years of experience, that is what Competency Based Degree programs are made for. People can go through it quickly as it's an accelerated and compacted program, it's mainly self paced and it all depends on how competent one is in that subject area. The more you know, the faster, the less you know, the slower... etc.

[ss20ts]

If you're on the WGU Accelerator's group on FB, you'll see that a ton of people have completed the MBA and MSOL in one term. It seems to be quite common for people to finish one of those degrees in 1 term.

I too see the many posts from accelerators who finish in 1 term, but I would only ask, is it common for people to finish in 1 term term, or is it common for people who complete in one term to post about it?

I rarely see someone just make a random thread bragging about completing their degree in one term. They usually are responding to someone who's asking if it can be done x number of terms and what is involved like how complicated the program is and different from their bachelor's degree programs. 

---

The reason I posted this is because I am looking at their Masters degree programs as there seems to be a "stall" on Walden's MBA front.  I don't see their program for Walden Tempo Learning and haven't seen it for the last couple of months.  I should email them and see what's up with that... They still have their other Tempo programs running accordingly, but I feel like completing an MBA before the MS Psychology - I just hope to see Walden get their MBA Tempo up again.

For the most part, I understand the people who can complete the WGU programs in a term are highly educated in that field and have years of experience, that is what Competency Based Degree programs are made for.  People can go through it quickly as it's an accelerated and compacted program, it's mainly self paced and it all depends on how competent one is in that subject area.  The more you know, the faster, the less you know, the slower... etc.

I reached out to Walden a few months ago about the Tempo MBA's. The only response they would give me is that their programs aren't available in NY. They wouldn't even tell me if the programs were still active. I was told any further conversations would require me living in a different state. It was very odd! 

[cerich67]

The reason I posted this is because I am looking at their Masters degree programs as there seems to be a "stall" on Walden's MBA front.  I don't see their program for Walden Tempo Learning and haven't seen it for the last couple of months.  I should email them and see what's up with that... They still have their other Tempo programs running accordingly, but I feel like completing an MBA before the MS Psychology - I just hope to see Walden get their MBA Tempo up again.

For the most part, I understand the people who can complete the WGU programs in a term are highly educated in that field and have years of experience, that is what Competency Based Degree programs are made for.  People can go through it quickly as it's an accelerated and compacted program, it's mainly self paced and it all depends on how competent one is in that subject area.  The more you know, the faster, the less you know, the slower... etc.

after March grad from TESU I am going the WGU MBA route, I suspect april or May start depending, jump in!

[posabsolute]

I just went through WGU MSITM; I'm only missing the capstone at this point. I would keep in mind that most of us in this community are veteran accelerators at the undergraduate level, so I would not be surprised if most of us can complete the WGU programs in 1 term...

As for the MSITM, I think most of the difficulty lies in the 2-course exams; they somewhat act as a gatekeeper, even if not intended. I did both courses super fast; I got a very similar technique when I was doing bachelor courses to cram and pass the exam. However, my mentor told me some students are on their fifth try and cannot get it through, and for the Project Management exam (CAPM) he rarely sees people able to accelerate the course unless prior knowledge of the PMBOK.

You need to figure out why you are doing the WGU program, IMO you go to WGU to prove you can do the work, get the paper and move on, not to get mentored. There is no mentoring on how to become a better professional in your field; everything is focused on the assignments and how to pass the course.

[cwendy111]

I just went through WGU MSITM; I'm only missing the capstone at this point. I would keep in mind that most of us in this community are veteran accelerators at the undergraduate level, so I would not be surprised if most of us can complete the WGU programs in 1 term...

As for the MSITM, I think most of the difficulty lies in the 2-course exams; they somewhat act as a gatekeeper, even if not intended. I did both courses super fast; I got a very similar technique when I was doing bachelor courses to cram and pass the exam. However, my mentor told me some students are on their fifth try and cannot get it through, and for the Project Management exam (CAPM) he rarely sees people able to accelerate the course unless prior knowledge of the PMBOK.

You need to figure out why you are doing the WGU program, IMO you go to WGU to prove you can do the work, get the paper and move on, not to get mentored. There is no mentoring on how to become a better professional in your field; everything is focused on the assignments and how to pass the course.

I point out to people that my acclimation to alternative credit style learning was the most significant contributory factor to my success at WGU. My time in this forum prepared me for the competency based, go as you see fit WGU learning style and I rocked it! The abundance of student experience information available in groups is also helpful like Facebook and Reddit and of course here. I decided to return for the MBA-HM when my term ends in June. I can't stop!!!!

[Ideas]

That said, these kinds of posts are dangerous since it makes people think that everyone is doing this (or anyone can), where that is actually not the case. They sign up for the degree program thinking that they'll be done in 6 months and then find out that it's actually hard work. In many cases, they cannot afford the extra costs (or free time dries up) and end up dropping out and complaining on the forums about how WGU degrees are bogus or complaining that everyone there must be cheating because they weren't able to finish their degree so fast. The ones that stick with it end up taking 2 or 3 terms to finish and are not happy either.

People who successfully manage to accelerate their degree and complete and MBA or MSML in a single term generally:

• have a lot of prior knowledge (most have worked in management or HR for quite a while);
  
• have a ton of extra time on their hands (typically means ignoring friends/family and maybe no job or one with lots of flexibility);
  
• are able to absorb and process information very quickly;
  
• or all of the above.
  

So, while it is possible to do this, people need to go into it with the expectation that they will not be able to finish in one term (and plan to pay for 2-3 terms),

So I'm well aware of the possibilities and that most WGU "hyper accelerators" have lots of experience, transfer credits, time, aptitude or some combination of the aforementioned qualities. I'm merely trying to point out the inherent reporting bias that takes place in these instances. We don't see as many posts from people who completed their WGU program in the standard timeframes, we see the catchy posts about single term completions most often. If thousands of people graduate, but we see a few dozen people talking about their remarkable results, but not many people talk about their average results, it skews our perspective.

Very much agree with these posts. I find it unfortunate that some acceleration discussions lack warnings of this type.

I think that finishing in 2 terms is a challenge for the majority of people.

[jamshid666]

The same goes with the MS-CSIA program. I took 17 months to do that program, and I'm happy with that. I probably could have done it in one term, but I would have been very stressed and I would not have had any free time to do anything else.

[bjcheung77]

It's all good, sometimes life doesn't come according to plans, 3 terms at WGU is much cheaper than taking the courses at TESU or the courses at COSC/Excelsior for a similar Masters.

[varJosh]

I saw this on Reddit last night:


https://www.reddit.com/r/WGU/comments/qg...trying_to/

[bjcheung77]

There are a few people on the board taking that degree, I wouldn't be surprise if the person who wrote the reddit post would be someone on the board... quigongene - you reading this? You're the awesome college credit munching speed demon who I first thought of...