WGU Review (My experience)

[dmjacobsen]

If you were second guessing yourself and just didn't feel like 2 masters degrees was enough...WGU announced their Cybersecurity and Information Assurance MS degree. LINK

Three additional courses beyond the MSISA coursework and you could tack on another Masters....granted Information Security and Assurance and Cybersecurity and Information Assurance sound pretty darn similar.

At first, I was skeptical of this as most institutions don't allow multiple degrees in the same school/concentration. But, I guess this is different for the MS. Although WGU doesn't allow multiple MBAs, MSNs, MATs, or MEds, they apparently do allow two MSs if there is at least one additional domain of knowledge:

Students wishing to matriculate into a WGU master’s degree program who already hold a WGU master’s degree or a master’s degree from a regionally, nationally or U.S. Department of Education recognized accredited institution may only do so if the WGU degree will require the completion of at least one domain of study in addition to any clinical or capstone work (http://sh.wgu.edu/articles/StudentHandbo...earch&pn=1)

The only question based on that policy is whether or not you would have to complete a second capstone.

As you said, though, it's going to look redundant on your resume. But, hey, if you have extra time in your term, who doesn't need a second Master's for free*?

*Price does not take into consideration the migraines, frustration, and lost family/personal time that pursuing this redundant degree would entail. Additional conditions and terms may apply. Residents of any U.S. state or protectorate with the letters "a", "e", "i", "o", or "u" in the name may be subject to hair loss and alcoholism.

[mednat]

The new degree looks more technical, but I've already completed enough of the ISA coursework to make me committed to this plan. Had this existed a few months ago, I would have chose the new degree. They are two closely related for me to bother with getting both.

My only concern with such a new degree is the quality of the assignments and coursework. From what I've seen so far from the ISA program the coursework is not nearly as polished and clear as the MBA program. So far I've submitted 3 tasks and all three were returned on first submission. This is for the easiest class in the program. I rarely had any tasks returned in the MBA program, because it was very clear what they wanted. The ISA tasks seem very ambiguous and confusing. The material is pretty simple and straightforward and I've been doing this type of work for over a decade, but it's worded in a way that leaves me scratching my head.. After very minimal changes, I was able to get the tasks to pass, but it is frustrating to not really understand what the graders want.

[jadae@wgu.edu]

WGU works just fine. If the mentor does not suit you, just cry bloody murder until they change it. It is you that has to look out for your education, and you need to ask for a mentor that suits your needs. Other than that issue, WGU is fine. I did half of the MBA program, before feeling like I would rather do a career change, but the program is fine. I would not recommend the MS in Leadership. It is essentially HR on steroids. As much as I hate to admit it, an MBA is just a more efficient route for most people. Boring? Yes. But efficient. I may have stayed if they offered an MS in Marketing, or something more technical and product-oriented, but the MBA is as close as it gets. IT, Accounting, etc. type folks have more options there.

But I think the overall model works well. The introductory phase is annoying. It's mostly pointless for most people, but its just something to tolerate to get to why you are there. To learn concepts and gain that paper trail.

[JTP]

Any further progress to note?

[mednat]

Any further progress to note?

I've quit the MS ISA program. It just wasn't my cup of tea. They recently changedthe program which I'm hopeful will improve it. I highly recommend the MBA program, and the ISA program was very doable for someone with the drive to sort through the ambiguity. I didn't have a direct use for the degree, and lost momentum on the work pretty quickly. I am currently enrolled in Patten's for another undergrad in industrial psych for fun mostly.

[Scholar1990]

Hello,

I am pretty late on seeing the reviews. I enrolled into WGUs MBA Healthcare Management about the time you completed! That was pretty fast. I am now 10 mos in & have only completed 5 of the 11 courses. I have got stuck on this C213 Accounting for Decision Making. I do excellent on the multiple choice questions but I keep bumming the Calculation questions, math has never been my easiest subject... I was wondering if you had some pointers. To have completed your degree that quick you must know your stuff !!

Thanks

AS Psychology -LSCC
BA Organizational Supervision -UA
CDCA- Ohio Counseling Commissions

[mednat]

Hello,

I am pretty late on seeing the reviews. I enrolled into WGUs MBA Healthcare Management about the time you completed! That was pretty fast. I am now 10 mos in & have only completed 5 of the 11 courses. I have got stuck on this C213 Accounting for Decision Making. I do excellent on the multiple choice questions but I keep bumming the Calculation questions, math has never been my easiest subject... I was wondering if you had some pointers. To have completed your degree that quick you must know your stuff !!

Thanks

AS Psychology -LSCC
BA Organizational Supervision -UA
CDCA- Ohio Counseling Commissions

Congratulations! To be fair my undergrad covered pretty much all the areas of the MBA, so it was more of an in depth review (and serious writing exercise). Accounting with no background in business/accounting is definitely a challenge. Keep at it! Finance and Accounting are two of the areas I think most useful in management (even if they bore me to tears!).

The only suggestions I have is submit writing tasks often. Don't shoot for an A, because it doesn't exist. Outline your paper with the exact syllabus. Fill out the page with the answers in sentence form and submit it. Let taskstream tell you what you need. Once you submit your draft, move on to the next writing assignment. Don't wait for it to be graded. I made it my goal to always have at-least one task in the queue to be graded.

On studying for the tests, take the pretest early and focus on the weakest areas. If there is an area that is a real struggle, I'd reach out to the course mentor and ask for tips. In the ISA program if I didn't reach out to the course mentors I would have been very far off base. They were helpful and responded super fast.

[dfrecore]

Hello,

I am pretty late on seeing the reviews. I enrolled into WGUs MBA Healthcare Management about the time you completed! That was pretty fast. I am now 10 mos in & have only completed 5 of the 11 courses. I have got stuck on this C213 Accounting for Decision Making. I do excellent on the multiple choice questions but I keep bumming the Calculation questions, math has never been my easiest subject... I was wondering if you had some pointers. To have completed your degree that quick you must know your stuff !!

Thanks

AS Psychology -LSCC
BA Organizational Supervision -UA
CDCA- Ohio Counseling Commissions

I'm going to guess with your BA that you did not have to take Financial or Managerial Accounting? If not, maybe you want to take those just to make this course easier to understand? Just a thought. Both Study.com and SL have them for a decent price.

[Scholar1990]

You guessed right! Just statistics & the ones below it. Thanks for advice but I'm not sure what SL in your statements refers too.

[gingerbeefE]

You guessed right! Just statistics & the ones below it. Thanks for advice but I'm not sure what SL in your statements refers too.

Just passed this course the other day. I used mattfisher64's videos for my original Accounting DSST and again for this course, he is a great teacher. After watching these, watch the videos in the course book they give you one after another.
https://www.youtube.com/user/mattfisher64

Know what happens to the transaction and possible accounts, learn how to do the calculations for the activity based accounting, and know about some of the organizations and what they make (FASB, IASB, GAAP, IRS,..ect)