Documenting My Son's WGU Experience

[dfrecore]

I know the page is not easy to find; but, once it's linked to here, aren't people's questions answered? If you're asking about a course that is not on their website, not even TESU or Excelsior will always give you an answer without being enrolled. I paid my application fee, and Excelsior told me that I needed to enroll to have a couple of courses further evaluated. They're probably the only school that does this.

Part of the problem is that they have different courses they accept for different degree programs. So for SL for instance, the Teacher's College accepts different courses for different areas than the IT college. It can get very confusing to try to figure out, even within the different degree programs within the college.

For Study.com, they accept courses, but they don't have the equivalencies laid out. Even for the one degree that they do, it's still confusing as heck to try to figure out what they will and won't accept for it. And it's impossible to figure out if they will accept these courses for all of the degrees or not, because the rest aren't done, and they aren't consistent. Western Governors University | B.S. Accounting

Even for WGU's website, they list what they'll accept for Natural Sciences - but they don't word it the way they word it on their degree requirements. For instance, on the BSIT for Cybersecurity degree, they want Integrated Physical Sciences (3cr), and Natural Science Lab (2cr). On their website, they list "a selection of courses that may meet Natural Science transfer requirements." They list them by types of science - Physical Science, Bio, Anatomy, Physics, Astronomy, etc. But, they don't explain which courses meet the Natural Science Lab requirements (none of which are 2cr anyway) or which ones you can take for the Integrated Physical Sciences. https://www.wgu.edu/admissions/alternati...al_science

It's just confusing, and if they aren't going to clearly label what is what using their own vernacular, then at the very least, the people that work there should be able to tell you more info. Instead, they're clueless as well!

It would be nice if they had someone go through and try to make their website consistent. I know, this is a pet peeve of mine with TESU as well. How hard would it be to just go on your website and make things clear?? Make every degree easy to figure out. Use the same language throughout so people could figure these things out on their own without an entire forum dedicated to helping figure it out for people!

[sanantone]

Part of the problem is that they have different courses they accept for different degree programs. So for SL for instance, the Teacher's College accepts different courses for different areas than the IT college. It can get very confusing to try to figure out, even within the different degree programs within the college.

For Study.com, they accept courses, but they don't have the equivalencies laid out. Even for the one degree that they do, it's still confusing as heck to try to figure out what they will and won't accept for it. And it's impossible to figure out if they will accept these courses for all of the degrees or not, because the rest aren't done, and they aren't consistent. Western Governors University | B.S. Accounting

Even for WGU's website, they list what they'll accept for Natural Sciences - but they don't word it the way they word it on their degree requirements. For instance, on the BSIT for Cybersecurity degree, they want Integrated Physical Sciences (3cr), and Natural Science Lab (2cr). On their website, they list "a selection of courses that may meet Natural Science transfer requirements." They list them by types of science - Physical Science, Bio, Anatomy, Physics, Astronomy, etc. But, they don't explain which courses meet the Natural Science Lab requirements (none of which are 2cr anyway) or which ones you can take for the Integrated Physical Sciences. https://www.wgu.edu/admissions/alternati...al_science

It's just confusing, and if they aren't going to clearly label what is what using their own vernacular, then at the very least, the people that work there should be able to tell you more info. Instead, they're clueless as well!

It would be nice if they had someone go through and try to make their website consistent. I know, this is a pet peeve of mine with TESU as well. How hard would it be to just go on your website and make things clear?? Make every degree easy to figure out. Use the same language throughout so people could figure these things out on their own without an entire forum dedicated to helping figure it out for people!

Then, not all the information is on their website and probably isn't in the catalog either, but you can find it if you google it. What I'm trying to say is that the info is not mapped out for enrollment counselors, so they would have to talk to the evaluators.

[dfrecore]

WGU doesn't accept any credits from Shmoop because their finals are not proctored. It doesn't matter that they are ACE approved.

They accept ALEKS courses, and those aren't proctored either.

[Thorne]

They accept ALEKS courses, and those aren't proctored either.

My hunch is that they just want to cull cheaters. Good luck cheating on ALEKS courses without knowing at least some of the material (due to the fill-in-the-blank style). I wish they'd accept Shmoop, though. I'd already be done with most of the courses for the $90/month fee.

[rowan555]

So his official start date was June 1. He is a bit frustrated about having to wait to get his webcam to take his assessments, but such is life. He could schedule a testing session at a test center, but he really doesn't want to do that, so he's waiting. 4 days in, he has accomplished the following:

Completed Critical Thinking and Logic course material and passed pre-assessment 15 points above cut score
Completed and submitted 2 of the 3 assignments for Integrated Natural Sciences 2 - one has been accepted with no need for revision, and the second is pending evaluation.
Completed 14 of 16 modules of Employment Law
Started the first module of Spreadsheets

His goal is to complete all four of these courses by week 3 and to move on to the remaining upper level courses in the last week of June.

[jessikalauren]

So his official start date was June 1. He is a bit frustrated about having to wait to get his webcam to take his assessments, but such is life. He could schedule a testing session at a test center, but he really doesn't want to do that, so he's waiting. 4 days in, he has accomplished the following:

Completed Critical Thinking and Logic course material and passed pre-assessment 15 points above cut score
Completed and submitted 2 of the 3 assignments for Integrated Natural Sciences 2 - one has been accepted with no need for revision, and the second is pending evaluation.
Completed 14 of 16 modules of Employment Law
Started the first module of Spreadsheets

His goal is to complete all four of these courses by week 3 and to move on to the remaining upper level courses in the last week of June.

Remind me how many credits he has left? I would like to follow along to see how long it should take me.

Also I've read some others and wanted to see what you knew on the subject, was he able to "prep" any work for these WGU classes prior to his official start date? I'm cutting myself off from SL this weekend so that WGU can receive all of my transcripts by 7/1, and I'll start on 8/1 presumably. I'm excited but not for that month off, and I seem to remember people saying they could "start" on some course work during the transcript review period.

Keep posting progress! Thank you again!

[rowan555]

Remind me how many credits he has left? I would like to follow along to see how long it should take me.

Also I've read some others and wanted to see what you knew on the subject, was he able to "prep" any work for these WGU classes prior to his official start date? I'm cutting myself off from SL this weekend so that WGU can receive all of my transcripts by 7/1, and I'll start on 8/1 presumably. I'm excited but not for that month off, and I seem to remember people saying they could "start" on some course work during the transcript review period.

Keep posting progress! Thank you again!

He started with 35 credits needed to complete his degree.

You can access all your coursework for your entire program as soon as you complete Orientation - Orientation is available on the 15th prior to your start date as long as you have completed everything and made payment arrangements. He worked on Logic and Critical Thinking, started reading for Employment Law, and knocked out his science tasks during that time. One thing which sort of irritated him is that he did not receive his WGU webcam until 6/12, and there's a 3 day advance notice requirement for scheduling assessments, so while he was ready, he couldn't take his first assessment until 6/15. That being said, as of 6/21 he has completed Integrated Natural Science Applications, Critical Thinking, and Employment Law, and he's about halfway through Spreadsheets. His student mentor said he's moving more quickly than any other student he's had. And honestly from what I can see, he's really not spending a huge amount of time daily on his schoolwork. His initial goal was to complete 6 of his 11 courses within the first 2 months, leaving himself 4 months to complete the last 5 courses. He's struggling with Spreadsheets right now, though, as he has no Excel experience, so that class may hang him up a bit. He started Workforce Planning: Recruitment and Selection today as well, though, so he can work on both concurrently. That one has a final exam plus two papers - a 5-10 page paper and a 3-5 page paper - it will be interesting to see how long that takes him. I assume from here on out all his courses will be like this. He hates writing, but the assignments are very technical and I believe he will be okay just going through the rubric and "filling in the blanks" so to speak.

[jessikalauren]

This is a wonderful update, thank you! Do you find he gravitated toward knocking out the "easier" courses first? There are some I'm worried about, like Statistics, and I'm thinking I should try and tackle it first and then breezing through a few more.

(Side note: How did he like StraighterLine Statistics? I only have a few days left before they charge me another month and I have to send my transcript to WGU, wondering if I should try and tackle it now instead of at WGU.)

[Thorne]

(Side note: How did he like StraighterLine Statistics? I only have a few days left before they charge me another month and I have to send my transcript to WGU, wondering if I should try and tackle it now instead of at WGU.)

Yes. Admittedly, I would suggest spending $20 for a month at ALEKS and knocking out only Statistics. You have 8 days until it's no longer ACE-approved, so you have to work fast, but WGU will accept ALEKS courses for credit.

I've heard and read at least twenty times that WGU Gen. Ed. requirements are really brutal. Not hard inasmuch as they are convoluted. Considering that Statistics (without a head for all sorts of numbers) is already convoluted for many people, you can imagine why I wouldn't recommend it at WGU.

[rowan555]

This is a wonderful update, thank you! Do you find he gravitated toward knocking out the "easier" courses first? There are some I'm worried about, like Statistics, and I'm thinking I should try and tackle it first and then breezing through a few more.

(Side note: How did he like StraighterLine Statistics? I only have a few days left before they charge me another month and I have to send my transcript to WGU, wondering if I should try and tackle it now instead of at WGU.)

I've heard it's pretty challenging and time consuming at WGU, I'd take it at SL or ALEKS if possible. You can knock it out in less than a week if you really push hard.

His student mentor loaded his first term with the remaining gen eds and lower level classes - I wouldn't say they are easier, it really depends. Critical Thinking and Science Applications weren't very time-consuming. Employment Law had a bunch of information but just a final exam, no papers. He's struggling with Spreadsheets right now so he decided to also work on Recruitment and Selection - that course has a ton more reading than Employment Law as well as a 5-10 page paper and a 3-5 page paper. I'm interested to see if he can knock it out in 2 weeks per his original plan.