TESU graduation timing

[Merlin]

Fingers crossed Merlin.  At least we are starting together and can share observations

I just received confirmation that my graduation audit is complete and I have been certified for March graduation. However, according to the email, March graduation is scheduled for March 15th, 2019. This means missing the cutoff for WGU, pushing the start date from April 1st to May 1st.

The email said that TESU will issue official copies of the degree certification letter (for academic applications, jobs, etc.) if required, but as far as I know, WGU still will not accept anything but final transcripts. The earliest date that a transcript will be available (with the degree listed) will be March 16th.

That's a bummer.  Can you get them transcripts now with all of your courses on there, the confirmation of the graduation audit, and then follow up with the final transcript after degree conferral?  It seems like if they had you 100% ready to go on April 1, but were just waiting for that single piece of paper but had everything else, they'd be happy to do it.  It's weird how much of stickler's they are on this.

I was all set for an April 1st start date, but that assumed that WGU could pull my transcript no later than March 15th. They really want it by March 1st for an April 1st start, but they will accept it as late as March 15th, which coincides with the orientation date. From everything I've read, WGU is really adamant on having the final transcript in hand before anyone can begin orientation. I find that odd considering that a lot of traditional grad schools will allow for provisional acceptance assuming the transcript can be provided within the first 30 days.

I plan to chat with my admissions advisor again to see what can be done, but my guess is that I'm going to have to wait yet another 30 days.

I've been done with the capstone coursework for a few weeks now, so the wait to get this degree conferred is killing me. I really wanted to start (and complete) this masters degree while I still have the time, energy, and budget to focus on it. Waiting three months until May to start is going to put that in jeopardy time and finance wise, unless I can still manage to finish before the end of summer.

Of course, if I could figure out a way to start working ahead on the MBA ITM coursework so by the time May rolls around I'd have already read the materials and complete some of the written assignments, etc. that would help, but from what I've seen that is frowned upon, and they revised all the coursework recently anyway.