Competency Based Programs

[Merlin]

Hello Guys, I thought I would provide a little update I applied at WGU, to my surprise only 24 credits transfer which means that I have 80% to complete my degree.

WGU is not as friendly as I thought for transferring. I have 57 credits the advisor told me to finish the class I'm missing for the AS and I will get like 40 transfer credits that way.

I also applied to UW flexible option from my unofficial transcript they said they will be able to take all 57.

Let's wait.

It really depends on which courses you are trying to transfer. If they are coming from an accredited college, all your courses will technically transfer to WGU (or any other college). The rub is in how well they match up with the degree program you're seeking since only courses that match the curriculum taught at the destination college can be applied towards meeting degree requirements. This is a problem at every college, but WGU can be more challenging because of how they structure their degree programs.

Since WGU doesn't offer generalized liberal arts degrees, and they require fewer GenEd courses than most schools, they are a bit harder to align with when transferring credits from a traditional school. They still require the same number of overall credits (120), but half of the traditional GenEds won't have any place at WGU and they require far more credits in their degree core than most US colleges. This is modeled on how degrees are structured in Europe. US degrees are roughly 50% GenEd and 50% core degree, where WGU and European degrees are closer to 25-33% GenEd and 67-75% core degree.

That said, if you're starting with few (or no) credits and you know what degree you want, it is fairly straightforward to figure out what courses you need to take to prepare for a degree from WGU. The WGU transfer guides give you a good guideline on the courses you take from Straighterline or Study.com to match the competencies required by WGU.

WGU is still a good option for people with higher amounts of existing credits, but you are likely to lose some credits in the transfer if you've completed the first couple of years a traditional US college since that is when most people focus on GenEd courses.