WGU Review (My experience)

[mednat]

I found rebel100's and the other WGU reviews very helpful in making my decision to choose them for my MBA that I thought it was only fair to contribute my experience to the pool of knowledge. I entered into the MBA Strategy program on 11/1

My Background: 16 Years working in business mostly in IT from technical roles, development roles to management roles. I've worked closely with most areas of business for a good portion of the time I've been in business, particularly accounting and finance.

First a quick timeline (mostly so I can keep this straight):

TESC Graduation (9/11/2015)
WGU Enrollment (9/16/2015)
WGU Cleared to begin (9/28/2015)
Orientation Opened up - Able to view class material(10/15/2015)
Began pre-work on the courses requiring written papers (10/15/2015)
Term Began (11/1/2015)
Submitted Preworked Papers for Ethical Leadership, Managing Organizations & Management Communication (11/2/2015)
Passed Ethical Leadership Exam (11/6/2015)
Passed Marketing (11/7/2015)
Passed Managing Human Capital (11/9/2015)
Passed Data Driven Decision Making Exam (11/16/2015)
Passed Ops Mgmt Exam (11/17/2015)
Passed Financial Management Exam (11/30/2015)
Passed Accounting Exam (12/1/2015)
Passed Global Econ (12/7/2015)
Passed Capstone Task4 - Project (12/18/2015)
Currently Waiting on Capstone Simulation to finish last two papers (12/18/2015)

There is a good amount of writing in the program, however the rubric is very specific as to what they expect. So far (with 2 papers and one presentation left) I'm up to 123 pages of writing (double spaced, 12pt, etc). I tend to be very concise in my answers so mileage my vary on paper length. Not too bad for a masters level program, but the papers are very broad and require analysis that is comprehensive. It's been a long time since I've been in a traditional class, but I'd say the writing was much more in depth than any of the undergrad work I've seen my peers perform (i enjoy proof reading papers). I had a few papers sent back, but I found it's best to give yourself over to the system as others have said. I just wrote directly as to what they were looking for, not attempting to make the paper outstanding, and sent it back. I was able to dedicate an abnormal amount of time to my coursework thanks to limited demands at work and my girlfriend being fully occupied with her undergrad work.

I was told if I complete my MBA with at least 90 days left I will be able to accelerate into the MS Information Security & Assurance program, if I wish. I'm currently starting on the coursework for that program, while I wait for the capstone and going to shoot to complete within the same 6 month period (may be a stretch).

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them here.

[TheCommuter]

Thank you for posting such a detailed review! I completed my BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) online through WGU nearly a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed my experience with that school. My only regret was not having enrolled sooner.

They were generous when accepting transfer credits, which facilitated completion of my degree requirements in 10 months. I could have finished sooner if I had been more motivated, but I worked full-time 12-hour night shifts while working on the degree.

[rebel100]

This is crazy, your like an MBA machine!!!

Yours is hands down the fastest I've ever heard of it being done. I usually feel kinda smug that I got it done in 14 months....no more of that! Great job.

Can you share more about which courses require exams and which require essays? I never had an exam of any sort, so curios about the process.

Great review and congrats, looking forward to hearing how the MS goes.

[johnjaxs]

Congratulations it basically looks like you earned your MBA in 3 months.

[dmjacobsen]

This is why I love the WGU model. Prove what you already know, and learn what you need to learn. Skip all the nonsense. With 16 years' work experience in a variety of business roles, it's no surprise that you were able to accelerate. Still, doing that much writing in that short of a period of time is a tremendous feat.

Also, pretty awesome that you can start on a second program in the same term. Two Master's for likely less than the cost of one full-time graduate semester at your local university. Wish I had known that when I finished my MBA with several months left in the term. I would have perhaps tried to tackle another Master's, having my morale bolstered by my program completion.

Congrats!

[videogamesrock]

So does WGU allow you to test out and then go straight to research papers?

[mednat]

This is crazy, your like an MBA machine!!!

Yours is hands down the fastest I've ever heard of it being done. I usually feel kinda smug that I got it done in 14 months....no more of that! Great job.

Can you share more about which courses require exams and which require essays? I never had an exam of any sort, so curios about the process.

Great review and congrats, looking forward to hearing how the MS goes.

14 Months is still awesome! Things just have lined up that gave me an extra amount of free time! Starting my masters immediately after dual focus undergrad in business helped tremendously.

C200 - Managing Managing Organizations and Leading People - Two Papers - 25pgs
C202 - Managing Human Capital - Exam
C204 - Management Communications - 1 Paper 1 Presentation (10min, with powerpoint) - 17pgs
C206 - Ethical Leadership - 2 Papers and 1 Exam- 25 Pages
C207 - Data-Driven Decision Making - 1 paper and 1 exam - 5 pages
C211 - Global Economics - 1 Exam
C212 - Marketing - 1 Paper 18 pages
C213 -Accounting for Decision Makers - 1 exam
C214 - Financial Management - 1 Exam
C215 - Operations Management - 1 Exam
C216 - Capstone - 3 Papers (I've only completed 1 so far) and 1 Presentation - 23 Pages for my main paper

The exams are multiple choice, most of them have a single answer some have multiple. They have a pre-exam you take prior to determine if you are ready. It's a good indicator of the final. I'd say if you score 10% higher than the cut score on the pre-exam, go for the final.

[mednat]

So does WGU allow you to test out and then go straight to research papers?

You can (and I did) skip straight to the exams and/or papers. Reading the material is up to you. The pre-exam for the courses with exams will even highlight where you need to study. On some classes, I jumped right into the pre-exam, then using the guide it produced I study the sections I needed help on and took the final. It can be very efficient.

[mednat]

This is why I love the WGU model. Prove what you already know, and learn what you need to learn. Skip all the nonsense. With 16 years' work experience in a variety of business roles, it's no surprise that you were able to accelerate. Still, doing that much writing in that short of a period of time is a tremendous feat.

Also, pretty awesome that you can start on a second program in the same term. Two Master's for likely less than the cost of one full-time graduate semester at your local university. Wish I had known that when I finished my MBA with several months left in the term. I would have perhaps tried to tackle another Master's, having my morale bolstered by my program completion.

Congrats!

That's exactly how I feel. My colleagues have went through traditional masters programs in business and so much of it seemed to be busy work, or hoops to jump through. In the end, they usually wrote a paper to demonstrate competency or took a final exam worth a big portion of their grade. For people who can test well, or prepare well for written papers it's very nice to skip to the meat of it. If I had not had such familiarity with the topics, I would have missed the lectures from a traditional class, but honestly I can live and die happy without hearing another lecture on a business topic, at this point it is just redundant.

[JTP]

You might have seen it before, but here is a link to stretcharmy's review of the MSISA at WGU.