WGU Review (My experience)

[mednat]

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

I did read that as well! That was one of the posts I read before deciding on the ISA program. Excellent job describing the process. I also found these links useful:

How I Did an MBA in 4.5 Months at WGU Online
Brock on the Block: How I got my MBA in 87 days at WGU

[passit1]

Mednat - thank you for the review, list and links. I am starting my MBA at WGU in March and this has me even more stoked to start! Didn't realize I could skip right to the exams in certain subjects. Like yourself, I have many years of business experience and I just finished my BSBA with TESC. Hopefully I can follow in your footsteps and make this happen quick.

[mednat]

Mednat - thank you for the review, list and links. I am starting my MBA at WGU in March and this has me even more stoked to start! Didn't realize I could skip right to the exams in certain subjects. Like yourself, I have many years of business experience and I just finished my BSBA with TESC. Hopefully I can follow in your footsteps and make this happen quick.

One thing I just thought of that may be helpful for you as well. You can take the pre-exam as soon as they have you setup on the site. I had a full two weeks of time to work on papers/pretests/etc before I was "enrolled". During this period you can see all the material, and should begin working. I decided to work on papers, but you could just as easily do the pretests for the exams to see where you land. I chose papers, because I was hoping it would motivate me to continue seeing a lot of the longer papers knocked out before i even began.

The other thing to note is it takes a bit for the webcam to arrive (required to use this specific one for their tests). That was the other reason I front loaded the degree plan for papers instead of exams. They also have the option of visiting a testing center, but that doesn't work well with my schedule.

[dseminario1]

One thing I just thought of that may be helpful for you as well. You can take the pre-exam as soon as they have you setup on the site. I had a full two weeks of time to work on papers/pretests/etc before I was "enrolled". During this period you can see all the material, and should begin working. I decided to work on papers, but you could just as easily do the pretests for the exams to see where you land. I chose papers, because I was hoping it would motivate me to continue seeing a lot of the longer papers knocked out before i even began.

The other thing to note is it takes a bit for the webcam to arrive (required to use this specific one for their tests). That was the other reason I front loaded the degree plan for papers instead of exams. They also have the option of visiting a testing center, but that doesn't work well with my schedule.

☝
hmmm I think I just found my mentor for WGU

[gingerbeefE]

☝
hmmm I think I just found my mentor for WGU

AMAZING, Can't wait to start at WGU. do you think the MS IT would be about the same amount of course work? I remember awhile back looking at their site the MBA IT is all laid out on their web page but the damn MS IT didn't say which courses had exams or essays.

[mednat]

AMAZING, Can't wait to start at WGU. do you think the MS IT would be about the same amount of course work? I remember awhile back looking at their site the MBA IT is all laid out on their web page but the damn MS IT didn't say which courses had exams or essays.

The MS ITM shares alot of classes with the MS ISA. The MBA IT Mgmt, basically swaps the operations management class with a project management class. You would want to ask WGU to be sure but, my best guess is that the MS IT Mgmt course of study looks like this. I don't know of any exams in this program (does not mean they have none, just don't see a space for one).

LYT2 - Current and Emerging Tech (Shared with ISA) - 3 Papers
TFT2 - Cyberlaw (Shared with ISA) - 4 Papers
JIT2 - Risk Management (Shared with ISA) - 1 Paper (broken into 3 parts)
MCT2 - Technical Writing - 3 Papers
LZT2 - Power, Influence, and Leadership - 3 Papers
SJT2 - Advanced Networking Tech - 1 Paper
FXT2 (Shared with ISA)- Enterprise Continuity Planning - 3 Papers
MAT2 - Information Technology Management - 3 Papers
MBT2 - Technological Globalization - 3 Papers
Capstone - Written Project + Oral Defense (Unsure)

[gingerbeefE]

The MS ITM shares alot of classes with the MS ISA. The MBA IT Mgmt, basically swaps the operations management class with a project management class. You would want to ask WGU to be sure but, my best guess is that the MS IT Mgmt course of study looks like this. I don't know of any exams in this program (does not mean they have none, just don't see a space for one).

LYT2 - Current and Emerging Tech (Shared with ISA) - 3 Papers
TFT2 - Cyberlaw (Shared with ISA) - 4 Papers
JIT2 - Risk Management (Shared with ISA) - 1 Paper (broken into 3 parts)
MCT2 - Technical Writing - 3 Papers
LZT2 - Power, Influence, and Leadership - 3 Papers
SJT2 - Advanced Networking Tech - 1 Paper
FXT2 (Shared with ISA)- Enterprise Continuity Planning - 3 Papers
MAT2 - Information Technology Management - 3 Papers
MBT2 - Technological Globalization - 3 Papers
Capstone - Written Project + Oral Defense (Unsure)

Do you think that will make the courses take longer or shorter? what is easier exams or the papers? How long are the papers?

[JTP]

I'm sure you are well aware if you go for the MS ISA you will be required to take the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) exams that are created by EC-Council.

I passed the CEH back in February of this year and it was a moderately difficult exam, a lot of very specific questions on command syntax for specific tools. I spent more time than I needed studying for it because I did every single lab exercise they had, looking back I could have taken the exam much sooner.

On the other hand I just took the CHFI exam this past Monday and I had to check a couple times throughout the test to make sure I was given the correct exam because it was suspiciously easy. To be honest it was a joke. If you've taken CompTIA's Security+ or anything similar you could probably go in and pass the exam with no study or get really close. I thought the content in the books were pretty good and I gained quite a bit of new knowledge...then the exam was completely different (easier).

So maybe keep that in mind when deciding for the MSISA, and preparing a timeline for the courses.

[mednat]

I have completed the MBA program. The capsim project was bitter sweet. I enjoyed the simulation and I had a great team, however team projects significantly slow my pace. It took us about 2 weeks in total to complete the simulation and associated assignments (finishing in the 94% overall). If you want to accelerate the capstone, tell your student mentor. They arrange the teams by timelines to complete (4 weeks, 8 weeks, etc). It helps to get on a team that is motivated to finish quickly.

Capstone Task 2 - 16 pages


I am waiting for my acceleration to begin into the MS ISA program. I've found that you can accelerate a maximum of two classes in an existing term (so i'll have to pay for another semester for the MS ISA). I've decided it's worth the cost and plan to finish the remainder of the MS ISA in my May session.

[JTP]

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.