better to just take classes if full-timer?

[reylok]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

[MNomadic]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

It depends. Paying out of pocket for WGU(assuming no tuition assistance from work or financial assistance from government), it could be more economical to do Sophia or another cheap provider for some courses.

[reylok]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

It depends. Paying out of pocket for WGU(assuming no tuition assistance from work or financial assistance from government), it could be more economical to do Sophia or another cheap provider for some courses.

Can you transfer credits to WGU after you have already started at WGU? For example, you might want to take English at Sophia instead of WGU, after you already started at WGU.

[rachel83az]

I'm pretty sure that WGU is a school where you have to transfer in everything you want to transfer in before starting your degree.

[Merlin]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

Well, time-wise, you can complete courses at WGU in roughly the same time that it takes to complete them using alternative credit providers like Study.com, Straighterline, or Sophia. So if you're looking to save time, it is a wash either way.

If cost is a concern, you can generally complete courses cheaper via alternative credit providers, but you cannot use financial aid to pay for them

If you think you may consider looking at earning another degree after completing a WGU bachelor's degree, you may be better off taking the lion's share of courses directly from WGU. ACE credit courses are not accepted everywhere, so if you apply to any other school for a second degree, that school will also need to accept ACE credits in order for them to be considered as part of your application. This can be a big deal if you want to attend a ranked university for grad school as you may have trouble meeting entrance requirements if your core courses include a lot of ACE credits.

So the answer is, it depends on what you want to do.

Can you transfer credits to WGU after you have already started at WGU? For example, you might want to take English at Sophia instead of WGU, after you already started at WGU.

I'm pretty sure that WGU is a school where you have to transfer in everything you want to transfer in before starting your degree.

To confirm, WGU requires that any courses you wish to transfer in have been received and evaluated no later than the 15th of the month before the start of your first term to be considered. They will not accept any additional courses that arrive after that date without prior approval, and even with permission, those credits would still need to be evaluated before the first day of your term to be considered.

Technically you could withdraw from the school and apply again later after transferring in the credits, but that creates other problems so it isn't recommended.

[ss20ts]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

It depends. Paying out of pocket for WGU(assuming no tuition assistance from work or financial assistance from government), it could be more economical to do Sophia or another cheap provider for some courses.

Can you transfer credits to WGU after you have already started at WGU? For example, you might want to take English at Sophia instead of WGU, after you already started at WGU.

You cannot transfer courses to WGU once you enroll. You must complete them before you enroll.

[bjcheung77]

It's a waste of energy/money/time, I would recommend getting all your credits ready BEFORE applying/beginning your term at WGU. Actually, I would recommend also looking at other providers not just WGU if possible. You can look at the Big 3 and other competency based degree programs available. For almost all the colleges, you can apply later and then send in your transcripts, with the exception of TESU - you want to lock in your catalog year early.

[AwardTour]

If you don't have any certs or credits from sophia/straighterline/study.com/etc, and you are going to be a full-time student, is it better to just sign up at WGU and do the classwork there?  

I assume people are getting college credit outside WGU because they are working, and don't have a lot of time to study. If you have all day to do WGU work, is it better to just get the credits at WGU?

My personal opinion that I am about to give you is based on my recent experience in completing a bachelors degree program at WGU. My opinion is also based on past experiences with sophia and study.com. 

In my opinion, sophia and study.com are easier, with faster completion times, and are more predictable. 

The alignment between practice exams to final exams is greater at study.com than WGU.

The passing requirements are usually lower for final exams at Study.com than WGU due to Study.com's grade distribution/% weighting. 

Let's assume for a moment that speed and cost are not an issue for you. Okay then, go ahead and take the majority of your courses at WGU. Still, you would want to research every course in your WGU degree plan and get research and feedback online. Chances are that you will find at least 2 courses that seem to give everyone a hard-time. Are those courses transferable? If so, why not take them at Sophia or Study.com before signing up with WGU?

[ss20ts]

Personally, at a bare minimum I would complete everything at Sophia that will transfer to WGU. That would cover most of the gen eds. There's not a ton. Then see what would transfer from Study.com that you're not excited about taking. Most likely it will be easier at Study. Keep in mind that WGU is not generous with transfer credit. Yes, the policy is that you must complete 25% of your degree there. Many degrees will require you to complete more than 25% of the degree with them.

Based on my previous college experiences, I wouldn't just jump into an online college without taking a few classes elsewhere. Why? See if you actually enjoy it and can do it. Some people struggle with online courses. If you're miserable and not doing the work, you've wasted $79 for a month on Sophia versus $4,000+ on a term at WGU. I'd also want to get used to the land of online academia with setting up a study and exam area. Also working on a study schedule. You may want a degree in botany for example but then you take a biology class and are completely lost and absolutely hate it. You haven't lost out on much except the fee for Sophia or Study. Both of which are far less than WGU's tuition. You also didn't waste a Pell grant or have student loan which you now must repay along with a 0.0 GPA which will follow you everywhere for life. I speak from experience on that unfortunately.

[rachel83az]

I agree with ss20ts. Although everyone here might want to complete a degree quickly and online, not everyone is cut out to do online classes. Thankfully, we've got a good selection to choose from these days. Sophia to dip your toes in, Study.com if you're a bit more serious, ASU EA to get a taste of non-self-paced courses, and so on. It's much cheaper to do a couple of courses from SL and find out that you hate that particular provider (I have no hate against SL, I know plenty of people like them!) than to pay $4k to WGU and find out that you hate their SL-based courses. Or maybe you find out you adore SL and can't stand SDC. Either way, it's much cheaper than paying a few thousand to the school for that lesson.