Documenting My Journey: WGU BSIT-Security

[Thorne]

Since enrolling in the capstone, I've got absolutely nothing done on it. Been too busy scoping out the MSCSIA program and its quirks.

I'd be interested to hear what the quirks are too. Not sure I'll go that far and have a long time before I'm there, but always open to hearing about those things!

Good quirks:

• Two in-house assessments: Secure Network Design and Secure Software Design. I found some course links and took the Pre-A for both. Passed Secure Networks by 15 questions cold. I failed Secure Software, but this is because I only did half of the questions before submitting (I was exhausted, gimme a break ) and still only failed by like 6 questions. Could probably knock these out in the first week with minimal study.
  
• Two cert exams: CEH and CHFI. The CEH is like Security+ with CLI and the CHFI should be easy enough because I've taken 1 B&M class + a Udemy course + played with FTK Imager + read a book on Forensics. Might be able to pass these two in 2-3 weeks.
  
• Only a 30 credit MS: 10 classes, 30 credits. If I can wrap up the above 4 in the first month, that leaves me with 6/10 classes in 5 months (seems doable if I really push hard)
  
• NO FRIGGIN' THESIS: Just a capstone project. Every other affordable program I've found for Cyber has a required thesis (one offered a 6-month practicum as an alternative -- no thanks). Not saying the capstone is easy, but it will be easier than a thesis.
  
• Curriculum is pretty well aligned with the CISSP: If you already have the CISSP, the program is going to be much easier for you than it would be for me. If not, you'll be much closer to the CISSP when finished.
  

Bad quirks:

• Nonexistent instructions (or general direction) for papers: I don't mind writing papers, and I don't need someone to hold my hand, but I either need a general set of instructions (i.e. cover these topics, do so in this order (if order is required), and make sure to cover this list of obscure points) or an example paper to show me the topics, required order, and obscure points to cover. Simply saying, "Write it in APA, talk about Cyber Law, have fun!" isn't going to cut it.
  
• Cyber Law: The driest class I have ever seen in my life, and I actually like studying policy and law. The reading materials for this are so dry that Death Valley has competition.
  

That was a couple of hours of examination, so not a comprehensive list. I plan to spend a day or two really digging into it while my Capstone is being processed to find some more Pros/Cons to add to the list.