WGU MSCSIA course flexibility???

[ELSADDIQ]

I was able to get some more information from my other brother, who is currently in the BSIT program at WGU. He has been attending since January of this year and he said the changes are:

1. You no longer need a program mentor's approval to take a pre-assessment or a non IT certification exam
2. For IT certification exams you have to get approval from the course instructor
3. You can only accelerate 1 course at a time
4. You no longer have access to courses outside the ones you are currently scheduled for, so no more trying to work ahead 
5. You no longer have access to course material until the day of a term, so even if you register say 2 weeks early you can no longer access any of the course material

He did say he hates the changes because he has 15 years in the IT field and a few certifications. During his first term he completed 30 cus in the program. Last week he was ready to take an IT certification exam. He had used off site study materials and not the ucertify course that WGU uses. When he requested to take the exam, his request was denied and the course instructor told him that he had to go into the ucertify course, complete the course content and score at least a 90 on the practice exam and 3 practice tests.

My brother was livid because he lives about 90 minutes away from the nearest PearsonVue testing center and has to take off from work to schedule his exams. Back when his program mentor was allowed to approve IT certification attempts, she would approve them on the first go, but now he is having to go back through the course material and has had to put off taking the exam for 2 weeks, because this was the only time the testing center had available.

The real kicker is that during these 2 weeks he cannot add another course or even look at another course's materials due to the changes. So two weeks wasted.

Yeah, it's beginning to look like a less attractive alternative. I was already studying for CEH after having just completed another security certification so my mind is in that mode. Strategically, it wouldn't make sense for me to put off taking that class until next semester when much of what I've studied is fresh on my brain. 

Also, I've gotten a couple of my certifications through WGU and I can tell you from experience that the Ucertify material can be hit or miss.