Western Governors University Reviews of Master's in Business

After reading some of these reviews its clear people need a lot of hand holding. Let me clear some stuff up for future students or current students 1) This institution is competency based- that means you dont get credits that transfer. Once youre in the program, thats it. Does that suck sure it does, but it shouldnt be an issue If you finish. 2) As an online school they have to verify your attendance so you talk to a mentor every week. They help steer you through classes and set goals. Goal setting... Read More is paramount is success. If you cant handle goal setting, maybe school isnt for you. 3) Its a bargain. 3.7K for a semester is ridiculously cheap for a master program. And now other things to keep in mind 1) Ive been to multiple online universities this one by far is more invested and caring than Ive been to. Its why I switched. You can literally set up a time to speak with your instructor any time you want. 2) It has truly self-paced learning for your lifestyle (see personal goals setting). 3) You will learn what you need to. I recommend this place to all of my working friends. I

After I finished my Bachelors I went straight into my Masters with WGU. Throughout the program I had the suppord of my mentor who I spoke to weekly as well as the course Mentors. You can think of your mentor as your "Human Deadline". Their job is to help when you need it, but more importantly to keep you moving forward. The importance of having someone you are accountable to when your not going to a physical campus cannot be understated. If you need help on a course you speak to a course Mentor.... Read More I underutilized this function and suggest to anyone who attends WGU to use it liberally. Every time I spoke with a course mentor I got the help I needed quickly, and I never felt talked down to. Every course mentor showed great respect to me as they were helping. I only had to ask IT for help one time, but the one time I did they walked me through what I needed to do in less than 5 minutes. Overall I cannot suggest WGU anymore highly.

WGU advertises so many benefits about their programs, most I have discovered are untrue. starting with their education videos and materials, they are hard to understand, misrepresent information, and the tests and quizzes have incorrect answers when compared to the reading/videos. Not to mention the financial aid process is completely a farce. They request additional information every two weeks, and prolong the process until the student has to pay or be withdrawn. my experience is documented. Be... Read More sure to check out the school's FAFSA report as only 14% of students ever graduate. (per FAFSA). Do not sign up with this institute if you truly want to succeed in education.

I LOVED my MBA program! As 50-year-old, longtime, small business owner, I had a crazy desire to get my MBA online. Why? There were business concepts that I kind of understood, but never had an opportunity to drill-down and REALLY comprehend them. Call it a Bucket List thing if you want. Much like other reviewers, I received my undergraduate degree from a prestigious, and expensive, West Coast university. That was almost 30 years ago. Recently, I was on a business trip in Florida and saw a repeating... Read More commercial for WGU. It sounded reasonable and I became fired-up. After researching what it would cost to pursue the degree at my Alma Mater's online program, I opted for WGU (a fraction of the cost). Yes, you have to be self-motivated. I had a business to run and a busy family life that included a teenage son and a lovely, supportive wife BUT...I was able to do it! I learned so much. Everyone was extremely helpful. The price was right. I built relationships with some of my classmates (yes, younger...but awesome). Do it, you won't regret it. It's a good school and great program.

The information I received from my Mentor was inaccurate on many accounts. The costs for my last quarter were 75% higher than I was told would be the worst case scenario. I was told I could receive a free 30 day extension easily to finish my final term, but this was later denied, costing a lot of extra money. I do not believe this university complies with title 9. Overall I am generally displeased with this university and the level of honest and truthful communication I received from several parties.... Read More The education is adequate. Their competency and honesty needs work.

I am in the process of getting my MBA at WGU and honestly can't say enough positive things about it as long as you are a SELF MOTIVATED, hard working student. The experience has been an excellent one all along. (I already have three degrees from traditional colleges, including a law degree, so I have a good amount of comparison experience to offer). The coursework is actually interesting and relevant and you can basically set your own pace based on your life circumstances (something you could NEVER... Read More do at a traditional college - allowing almost anyone to do this type of online learning!). My mentor is absolutely great and I have already had a SIGNIFICANT promotion as a result of getting my MBA.

I speak as a alumni of Western Governors University, having earning a masters in business administration in just over five months. I'm presently working on a second graduate degree with them and wanted to share some of my broader observations with the general internet. The good: - The price is great. - They are accredited. - They do allow acceleration mostly. - They're all online. The bad - The graders often don't have backgrounds in what they're evaluating. This creates a number of problems. - The... Read More graders have indicated in their responses that they haven't read my paper, but issue a grade anyway. - The graders don't even pretend to adhere to a uniform standard. It's amazing to watch how others will put in very little effort, and it sails through. Others will work extensively and make an objectively better response, but it gets rejected. - Rejections often don't make sense. They'll pick a random, arbitrary reason why. When you step back and think about it, you could continue to find fault with any paper as long as you wanted. Even if there's no there "there", just continuing to say it's insufficient and provide no reason. What's to stop you? Apparently nobody stops the graders at Western Governors, and even an appeal will net you nothing. - My impression is that they're trying to guard the strength of their degrees and only giving them to people who are willing to rewrite papers several times. Not a great way of actually determining competency. - Appeals are worthless. They never addressed the core issue I questioned them on. When I asked an appeals person directly why my work wasn't even evaluated as indicated in the grader's response, they danced around the question. They'll stand behind their graders. - The course mentors are disconnected from graders. This is arguably the worst part about it. Course mentors, a.k.a. the people that know the stuff the class is about, are powerless. Reiterated, the person that understand the material can't influence the person who doesn't understand the material and is in charge of your grade that the response is sufficient. The ugly - Once a grader asked me to include a graph of a simulation that didn't exist. It wasn't asked for in the question prompt. I filed an appeal, and they said I could have made it from Excel. OOPS, wrong again! Some of the data required to manually make the graph wasn't any where to be found either. That's probably why it wasn't asked for geniuses! My next submission included a statement say such in all caps on that writing prompt. Then it passed. - Another grader said instead of analyzing a single round in a simulation as indicated by the requirements, that all 8 rounds needed to be evaluated. I filed an appeal, and the appeal predictably stood behind their grader. The course mentor responded to the graders and said that wasn't in the instructions. It took hours and hours to resolve this. I had to be the driver for this because it wouldn't have worked itself out. It ate an obscene amount of my time. - To further illustrate the non-uniformity of their standards, I've had multiple course mentors explain to me, including ECare themselves, that if I opt for an appeal, I could have work that was approved come back as disapproved. How much sense does that make? You passed the test! Oh, just kidding! Sounds like a great, accurate, precise setup, right? - Finally, they have different avenues to communicate, like web forums. I started venting some frustration at the graders and the process, and the course mentor decided an appropriate response would be to attempt to curtail my 1st amendment. I wasn't swearing, saying anything offensive, trolling, or criticizing any individual person. If they're too thin skinned to even allow general criticism of the process and results among the students, what does that mean? Why so touchy? In the end, I have a real love/hate relationship with the school. The idea of competency based learning is liberating. It makes so much sense. It is just so bitterly disappointing that Western Governors University does such a poor job at implementing the idea.

I dragged my feet about going back to school for 10 years. With kids and a high-pressure career, it sounded daunting and the thought of dropping $30k...it just didn't make sense. But I finally committed and finished my MBA in a year and it cost me less than $7k through WGU! I worked my butt off to make $150k+ per year and know that an equivalent job will likely require an MBA. There is security in knowing that when/if that day comes that I have to compete for a position at another company, I won't... Read More be disqualified because I am missing three letters behind my name. If you have the mentality that you are capable of doing anything you set your mind to, you can do this and I highly recommend that you do!