Western Governors University

This school is a joke. I have an associates degree from a prior college. When it came time to transfer they did not take all my credit. I basically started over again with them. I had medical term already from my previous college that I graduated from and they didn’t even except, biology and lab as well and they would not take it. There were some other healthcare classes I took at the college I got my associates degree from that they said I needed but would not transfer over. There grading system... Read More sucks. It’s on a pass or fail basis. They make you take assessments which when you do that it’s an online Procter that is over in India. The paper assessment are a joke I resubmitted one 3 times when I fixed every time and it still was not good enough. That is why this college is cheaper than all the other ones. I hope you guys get sued like all the other colleges that were t doing right by the students.

I attended for 4.5 years. On year 2 was "talked into a program change" Almost no credits transferred from the first 2 years, at 3.5 years I was talked into a program change. Rather than providing the support and guidance and actual education, there I was losing credits again. After basically starting over twice, I was in my final term (prior to student teaching) My entire term was made up of one final exam. I had one opportunity to take it (due to scheduling at Sylvan Learning Center where the exams... Read More were proctored) The scheduled date was 6 days before the end of my term. I was hospitalized with pneumonia; I came out of the hospital to my testing the following day. I got a ride to the testing center, very sick. I was placed in a room packed with people, no windows, hotter than the dickens, no airflow at all. I had contacted my mentor to be allowed more time, but nope. Sylvan put me in the last seat available in a corner with a fan blowing in my face. I requested to be moved. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. They didn't have any other seats available but offered to have me sit in their lobby for 2 hours for a seat to open up that wasn't in front of the fan. I agreed. I got a new seat, took the exam. Struggled like crazy to breathe while fighting a fever. I did not pass. I missed the exam pass by 3 points. I was kicked out for 6 months for failing my term. I was told I could return in 6 months. I emailed, I called. No one would answer the phone, no one answered my emails. I was literally ghosted. I would NEVER recommend this school to anyone. They should be ashamed of themselves. They got their money, that is all that they wanted.

It is not even worth my time to mention the quality of the classes, because I have had to waste most of my time complaining about the ineptitude of the financial departments. I have military benefits through my husband and they took three months to get it processed... for my financial aid it has been well over two months, they just now got it disbursed to my account, but of course it will still be another 7-10 days for them to to stop bumbling around and get my refunded portion to me. The amount... Read More of stress that I have had to deal with is unreasonable and unacceptable... I would not recomend others to take courses at this school, I seriously doubt they actually have a future as an institution

in cybersecurity program there is 9 certs useless certification, you MUST take all the certification other wise you won't graduate. and NOT all the certification are online some must be take in person. there is no alternative classes for those who want to take it online so they force the students to go to the test center to take useless certification. if you fail two times in any of these useless certification you must pay from your own pocket, and for example isc2 if you fail two times you must... Read More wait 3 month to retake, some certs are expensive.

I loved attending WGU. It is the only school where I felt I got my money's worth. Coursework was cohesive to assignments and gave options to take little quizzes or to delve deeper into the content. Although some might find program mentors irritating, I generally enjoyed having someone I could count on to keep me on task and help me organize courses, tests, and students teaching to my schedule. My mentor was able to help me with class suggestions and any information about the program requirements... Read More I needed. I love that this school didn't just give me a grade and a short explanation of what I did wrong or right (which almost every professor I've had has done). WGU allows students to redo assignments until they reach competency. I got explicit details on what I needed to improve and was usually emailed by professors who offered advice. The only thing I will say is that when my program mentor told me that my new course was harder, I had to right away make an appointment with the professor, or I wouldn't get availability until the next week or two. I also love that this school gave me the option to have one-on-one video discussions with professors about my work, cohorts, recorded webinars for each section of tasks (as opposed to super long sessions of whole tasks), and detailed resource support pages that gave me access to everything I'd need to complete my assignments and tests (assignments, example papers, checklists, etc.). Usually, when I went to other colleges (2), I had to comb through books and resources to find out how exactly I was going to complete my assignment (understanding what exactly the teacher was asking me to do). At WGU I get to just spend time learning content that is actually relevant to my assignments and completing my assignments. I didn't have to comb through books and resources to try and figure out what was in tests because I knew that course content always directly related to my assessments. This school is easy in the sense that it allows you to focus only on your work and apply your newly learned skills, and hard in the sense that you don't pass a class unless assignments are completed to rubric standards. Overall, this school is the only school I feel gave me money's worth of resources and professional development. Also, this school is not for procrastinators, how fast you get done is usually up to you.

Pros: Study at your pace, excellent mentor, quick services when there are any issues, they work with you, and the school as a whole is understanding/friendly people. Cons: Grading system! The professors do NOT grade the assignments. There are a separate set of people who grade the assignment. They are supposed to grade what is required, but they fail you each time because they unnecessarily require you to do more than what is required. I had to complain about this a few times. One professor said... Read More you need to include certain words for them to accept...are they robots grading these??? Two of my previous professors had to appeal because they said they saw I included everything that was required. This is wasting everyone's time and money. Half the time, I regret going here only due to the grading system. I should have paid more for a professional, organized way to grade things...not have people who can't read or don't know the requirements to grade your assignments separately because it is very inconsistent. I find it ridiculous that the professors don't grade the papers. One of my classmates pass by being very vague, yet the other fails for different reasons.

WGU is great if you are self-motivated and persistent enough to learn complex materials on your own. Many people write bad reviews because they probably have a different expectation of what they will need to do. The truth is WGU provides you with everything you need to learn. The books are all you need, but there is A LOT that you have to learn and when you can't understand something you just have to keep reviewing it until it finally clicks. Beyond the books, you do have other resources provided... Read More by the teachers, so there are no excuses besides the ones you make for yourself. If you want to finish in one semester, you can do that, but you have to work your butt off. If you are working or have other distractions in your life, you can still finish in one semester if you are really disciplined. If you have some familiarity with the material and no distractions, you should be able to finish within 3-4 months if you study all day every day. If you want to start a program, you really need to ask yourself if you have what it takes. Are you ready to sit at your desk for 3 months while everyone else is having fun? You can keep pushing yourself when your brain is tired and all you want to do is watch some tv or play video games? To sum up, WGU is what you make of it. You can learn the material to just get by and pass the tests or you can take the time to master the material. I made sure to take good notes for the subjects that were really important to me and my future career. I'll review those notes from time to time as I start my new job. Hope you do well. Stick with it. Your future is in your own hands!

Degree: Special education and elementary education (Dual Licensure) Time it took: 140 credits in 4 1/2 years while working full time is doable (including one break semester) Mentors: They are a nuisance and unnecessary. In the beginning I had to check in every week, being told I can’t miss the call. After a while there were Email check- ins instead of calls. After showing continuous progress I complained that I was a responsible adult and that I didn’t need looking after. She backed off after that... Read More and let me do my thing. They only checked in every two weeks to once a month via email. Key is to voice the issue politely. I was assigned a new mentor half way through. Same thing here, after she was assured I would do my work she left me alone. All in all I did not find them very helpful. Coursework: Competency based with either essay assessments graded on a rubric or proctored assessment via online testing agency. Course work was ok not too hard nor too easy, most classes were structured well, others were a mess and a headache to get through. Check for course tips, they often have valuable extra information or recorded lectures that saved the hassle of trying to figure out the course material. Course instructors: I have had zero problems with any of my instructors. They were helpful and answered emails in a timely manner. I did not make any phone call appointments with any of the instructors until the last half year for the dreaded edTPA. Appointments were plentiful to choose from and the instructor was kind, patient and helpful. Testing: Essay testing was doable. Rubrics are always presented and somewhat easy follow. Never had to deal with multiple returns. Proctored video testing was with a testing agency that provided proctors who often spoke English with a heavy accent. Some proctors let you just take your test and be done others complained that this and that was not up to standards, e.g. I had to sit in a certain angle so they would see everything which made my body ache and was more nerve wracking than the actual test but I survived it. There are several (Praxis) exams that you need for student teaching that are tested by a different agency and that cost extra money. Student teaching: This process was a little annoying because you have to read through a lot of stuff that is not too helpful. I finally had figured out what to do when I realized that one of my Praxis exams had a linger turn around time and I missed the student teaching application deadline with my school district by 2 days. I wish I had known this before and one of the mentors would have told me and I had to put in a break semester. Financial: In the 4 1/2 years I was enrolled for 8 semesters due to my missed application deadline. All in all the degree cost about $30.000. If you are a single mom like me, fafsa covered most of it and I maybe payed around $ 7000 for the 4 years and am now without student loan debt. (Huge perk) EdTPA: During student teaching you must take the EdTPA, even if it is not required for your state. This was the most annoying task that caused a lot of stress. A lesson planning task for a focus learner, a video task where you have to record yourself teaching the learner and an assessment task. WGU has many, many resources that help you through it, but it is more like an information jungle that you have to fight through to find what you need. Working with the course instructor really helped. All in all, I did not regret my decision to go with WGU. I was able to get a 140 credit degree from an accredited school within 4 1/2 years without being in debt. Is it the best school? Probably not but let's be honest, not many degrees make up for real on the job experience.They just lay a foundation in your work field which this degree did for me.