Western Governors University

WGU is great, you truly go at your own pace. Every office I've had to contact responds within a day or two, and the instructors are KNOWLEDGEABLE experienced professionals to say the least. Arguably more accessible than my professors in another University I physically attended (office hours being 3 hours 2 days a week). Your education is your responsibility and this school makes you own it. This is how you grow as a lifelong student and professional. If you want to be hand held and things done for... Read More you and achieve grades for just attending class, go somewhere else. In order to graduate you have to know your stuff. Your "mentor" motivates you and adds your class, your instructor has an accessible calendar for you to schedule time with them every day often within a 12 hour window where you can schedule up to 1.5 hours with them to discuss material. Don't expect to be spoon-fed, you do the work but hey, you actually EARN your degree here.

I am genuinely confused by some of these reviews, I think a lot of them show that some of them never actually attended WGU. It's against the rules to help a student understand their material and they're told to read it again? There are only mentors, not instructors? What? If that's the case, who did I make 30-45 minutes appointments with that had a doctorate that literally sat with me and explained exactly how to be successful, how to interpret the material, how to search and comprehend various concepts,... Read More among other things. They were a ghost? A random program mentor? WGU doesn't accept anyone, so not sure where that came from either. They have a pretty extensive admissions process, and they absolutely do reject applicants. They just give them a chance to meet their admission standards via their academy, and not at a community college. All in all, my experience has been AMAZING. The proctors are kind of off sometimes, but I had this issue at my previous college too. It's obnoxious but it's not anything that would ruin your time there. Some of these people need to get a life and realize that maybe they need to go to a community college and have their hands held, because they clearly weren't able to hang on at WGU.

Overall I would not recommend taking the prelicensure BSN program at WGU in Utah. The clinical assignments were a joke. I was placed at psychiatric hospitals for over half of my clinicals, and 98% of my clinicals were night shifts. I understand that it is important for nurses to work night shifts, however, as a student I hardly learned anything at night since there was barely anything to do after 10 pm. It was made clear to me throughout the program that the clinical instructors and schedulers do... Read More not care about their students and the quality of their education. I’m about to graduate in the next couple months and I don’t feel like I have any real life experiences. I know how to answer an NCLEX style question, but as far as real-life nursing goes, I’m going to have to learn on the job.

First off, I would like to start by saying that many reviews contain false or dramatized information created by students who could not handle the independent, flexible type of education WGU offers. Most of these people should have considered their own schedule, intelligence, and desires before seeking out an online, flexible university. Secondly, I would like to say that I highly recommend WGU to anyone who is looking to advance their education and is willing to put the time and effort into doing... Read More so. I found the flexible nature of WGU’s curriculum to be a breath of fresh air. I learned a great deal and appreciated the ability to go at my own pace. I highly enjoyed my time at WGU, and had a great relationship with my mentor. I will be returning for my MBA and will continue to tout the graces of WGU everywhere I go!

Like anything in life, you get what you put into it. I own my education and completed my Master of Science in Management & Leadership in 5 months from WGU. Although the proctored exams were rather anxiety provoking, I thoroughly enjoyed the course design and course rigor. WGU is definitely not for those who require constant guidance or handholding but for those who are mature self-starters who can manage time wisely. I am now pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership and I had no problem transferring my degree... Read More to my current university. I am also an online adjunct of business programs at another university and my WGU degree certainly contributed significantly to landing my current role. Don't expect to be coddled at WGU because you will fail. It's designed for working professionals, not whiny miscreants who feel entitled and want a participation trophy.

Avoid this "University" its pass or fail, that should be the first clue. Almost anyone can be accepted clue number two, No instructors but mentors that should be clue three. Clue four, good luck with their credits at other schools! National accreditation without the corresponding weight of the University but third party testers. You too can spend college level money for what amounts to paying for study and a "mentor" who may or may not be as smart as you. Lets not mention the promises! We got the... Read More stars, we got the moon, we got the sun! We got you covered! Yeah, Right. Incompetent is the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to doing paperwork. I had my advisor tell me they are weeks behind because of a Tik Tok trend so everyone else suffers. Thanks I appreciate that you are liars and can't follow through on a time line. Avoid this place.

WGU is probably one of the most Narcissistically ran universities that I have ever had the misfortune to become aware of. They talk a good game. Pay for the semester, and you can achieve credit for as many courses as you are able to complete before the semester ends. They DO NOT accept credit for many courses that are nationally accredited (despite most universities having equivalent transfers). They want you to spend that money! If you enroll with an education that prepares you for the WHOLE of... Read More your degree, and can navigate the labyrinth of testing/grading companies they hire, then WGU is for you. (These testers are only required to show an Associate's Degree, even if it is wholly unrelated to the material they are grading, and are not required to understand the material you are now explaining to them through a 20 page essay). If you expect to be given any small amount of education, whatsoever, and to be tested on that material in a fair way and by someone that remotely understands the material you will want to start running, as fast and far as you can. You are given no education, WHATSOEVER! You are expected to learn and understand all the material by yourself, even if the material is provided through the use of excerpts from multiple books and in a fashion the is neither cohesive, nor uniform. And, if you think that a teacher/professor will be available to help you understand even the smallest bit of that material, think again. WGU does not provide a teacher for your course, only an employee to ensure you paying your tuition. Don't believe me? IT IS AGAIN WGU POLICY FOR ANYONE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL!!! They are limited and only ALLOWED to direct you to read your material again. Example (True Sorry): I was lucky to have had a previously excellent education before attending WGU, but unlucky to have chosen WGU because of moving out of state (and this, not able to transfer 80% of my credits). This allowed me to quickly progress through my bachelor's degree. I was able to complete nearly all of my Elementary Education courses in roughly 20 months. I was in my last semester before I started my Student Teaching (and gaining my degree). I only had 3 courses left (outside of the ones necessary for my Student Teaching). During my time at WGU, I had faced little struggles, and easily soared through my classes (as my previous university had trained my well). The only struggles were dealing with the testing company and having been put with a grader on occasion that couldn't pour urine from a boot if the instructions written in the heel. (You learn to just deal with them). Of those 3 courses, I struggled with the last assessment on one of them. I felt that I understood the material extremely well. Even working teachers had told me that I was explaining it better than they could. When asking my course "teacher" for help, I was flat out told that she couldn't teach/explain any of the material to me. I was only to read the material again. WGU has/had a policy where if you fail a single assessment on a course 4 times (which could have 4-8 assessments), you would be kicked out of your degree program completely, and not allowed to retake the course, nor complete your degree. I had this one assessment returned 3 times, and was about to be kicked out of my degree program before my "teacher" called me, and told me that I was to never let anyone know that she was helping me. It was explained to me that the grader for this course (a high level, education course) was a person that only had an Associate's Degree in English Lit, and was confusing what the assessment was testing for. She then explained how this grader mistook the material, which allowed me to easily pass it. So, instead of educating the grader, giving the high level class to someone with an appropriate degree, or even evaluating the accuracy of the grader, they forced the teacher to risk her job by giving me information she wasn't supposed to, and risked other students to losing their degree or misunderstanding high level material in their own degree. TLDR: This is not a real University. 1) WGU does not allow credits to transfer in. 2) All courses are self taught with inadequate material. 3) There are no Professors/Teachers. 4) There is no follow up as to whether their degrees are successful. This "University" was built by a handful of Governors that have no understanding of what is needed in a degree program. All their effort in forming this online, joke of an education was driven by kickbacks, buying votes, and narcissistic and egotistical self praise. (Perhaps, they want to ensure the average American never gains enough education to vote them out of office).

I signed up at WGU from all the good reviews. But I guess it depends on the mentor and major. My mentor and instructor were awful. Every week he would ask how's everything and then that's the end of the convo. He also would call an hour after our scheduled time, so it was about a 2 minute convo. No motivational skills at all and the instructor was no help. He sent me quizlets and very useful info 2 months after I failed my first test that could've helped me from the beginning. I ended up withdrawing... Read More because I felt lost and had no guidance.