Western Governors University

Those who had bad experiences with WGU, I am sure there may be some truth to their experiences. Some are just utterly blowing things out of proportion. Before WGU, I attended 2-3 different state schools, and my experiences were far worse than what some commenters are posting, many more things I could complain about, and did not receive half the support that I did at WGU.

Ultimately, my MBA degree is the highest paying degree at WGU (arguable because college of IT is on a different level). Nevertheless, WGU has changed my life for the better, and I have no regrets. If you are a person with a "go getter" mindset and attitude, you will not regret WGU, and some disappointments will not ruin your overall experience. I work in government, and my degree is very respected. Thank you WGU.

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 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!

The thing I really admire about my program mentor is how helpful she is on answering my concerns. For instance: I told her how I’m struggling to plan out how I’m going to study for this course I’m currently in. She gave me valuable tips that has helped me in this course. My program mentor also celebrates my wins when I received an award for my first paper. She sent me a text to congratulate me. I really appreciated that. The instructors are amazing.

Whenever I’m starting out in a course, I always contact the instructor by email introducing myself and letting them some of my concerns and asking if there are any tips or suggestions to survive. The recorded cohorts that the professor do are important. They tell you more information than what is in the rubric. One of the instructors shared the rubric is purposely created with minimal details to pass. This is due to test if the students are in those lectures/cohorts - you don’t have to attend, but you can watch in your own time, that’s what I do. That’s my go to before starting the course is listening to recorded cohorts from the professors.

In regards to proctors, yes they are outsourced and the thing is we need to understand that our way of communicating/understanding is very different from others who either can speak very little to no English. While they may seem rude, it’s likely unintentional. I grew up with parents where English is their second language. When someone is speaking or trying to communicate in a second language there’s a lot going on in their mind to ensure they get their words out in hopes the person can understand what they’re saying. With that being said, I think we need to be more reasonable when it comes to people who are proctoring the exams.

I met with my Course Instructor and explained that some of the scenarios came off really gray or didn't make sense and it was very hard to determine, even using the process of elimination. She advised she was aware of this issue and went on to explain that final exams are created by an outside firm WGU contracts with. This firm, however, does not use subject matter experts. She stated that this had been brought to "higher management" at WGU by several CIs but nothing was done and the CIs were not given a copy of the exam nor the questions. I did the course feedback survey as my CI advised. She then also stated that some students took up to 6 tries to pass this final and there are other courses she knew that were like this as well in my program. After 3 tries, WGU makes you pay for each additional exam retake.

I brought these concerns to my Program Mentor, Jessica, who advised she was going to investigate as she had no idea how the finals were created and had never heard of this. She acted outraged and understanding and asked me to focus on another course while she looked into it. Weeks after being told this was being reviewed she advised she spoke with her manager who stated the CI must be "bitter" over not being involved in creating the final exam. I explained that was not helpful and encouraged them to find a way to fix this. For multiple weeks she avoided our bi-weekly meetings stating she had internet problems and never rescheduled. Stating we would just meet at the next scheduled bi-weekly.

Finally, I emailed demanding an update as we were not 3 months into the issue and had no resolution. She advised "investigation" was a strong word and started back peddling everything she had voiced to me on our phone call. I was advised that the curriculum was under review as it was due for it. However, they still refused and avoided any review of the final exam. I heard from another student that they had a similar issue but the school offered the student an option to do a paper instead of an exam. I've never even been given the option. This school is a rip-off. This is how they make back the money you think you are saving. They take no accountability and refuse to address issues. When you review a paper with the CI they tell you what the school is looking for. The CIs are just figureheads and have no say in material or tasks either. Don't waste your money!

When I asked professors about this they didn't really have an answer for me as to why the materials provided are so different. Especially in an online learning environment, this didn't make sense to me. All of the tests are also proctored through examity and I never had a great experience with that platform either. The proctors often would not be available to answer questions or would take 20-30 minutes to respond to me when I would tell them I have finished my exam.

The only positive things I have to say about my WGU experience would be the program mentors and the math/writing centers. My program mentor was GREAT and very encouraging when things were tough. I just never found the course instructors to be helpful, they really just reiterated what was already provided in the coursework and beyond that never added any value. Overall I just would not recommend this institution. As someone with text anxiety, getting to an exam after studying all the material and not having a clue what questions are being asked and having to take exams multiple times was a horrible experience.

Then I changed my Major to Network and they added 11 more classes, wonder if I see the Network Lab again and Phyton and guess what you have to take 4 hours of the Phyton exam live while somebody watching you coding and solving the problem. Then I changed the Major to Information Technology and they added 3 more classes, one of the classes is really a joke, C850 when you write an essay about emerging technology that only has 4 years old. the criteria in the essay is just going nowhere. Online I couldn't even find the resources for these new technologies, there are only paid articles. Please save yourself time and money and choose another University. I'm trying to save you here to get graduated early and get to your goal. This school is a total Joke.

Their inability to process my aid in a timely manner is one of many reasons why I and many others left. Because they dragged their feet, it took three months after being accepted before I could even start taking classes. I spent half the term twiddling my thumbs waiting, and the other half jumping through hoops, trying to get assistance with learning modules, only to get an automated reply back from “instructors” who don’t even teach. Rather than actually teaching, they just redirect you to some broken or outdated website that fails to actually address the material covered in class. The whole experience was a complete joke. It’s a good thing I left after only one term, instead of wasting more time. Save yourself the headache, and fork up the money to go to a real school.