Western Governors University Reviews

I’m giving WGU only 1 star because most of the information taught in my program can be found on Google or YouTube. The fact that the school relies on platforms like DataCamp and suggests using Reddit for assistance is disappointing. If you already work in the field where you’re seeking a Bachelor's or Master's degree, I recommend you reconsider your time and money spent here.

I loved WGU and wanted a better rating for a school that cares, but please get rid of the vendors providing students online proctoring. I can't pay for a term to not take a test, and extra hours for a sitter because I can't take a test. And sometimes, I fail the test by the smallest percent. Yes, I take my tests ultra-fast, but it's because I can't keep paying extra to keep my sitter around, oh by the way, I can't tell my sitter what's going on because I'm taking a test. Pls WGU, let's provide test taking at any time and with ease that we once had. If it wasn't for this test-taking issue, I'd give WGU a 4 or 5. BUT this issue has been weighing me down. My counselors had the biggest hearts and I was so proud to finish here. I feel so far to finish based on these few months. I have been in tears each test I took the past half year. My mentors and the staff deserve better ratings, but this issue needs to be fixed.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly and on track until my counselor informed me that I missed a deadline for a document I had no idea I was supposed to file. I requested to speak with a supervisor who told me that they needed items from my financial aid and that I would miss the start date unless I self-paid. She then tried to sell me heavily on a 4 payment system instead of using federal aid. I told her that my financial aid was perfect and no other documents were needed or required. She told me that it wasn't according to the system and put me on hold with the "financial aid" department. I was then put on a 10-minute hold and then promptly hung up on. I was told that the financial aid department was not available despite it being 1 pm Mountain Standard Time. I do not recommend anyone apply, if the process is this painful for me, a transfer student, then I can only imagine what kind of cons they will try to pull on people who are adult learners.

Since I graduated, I have applied what I know with my current job and it has helped me be successful. WGU may not be for everyone but, it was what I needed to acquire the skills and competency I needed to be successful. The most helpful thing about WGU is that I was able to learn at my own pace and was not set to a particular schedule.

The other thing I really like about WGU is the continued support. They provide access to Alumni community, resources and clubs to stay in touch with other graduates and students. I am currently studying for certifications and using the alumni resources versus paying 100's or 1000's of dollars for study guides and bootcamps.

In summary, WGU is what I needed, and I would recommend WGU for anyone that is self-motivated and acceptable to digital learning versus classroom. It wasn't easy for me but, self motivation, help from my counselor and letting go of the thought that learning can only be acquired through a classroom were keys to my success.

You will have to study at your "own pace". There is no structure in the courses at all. What topic do I need to finish for this week, this month to achieve the 4 courses in one semester? The people who say they can accelerate may already have experience in the industry, which is why it's cheap for them. Realistically, an average person cannot accelerate. These courses are tough.

I wasn't able to finish on time so it is moved to term 2/semester 2. It is hard because you will do EVERYTHING yourself. Figuring out where and what link to click. If you want help, it is all virtual. This contradicts the work on your own because you will still need to communicate. Compared to a traditional university, there are live people that can help you. Support virtually is not that effective. Get outside and get a life in a traditional university. I find it odd to have a parasocial relationship with a program mentor. You have to tell them what's going on all the time. Remember, you never even met this person. At a traditional university you meet people in real life, and your choice if you want to make a meaningful relationship that's not forced upon you.

Being in this university brings you anxiety. You cannot help it to think if this school is a scam or not. You will have to bear that feeling until you finish this degree. Even then, you are not even sure if finishing this degree will get you a job. The fact they do not have a grading system discourages you because you don't know if it will be accepted by employers or other universities. If you fail a course that's associated with a third party like Comptia, you will have to pay another $300 to pass.

Their website does not work properly. Sometimes study materials won't load. You are loaded with links to click. So many things to read and rules. With one misread, your exam can be revoked. There is no instructor to give lectures or guidance. It's just read and quizzed on your own. A traditional university is in-person and more effective in improving your skills with guided lectures, asking questions, resume building, networking, and presentations. At least some courses have videos, but you will have to find where it is buried somewhere. Writing essays has no guidance, like what format is this going to be? You will have a parasocial relationship with an instructor calling your phone. I just find that really odd. The customer service and program counselor are rude. I had to ask many times to switch to a person that's more professional.

In August I had a major life disruption! My mentor was constantly reaching out as I explained what happened and why I wasn’t able to give the class 100%. This is where things are different. Once I told my mentor that I paid cash, no Fed funds, she actually only called or emailed every few weeks. For someone like me, who doesn’t qualify for Fed funds, I appreciate that they don’t let others use tax payer funded school for people who will take it for granted!

Let me be clear; I am all for grants and such for students who can’t afford college. We should all be given EQUAL opportunity for college. I would give my eye teeth for Fed funds! So I can appreciate that if you’re not able to give it your all, you should wait to enroll until you can. These are the “terms” you agreed to when using Fed funds. It’s not WGU kicking you out, it’s the loan or fund department recognizing the loss. Blame them. That’s their terms, unless you didn’t complete the critical action. This shouldn’t be a problem if you’re going to school because this is what YOU want. It’s when things got tough that people usually lose the determination. I was still able to complete my full “term”, 12 credits, and I knew I could’ve completed more and was only upset at myself as I felt that I was wasting MY money, and I was.

Fast forward to my second term ending in 26 days. I’ve completed my full term (12 credits) and will be adding a class to my term. This is called acceleration. Once becoming a student at WGU Reddit will find you! lol. I mean, you can’t avoid it. I keep reading, “Passed Intermediate Accounting in 2 days!” Well, in reality, it takes someone like me 5+ weeks to finish a class like that. I’ve never worked in my field of study. So this is mostly new to me. It takes time to learn and retain the information. They offer Webinars and Cohorts, which are lifesavers for people like me who have trouble teaching themselves unfamiliar concepts. There’s the writing & math center and FREE Grammarly! They give you so many tools to use I’m just flabbergasted at some of these comments. I didn’t have many hiccups in the enrollment process. I was itching to start, but the delay by one month was actually a blessing. A new term starts every month.

As far as the exams go, I think I just got lucky. I am able to use Examity to take my proctored OA’s. They can be a pain sometimes. And yes, the test questions are tricky! You will hear others complain about their MCQ (multiple choice questions). They are sinister sometimes. The only class that I’ve complained about the OA not being consistent with the PA is Prob & Stats. That was a tough class and I passed by the skin of my teeth! I haven’t had to retake any exams yet, fingers crossed, but that’s because I do all the coursework until I am able to pass all the unit quizzes and the PA before I even attempt the OA. This is what works for me.

Additionally, I’m still in mostly pre-req and GE classes so this could be a complaint that comes up in the future. Here’s my two cents, if you failed the OA the first time, you should contact your CI and mentor to find what you need to study. I think because I use Examity, it tells me what areas I was competent on and areas that I need work. I can’t speak for those who have to use testing centers. WGU should clarify that first with students looking to attend if Examity is not an option for you. I agree TC would be a PITA. The test retake fee after a third failed attempt is $60 for the classes that I’ve taken. I am in BS Acct, so I can’t speak for IT or any other program. If you can’t afford the extra fee to retake the exam then you should do everything to learn the concepts for FREE before using the OA’s as a quick guide to study by. This is a sure fire fail, in my opinion. If you think you’re going to outsmart the school by using the tests to guide you, I’m here to tell you that they’ve seen it ALL.

The classes are “major dependent”. Meaning that I can work out of the gate in my degree bc my classes were designed that way.

If grades are important to you, WGU doesn’t give grades, only credits.

I hope this clarifies WGU for those looking for a quick diploma. I admit that even I enrolled with the hopes of a BS in 6 months! I enjoy school, and I’m good at it for the most part, and I can’t accelerate a 4 year degree in 6 months.

May 27, 2024: I get an email stating the eligibility requirements, and a link to sign into their portal, all login attempts fail, I note to look further into this another day. May 28, 2024: I decide to follow up on it since I forwarded the transcripts to the councilor and could not login to the portal. I’m told they cannot find my email on their files and then was told that I could not send my transcripts to them through email because it’s “not official” and that it is in fact a REQUIREMENT to send it to the email not an option like how the email portrays. I am then told I need to have it mailed or directly emailed by my OLD COLLEGE as well, no acknowledgment that the website I was referred to was even an option at all at this point.

So I call customer service to get this rectified as one of their employees were the ones who referred this website and who NEVER SPECIFIED it was REQUIRED to send it to that email and that anything else would be unacceptable. The rep just backs up the person saying that since they mentioned where to send it to, that that’s enough. I ask for the manager, Don **, who not only tells me what the other employee is telling me, defending their employee's obvious miscommunication, but then doubles down saying that they have an UNSENT EMAIL on the transcript process.

So over the course of the 4 days, they NEVER send me that email?! And my “councilor” just so happens to never respond to the email I sent her with the transcripts and NEVER calls me back either. All of what happened was not my fault at all, in fact, if the email stated that it was a requirement, I would admit fault and begrudgingly do the whole process over again, but this was on the employee for not using the correct vocabulary, failing to state their very strict policy, and for NEVER SENDING ME THE EMAIL when they send me everything else regarding the enrollment process. This whole thing was very unprofessional and disappointing, and I’ll be sure to spread the word that no one apply for this school, and the staff have zero accountability and horrible customer service, offering me nothing to try to help me rectify this issue that is clearly their fault.

1) I spoke initially with an enrollment counselor who told me that transcript requests from prior universities would be free, so I submitted an admissions application listing my education history. Shortly thereafter I received a notice that "requirements [were] needed" as they were unable to request transcripts on my behalf. I emailed the counselor I initially spoke with, who never replied. After completing the admissions application I was given a new enrollment counselor, so I reached out to them. They told me that a FERPA release form (whatever that is) was not completed during my application, however the admissions application had no such form listed. In effect, they seem to default to exclusion on their "free transcript request" promise by not providing the underlying criteria. At any rate, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and paid for my transcripts to be sent to them.

2) My enrollment counselor next informed me that I would need to go through an official transfer evaluation to receive credit for my undergraduate degree. So I obliged and spent several weeks coordinating with her, sending my official transcripts and IT certifications to the transcript evaluation department, and waiting for them to process my "official transfer evaluation". When I received this official evaluation, it seemed they didn't even bother to open my transcript or certification documents and just denied all credit transfers. According to the official transfer documentation however, it is very clearly spelled out that I would receive credit for specific courses due to my previous degree and certifications. At any rate, I messaged my enrollment counselor again notifying them about this and they again kicked the whole process back to me to resolve, because apparently this is how WGU operates. Another review here on consumer affairs seems to describe their process perfectly:

"I don't think that the evaluators even read the requirements under the competency in our task review. I thoroughly followed all requirements from there yet I've been having issues with the assignments being sent back lately. They seem to have a different requirement than what the students see. I don't think they even cared to look at the assignments since they tend to kick it back with simple reasons (such as not being able to open the document....really?!). We pay to have lazy people who can't even open a document?? What kind of college is this? Then, they kicked it back because they claimed that something was missing from the document when it was clearly there (I had professors and an evaluation coordinator check). This is a waste of time and money. I would not continue with this type of unprofessional, lazy, neglectful type of college."

3) As one might expect, when I mentioned all of this to my enrollment counselor, she basically gaslighted me, saying "I'm sorry that you struggled with the enrollment process."

Given that, it'd be absurd if I could not bang through a degree in in IT quickly. Just because I can and did do it doesn't mean someone as green as the new spring can do the same. Many expect that and are angry when they are not able to do so. Hence, all the bad reviews here. I had a great experience at WGU. Even though I was able to get my degree pretty quickly, and despite my long experience in the field, I learned quite a few new things and was very pleased with the quality of the material provided. If you want a quick degree with no experience and to get fleeced financially, go to the University of Phoenix and get a sham degree. If you want to learn something and/or you have a lot of experience in the field and want a decent online school, WGU might be for you.

1- Back story. I was one semester from graduating, I now have to start all over because an email that was supposed to go to a family member, went to my mentor. I did not say anything bad. Two years of my life has been wasted but besides this I will discuss their "STELLAR ACADEMICS.' They don't give letter grades, at least not in my program so it is hard to get an academic evaluation. They will give you the credits but no GPA.

2- They care about you when you apply, after that, you are on your own, minus your mentor checking in.

3- The classes are rather easy. It does not take much effort to pass, just a couple of assessments on a rubric.

4- I felt like two years of my life has been wasted and they were very arrogant with me. I am going to go to a real university - Purdue.

I'm smart enough to take the PRAXIS tests, as is evidenced by the scores I ended up getting on them, but I needed testing accommodations both medically and mentally, and I'm not ashamed of that. They were not arranged for because not only was I not properly informed of the university's inability to work with ETS on the matter, but I was also not clearly informed about the timeline of testing by my academic advisor. This delayed my graduation by at least 6 months and my career by a year.

Then there's this, "The only thing different than Illinois is that you have to take the PRAXIS." That lie left out the singularly most stressful event in the teaching program; the EdTPA. Then finally, "We can like... help you make your resume better (lie, they'll help you make it archaic) but we can't actually help you find a job (even though you qualify for and are enrolled in vocational rehab)."