…. I start classes, if you can call the WGU intoductions to online education course a class. If you have an 8th grade education it is essentially busy work for a few weeks (cutting and pasting things from the school’s web site into Word documents to answer questions).
After this course was over I finally get what courses transferred and come to find out out of 115hrs of courses from a well-ranked state university about 12 classes transferred. I was enrolled in their education major to teach high school biology.
I was a biology major at USC (a school that has millions in NIH grants for science research) and all of my grades were As or Bs and NONE of them transferred! Instead I had to go to a local tech school and take online tests in the subject areas. Classes with actual labs taught by PhDs weren’t enough to transfer, but a book report and a test was enough to get credit through the school.
I believe that this school intentionally decieved me at every step in an attempt to get money. I have never had this problem at traditionally colleges and I feel they are not serious about offering an education to anyone. This school comes across as a diploma mill that makes you homeschool yourself and then gives you a piece of paper. The scary thing is that they are turning out teachers every day that could be teaching your children based on this sorry excuse for a curriculum.
First, note that this rip-off report post is from 2006. There are both pro and con comments for this school that are much more current than the linked post.
That being said, I can really only speak for the IT courses. I WAS an education major for 4 years, and found that much of what I took at the time-Piaget, Hunter lesson plans, Theory of development, etc, was not integral to teaching reality-and more so now. How could it be, when a Masters graduate can get a teaching certificate in most states with little to no extra schooling? My curriculum is focused on both theory, and a lot of certification exams, some of which are not passable by cramming due to a lab environment that is used during the testing to simulate various situations (in my case router configuration, network security, system analysis). I transferred my BS in IT from Doane into WGU and it allowed me to enter as a graduate student, and it allowed me to test out of some of the IT classes. The MS in Information Security doesn’t assume that you have a BS degree in IT, so some of the classes are redundant-as they are at the University of Denver online, Penn State online, and a few of the other B&M schools with online components that I researched before choosing this route.
As is stated in many of the responses, credit doesn’t always transfer. I transferred, in state, from Hastings College (regionally/nationally accredited private liberal arts college, US News, etc etc) to Dana College (same thing) when I got married, and then to Doane some years later after discharging from the Army. I lost credits at every transfer. I believe that the featured poster you linked to should have researched ‘competency based’ and what that meant in the terms of the school. Just because he went to ‘such and such’ school with NIH grants, doesn’t mean a lot when it comes to teaching-especially undergraduate work. All that science that he took would be the equivalent of ‘general credit’ at most any school he transferred to, because it has nothing to do with teaching. When you change schools and change programs a lot of your credits don’t transfer no matter where you go.
His review was posted in 2006, so perhaps there were issues with the school, then, but I can’t rely completely on his assessment when I can easily pull up that Microsoft and Google, among others, accept degrees and coursework from the school as professional career building credit.
Hopefully he (original poster) worked out his issues, but at 6000 per 6 month term, with universally accepted courseware and texts, and industry recognized certifications, the IT program at least is doing what any other school would do. Moreso, actually, since my BS degree in Systems Analysis and Info Systems Mgt from Doane required no certs to graduate and that put me at an immediate disadvantage coming out of school as a 32 year old non-traditional graduate. Doane didn’t care about my Army experience, either, and the busy work classes(portfolio, new student orientation for Non-Traditional Learners, classes on how to use Office/PPT/Execl)for them was the same as if I had started over again as a freshman.
Cedric,
You are correct.
However, the situation she describes has not changed. I called WGU anonymously with a request for information based on a similar story. WGU told me a. that it does not automatically transfer credits and b. that its own offerings for the BS or MS in education in biology are still far, far below what this girl describes.
It seems to me that a large part of the issue with WGU is their lack of honesty.
1. I am not sure they are worth the bucks, I have no doubt they have an efficient system for awarding someone like yourself a degree, largely based on experiences you have had. That is a good thing, though I suspect there are much less expensive and better recognized routes you can take to that same, formal end.
2. I am certain they wy overclaim what they can actually teach. It may be worth noting that most of their “accreditation” is limitted to online accreditation. Its is also worth noting that in areas like nursing, business, and your own areas they do nto offer any of the skills that require face to face interactions.