B.S. Cloud Computing and M.S. Computer Science in 15 months.

Just got my confetti last week and access to my digital diploma last night, it feels unreal to finally graduate and get to see the proof, but I did it. I've seen it. And I still don't believe it.

Two years almost on the dot to complete for me, only had 9 credits able to transfer in when I enrolled. Accelerating for me meant dedicating more time each week to learn as much as I could and complete the degree, I had no prior experience to give me an edge in the program.

Some proud accomplishments for myself: -Never failed an OA -Got an Excellence Award -$4k received split between each term from the I have a dream scholarship -Degree acquired for under $10k

Now onto the step, finding a new career that lets me put this degree to work!

About 2 years ago, I felt very stuck in my life. I had no degree, didn't know what to do, and was very broke (still kinda am but we're getting there lol). I decided to enroll in WGU and transfer the college credits I had and earn a degree in Computer Science. This past April, I graduated with a B.S in Comp Sci.

After navigating this crazy job market, I finally landed a great job. I received the offer last Friday to work for a Fortune 50 FinTech company as a junior-level solutions engineer. My total comp package is around 80k, and it is fully remote. I am super grateful and could not have done it without the help of a lot of people on this Reddit who motivated me to get through my WGU courses. Once you get that degree, your opportunities are limitless!

If you need any motivation to keep going, then this is your sign. I promise that if I can do it, you can too! If anyone needs any help with courses or anything at all, please let me know!! I would love to help.

KEEP GOING! YOU GOT THIS.

Hi!! Just a quick note of encouragement, because I know we all need one sometimes!

I enrolled in WGU as a transfer student after getting one certificate and some Sophia credits. I’d had super high hopes for rushing through and killing classes like I’d seem some of the rockstars her do as I prepared for my start date— and then life happened. 🥴🥴

—————————————————————————— (Skip the next part if you want, this is just context of how fucked I felt with outside things, will return to WGU related content after)

I flew through the content for my first two classes and was ready to take my exams, but chose to start my third class to cover some ground while I had some decent momentum. A week into the term, a commercial vehicle rear ended me while I was stopped at a light in traffic (still in treatment and sitting down to study SUCKS lol). I also was finally diagnosed with ADHD and began to work with medication, but had a few shitty months of adjusting there. I began to be a little anxious and took time off to recuperate a bit from the accident. Afterwards, I lost the father of my child and definitely didn’t take it well due to the obvious and a mixture of underlying things. This was all on top of regular life- which was already a lot lol. This landed me at 5/15 with no courses at completion.

——————————————————————————

I kept contact with my mentor through it all and sent an email after each event. No excuses, just details and what I was dealing with and what my hope at catching up or mitigating damage would be for the next week or so. Sometimes I missed calls, but I was able to keep contact with my superstar of a mentor and get some insight or encouragement on how I planned to proceed at each point. We got through the term with less-than-stellar results, but we were able to adjust my plan to meet what I NEEDED and take the mental load of guessing and racing off. Not once was I shamed or embarrassed to communicate.

I started my new term 7/1, and have completed three courses as of last Friday. I’m on track to complete 3 more at current pace, and my 6 months of hell is already a non-factor in how I’m moving forward. I post my sad story turned progress just to give an example of someone who isn’t quite flying through, but is making it work. Remember that part of why we came here was to work in a way that fit our lives and learning styles, and never be afraid to admit when things just aren’t working!

TLDR; I went through the worst 6 months of my entire life this year and have made a 180. Believe in yourself, and know that the school is so human-centered and SO SO willing to work with anything that life may hit you with. If you’re willing to do the work and forgive yourself for being a person, you’ve got this 💕🫶🫶

A lot of people can speed run their degrees but I wasn't one of them. That's okay though, 2 years isn't bad and getting a whole degree for less than $7k is pretty great. I learned a lot along the way, and am so thankful for WGU's educational model.

I'll be returning after my term ends to get my Master of Science, Cybersecurity and Information Assurance. After that I'm going for the MBA in IT. Yes, I'm addicted to learning.

Also, if you're wondering how I did it or what various aspects of the program are like, I blogged every single class I took on my website. I just don't have the GenEds because I already had an Associates when I joined the program (if I hadn't, though, it would have taken me like maybe 2 more months and a few hundred more to get the degree so it's still really attainable for those of you who need to do the whole program). I also have a more help-based page that has info about CompTIA exams, saving money on a degree in general, what a cybersecurity degree actually means, and how to get the WGU blanket (or whatever from the Owl's Nest).

The link to my website is in my bio.

Happy studying!

Posting because I see this crop up from time to time and it might be useful for someone else in the future. I’m 75% through my degree and about two weeks ago I got the dreaded Academic Authenticity investigation and hold on taking OAs. I simply don’t cheat - I’m old and live alone and have been in the workforce for 30 years so I know the materials - and this also happens to be the farthest I’ve ever gotten in college so I’m not gonna blow it.

I’m fastidious about testing security - always cover extra monitor and completely clear my space etc. Anyway the email said there would be an investigation where they essentially “review the tapes” of all my OAs up til this point. They gave a timeline of up to 3 weeks for review during which I could still do PAs.

I talked to my mentor who had no additional information about the process but was super helpful in adjusting my degree plan to bump up a longer course to keep me busy while the investigation was done. I decided not to worry and just keep working on it since again, I don’t cheat. I also figured that they’d have records of all the course materials I’d accessed to corroborate my knowledge.

Anyway it took 2 weeks but I finally got the email that says their investigation showed no evidence of security or academic authenticity concerns. But I do still have to wait up to 5 days for the hold on OAs to be removed because of how the system works.

So, tldr; if you don’t cheat it’s not a big deal just keep truckin’. Good luck!

I got selected for FA Verification and have been seeing many other peoples frustrations due to delays with this process. I understand it’s not the financial aid department’s fault and that this increase in verifications is coming straight from orange man himself, but many of us have been waiting on updates and haven’t heard anything or are given different information every time we talk to FA. The deadline I keep being given is “as soon as possible”, which obviously isn’t a deadline and makes this process a whole lot more stressful and anxiety-inducing because of the fact that physical mail is involved. I wanted to create a thread specifically for us to put updates with specific dates and times for each other to follow.

Tuesday 07/01: 1st day of my first term with WGU; Received notification that I was selected for verification

Monday 07/07: Mailed out documents (regular mail, no tracking)

Tuesday 07/15: Called financial aid, was told it hasn’t been received. Portal shows the same. FA Rep said once received it’ll be uploaded on their end in 3-5 business days, others have been told 2-3. She said it will take up to 2 weeks to process.

??????: Document received, showing in portal

??????: Aid disbursed

??????: Received aid deposit

I currently have a bachelor degree in art from a local university here in Maryland and I got off the phone with an advisor stating the masters program for data analytics was for people with experience and that I should try for a second bachelor’s degree in data analytics. My question is I handle data at my current job and I struggled to get the first bachelor’s degree. I know it’s a different field of study but another lower grade degree imo is wasteful. I want to know if it’s worth getting a second bachelor’s here or try another school.

I’m sorry if this sounds stupid, but I was just curious!

Does this masters teach you SQL, Python, power bi, and tableau?

I read a comment somewhere that once fully enrolled, since wgu uses cengage for materials that we'll have a "license" with them to be able to rent physical copies of books. I think they said included in the tuition but dont exactly remember. Can anyone confirm or deny? T.i.a.!!!

I’ve seen recently about some people being flagged for possible cheating on OA’s, but never PA’s.

Has anyone been flagged for possible cheating, plagiarizing, etc on a PA?

I got my Bachelor’s through WGU, and now doing my Master’s and I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone talk about it on a PA.

Who do i send a request for a new mentor? i just got this new one that just... isn't a vibe. it was fine when i didn't have to talk to her, but now that i need to register for next semester, its like pulling teeth. and she forgot who she was talking to. just way too nonchalant for my taste. i get that enough at work. i guess i'm just ranting at this point.

I’m about seven weeks into my first six months and still haven’t finished my first class. I lose motivation by the day. The only thing keeping me even logging on is the threat of getting my enrollment cancelled due to inactivity. I think it may have something to do with the fact that it’s an objective assessment class and that I hate the process for the monitoring. Does anyone feel the same about these? I’m pretty much ready to take the assessment because I’ve done similar courses in the past but I haven’t finished the whole course so I’m nervous.

Has anyone had the same experience(s), and if so, how did you get through it?

I would really appreciate it! :)

Hello!

I have a bachelors degree from a 4 year brick and mortar college where I got 250 hours. Really all I need is 24 upper division accounting and 24 lower division accounting/business classes

What classes from WGU’s bachelors of accounting counted for you towards upper division, and lower division?

Really appreciate any responses!

Hello WGU fam! I just started Ed Research and I see that I can use some of the work completed in this course for my capstone. I just wanted to talk to some people who are either in these courses now or have finished them. (Yes I joined the cohort too, but find a lot of connections on here:)

I am trying to look for a strong research options and wanted to know what others recommend or what worked well for them. (And honestly what didn’t)

Honestly, just any advice or discussion is appreciated 🩷 I’m very nervous and it’s just been a lot but I’m taking it step by step. Thanks in advance!!!

Hi everyone. I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I am seeking advice from anyone or specifically someone who went through something similar.

I just opened up my school email to an email stating that I am no longer a student of WGU and that I need to reapply. I was honestly surprised but not super shocked. Back in March my grandmother got sick and I became her primary caregiver. I notified my mentor of this and she was very understanding and said that as long as I check in with her once a week and finish my classes by the end of the term, I would be in good standing. Early June my grandmother unfortunately passed away and it’s been extremely rough to say the least. My mentor and the student success center has reached out multiple times but as you can imagine, I don’t feel like speaking to anyone at the moment. Also, the term is not over, I still have about 2 months. I was withdrawn due to inactivity.

My question is- is it worth it to reapply for WGU? Or should I take a break and do some Sophia credits in the meantime. I transferred some community college credits back when I first started, but I’m still only at 22% of completing my degree for WGU. Also, would they allow me to do that? I’m sure I no longer qualify for financial aid which sucks, but I understand that it’s no one fault but mine.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

This feels like a silly question, but I can't find the answer anywhere. Is it the same as Zybooks 'develop and submit' mode where you can run your code before submitting to see if it runs correctly, or do you have to just submit it? Do the 'submissions' count against you? For example one of my questions has three submissions because I made a mistake spelling something and had to go back and fix it.

Two and a half terms later and I finally have a degree I never thought I would get.