B.S. in Business Management

I'm curious to know how many hours per day or per week you spent working towards your degree. I see that you were able to really accelerate it, and I'm trying to gage the time dedication I would need to be able to finish in a similar time frame as you.

I am nearing the end of my B.S. degree in Business Management through WGU. I love the competency based model and the fact that I can move at my own pace. In my first term at WGU, I completed nearly 60 Competency Units out of about 120 left to complete for my degree. So, many of my courses didn't transfer into WGU, because the majority of the courses aren't general education courses, the majority of your CU's come from business management assessments. I particularly enjoy the performance assessments through TaskStream. Really, you get a lot for the money of tuition for WGU. You get the following; weekly meetings with your student mentor, access to all of your course mentors for answering questions, eTextbooks, eResources, FREE WebCam for objective assessments, other gifts, first two objective assessment attempts are free, the third and thereafter attempts are $60.00 per attempt, career & alumni services, cell phone service provider discounts, technology and software discounts, webinars, course specific communities, and college communities (business, education, etc.), etc. Anyway, if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me anytime via email @ ldunbar@wgu.edu.

To Tom--

As WGU is regionally accredited, an MBA from this school should be acceptable for teaching junior college.

Will any community colleges or universities accept WGU degrees as qualification to teach lower division college business courses. Specifically, would an MBA from WGU be accepted if you want to be a junior college instructor?

This is my second year at WGU and I will say that it is a challenge but that is what school is baout..My mentors are very helpful and I enjoy the schol..

"YOU THINK EDUCATION IS EXPENSIVE TRY IGNORANCE"

I think the point that needs to be made is this: 

If you think about what you're trying to accomplish after you get your degree and set your sights on a degree that meets those needs you'll be successful once you finish it.

I have a IT Undergrad from WGU and chose to go to an AACSB accredited business school afterwards for my MBA.  I did this because WGU is not AACSB accredited, many states require this accreditation for formal licensure (as others have stated) and if you want to go on to a reputable doctoral program (read not Capella or UPhoenix etc.) that can get you a job in research academia, you can not get this with a MBA from WGU due to that lack of accreditation.

Does this matter to the vast majority of people?  No, not at all, and the education is an education.  It's not a free ride by any means.

Last thing.  Be careful about calling WGU's MBA a "certified MBA".  Yes, their curriculum requires passing the CMBA exam and this at first measure looks like an impartial third party credential.  WGU actually owns the rights to the CMBA exam, so you're not really getting an impartial third party evaluation of your program..

Nuff said there.  You'll get an education and if that education suits your needs then go for it.  I had a great experience with the school, but I'd only go again for another undergrad degree.  The grad programs are a bit shaky right now.

Online education has moved into the mainstream and highly rated Universities such as Notre Dame, Villanova and even Ivy League schools such as Cornell University have moved to offer online, courses, certificates and degree programs.   

Essentially all colleges and universities now offer courses, degree programs or certificates online.  

Regional accreditation is the key to credibility of a degree program. As long as a school is accredited most reasonable employers will accept the validity of the degree. 

In my opinion, any employer or manager choosing to discredit a regionally accredited degree program may be an indication that that organization should be avoided.   should be a red flag as to may be not be the

WGU offers a comprehensive, accelerated, low cost education for working professionals who need additional credentials for further career advancement. I was one of those people when I enrolled at WGU in early 2007. To be successful at WGU a student must be self-driven and willing to work diligently to attain the degree. 

I was working with and competing for promotions against professionals with undergrad and graduate degrees and the lack of a degree was an obstacle for me. WGU allowed me to remove that obstacle after graduating with a BS in Marketing Management. I am now pursuing a Certified MBA at WGU and I am looking forward to completing that degree next year.      

WGU is not easy, it is not a "free pass" or diploma mill and based upon numerous nationally published positive reviews and critically acclaimed televised reports the University has gained significant credibility.

If you are looking to get a professional job then you should choose a college that is AACSB certified. You won't find out about the importance of the gold standard accreditation until you go to register to take the state accountant exams and they reject your degree.

You can't "dis" something unless it deserves respect.

I had a wonderful experience- graduated in 2006.  I have a business degree and never had a problem with my resume.
I still have the same job as I did when I graduated. I am making a modest salary of 51K. I used what I learned in my job everyday.  I am now doing my Masters at another on campus college.

So much for your claims.

Jack,

Many brick-and mortar schools are changing their paradigm about online education.  As their paradigms change, they begin offering online degrees that are identical to their in-class degree.  They explain that the only difference is the "delivery method."

I think T.S. is referring to the the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) which looks specifically at the business program.  For colleges and universities there are national accreditations, regional accreditations, and accreditations for specific departments.  So when we say a school is accredited or not accredited, we need to specify the type of accreditation.

For business programs, the AACSB is the gold standard.  This accreditation is also reflected in the price of your tuition.  So you really have to consider what you plan to do with your degree and whether you will see a return on your investment.  There are many people who are paying off student loans used to pay for an education at a prestigious school.  Most of them have coworkers who attended a less expensive, less prestigious university and have no student loans.  Return on Investment is a pretty basic business concept, yet many business majors do not use it in their educational decision-making process.

For the record: I have not decided on a school.  I am here to research my options.  My three decision points are: Regional accreditation, price, and time.  As for quality, I beleive you get out of it what you put into it.  And in the end, you must be able to implement the concepts you learned (e.g. Return on Investment).

T.S. does not know what he is talking about. The school carries the same accreditation as any other university. It seems that he has already made up his mind that an online degree is not as good as a brick and mortar degree. This prejudice will undoubtedly be around for quite some time as the Ivy leagues and other schools will continue to "dis" an online degree.

WGU is accredited for a teaching degree. NCATE is for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. NWCCU is the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.  It is not accredited business school.

Clearly none of the above posters actually enrolled at WGU because if they did, they would know that it is accredited by NCATE as well as NWCCU and both are recognized by CHEA and thereby the U.S. Department of Education. This is a great school for people who are self motivated and can learn in a virtual environment. I have been enrolled for five months and have finished eleven classes. That puts me more than one third of the way towards my business management degree. Tuition is the most reasonable of all the online schools as it only costs approximately $6K per year regardless of how many classes you finish. I believe I will have my degree for less than $10K and that is a bargain! If you are in the market for a school, then check out WGU and the WGU Student Hall and see what real students are saying.

Maybe changing programs and dragging out the program is done on purpose so that you stay in school longer and that the school makes more money by charging 5 years worth of tuition.  

All I know from my experience is that their "classes" are pretty much useless.  It seems strange to me that you can get all of the answers to their task "questions" just by typing the questions into Google.

WGU is a rip off.  I have been changed from program to program and am now looking at 5 years to finish two years of college.  Mentors are not the best and the programs are confusing, making a short program at WGU a long one. I would not recommend this "school" to anyone.

Stay away from this Rip-off. It is not an American accredited business school so you will just waste your time and money like I did.