Western Governors University

I'm writing to discuss some of the problems with WGU's implementation of competency based learning. I speak as a alumni of Western Governors University, having earning a masters in business administration in just over five months. I'm presently working on a second graduate degree with them and wanted to share some of my broader observations with the general internet. The good: - The price is great. - They are accredited. - They do allow acceleration mostly. - They're all online. The bad - The graders often don't have backgrounds in what they're evaluating. This creates a number of problems. - The graders have indicated in their response that they haven't read my paper, but issue a grade anyway. - The graders don't even pretend to adhere to a uniform standard. It's amazing to watch how others will put in very little effort, and it sails through. Others will work extensively and make an objectively better response, but it gets rejected. - Rejections often don't make sense. Pick a reason out of a hat why. It's like they just pick a reason to reject it, feel free to change it at any time, or stay with it as long as they like. When you step back and think about it, you could continue to find fault with any paper as long as you wanted. Even if there's no there "there", just by continuing to say it's insufficient. What's to stop you? Apparently nobody at Western Governors. - Appeals are worthless. They never addressed the core issue I questioned them on. When I asked an appeals person directly why my work wasn't even evaluated as indicated in the grader's response, they danced around the question. They'll stand behind their graders. - The course mentors are disconnected from graders. This is arguably the worst part about it. Course mentors, a.k.a. the people that know the stuff are powerless. My course mentor agreed my submission was much better than several others he'd seen, but was powerless to do anything about it. He told me to make it fluffier to get it to pass. The ugly - Once a grader asked me to include a graph of a simulation that didn't exist. It wasn't asked for in the question prompt. I filed an appeal, and they said I could have made it from Excel. OOPS, wrong again! Some of the data required to manually make the graph wasn't any where to be found either. That's probably why it wasn't asked for geniuses! My next submission included a statement say such in all caps on that writing prompt. Then it passed. - Another grader said instead of analyzing a single round in a simulation as indicated by the requirements, that all 8 rounds needed to be evaluated. I filed an appeal, and the appeal predictably stood behind their grader. The course mentor responded to the graders and said that wasn't in the instructions. It took hours and hours to resolve this. I had to be the driver for this because it wouldn't have worked itself out. It ate an obscene amount of my time. - To further illustrate the non-uniformity of their standards, I've had multiple course mentors explain to me, including ECare themselves, that if I opt for an appeal, I could have work that was approved come back as disapproved. How much sense does that make? You passed the test! Oh, just kidding! Sounds like a great, accurate, precise setup, right? - Finally, they have different avenues to communicate, like web forums. I started venting some frustration at the graders and the process, and the course mentor decided an appropriate response would be to attempt to curtail my 1st amendment. I wasn't swearing, saying anything offensive, trolling, or criticizing any individual person. If they're too thin skinned to even allow general criticism of the process and results among the students, what does that mean? Why so touchy? In the end, I have a real love/hate relationship with the school. The idea of competency based learning is liberating. It makes so much sense. It is just so bitterly disappointing that Western Governors University does such a poor job at implementing the idea.

WGU gets a bad reputation because it is all completely online. The truth is, that is the way to go now. I applaud them for their model and others will certainly follow. When the other schools do follow this format, WGU will be known as the trailblazer! If you want easy, then go to what others would consider a "real" school. The bottom line is - this IS a real school and has more accreditations than most if not ALL brick and mortar universities. If you are not a whiner, can be self-motivated, and want to accelerate your degree, then you have what it takes!

Think hard about your learning style before entering WGU. It is for independant learners only. The course work is challenging and the assessments are very long. However, I have learned a lot so far from them. I would recommend WGU to anyone who has time to dedicate and learns independantly. Expect to put in at least 20 hours weekly in order to be successful.

This is certainly a good place to do your self-paced MBA and yet receive degree with standard accreditations. I was initially skeptic about these online degrees but later, I learn't that the degree from WGU is nothing less than a regular school degree. The program is very well designed with competencies clearly described. The best part is that most competencies have simu learn from skillsoft which is a very valuable learning for anyone. I know couple of my friends doing their MBA from George Washington University and they too like the simu learn tool that is used at WGU. All in all, I must say this is one of the best online university at the most affordable cost and yet get teh degree which is accredited anywhere in the nation.

I am more than half way through with the MBA in Healthcare Management and overall it has been outstanding. There are some issues, but with the low price, I'm not sure what you should expect. I had to buy almost all my books because the online books were very impractical to use. They should provide a tuition option with a package book deal for the program for those of us that need something we can highlight and write notes on. The mentoring is good, and the tasks are interesting and well thought out. Overall, I don't think there is a better value out there for your MBA.

My experience with WGU has been great so far. I have been a student at WGU for approximately 6 months and it's been challenging yet rewarding. As other posters stated, "It's not for those who are lazy and depend on face to face professor teaching. The negative remarks about WGU comes from those who have been kicked out due to not passing the assessments, those who can't be independent learners, and those who never went to WGU. Take it from someone who have experienced brick and mortar schools and a for-profit school; WGU is the best school for self-paced independent learners and individuals who want to obtain a less expensive regionally accredited degree. I believe in direction, but when you have learning materials there to study, there's no need for a professor to beat the lesson in your head. Like one poster stated, when you do research for your job, do you expect your boss to hold your hand and guide you through the entire project? NO! You research on your own (WGU assessments) and turn it in to your boss for review (Taskstream). That's the kind of student WGU wants a student who can do their research independently. If this is you, WGU is a perfect fit.

As another reviewer said, "you have to be a good student to make this a good program." This is very true, if you're lazy or don't commit the time to the coursework you will not learn much and probably not pass. The mentors do an excellent job of checking in and motivating, but in the end it's up to the student whether or not they want to succeed. The material is well thought out, the course-load is appropriate for an online degree. They're doing an excellent job so far.

The MBA program is a challenge yet rewarding program. The only do better was the length of time it took to receive the graded papers back. I loved the competency based program, you must learn the course content before you pass the class, it isn't based upon a letter grade, it is simply pass or fail.It's a great program, I would highly recommend.