Second Term Planning

Wow!!!  I did it!  My first term at WGU is over!  While I have amassed enough credits in my life to be considered a “senior”, in the WGU world I have enough transferred and completed credits to be a “sophomore”.   2.5 years to go.  :).

They have updated the student portal, now green=good.  Makes sense, but it’s a change not embraced by those that were used to the old color coding.  So the green solid flags to the left of the course show progress and credits completed.

I started my first term in July and really wanted to complete 21 credits.  That didn’t happen.  I did complete 15 which is more than the 12 required for maintaining my scholarship, financial aid and

OTP (on time progress).  In good news I am prepared to take my first exam next term in the first week.

For my second term, I plan to knock out Critical Thanking and Logic C168 quite quickly.  I have already activated it, read the first 3 modules, completed the related activities, passed the pre-assessment and attended the first live cohort.  Yes, you can do all of this without being enrolled in the class by activating it.  Once a course is activated, you’re stuck with the content and test version, so be careful with tech certs.

A “cohort” is an online webinar that students can participate in live or view recordings afterward.  It is taught by the course instructor and utilizes Adobe Connect, so you’ll need the app on your mobile device or the snap-in installed in your browser.  I got an email when I registered for the cohort that contained a link to the meeting. I copied the link and pasted it into my web browser when it was time.  It’s very much like GoToMeeting.  Attendees on the far left, a chat box and the presentation pane.

The next class will be English Composition C455, the lame gen ed class I’ve been dodging since the beginning of my college career.  I have activated it.  There are 4 papers due in total, I’m planning to knock it out by the end of January.

The remainder of my term will be dedicated to networking.  I decided to put Network and Security Foundations C172 and Networks C480 back to back.  I figure as long as I’m immersed in the subject I may as well knock out the related course and certification.  The exam for C480 is the CompTIA Network+ certification.

If I get through all of this and still have time, I think I can squeeze in either Web Development or Scripting and Programming Foundations which would give me a 17 credit term.  We’ll see how it goes.

Side note: as you can see in the student portal, to the right of each class is an O or P.  This indicates the type of exam required to pass the class. O=Objective Assesment, which is a test.  P=Performance Assesment. which is a paper or presentation of some kind.  I haven’t had a PA yet, all of my courses so far have been OAs. It will be interesting to see how the famed “Task Stream” assignment submission website works.

For now, I’ll be enjoying the holidays and maybe reviewing the C168 material.  Merry Christmas!!!

First Term In The Bag!

C394 - IT Applications - PASSED, and I am done with my first term at WGU!  I completed 15 credits.  I could probably throw my next class in and complete in the next 2 weeks, but I’m going to take a much deserved holiday break from school.  As a busy mom, I wish I could take a break from other things, but life doesn’t work that way.  Ah well, at least one thing I don’t have to think about until Jan 1, 2019!

I can now also say I am CompaTIA A+ Certified.  Yay me!  This last certification exam, CompTIA 902, eluded me on my last attempt at it 17+ years ago.  Feels good to finally have this cert in the bag. The first of many as I work toward completing my degree.

Next term I have Critical Thinking and Logic, English Composition, Network and Security Foundations and Networks queued up.  Hopefully I’ll also be able to squeeze Statistics in as well.  1 term down, 5 to go.  I think there’s celebratory ice cream ahead this evening!

Data Analytics

Here’s a recent WGU Blog post about Data Analytics, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. These topics are so interesting to me.  I’m looking forward to being able to apply my degree to something that makes a difference.

Data Managemnt: The Gateway to Advanced AI

C393 IT Foundations - Passed!

Well, that one took a while.  I am happy to report I passed the CompTIA A+ hardware exam with flying colors on 11/21.  This was the required exam to complete and pass C393.  I used uCertify, CBTNuggets, Mike Myers and Professor Messer’s videos to study.

I have to still pass C394, A+ Operating Systems before the end of the month, which is also the end of my first term.  I’m doing pretty well on practice tests, 80-85%.  My exam is Dec 13th, wish me luck!

I also activated Critical Thinking and Logic and took a practice exam after reading the first 2 modules of the text and scored an 85%.  I may try to move that class into this term or just take the test right away at the beginning of my next term to get it out of the way without the deadline crunch.  That may be smarter as it would then count toward OTP for my second term, just in case the network classes take me longer to complete.

My Right Arm

For my new adventure, I naturally needed a new laptop.  Now really, I could've gotten by with my old desktop, custom built by me in 2009 and still running strong, but that would've meant I was doing most of my studying either in the basement or on my iPad (which wouldn't work for practical IT courses).  My husband has a laptop, but I didn't want to encroach on his tech, and I have a work laptop, but ethics and all, no personal stuff on work device, etc.

I began a search for the perfect laptop for me.  I personally have never had a laptop all to myself, it usually been my husband's laptop that I borrowed occasionally.  After all, I have my huge beast of a PC in the basement to use, and with the advent of the iPad and iPhone, there really are very few day to day things I can't do from my mobile devices.  This was going to be my very own laptop.

I knew that the following attributes were non-negotiable:

• SSD at least 512GB
• 7th or 8th generation i7 processor
• At least 8 GB RAM
• Dedicated graphics card
• 14-15"
• Full keyboard with number pad
• Not too bulky/heavy
• Windows 10 Pro
• Under budget

Wishlist items included:

• Touchscreen
• 4K
• 16 GB RAM
• Secondary hard drive
• Backlit keyboard
• Fingerprint reader
• Many USB ports
• Not look like a gaming machine (bulky, black and red, etc)

I looked at Dell, HP, ASUS and Lenovo and generally liked the look and feel of the slim laptops.  XPS, Studio, Zenbook, etc.  I knew I couldn't get what I wanted in a Mac, #1 because of OS and #2, you just can't get comparable specs in a Mac for a reasonable price.  I considered the gaming PCs, as they generally had all the power I wanted in a reasonably priced package, but the size and design just screamed "here comes a gamer", it's not what I wanted my laptop to say about me.

I finally landed on the Lenovo IdeaPad 720s 15" touchscreen laptop, and I bought it from Costco.com.  My work laptops the last 5 years have been Lenovo touchscreens and I've loved them in general.  This model meets all of my requirements and most of my wishlist items.  Sadly, it only has 1 conventional USB 3.0, the other 2 peripheral ports are USB-C, though one is thunderbolt.  It also doesn't have a secondary hard drive.  I decided I could live without these things.

There are a few small things I don't like about it, the battery isn't made to be customer replaceable, the edges are all sharp when you run your fingers along them or rest your wrists on the edges, the whole thing shows fingerprints something terrible and the power brick gets pretty toasty.

Those little things aside, I love it.  It's light.  From the time I hit the power button to when I've got a desktop is less than 30 seconds.  Launching programs, playing games, installing updates, running utilities and scans, it's FAST.  The screen is beautiful and overall the thing looks classy!  This is an awesome little machine and I look forward to seeing what it can do.  I also got a wireless mouse, lapdesk, backpack, and USB-C adapters for standard USB and HDMI.  Now I just need to come up with a pet name for it.  Any suggestions?

Spreadsheets - Passed

This is another super easy course for me.  I am Microsoft Office Specialist Master Certified in Excel from years ago, but that isn't a certification that they take into account for credit.  So, I needed to get through this course.

Similarly to Intro to IT, I started with the pre-assessment.  I think it took me 3 hours and I passed.  I know my stuff, but I'm rusty enough that the more cumbersome formulas took some concentration.  I was also very distracted by my family while I was trying to complete it.  I used my coaching report to guide my studies and focused on those areas that were weakest/slowest for me.  That included reviewing statistical formulas, text searching, amortization formulas and 2 Excel features that I knew nothing about, the What If table and the Solver feature.  In reading posts from my my fellow students the pre-assessment and the actual exam are almost exactly the same, so that's great news for those preparing for this course.  Other topics covered in this course include basic formulas, logic formulas, v/hlookup, concatenation, charts, graphs, pivot tables, and cell/worksheet references.  I studied for about 8 hours total over 3 evenings to prepare for this exam.  I did not use the course tips or course chatter.

Things to note, you have to have Microsoft Excel installed on your PC.  WGU students can get Microsoft Office 365 for free following this link and using their WGU account info.

The only requirement for this course is the OA from home.  It took me less than 2 hours to complete and I received an Exemplary score of 97.9%.

Intro to IT - Passed!

I've worked in IT for over 15 years, and in the past I passed an old version of A+ hardware, so I do have some good broad general IT knowledge.  My approach to this course was to first take the pre-assessment.  It was a test the same length as the real test, I passed with about 80%.  Then I looked at the coaching report to see where I got answers wrong and what subjects I needed to study more.  In my case most of my failing was in the area of networks, historically not my area of exposure.  I read through the course modules and did the quizzes for those topics, which took about 3 hours.  I then looked at the course tips and watched the pre-recorded videos for the course, which took about 2 hours.  I took a glance through the course chatter (a chat roll for students enrolled in the course) to see if there were any tips or tricks, but I didn't find anything I didn't already know.  All in all, I spent less than 6 hours over 2 evenings studying for this course, basically brushing up on knowledge and filling in a few gaps.

At that point I felt pretty confident that I could handle the exam.  Everyone is different, I've seen in Facebook groups where those with no IT background have spent weeks studying for this course.  I've read of IT professionals that just turned it on and took the test the same night.  That's the great thing about competency based education.  I don't have to spend time studying things I already know.  I can easily evaluate my baseline knowledge, fill in the gaps, pass an exam and move on.

The only requirement to pass this course was an OA (objective assessment, proctored exam) on my own PC at home.  Time is money and I'm going to move as fast as I reasonably can through the stuff I know, so I can get to the stuff I don't.  Which in my program is most of it, but that's ok.  I'll get through it one class at a time.

I passed with an "Exemplary" 91%!

Do Not Disturb - OA in Progress

Well, my building anxiety surrounding the process of proctored exams was finally explored this evening as I took my first Objective Assessment.

I requested the activation of the OA for Intro to IT from my mentor on Monday, July 9th.  Judy turned it on quite promptly, it was less than 10 min.  I then went through the process of scheduling my exam, all times seemed to be available, even same day if I wanted to.  I scheduled it for today 7/11 at 7:00pm.  Once scheduled it appeared that if I needed to change my date/time, the rescheduling process is easy.

This evening, I turned on my PC at 6:30pm, went to the assessment website, went through the system check to make sure everything was working and then started my exam.  After a 10 min wait, I was finally connected to an exam proctor with the Examity service.  He was very nice and spoke clear English, I could hear there were other workers in his center, all with similar accents.  

We connected via GoToMeeting, which was launched automatically from the Examity platform.  He then requested my "government issued photo ID" (I showed my driver's license), which he seemed to take a photo of via the webcam.  Once he verified my identity, I had to move the webcam in a full 360 to show the surroundings, and specifically the desktop to be sure I had nothing to help me cheat.  He made me turn off my printer and show him both the front and backsides of my blank whiteboard.  He also checked my Task Manager to make sure I wasn't running additional programs.  Once the camera was pointed correctly showing my face, keyboard, monitor and the area around my computer, I had to electronically sign what was basically student code of conduct for exams.  I had to give him remote control of my PC and he entered a test activation code.  

The test began.  There were 3 hours allotted for the test, I was done in less than 35 min.  He was silent the entire test, and the window showing his live video feed was disabled while I was completing the test.  When I was done, I said so, he verified that it was complete, I said thank you and he disconnected.

Then I logged back into my student portal to see if I passed or not.  Good news!!!  I passed, with an "Exemplary" performance (the other options are "Competent" and "Failed").  From the app "Pocket WGU" it said my score was 91%.

Things to note about OAs.  Your desk must be clear.  I have an L-shaped desk with my monitor and keyboard in the "elbow".  My printer is at one end, which I was asked to turn off, and my Cricut machine and a bluetooth speaker are on the other end, I was not asked to do anything with them.  Otherwise the only things on my desk were my whiteboard and driver's license.  If I were taking a math related test a non-CAS calculator is permitted as well.  You can't have any other programs or webpages open on your PC.  I have Rubbermaid bins and craft boxes under my desk, this proctor didn't ask to see under my desk, but I wonder if that would've been an issue if he knew?  Your phone must be silent and out of sight.  The room must be free of noise, all screens (TVs, other PC monitors) must be off and no other people allowed in the room.  I have seen in my research if someone walks in the room during an OA the proctor disconnects and you have to reschedule.  Additionally, if you are 30 min late for your scheduled time, you have to reschedule.

So, yay!!!  I passed my first OA and am very proud of myself.  1 course down and 27 to go.  Now I don't have to worry about the OA process, and hopefully neither do you.  It was easy!

I'm a Night Owl!!!

New student swag arrived on my doorstep last week.  I received a box with several goodies.

It contained:

• A welcome letter with instructions
• Door hanger that says "Do Not Disturb, I'm Studying" and "Do Not Disturb, I'm taking a Test"
• Window cling WGU decal
• WGU approved whiteboard with marker
• Blue plastic mug that says "WGU" on one side and "Liquid Motivation" on the other
• Self standing webcam for taking proctored exams
• and a flyer about the WGU WellConnect service

The webcam is USB, I plugged it into my PC and the drivers auto installed with no issues.  I'm debating putting the decal on my car or laptop.  The door hanger is on the basement door upstairs waiting to be put into use.  The whiteboard has magnets on the back and is cheap, flimsy and creaseable.  You are allowed to use a different whiteboard of similar size if you wish for proctored exams.

Sadly it did not contain a shirt, which I knew from my research, but I was still hopeful.  I think years ago they included a shirt in the Student Success Kit.  To remedy that situation, I ordered myself a purple (my favorite color) WGU hoodie.  It's cozy and perfect for studying and taking tests in my cool basement.  Maybe I'll take a photo of it later.

Student Mentor

The Student Mentor is what you would traditionally think of as a faculty adviser.  They know your course of study inside and out, they help you plan your courses, are a resource for all things WGU, a cheerleader/motivator and problem solver.  When getting started you arrange phone calls with them weekly and as you get further along you come to an understanding on how often and in which methods you will generally communicate.

My Student Mentor (we'll call her "Judy") is a very nice person.  She has an MBA in Business Intelligence and Analytics Management.  Judy's office hours are kind of odd, she starts at about 4:30 in the morning until about 9:00pm, with a few long breaks during the day.

WGU has an online tool for scheduling time with your mentor.  I have found that in scheduling calls with Judy on short notice, only the crazy hours are available, I've had 2 calls around 5:30am so far.  If I book an appointment further out, there is a greater variety of acceptable times.  Their appointment system can import your appointment into your mail/calendar software, sends reminder emails and text messages.

So far Judy is prompt in answering my questions and activating different parts of my courses.  It's nice to know that my guide throughout this process is a working mother with an advanced degree in an area of study similar to mine.  It's early, but she seems to know the degree program very well.

Hopefully she sticks around for the duration.

Degree Plan

It's official.  I have a plan for all of my "free time" the next 3-3.5 years of my life.  It's called a WGU Degree Plan.

It is pre-populated with a standard course plan for my degree program minus the accepted transfer credits.  I am able to manipulate the order of the courses and assign a target date range for each course.  My first task was to choose the first 12 credits (but not more than 15) for my first term, set dates for each course and then have my degree plan approved by my mentor.  Then on July 1st, I had to select each course on my first term and enroll in them.

Now my first 4 courses are available to view.  On each course is a button for "Course Material" and once that button is selected you're locked into the content and exam for that course at that time.  I can hit the button on all 4 courses and study concurrently if I wish, or just work on the courses one at a time.

I am hoping to complete 6 courses in the first term, but since that's 21 credits, I was only allowed by my mentor to enroll in 15 (4 courses).  Once I complete those 4 courses, if there is still time in my term I can enroll in one additional course at a time apparently until I reach the 20th of the last month of my term, a new course cannot be activated in the last 10-11 days of a term.

My first 4 courses are Spreadsheets, Intro to IT, IT Foundations and IT Applications.  I hope to also add English Composition and Critical Thinking and Logic.  We'll see how I do.

Orientation Schmorientation

It's time to get oriented!  Full disclosure, I historically have little patience for mundane tasks.  I admit it's a personality glitch.  In the case of orientation, all the info presented I anticipated to be things I already knew from my proactive research, but I do understand function of a "required for all" orientation.

My orientation was turned on Friday morning, the 15th of the month prior to my start date.  I was so excited to dive in but dreading the hours of boring videos.  It was supposed to take an estimated 6-8 hours.  It took me 5 hours to complete, 6:30-11:30pm.  You don't have to do it all in one sitting.  It will save your place wherever you stop and there isn't a "save my place" button or anything, you can just X out.

For those wondering, it was divided into 9 modules.  The first 7 were WGU general orientation, how to find things on the website, how to modify your Degree Plan, good study habits, resources, and where to turn for help.  The 8th was program specific, in my case, about the college of IT.  I would've liked more specific info on the college, staff bios, demographic makeup of the student body, job outlook, etc.  It was pretty basic mostly covering things I already knew from my research before and during the application process.  The 9th was a wrap up.  There were some short answer and some multiple choice quizzes over the content along the way along with some "self discovery" activities.

At any rate, I'm glad it's over.  Hopefully I'll be assigned my program adviser soon so we can set my degree plan.  I'm anxious to tweak the pre-populated one that automatically appeared in my student portal.

I was notified this morning that my "Student Success Kit" shipped.  More on that when it arrives.

Dollars and Cents

First things first, I was awarded the "Women In Technology" scholarship!!!  Yay me!!!  Like most WGU scholarships, this $2,000 award directly from WGU is dispersed at $500/term over 4 terms.  I was notified via email 6 days after my phone interview with the scholarship committee representative.  The 2 factors that I suspect contributed most to this are first that I've worked in the male dominated field of IT a total of over 14 years and second that I coach a Girl Scout First Lego League robotics team, so I am passing along an interest in technology and building the next generation of technology minded women.  Yes, being a Girl Scout pays off, spread the word.

The financial aid sections of my enrollment portal finally lit up with some to do items, including setting the amount of financial aid I wish to receive.  I set it for the cost of tuition/fees, minus my scholarship, plus the cost of a new laptop.  Going forward, I will only accept financial aid for the amount of tuition and fees.  This will keep my total student loan repayment as low as possible when this is all over.

I haven't had a new PC in 8 years, and while the beast I built is still going strong for my everyday needs, it is a bit behind the times and at 70 lbs (it's a giant behemoth gaming tower), certainly is not portable.  Time for a beefed up laptop with all the modern features and enough capacity to dual boot in a different operating system if necessary for hands-on course work.  My "proctored exam station" will be my big PC in the basement.

My first 2 terms (semesters) are all financially figured out.  I am taking out in student loans the cost of the first 2 terms plus a computer.  WGU costs $3485/semester, I have $500 in scholarship and up to $3000 annual reimbursement from work for each term (one term is in 2018, the other in 2019), which covers my first two terms entirely.  At the end of my first year the only thing that will be on my student loan account will be the amount I used for a new computer.  These will certainly be the cheapest 2 terms of my college career.

Going forward into next year, term 3 will have a $500 scholarship, and I'll apply for a local $1000 scholarship, so I'll have additional loan amount of net $2-3K.  Term 4 will be a new year (2020) and will be the same as this first term, $500 scholarship and $3000 reimbursement from work.  There will be 2-3 additional terms beyond this.  I will hunt and apply for additional scholarships/grants along the way, but between WGU's low tuition, my current scholarship and $3K annual tuition reimbursement from my employer, this should be a relatively low cost investment compared to traditional Bachelors degrees and other online programs.  At this point I estimate my final net student loan due to be about $8,000.

The Intake Interview

New this week at WGU, online Intake Interviews.

This was easy and took less than 10 minutes.  It was basically a set of online forms confirming my name, dob, address, phone, email, start date, degree program, financial obligation and home technology requirements.  The final form was a little expectations "quiz," just to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into, it covered time commitment, study habits, general assessment concepts, and they give you all the answers.  Nothing to sweat at all.

My new student orientation won't be turned on until June 15th.

While I'm waiting I do need to setup my workstation at home around my desktop PC where the webcam will be setup.  This will be at my computer desk in my basement.  From what I can tell from other student vlogs, I have some rearranging to do to make my space compliant.  This is a nice video that goes through one student's experience with proctored exams.

The Scholarship Interview

Yesterday I had a phone interview with a WGU scholarship representative.  It was very similar to my application interview.  The gentleman that called was very polite and kind.  He asked several questions.

• Why are you excited about your chosen program?
• How would receiving this scholarship impact you and your family?
• Why are you passionate about women in technology?
• What skills do you have that will make you a successful WGU student?
• What are your financial plans for covering tuition?

He said that I would hear back from the scholarship review committee via email within 2 weeks whether I am awarded a scholarship or not.  He also said that most applicants don’t get phone interviews, so it’s encouraging to be included in that group.

I applied for 3 WGU scholarship opportunities:  “New Year New You”, “Women in Technology” and “Sage”.   They only award 1 scholarship per student, so if I were to be selected for more than one, they would only award the value of 1 scholarship.  All of them are $2,000 divided over 4 terms.

It's hard to say how many of each of these specific scholarships they give out in a month.  According to WGU on LinkedIn 5,706 new students started degree programs on May 1st.  As I understand it, they have about a $7,000,000 annual scholarship budget.  If evenly granted throughout the year, 7 mil divided by $2,000 is 3,500 scholarships per year, divided by 12, is about 291 scholarships given out per month to about 5% of the month's incoming class.

I guess we’ll know in less than 2 weeks. Fingers crossed!

Cha-ching!

Well, we all know college is expensive.  A bachelors degree can cost tens of thousands of dollars.  In the case of WGU, which is cheaper than most, worst case you're looking at about $28,000-$31,500 for 4-4.5 years.  It's not exactly chump change.

For comparison, my local community college is about $2,200 for a 13 credit semester.  This doesn't include books, lab fees, tech fees or online course fees.  So, for a 2 year associates degree, you're looking at at least $8,800 plus books (several hundred every semester) and the other fees, so probably close to $11,000.  Unless you're in an online course (there aren't very many) you have to drive to class and have your butt in a seat.  Most courses are during business hours and aren't conducive to non-traditional students with jobs.  The nearest 4 year university is about $3,500 for a semester plus books and other fees.  So we're back at $28,000 plus books and fees, easily another $5,000.  So around $33,000 for a bachelors degree.

Back to WGU, the cost per semester (less than $3,500) includes all materials, e-books, flashcards, CBTs, etc and there are no additional fees.  I can attend class in my pajamas on the couch, in bed, on a road trip, wherever.  The tuition is a flat fee, regardless of how many courses I choose to complete in a 6 month term.  I can take 5 courses instead of 4, or in a great term maybe 6 courses, which over time reduces the number of terms I'm paying for school.  It also includes about $2,000 worth of certification exam vouchers.

What's my bottom line?  Ultimately at this point, undefined.  But I do know this....I don't have to take 7 courses due to transfer credits, that's almost 2 terms worth that I don't have to attend.  At the moment, I'm thinking my program will take 7 terms (3.5 years), it may take less.  3.5 years = $24,500.  My employer has a great tuition reimbursement program, $3k/year, that's $12k I don't have to worry about, so we're down to $12,500.  Here's where it gets fuzzy, I have (will) applied for scholarships, about $3k worth in total, and I'll hunt for more.  If I'm fortunate enough to get them, that would take the total cost of my degree down to $9,500.  So, for somewhere between $9,500 and $12,500, I can get a bachelors degree, almost as little as a traditional associates degree would cost.

I'm not in love with the idea of $9-12k in student loans, but it sure beats $31,500.  Looking at it from the starting gate, it's a great value.  With my new skills, the return on investment should be moderately quick.  A much better picture than what faces most college graduates these days.

Happiness is Transfer Credit

I was relieved to learn that all of my general ed courses previously completed (10+ years ago) were accepted for credit at WGU.  A total of 7 courses (22 units/credits) will be wiped from my requirements, which is nearly a year worth of work I won't have to do, yay!  For anyone curious about how they evaluate transfer credits, here is the report they sent me.  I hope it's helpful.

Accepted

What a process!  I can't say it's more or less miserable than anywhere I have applied in the past.  It is what it is.  All things considered, it went pretty fast.  Stay on it, read everything, and it will go smoothly.

For those that are researching, applying for admission consisted of initially hitting the "Apply Now" button on the website and filling out all of the fields and creating an account.  There's usually some kind of promo going on to get the $65 application fee waived.  You'll be assigned an enrollment counselor, they will call you for about a 30 min chat.  They want to know about you, your background, why you're interested in their school and a particular program.  Next for the IT degree programs you must submit a resume and any certifications to see if you qualify.  Any previous official transcripts will need sent to WGU.  If you don't have an associates degree or IT certs (not sure about other degree programs), you have to pass their "readiness assessment", which consists of 4 tests:  the Admissions Inventory, Math, Language and Essay.  Based on what I've read online from reviewers, if you don't pass, they don't tell you why, but they will let you try again.

My resume/job history was sufficient to qualify me for the program, it took several days from the time I uploaded it to when I was approved in that regard.  I passed their readiness assessments, but again, it didn't tell me for several days after I completed them, that I had passed them.  It was tedious but not difficult to contact my previous colleges and have official transcripts sent to WGU.  From the time I was notified that the last was received by WGU, it took 10 days for the evaluation to come back that said what credits would be accepted.  In total it took about 3.5 weeks from my initial application to when I received notice that I was "provisionally accepted".

While all the waiting was going on, I filled out a FAFSA to see what financial aid opportunities were available and I applied for several WGU scholarships.  I have a scholarship interview scheduled for early May and my financial aid status is "in review".

I still have to complete an intake interview, then I'll be cleared for orientation and be officially accepted.

What Am I Doing?!

Oh my goodness!  At 39 I have found myself knocking on the doors of higher education, again.  Though I hold a host of credits from several institutions, I never completed a degree program.  Many things in life got in the way.  After many months pondering my current occupation, growth potential and marketability, I have come to the realization that my resume needs a bit more substance than I am able to achieve independently.

I currently work in the IT department at our local hospital.  I've been with the department for almost 10 years working my way up from the help desk to where I am today, managing, maintaining and supporting the EMR for many of the local physician practices.  I have no degree, no certifications.  Hard work, ambition and self directed learning over the years have landed me where I am today.  I enjoy my job and my co-workers, but I have 20+ years left in the workforce, and this can't be it.  To progress, I need to continue my formal education and attain industry certifications.  It's what's best for me and for my family.

After much research, I applied to Western Governors University.  The program that caught my eye is a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with an emphasis in Data Management and Data Analytics.  I've always loved spreadsheets, databases, queries and everything that can be done with them.  I believe this is a great fit for me.  It's in line with the way my mind works, and my interests.  It's also moderately future proof, setting me up with a general understanding of IT, network, security, programming languages, database management and data analytics.  As part of the degree program, many certifications are achieved as well (A+, Net+, Project+, Oracle, CIW etc).

I am a wife, mother of two, and active in the community.  Finding time for school will be a challenge.  Thankfully this is a completely online program, so I can study from anywhere anytime, though surely my study hours will be evenings and weekends.  With the help of my employer's tuition reimbursement program, the price is right.  So here I go again, back to college, with many more years of experience and life lessons under my belt, it should be an interesting ride.

I won't lie, I'm nervous.  This is a huge and expensive undertaking.  Three years of studying, flash cards, CBTs and proctored exams.  We’ll have student loans again, ugh!  I know that I want to do it, I know that I need to do it.  It's a commitment that I'm ready to make.

My purpose in writing this blog is that when I tried to research other's experiences with this degree program at WGU, I found very little information.  I'm certainly not a vlogger, writing is more my style.  So, whether you're family or friend, fellow learner, or curious about WGU and the BSDMDA program, I invite you to follow along and we'll see where this adventure takes me.  Maybe you'll drop me an encouraging message.  Maybe I'll inspire you to go back to school yourself.  Wish me luck!