Western Governors University Reviews of Master's in Education

I am so disappointed with the school. Enrollment counselors will say anything to get you to enroll, including "don't worry about paying now". The assigned mentor - I still don't know what their purpose is with the program. She has been on vacation more than working. Don't get me started on financial services: they gave me a bunch of terms, of which they assumed I knew about. The added stress from FS when your account is past due is pathetic. Enrollment counselors ( I have had 6) recommened different... Read More scenarios. IT system Info on the website is out-of-date and frustrating to maneuver. Most instructors could not care about your progress and you never hear from them. The only good part is experienced is the school is competency-based, meaning you could finish the entire program in less than a year, some even less than 6 months. NO, I do not recommend this place.

I chose WGU because it was the best option for my life. My husband is in the military and moving around is a constant thing we have to deal with. WGU has been great because it let me work at my own pace. I liked that I had the freedom to finish as many classes as I could in a term. During my last term with WGU I have found to really dislike the many “support systems” offered. As WGU required, my mentor had to call me once a week or once every other week. They were pointless calls 99% of the time.... Read More I would have preferred to schedule a call if I needed to talk about something. Or communicate through email. At one point I took a three month term break and I still had to do bi weekly phone calls! I didn’t even have courses! Why would they need to talk to me? It was very monotonous. When it came to the student teaching portion of my program I got very frustrated with the way everything had to be handled. My placement coordinator demanded that I not speak to any districts in regards to placement. This was a WGU policy. I waited four months to get a placement in a classroom. She would email a district and wait an entire week before checking in with them again. After three weeks she’d finally cut her losses and move on to the next district. One district at a time rather than multiple. The field experience staff at WGU worked slow and poorly to get my placement in time. Luckily, on the LAST DAY POSSIBLE, I received a placement. Had I not received a placement I would have had to entirely withdraw from WGU and reapply in august which would push my graduation from June to December. I love that WGU is supposed to be geared towards students who want to work at their own pace and offer flexibility, but I can’t stand the way the school support systems are ran. Weekly phone calls are not flexible. You really have to be in control of your entire timeline because your mentor won’t be.

You get the education you pay for. If you are looking for something cheap and fast, this is the school for you. If you are looking for a quality education that will help you succeed in your future career, this is not for you. If you like templates and mass emails this is for you, If you like like a personal experience, skip this one. While I got the degree, I am really behind the eightball in relation to my new peers who got a more quality education. You decide what is best for you. I am now going... Read More back and taking additional classes to help me succeed.

I already had my BSN and always wanted to get my MSN to have more options in future. I decided to go with WGU because of mainly two reasons. First, it's competency based. Second, I knew I would commit myself to study one or two hours a day even after a long hard work day. To sum up, if you're a student who waits until the end of a semester, it's not the school for you. I worked full-time, studied 15-18 hours a week, and finished BSN to MSN-Education in 10.5 months. The main thing is to do the work... Read More every day! I have to say that the entire course is very, very writing intensive and you have to follow exact rubric instructions to do well. Don't worry because WGU has a wonderful support system as long as you're willing to do your part. Good luck on your journey!

Overall, WGU is a great school that has the benefits of an "at your pace" class setting with flexibility and financially affordable degrees. My biggest complaint is the lack of rigor for most of the courses. With the requiring pass rate at 60% for the majority of the courses, and without a grade system to hold students accountable or push them to gain adequate knowledge pertaining to a course, it is easy to skate by in the classes. For some that may be seen as a benefit but for others that want to... Read More have trust in what other peers are gaining from classes (especially when those are learning nursing/medical fields), it seems lacking.

My experience has been positive, though I agree with other reviewers that WGU is not for everyone. College isn't for everyone, either, but if you are considering an online program it is probably important to note some of the differences between virtual and brick-and-mortar venues. Each has its pros and cons, many of which have been tallied in other posts so I won't repeat them. I would, however, like to add value to this thread by commenting on the nature of WGU's programs as being "competency-based."... Read More This is an important element and it took two master's degrees for me to really appreciate it. In 2013, I began and completed an MSN. I did this in one semester by reading, writing, taking tests, and studying 8 to 12 hours most days. I don't recommend this, as it's fairly obsessive, exhausting, and has side effects like ending personal relationships. My point being that it can be done, but it takes a lot of focus, self-motivation, and established competencies in the field of study. After completing my MSN, I began an MBA program. I no longer had 8 or more hours a day to devote to school, but I still put in the recommended 15 to 20 hours a week. It has taken me the full two years to complete the MBA on this schedule, but my background and competencies were in patient care and not business... so this makes sense. Having completed an associates, two bachelors, and a clinical doctorate at brick-and-mortar schools, and now two masters degrees online, I will say that I consider the online venue slightly superior. The education seems equivalent and I don't have to travel or circle for parking. You do indeed get out of it what you put in, but ask yourself what you want out of a degree. If you intend to network, then brick-and-mortar may be better with Ivy league being ideal. If you just want knowledge, then the Internet is likely all you need. I will also say that WGU, while excellent, has all the bureaucracy of any other university. That being said, I would absolutely recommend it if you have the time, motivation, and skill set to succeed.

I completed WGU's Teacher Preparation Program as the university was becoming a state university in Indiana, and then re-enrolled in the MS Curriculum & Instruction program in 2011. After having attended traditional universities, I found the freedom from rigid schedules to be incredibly refreshing. As states in other reviews, many courses are made up of a testing portion and a series of essays called "tasks". As with any coursework, you will get out what you put into the program. I found the structure... Read More and coursework to be as engaging and and informative as any previous instruction that I had received at two traditional universities beforehand. My key to success at WGU was that I was able to continue at my current job, have time for my family, and still work toward my degree. Another key benefit of WGU is the ability to work at your own pace. Some weeks you may have a lot of time to devote to studies, while others you may have no time at all. At WGU, you can still achieve your goal as long as you complete all of your coursework within the assigned six month term. If you finish early, it is easy to open a new class and work ahead! In order to keep students motivated, WGU utilizes course mentors and student mentors to maintain contact with students. Mentors create "communities", which are essentially chat rooms for students to communicate and help each other work through problems. Mentors will also provide insight as needed on the chatrooms, so help is never more than a few clicks away. Overall, if I had it all to do over again, I would have saved my money and attended WGU from the beginning. Cons: The only real problem that I ran into at WGU was that there isn't a lot of guidance at the end of the program. For example, my bachelor's coursework culminated in a student teaching capstone. Although I knew it was coming up, and I asked my mentor several times for information, it wasn't brought to my attention that I would need to complete all classes AND have all paperwork from an assigned school 8 months in advance until only 2 weeks before the deadline! WGU did work with me, and everything turned out fine. However, all could have been avoided with a little more transparency. I had a similar experience during my master's program when working on my master's thesis. I completed several classes ahead of time so that I could spend the final semester working on nothing but the thesis. I spoke with my mentor several times about my plan. He approved. When it came to my final semester, however, I received a letter stating that I would not receive full time status. It meant I would have to pay the tuition out of pocket. It wasn't a big deal because we had money set aside, but it could have been catastrophic if we didn't. Again, some forethought by any of the mentors could have prevented a stressful situation. Although I was upset at the time that these events occurred, I must say that I was contacted by the university on both occasions. An administrator took the time to make sure that he understood my situation, and I received a series of emails and phone calls explaining how the university was improving the student experience based on my communications. Try finding that type of student service at your traditional institution.