Western Governors University Reviews of Master's in MBA in Healthcare Management

"I was excited to venture into a new growth opportunity, developing key aspects of management in the healthcare vein. I worked on and off in mental health and medical care for 20 years under a BS Human Services Management, which served me quite well and was required by my organizations. I started the MBA Healthcare Management program Oct 2018, graduated Dec 2019, commencement Feb 2020. I was applying for jobs in management by Sept 2019. The only downfall I have experienced is a lack of job placement. It is the end of 2020, and I STILL have not landed a position related to healthcare management that was procured as a result of the MBA degree. So, I have a student loan to pay back but no increase in pay. In fact, I have been told by more than one organization that the Administrative Fellowships are the best way to gain placement, but they have to be started within the time frame of the organization's desire (usually during 2nd term of MBA program, or within 6 months of graduating, and all of the fellowships are designed around a traditional school calendar). Since I graduated in December, and typical graduations take place in May, I was outside of the deadline. Job placement has been difficult. EVERY organization seeks experience over education, or places a heavier weight on real life experience. You can see proof of this in job descriptions where you are now told the years of experience that equate to a particular degree. So, I would recommend gaining experience while earning the MBA, or you may find yourself with a degree for which you are proud, but also a degree that brings nothing firm to the table. WGU career placement is non-existent, in case you were hoping the stats were high. Good Luck! Graduating was my greatest achievement besides my children, but it did not land me a job. I would make sure that you pursue experience over a degree, if you can only do one of them."

"This has been one of the best decisions I have made in my education career thus far. I love that WGU calls in to check on my progress and is always readily available to answer any questions I may have. I am just now starting the program (March of 2020) and have been thoroughly impressed with the teaching style, availability of support, and relevance of the topics to real-world experiences. I am a full-time administrative leader for a hospital and I am able to complete everything at my own pace. I could not recommend this experience enough."

"I have been a student at 5 other schools of higher learning. Though I felt that some of them truly cared about my success they all were very much geared towards their schedule, their pride, their dollars, and their quota of students. I have used many writing labs, student mentors, and many class secretaries. When I went back for my MBA in Healthcare Management I had a terrible taste in my mouth from my last experience at Grad school. They treated me like a fundraiser, lied to my over and over. All I can say is that WGU has blown me away with every experience. I am paying 4200 a semester and I am gonna finish early. I don't have to wait weeks for papers or tests to come back. I don't have to deal with completely incompetent writing lab people. I don't have to fight with professors. I don't have to fight with other students on projects. I was struggling on an assignment turned in a paper and it came back for a rewrite. The professor called me on her personal cell, walked me through the rewrite, and asked me to not give on myself. She gave me a pep talk. Why can't other schools be like that. I have been told off before for asking professors questions about tests, papers, assignments, deadlines, etc. WGU is by far the best school for me. About me: Full time night shift RN. 5 kids. Sole provider. I do class when I have time, not when school has the time. The classes are no joke. Hard as any other classes I have taken, but interesting and well supported with extra resources if I am in a funk."

"For me WGU was a terrific experience. I started on my Bachelors degree in Health Informatics on 7/1/2016 and was able to complete it within 10 months. I then began my Masters degree in Healthcare Management exactly one year after I began the Bachelors degree on 7/1/2017 and completed it on 12/18/2018. Both my mentors, one for each degree, were wonderful and tremendously helpful when I needed it but didn't smother me with attention when I didn't. WGU is extremely affordable and VERY invested in students doing well. If you are a self-starter, and you know if you are or not, then this is the university for you. If you need the conformity of a traditional brick and mortar with instructors that hand hold you every step then you should look elsewhere. This is a university for adults who are clearly motivated to succeed and will put in the time and effort. The competency format is exceptional and testing as well as text is included in the cost. For the right personality I cannot recommend this enough. However, this is NOT for someone who just left high school with little to no experience in the working world and without an associates degree. This is for mature individuals who have a lifetime of experience on which to draw."

"Not impressed with WGU at all. This was the first time I did all online schooling after getting my bachelors at University of Miami. Almost every paper was returned for revision and it was frustrating because evaluators would contradict themselves in their critique. They would dumb you down in your writing skills. If you didnt write this is my answer because of this reason, they wouldnt be able to understand your actual answer and say you didnt write it in the paper. In all my years of schooling, this is the opposite of how they teach you to write. The price shows the quality of the program, and I regret not spending more money getting an actual education."

"WGU is an exemplary University. I have achieved so far 3 degrees (one bachelors and 2 masters) from this university. They are technologically very savvy, when it comes to online education. They are truly a best fit for all the full time employees, who wishes to pursue their degree online. On that same note, they are definitely for students who are self motivated and with good study ethics.They are extremely reasonable on their fee structure and you have the ability to advance at your earliest pace. I was able to finish my masters in nursing within less than 6 months, and my MBA less than 1 year. I am just disappointed that they don't have any doctorate program in nursing. Their education is superior, just because the student can advance faster, does not mean the education is any easier. Because of WGU, I am able to excel in my career. The mentors, whether it be student mentors or course mentors, they are extremely helpful and understanding. They are never condescending or short with the student. I recommend this University for everyone that are dedicated, self motivated, and has good study ethics. Thank You WGU, Please consider Doctorate programs."

"I loved my entire WGU experience. I had the best student mentor who I spoke with weekly. He always motivated me and pushed me to do my best. Because he was so great, i didn't want to let him down, so i pushed forward even when i wasn't self-motivated to do so. I earned my MBA-HM degree in 13 months while staying at home with my infant daughter. I paid less than $9,000 for my masters. I was also able to find great support groups through facebook. All of these things made my experience so enjoyable and before i knew it, i was done. I chose WGU for my masters not only because of its affordability, but mostly because there are so many positive student reviews. I knew that i wanted 100% online, accredited, self-paced and affordable. After a few searches i found WGU. I then looked at this site and all social media outlets for reviews on the school. There were so many positive reviews that i was blown away. I couldn't be happier that i chose to enroll. It truly has been a great experience from start to finish. I finished my capstone on a Tuesday, submitted my graduation paperwork on Wednesday, and my diploma was in my mail box on Monday. That is unheard of and for someone like me, who loves instant gratification, it was great to receive that little piece of paper in the mail so soon."

"The school is awesome hands down.....I had great student mentor and never had any issues what so ever......I'm only here on this thread because I wanted to know what the nursing students have to say because I'm considering WGU nursing program.....I got my MBA there but wanted to branch into nursing with my Healthcare management degree.......,"

"I am currently progressing through the MBA Healthcare degree. Overall, I have enjoyed the program (approximately 70% complete). The coursework is good and I have been challenged by the papers and tests. Honestly my only complaint is the mentor program. My mentor is pretty incompetent, is confused on almost every one of our calls (she never recalls information, what we are following up on, etc). I really dislike the requirement of weekly update calls with a mentor; can be moved to bi-weekly after first term but still dislike it. I am 32 and in a professional position in my career. I do not need required reoccurring calls with an incompetent mentor! Program has threatened to move me to an "inactive" status TWICE because my mentor cannot schedule / plan calls."

"I agree with most of the positive reviews of the program, but everyone learns differently, and online learning may not be suitable for some. The one thing that some people wrongly assume is that just because it's online means that its easy. This is not true. Completing the program takes a lot of time and dedication, especially if you are already working full time, have a family, etc. As others have stated, no one is there to hold your hand like an infant, meaning, everything is not 100% spelled out step by step for you. They do however offer FAQ documents, videos that clarify each assignment, multiple live learning sessions, email access to course mentors, and course completion guides that offer suggestions for what pace you need to work at to complete your assignments for the semester. There is quite a bit of self research required in the MBA program that I am in, which to me it seems like the research is what took up most of my time. The grading is fair, the rubric breaks down every part of the assignments, and shows how they will be assessed so there should be no surprises there. Its a great program and besides learning so much, the price is very reasonable. Especially since you have the option to work ahead and complete your degree in a shorter amount of time if you are able."

"I am an MBA -Healthcare Management student at WGU. currently I am work song on my last class before possible graduation, the capstone. Like a good student I looked into the requirements of the capstone and started some things early. Name the part where WGU requires you to get a sign off from a third party, a business, that gives a "real world business problem" to solve and wrote about for your last 20 page business report. Because of the verbiage on this form I have an incredibly hard and long journey to get this form signed. As a healthcare management major my sign off must come from a business who can give me a healthcare related. Part of the form states that the person signing it must represent the organization in this matter and that the powers that be of that organization have reviewed and approved the document. This is where the major problem lies. Basically an executive level healthcare professional must sign off on this form. After three months of phone calls and in person meetings guess how many signatures I got? ZERO. It seems that as a student that just wants to take up there time zero people in professional healthcare arenas are interested in anything a student has to offer, because basically to them I am a nobody. I don't blame them either. So I contacted WGU with my dilemma. They said that I could do a healthcare styles project for a non healthcare business as long as the business problems was healthcare related. After that I got a signature within the week. I got verbally approval for my specific project from the professor and started to work on the 20 page business report. Then an email came form my professor stating my project could not be approved because it wasn't healthcare enough. I amended my problem statement to make it more related to healthcare. Still disapproved. I appealed and still disapproved. So now I have ZERO OPTIONS!!! The requirement of WGU to garner the willingness, cooperation, time, and executive level signature from a third party that is in no way affiliated with the college or the student in order to graduate is preposterous! I may not graduate now. And not because I'm not smart enough or won't work hard enough. But because I can't get the right sign off and business problem from executive level healthcare professional that don't have time for a student they don't even know. Furthermore, the unprofessionalism of a doctorate holding professor in approving and then disapproving a project is astoundingly ridiculous to stay the least. My entire program up until this point has been great. But after this, I CAN NO LONGER RECOMMEND WGU AS A COLLEGE ANYONE SHOULD GO TO! In all fairness perhaps I would recommend WGU to my worst enemy......."