Western Governors University Reviews of Master's in Nursing

"I love that WGU is knowledge-based. My higher education allows me to do what I want to do ~ Teach! And I did not break the bank getting my Masters. I did my research: I looked up their accreditation, cost, and time requirements to complete my degree. Honestly, I couldn't ask for anything better."

"This is by far one of the worst schools. I absolutely would not recommend this school to anyone. What the school is good for is if you have a lot of time you could potentially complete this program very quickly and cheaply. You won't learn much by doing this, but that is the main benefit of using this program. Otherwise the school is worthless. The learning is 100% online and supposedly guided. However you won't find things you need for assessments and exams to be anywhere within the course learning modules. The grading is poor at best and inconsistent. When you graduate, if you would like to transfer your credits, a credit is worth a b letter grade as a transfer. However, it will nitpick your paper apart for the smallest things. If you submit a paper last minute they will return it to you just so that you have to pay for the course again the next semester. I've turned the exact same paper that didn't pass one semester in the next semester and it passed with no issues. The last paper of my program was returned to me for five grammar errors in a 60 page paper. Not really sure how that's not at least worth a b. This school is a joke."

"When I first looked into Western Governors University, I thought it must be a scam. There is no way that you would get any educational value out of a school that doesn't have a teacher breathing fire down your neck at every opportunity. As a graduate I can say that the competency based model was right up my alley. Not only that, I started in Mid 2019 - you guessed it - and the COVID pandemic put a monkey wrench in everything. As a nurse, my work hours went up and sanity went down. The fact that I didn't have to pull out my hair at 11pm on Sundays trying to answer discussion questions about topics that I care about (adjacent), is probably the sole reason I was able to complete the program through the crazy. Don't get me wrong, I worked HARD. I did lots of research and turned in multiple 25+ page papers, my capstone and the works. I just didn't have to do it on anyone else's schedule and that made the difference. My mentor was amazing and motivated me the entire way (I quit in my head over 100 times). Word of warning: you have to be self motivated. Not being on a schedule means just that. There are also no "classmates" but you can satisfy your need for social interaction/some help on WGU groups on social media. The material was exactly what I was working on at work so it was directly applicable and relevant in my case. Also, now that I am an alumni, I still get access to the same resources I had in school (LinkedIn Learning, EDX etc). Highly recommend."

"I would not recommend WGU for anyone pursuing a Masters in Nursing Education. It is entirely online. No instruction except some recorded cohorts with details about the assessment papers that sometime contradict the actual instructions. Evaluation of the papers submitted are based entirely on compliance with APA (mistype the name of an author once or the year of publication…it will be returned not competent even if everything else is perfect) and whether you can repeat back the wording of the prompts enough. There is no constructive feedback. Submit a 50+ page paper and it will be deemed competent or not. No way to know whether it was just okay or really good."

"Honestly, I have many reasons that I would not recommend WGU to individuals seeking an advanced degree in nursing. First, the program claims to provide constructive credit for your work and prior education, but that is not true for nursing education. I was already working in nursing education and had completed the course work on my Doctorate of Education, and WGU did not provide me one hour of credit. The only credit I think is possible is maybe to an NP for the physical exam class. So, basically, be prepared to pay for the full program. If you are an independent learner, the mentor will ignore you and not provide you with the information you need, especially when it benefits the program. For example, I was not told that I needed to submit the final two classes several months before the term ended to ensure that all the corrections were completed in time. The term ended on October 31st, and I took a week of leave to complete the last two courses. After my submission, I was locked out of the submissions until I enrolled for another semester. I contacted the instructor, and she inquired why I did not file for an extension. When I told her that I was not aware that I needed to, I figured that my submission would be graded once I submitted the paper before the end of the term. I also reached out to my mentor and asked why she did not make me aware of the extension process and needed to turn it in early to ensure it was completely graded even though I had emailed her earlier in the month, letting her know that I was working on the final paper. She basically responded that since I had not communicated with her every week, she did not feel the need to inform me. Finally, I had to pay over 2,000 dollars to be part-time my final term to have the program grade my final submission. Then when I finally got my final grade on December 25th it took WGU almost another month to get my final transcript and diploma to me. I have much more to say about WGU but time and space do not permit. My suggestion is to find another online university that is more open to getting a degree. I know I wish I had."

"This school is a joke! WGU is for true online learners who want NO instruction, which can be great.... But the annoying part is they make it mandatory to speak with your course instructor (so they can justify paying them I guess). When you get on the phone with them, they sit there in silence and act like the call is a big bother to them until they finally say, "So, do you have any questions?" Why make the call mandatory if they have nothing to offer the student? Once in a while you will have a paper returned for revision, which you also need to reach out to your instructor before you can re-submit. Same story. You ask them to review the paper, they tell you it looks good, yet the paper still gets returned for another revision. The course instructors are useless. They should make the people who grade the papers be the instructors since apparently they know more than the so called instructors."

"I really enjoyed the BSN to MSN Nursing Leadership and Management program. There were alot of papers with weekly calls from my mentor. The fact that you can work at your own pace is a PLUS! Under 10,000 for my degree and possibly could have completed in one semester. The semesters are 6 months long. This program teaches you to not procrastinate. The heavy research of the papers prepared me alot! If I had to do it all over again WGU is at the top of the list! Cons competency based. So there is no letter grades. Pros there are alot of colleges that accepts WGU classes. I had no problem with my classes transferring. No regrets! Future AGPCNP"

"WGU is a great school. The classes are online and organized well. The classes are rigorous and require a lot of work. The program is self-paced, so you are able to graduate sooner if you can finish the classes faster. The standard MSN program takes two years."

"My daughter used WGU for a masters in business. She completed the course in six months and loved it. She persuaded me to finish my masters in nursing education. I have only a couple of classes left to complete and wonder what I am doing. None of the classes have provided me with the information on how to teach nursing students. I am given theory but no examples of practical application. I have written papers and more papers that have taken a great deal of time and effort. I have read every word of every chapter or article that has been assigned. I was committed to learning and this education. Now so close to the end I am considering dropping out. How can I teach when I have not been given the tools to do so. I feel like I have been given a huge heavy tool box but when I open it there is nothing inside. It is not because I have not chosen to learn. I spend around 35-40 hours a week studying, reading and writing. Still I don't feel I could teach nursing students. I don't mind the assessment process other than it is much too long. Three days for a working nurse is just too long. My mentor was great at the beginning but I have not talked to her but once in the last 8 weeks. When I would email a question I would get the standard response of I am out of the office your questions are important to me. I will get back with you. Then nothing or you get the standard call student services or the writing desk. No effort was taken to find out what the problem really was. To say the least I am disappointed and would not recommend this program."

"I have mixed feelings about WGU's program. I have attended other online education which require posting to boards, but this has a mentor call you and they want to contact you weekly. That has proven difficult with my current role. I am greatly disappointed with the curriculum however. This program provides education for advanced practice nursing more than leadership and management. My mentor tells me that more leadership comes in the final classes, but literally what I read, what the instructors say during cohorts is that this will help me as an advanced practice nurse. I already have worked as a nurse manager and director, so I know what education would be helpful. The APN information is not. Financial information would prove far more beneficial for me personally. Based on curriculum for people who want to be nurse leaders, I would not recommend this university."

"I have attended traditional brick and mortar universities as well as taken online classes. I would never recommend anyone to WGU. The MSN program is based on mostly writing papers. The rubrics and evaluations are solely based on answering very specific questions. I have altered my writing style to make sure I answer only what is being asked so that the evaluators give credit for very section. Any creative processes you might have should be thrown out of the window. The coursework is repetative and they may require a paper and a video assessment discussing the paper's content. I can accept feedback so the task evaluations don't bother me but having to rephrase the same sentences to receive credit does. I never, not once, read any of their material or assignments. The program allows you to open a course and write the paper to receive credit. The Mentors are basically cheerleaders and if you require someone to motivate you and have scheduled phone meetings for a degree at this stage in your career that's sad. Talking to your Mentor is required and I spent 5 minutes biweekly saying "everything is good and no help is needed", seemed like a waste of resources and time. WGU is preferred if you just want the MSN after your name. Dont expect to learn any6and definately be prepped for frustration over coursework and redundancy. There is a Health Assessment course that refers to you as the APN for a patient. Not sure why I had to pretend to be an APN and do a head to toe. A pharmacology course that asks during a test questions specific to being an APN and writing orders. It felt like they pieced classes together to make up a MSN program."

"I absolutely love WGU! It's competency-based model is perfect for students who already have a foundation in the area of study. It cuts out all the unnecessary time spent studying something you're already competent in, plus it's super affordable! I completed my BSN in 2 terms (12 months) and then completed my MSN in 1 term (6 months)."

"I enrolled in the Master of Nursing Education based on the affordability and a few verbal recommendations from coworkers. I found the program to be very unorganized and did not find any of the promises of having so many resources available to me true at all. The grading of the papers was a complete joke. They must be written to answer the questions from the rubric in chronological order. There is no flow whatsoever. I found this style of writing extremely odd and unconventional. I withdrew from the program and did a lot more research finding another program which I currently am enrolled in and find much more organized. I found WGU to be very frustrating. My mentor did not know how to answer many of the questions I had and she had been mentoring for several years. If you want the degree without learning ways to become a great instructor, then this program is for you."

"Outstanding program overall. There are issues with graders, who don't work for WGU, contradicting each other within the same paper and triggering a revision on APA rules that don't exist. But overall the content is well thought out and focused well for an MSN in Leadership and Management. I have a significant background in this area and felt the coursework tied in well to what I was doing at work at the time. The grading process can be frustrating which I think causes a lot of the negative reviews on this website. There is some redundancy within assignments which could be improved on. The web interface works well, as do the online books and their library. For the money, WGU can't be beat. I got far more out of it than what I paid."

"I am not new to online learning. I received my BSN online from a very reputable state medical college which prepared us to go into their MSN program. WGU has been a major headache from the very beginning. I am self pay so I was not held up starting due to financial aid. I was held up in the beginning due to incompetence of the enrollment counselor or having to do more than one person should be doing. The MSN program has been a joke. An instructor does not grade your work. An evaluator grades your work. If you do not say exactly what is on their sheet of paper to grade by, your paper will be returned for revision. Any papers you write would not be accepted anywhere else. If you do a PowerPoint, you still have to write an essay in the speaker notes. Speaker notes are for the speaker and is not supposed to be an essay. The redundancy in the projects is ridiculous. A paper will never flow correctly. Being required to turn in crappy work has been one of my biggest pet peeves. I learned WGU evaluators do not consider a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist to be human. I still have not figured that one out. One evaluator does not comprehend that mental illness is an illness and the lack of available beds is a community problem. When you get to the end of the program, there are no words for the frustration and stupid I have run into. Would I recommend WGU? NO I will be happy to be finished very soon. I will then be able to go back to writing correctly, doing a presentation correctly, and preparing business reports and proposals correctly. If my grammar is poor or there is redundancy please forgive me. I have written too many papers for WGU courses lately."

"I did the Master's degree in Nursing Informatics in 6 months, spent about 6 hours a day doing it and 8 hours on the weekends. For me it worked well and I enjoyed the content. I felt it was very organized and I always had prompt reply with any issues or questions. I would recommend this school to everyone. With this degree I am now excepted into a DNP program. Thanks WGU!"

"I have been in the MSNed program for 7 months and so far I have been very pleased with the quality of the coursework and the resources provided. If you are new to online classes, you may consider taking an online class through your community college first to see if they are right for you. Keep in mind that WGU is competency based learning so even in comparison to other online course work, this is much more independent. You dont do a lot of discussion groups or assignments through out each class. You are basically reading the course material and then doing a paper, project, or sometimes a test. It is self paced so you have to be motivated and get things done. It is also great for people who have jobs and families and need to be able to work on school work around life. I always see nurses complaining that they dont learn anything when going back for a BSN or MSN. If you arent learning, it is your fault! You will get out of these assignments what you put into them. If you seek out new information you will learn!"

"I would not recommend WGU. This school sounds great at first based on price and time. That's what I thought at first however, no one told me how unorganized and how inappropriate the amount of work there is. First they begin you with a leadership communication class that everyone is mandated to take, it is a live cohort class that meets every week, twice a week for two hours and the only available times are based off the instructors schedule. This means it can vary from each week. It is not geared towards full time employees, they don't take in consideration of the time zone changes. this is just the very first class, might I add how they also claim to be designed for full working/ family men and women. This is untrue they are very strict and not flexible with hours. Most of the "credits" or CUs do not transfer to any other school which they claim they do. Also, once you get into the real courses the instructions are very unclear and most are hidden within the course that makes you find them. They aren't teaching you be better writers, they have your numerous papers sent to a third party to "unbiased" grade it. They literally have a rubric in front of them and they are skimming your paper to look for keywords. If those keywords are clearly stated (which they aren't in the task instructions) they will reject your paper. It's frustrating because you're not being graded on the content of your paper rather than the keywords. these aren't just 3-4 page papers either, these are 15 page research that require so much time and hard work and it doesn't matter. Plus I think the amount of these papers are disproportionate especially at the undergrad level."

"I'm only a third of the way through the program and the only reason I'm struggle through trying desperately to finish is that my hospital is picking up most of my tuition. This program is only for those who need the letters after your name, nothing else. You would think this program is still in development by the inconsistencies and general vagueness that all communications from the university and course documents are written in. The first course alone had 3 different instruction sets for the final paper, which really cannot be define as a paper but rather 4 writing assignment chopped together with an introduction and a conclusion, and then it had a totally different set of parameters being used to grade it on the grading rubric. Everything within the course of studies for the classes are hard to find and unorganized, and this is somebody whose taken online classes before for higher certifications. Other colleges may require more discussion boards and time consuming busy work, which WGU does not, but I would still say explore those other options."

"I cannot award enough praise to WGU and the online program offered. It is defin the best bang for your buck and in addition you can go as slow or as fast of a pace as you wish/have time for! The Program Mentors can be described best as your coach or cheerleader throughout the program. You will get the sense that you are the most important student to them. The Class Instructor Mentors were wonderful, approachable, knowledgeable and very helpful in any situation. They offer Webinars that feel like you are in class when you actually are sitting home all cozy in your jammies! Oh yes, and the Webinars are optional. You can choose to watch recordings of them anytime at your leisure. I gave them 5 stars because they offered great payment plans. Again, financial department excellant, library excellant.....you get the idea. :-)"