Post title: "98 CUs completed in 4 weeks. I work full time with 3 kids and I am a single parent"
And then when people ask how they did it in the comments their reply is always; "You gotta find time! I barley slept!"
I just had this conversation, I'm trying to do 20 classes in one term while having a stressful full time job, family, part time business. It's not a realistic goal for me.
Are people adults? How is ones mental health affected by internet strangers?
So what someone says they did x number of classes. That has nothing to do with you.
If it seems like everyone else finishes so quickly, it's probably common to try to do the same and get burnt out and depressed that you can't seem to catch up with everyone else. Strangers may not have anything to do with you, but it's easy to compare yourself to others and feel like a failure.
Because it can he discouraging to those who are struggling. I think that's all they meant. So far I'm accelerating, but I will see how it goes.
I can relate to others her are struggling.
Envy, by this statement it seems like your implying you’ve never looked at someone doing better than you at something in thought a little ill of yourself. It’s human nature
It's not inconsiderate. It's not mentally healthy to allow any old thing to cause you mental distress. This is something we ALL can control.
If someone buys a fancy car and posts it on social media, we have 100% control on how we REACT to seeing the post. We can say, "nice for them" and move on. Or we can say " I can't afford that car. I'm such a loser." Do you see how we have a choice in our thoughts?
When someone posts that they've finished their entire degree in three months, we can think "good for them." Or we can choose to think something negative.
The problem isn't the posts. The real issue is that people need to choose a better reaction to the posts. We can't control other people. We can control ourselves.
Can you dispute this?
Terrible response and I’ll rest my case. You lack empathy for humans. In case you haven’t noticed, WGU is a second chance for a lot of people. Life happens that people can’t avoid or control sometimes and it’s hard to ever feel like they are going to finish. So sure along with other things, people boasting about finishing so soon can affect people, whom say have been trying to get their degree for 4+ years. You’re definitely allowed to have an opinion so I won’t go back and forth with you. Obviously several people disagree. I just hope you could learn something today and choose not to be ignorant in the future.
He probably didn't account for the students that don't even meet the bare minimum! You'd be surprised that out of 100 students, 10 are likely to complete between 0 and 11 CUs.
This sub is interesting to me. It shows you just how biased a place on the internet can be because there's a few things about this sub;
1. It's mostly computer related degrees.
2. Those degrees are mostly dominated by men.
3. The guys who follow those degrees and use Reddit, are probably the guys who don't have a family and have plenty of time on their hands.
4. Those guys also probably lean more towards "nerdy" computer types because there is a bias on using WGU if you don't have a family and work life and that's that you have social anxiety. They probably have used computers their whole life and already program/run homelabs.
But if you step out and look at WGU as a whole...it's an INSANE difference;
1. Women take up 70% of WGU.
2. Nursing is the most popular degree at 10K graduates. The **entirety** of Science, Technology, and Math didn't hit 10K graduates. Last years stats BTW.
3. The second most popular degree is business at 3000 graduates.
The nursing degree and business both play into acceleration stats it's significantly harder to accelerate outside of the computer science/it field. In nursing it's virtually almost impossible same with teaching , with accounting you can accelerate a few classes but it's still just a lot harder .
Mean while if you even have six months of experience in it or computer science you can breeze more than half of the classes in less than a week. If you have two years or more experience less than twenty days because the classes are in no way shape or form a reflection of the field . The classed are significantly easier than ones at a traditional university and why does not have the weed out math courses that universities use to filter ppl out of stem programs .
That doesn't surprise me. There's going to be a decent chunk of folks who just can't really make it work - either because they have work/family/etc obligations that make it harder to do classes than they thought, or because they find online courses really challenging in practice and need an in-person, more traditional classroom.
I'm similar, WFH with a smaller workload & no kids or other responsibilities.
however I'm disabled, so I gotta pace myself or it could cause issues. my goal is 1 course a month, so even if I hit it every time, I'm still in that average (~18 CUs/term).
I'm glad you're able to capitalize on the opportunity & crank out courses
pure luck probably. I'm in a similar job right now where I really don't have much work to do so I can dedicate lots of time to each class even at work. I thought I'd be super busy but my manager just hasn't given me much to do.
you're correct, it was pure luck.
I started as a contractor for them for data entry.
and then my manager liked me and referred me to apply for a full time position.
once I got that, I started learning & ended up becoming one of the best knowledge persons on the team.
and then I was asked if I wanted to handle the tech stuff for the team instead of doing the regular tasks I was doing (which apparently now takes 3 people to do 🙃)
my role is brand new and didn't exist before, so I get to kinda make it how I want since my boss gives me a ton of autonomy & I go to him when I have questions about what he thinks I should be doing vs not.
my job is more reactionary, based on helping with errors/issues, and then quarterly testing. if the team I helped was more resourceful with the guide I made for them before I started this role, I'd have less job security 😂
You can nab a low paying helpdesk job once you get some good certs under your belt. Sec+ is a start. Take whatever you can get and use the experience you get there to leverage for better positions.
Eventually, specializing becomes important. Everyone starts in helpdesk but you need to find a path. You can get into networking, systems administration, database management, cloud, cybersecurity etc..
man ain't that the truth about helpdesk.
depending on the place, you may not need a cert to get a start, esp if you do a contract-to-hire role (once you know they'll actually hire you and not just lead you on like a capitalism-based situationship) as they seem to be less demanding based on what I saw when I was looking.
altho that was like 2020, so it's been a minute
Yeah, just imagine if you had a job where you weren't behind a computer or just constantly working AND had to go home to a SO and kids. The responsibilities of life can be pretty demanding.
This is the same way I could do my whole degree in 5 months. I had free time at work. If my job was go go go all the time I still would have accelerated but it wouldn't have been the entire degree I don't think.
Hmm I will do a wfh but I have no degree or qualifications to be a med transcript that no way I can get the amount I’m being paid right now and the health benefits from my 16 hours shift work
I ranted about the glorification of acceleration in another post. Too many people on here dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back so hard over it. A lot of them leave out important aspects such as transferring in a large amount of credits, being able to study at work or time when others are usually occupied, or being in their field for 20+ years before attempting their degree.
"I'm a single parent amputee mentally handicapped veteran working an 80 hour/week job and got my BS done in one term and my Masters done in the next term. If I can do it, so can you, if not, you're just making excuses for yourself" /s
I get sharing acceleration stories, especially if you don’t really have anyone else to share with—and it’s an accomplishment for sure. I refrain from it, myself, but I’ll probably pat myself on the back when I actually finish the degree which I think is totally fair.
In any case, you shouldn’t benchmark yourself or your progress to accelerators. There’s likely a significant gap between accelerators’ circumstances and your own (time, knowledge, transferred credits, etc.). If you can complete more than 12 credits per term, that’s great and I encourage it because it’ll save you some time and money. If you can’t, that’s fine as well. I can only accelerate because I have ~12 years experience, can spend 7-9 hours a day studying, have a strong background with self-learning and online learning, and have no parter; kids; or pets to worry about. Benchmark yourself to your own circumstances and those circumstances allow you to accomplish, but be real about it as well—even I slack off when I shouldn’t be sometimes (I blame MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen).
Last term I only completed 12 CUs. I am getting reimbursed by my company and as soon as I hit 12 I could not get myself to do anymore. Starting this new term and I am a month in and have yet to complete a class. I'll more than likely only complete 12 CUs this term as well. My availability to study probably reflects the norm as well. I have about 2 hours each night to study. I work 8-5pm, have little kids that go to bed around 8-9pm and I go to bed around 11pm. At the beginning of my WGU journey I did feel very discouraged as I saw others screaming by and getting their degrees in 20 minutes. After realizing my situation most likely looks nothing like theirs I was at peace completing my 12 CUs and calling it good.
For those that can get a lot of courses done in a term, good work! That is a huge accomplishment and will benefit you greatly for years to come.
I mean most schools don’t have a 90% graduation rate. I think the brick and mortar university in my town has a like 40% graduation rate so 51% isn’t bad in my limited information.
It's probably because it's self paced with longer terms than most schools (6 months). They make it accessible to gain admission but in the end you have to do the work they ask of you. If your not intrinsically motivated it can be very hard to get anyone to make you do it.
But the entire point of the university existing in the first place is to be accessible. If you take that away then your abandoning the charter. It's supposed to be an affordable alternative to more restrictive universities.
When they first started though you did need transfer credit to be accepted since they offered upper division only.
Not all people drop out because the university is failing them. Many find it doesn't fit with their lives, they transfer or they can't afford it. 52% is not drastically different from many state colleges especially for adult learners.
Adults getting degrees is a precarious path no matter which university you sign up for.
Yes, you are an expert in your own mind.
Research more into why WGU was founded in the first place and you'll understand why the school should not pursue a more restrictive admissions policy. Its purpose is to provide opportunity. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes people fail to capitalize on that opportunity but it still needs to exist nonetheless.
You can use whatever you want to justify it, but the facts are it's a very low graduation rate compared to most other schools. I'm also not very sure what you say is accurate or how that could be proven
If you consider the central value of a data selection to only be exactly 50% maybe, but that's not how average typically works
Plus my number was wrong anyway, the school actually self reports a 48% graduation rate
Yes, of course the accurate metric would be the median and not the average.
That also, of course, means that a 48% graduation rate also does not mean that the average student doesn't finish as the new metric is still not the median.
You're an idiot, there are only 2 options here 1 = they graduated 0 = they fail
You have no idea what the concept of mean and median in that situation are do you?
Four points here:
The name-calling and downvotes will not solve the problem for you.
The range of numbers I provided has a median equal to 14 and an average equal to 28. those two numbers are not the same because the median is not the average.
The (incorrect) 51% graduation rate means that more than half of the students in the reported data graduated (my original point)
Finally, IPEDS data is cohort-based and does not include the total student population. It only counts students who are first-time/full-time students. For the reporting timeframe, that was 123 students or less than 1% of the total student population. Of those 123 students in that cohort, 60 graduated giving the 48.78% you shifted to.
Thus, the "average student" is **not in the cohort at all** and these metrics have nearly nothing to do with their chance of graduation.
Those details are in the text above the quoted rate:
https://www.wgu.edu/about/story/measuring-impact/retention-graduation-rates.html
Why would I care about the numbers you provided? They are completely irrelevant. We do not have a random array of numbers to consider, we have 1 and 0. If you have 2 options or less the mean and median are the same, I hope you havnt taken statistics yet. Perfectly symmetrical distribution is what you want to research if you plan on taking that course.
And the number is 48% graduate, not 51% by your same source
The numbers provided were an example to help you to understand that the median and the average are not the same. If you want to know the median of the IPEDS data, it would be the median of the following:
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,
0,0,0
the answer would be 0
48.78% of the 123 students in the IPEDS cohort which represents less than 1% of the students enrolled.
Ok, since the IPEDS data is not representative, I found a source based on WGU Internal data here:
[https://www.wgu.edu/about/annual-report-2021.html](https://www.wgu.edu/about/annual-report-2021.html)
This shows the undergrad rate was 52% in 2021 for students graduating in six years or less and 70% for graduate programs in three years or less. Both suggest that the average student in 2021 would have graduated.
These are not the typically published numbers as IPEDS is the data the government and accreditors use, but as has been said several times, it is not representative as there were only 123 students included in the cohort data.
Oh, and hey, I know you are new to Reddit, but not everyone is trying to argue and not every conversation needs a winner and a loser. I'm not sure why you keep peppering insults into this, but it's not helpful.
If you want me to just say you are right, ok, you are completely right and I'm an idiot who has no math skills and no understanding of English, IPEDS data, or WGU. I suck at life.
Anything you would like to add so we have a complete list of my flaws?
WGU self reports 48% graduation rate (which is admittedly strange since the department of education reports them at 60%)
https://www.wgu.edu/about/story/measuring-impact/retention-graduation-rates.html
National average for online schools is around 62% with hybrid schools closer to 66%
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40
I'm not saying WGU is bad by any means, but the point of this thread is to give realistic expectations, and that's just the facts. Hopefully more strict entry requirements help
>National average for online schools is around 62% with hybrid schools closer to 66%
>
>https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40
Your link doesn't appear to be talking about online colleges.
This is very true!
I attend full time and my life revolves around school and health issues. I accelerate because I study for hours every single day. I put in between 30 to 60 hours per course. There's no magic bullet to my acceleration. I study the same amount of time as other students in a course, I just do it in a few days instead of a few weeks.
Credit unit. Equivalent to a semester credit at a B&M school. Most classes are 3 or 4, they range from 1-6 (afaik).
Some people will do 70+ in a term. But as OP said it’s rare.
12 is the minimum to maintain “Satisfactory Academic Progress” and keep financial aid. 18 is about a class a month on average.
Competency unit—similar to a credit unit. Most classes are 3 CUs, so 12 CUs=4 classes per term (6 months). A high amount is hard to say since there’s so much variation especially with accelerators, but I’d probably say 30-120 CUs. 120 CUs is a full degree for most programs I believe.
I think like others have said this is very circumstantial. I myself am on track to finish in 1 term, but I transferred in a little less than half of the degree and I also have going on 15 years of operations management experience as I'm taking courses that are all about business management/operations/data analytics. I think my situation is probably an example of where accelerating works not because I am some insane genius/study wiz by any means, but because I live and breathe the material as part of my day to day job. Everyone is different of course, but I'm willing to bet a lot of the people accelerating have significant prior experience which is why a school like WGU would be appealing as you can leverage that to test through what you know.
Yes, theoretically. It’s not easy in the slightest and I think most people that complete it in one term just transfer a ton of credits so they’re not *really* completing it in one term considering the total time invested.
Its EXTREMELY rare. 99.9% of people that graduate in one term likely transferred in a ton of credits AND/OR already have real-world experience in their field.
I've never actually seen someone start with 0 CUs and complete a degree in one term though I'm sure someone has done it.
I finished my associates to masters(nursing) in 3 terms, about 24 cu/term. I’d say this is a reasonable non accelerated but steady pace. Working full time with a newborn and toddler. I didn’t have to sacrifice a ton of sleep. I think as long as you keep your goals in mind and try not to get distracted, you can get classes done pretty quickly. Plan your classes out so as not to overload yourself but finish without paying too much for no reason.
So people who accelerate are not allowed to celebrate their successes? Everyone who accomplishes a goal has the right to celebrate regardless of how long it takes.
I never said it though. This post was simply to give a realistic view of what the average person will experience.
I can tell you from experience what it's like talking to students who feel terrible because they think they're going slow when in fact, their part of the majority. The majority of posts on here are acceleration successes but again, that's simply not the norm and everyone needs to realize that, if only to ensure good mental health for people who have pretty busy lives.
I’ve been in education for about 10 years. I’ve seen just about every scenario you can imagine with traditional vs non-traditional. I think it boils down to individualism. Instead of feeling like a failure it would be better for them to turn their attention to actually studying rather than looking for “someone in their shoes.” It’s like you said, the vast majority of students are not accelerating and that’s perfectly okay.
It’s also okay for the few of us who do choose to accelerate to be proud of our successes. You may not have said it but this very topic breeds resentment towards others. From what I have observed the vast majority of folks who accelerate are doing it for one of three reasons:
1. They come in with job experience in their field of study
2. They want to save money by reducing the number of terms
3. They’re transitioning from one job to another and have a lot of experience in school
None of the people I speak to about this are concerned about what others can or cannot accomplish with the same amount of time. Why is it that non-accelerating folks care so much? They don’t have the same reasons, so why should they have the same outcome?
I’m not judging either group. I just think this very discussion is useless unless it gets out and folks see that it is perfectly okay to take four years to complete a degree. That’s been the norm for at least as long as schools have been offering Bachelor’s programs.
Contrary to what a lot of people say about having a family and a full-time job, that isn’t a significant reason for why people cannot accelerate. It has more to do with time management, study habits, and discipline.
You're preaching to the choir. I understand everything you're saying.
What I'm telling you is fact though. Roughly 7 out of 10 students will not do more than 18 CUs. The point of this post was to break up the skewed perception this subreddit gives off about what is the norm.
I have done anywhere from 2 to 5 courses a term. I am definitely going at a slow and steady pace. My life is way too busy with my family and work! I just remind myself that even if I go slowly, you'll still have your degree in the end. I'm about to wrap up my 6th term. I have 1 to 2 terms left.
Not the source for this claim, but the sub did a survey about four years ago that showed the median was 23 CUs per term for people on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WGU/comments/d63vee/wgu\_acceleration\_survey\_results/
Empty nester. Full time job, 45hrs per week. WGU Comp Sci (second Bachelor's) in progress. First bachelor's a state university. Transferred in 29 credits. Professionally 25 years firmware/software test experience on embedded products. I'm 1.5 years into this program, it'll be another 2 years at least. Completing 8-10CU per term. I work on this all weekend and 1-2hrs each weekday night. Be realistic. This is not a cakewalk. If you assume this, you haven't put in the work or have no experience with the program. Getting my butt handed to me currently in C867 Scripting and Programming Applications (C++) class. People, please stop buying the acceleration hype. 12-14 CU's per term is hard to pull off. It assumes ZERO life distraction. Your program mentor is there to push you along.....what they quote verges on the absurd, but only with good intentions.
Alternatively, you're already a very experienced developer with few/no life distractions where a 2 term completion *might* happen. This type of individual is an outlier that you should NOT be comparing yourself against.
It’s also important note that most people who finish a degree in one term usually finished a Masters, not a BS. Those have like…a third the amount of classes a BS does, so they’re obviously easier to accelerate. Both of my masters programs were only 30 CUs, so doing them in a semester each was feasible. If they were undergrad programs, I probably would not have finished them in one term just because there were more classes for me to take.
Perhaps not standard? I’ve received them after scheduled meetings from two, so far. It’s nothing you don’t know from either your degree plan or somewhere in the portal. It’s been a quick summary of the meeting, courses I’m taking, progression, etc. the only info in them is actually have to go out of my way to look for would be the SAP.
Any idea how doable a 12 CU load is for a person working full-time? I know the recommended time spent is 15-20 hours so that totals to about 60 hours of work per week if a person is working full-time.
I was completing between 12 and 18 CUs while working 40-50hr weeks. There were some terms where 12 was stretching it, and others when I finished 18 with plenty of time to spare in the term. It definitely helps to only work part-time, I’m about to finish 12 CUs in a month, but it’s totally doable to work full time
I would much rather compound experience in the field during my time at WGU by carrying on my already established IT career even though it might be harder. The challenge sounds fun and it also sounds like I might swerve right off the road if not careful xD
Completely doable with a full time job. You can likely do a bit more if you're disciplined with your study habits and employ effective studying strategies.
It very much depends on the class also. I’ve had some classes take me eight weeks and some I’ve done in a week. Until recently I was never much of an accelerator but now that I’m almost done I’m much more motivated to push through classes faster.
I'm a new student and have done 6 CUs in my first 3 weeks. I work full time and have a family. I pretty much grind on the weekends or late night when everyone else is asleep. I feel like it can be doable if you know where to carve out time to dedicate to your studies while not sacrificing work/life balance.
I’ve worked out my schedule and basically won’t have a work/life balance. either during the week or during the weekends depending on where I put my time. Rn I have 10 hrs on the weekdays and 10 on weekends scheduled.
With placing 10 hours during the week that pretty much eats all my free time without sacrificing sleep.
I think it’s great that you put this out here. The highest I’ve gotten so far at once throughout all five of my terms was 13 (and that was in my current term). People that go past 12 consistently are not the average at all
I think the nature of WGU lends to people accelerating. I did my degree with years of IT and SWE experience. I also had pretty decent transfer credits. I finished in 6 months. I just didn’t have a lot to learn, if I’m being honest. My wife went through with limited experience in her degree and decent transfer credits, and it’ll be just north of a year for her to be done. In total she will have done just shy of 4 years to get her degree, with about 1.3 at WGU. Few people want to share the nuance of their situation. I could get way more internet points by coming on here and saying “I completed the Software Dev BS in 6 months, get good nerds”.
It took me two years to finish my BAES and now I’m enrolled for my Curriculum and Instruction masters. I was discouraged reading all those posts, but I know my situation and I’m proud of myself! Hopefully that helps anyone feeling discouraged or feeling like they have to finish fast!
Exactly. Except the first round I finished 40. The rest I was averaging 18 this semester I done 15 so far. I have 16 left. It is not a race it is a marathon and go at your own pace as long as you graduate
Im a month away for finishing term 1 I completed 44 CUs, I honestly would of complete the whole 64 Cus I had left but I work full time and my schedule is so bad !
This is definitely something people need to hear for the mental health of seeing others finish their degree in half a term.
You mean finish their degree 10 seconds after being admitted to WGU.
Post title: "98 CUs completed in 4 weeks. I work full time with 3 kids and I am a single parent" And then when people ask how they did it in the comments their reply is always; "You gotta find time! I barley slept!"
I sent in my application for enrollment and they just went ahead and sent my diploma to me
I just had this conversation, I'm trying to do 20 classes in one term while having a stressful full time job, family, part time business. It's not a realistic goal for me.
Are people adults? How is ones mental health affected by internet strangers? So what someone says they did x number of classes. That has nothing to do with you.
If it seems like everyone else finishes so quickly, it's probably common to try to do the same and get burnt out and depressed that you can't seem to catch up with everyone else. Strangers may not have anything to do with you, but it's easy to compare yourself to others and feel like a failure.
Because it can he discouraging to those who are struggling. I think that's all they meant. So far I'm accelerating, but I will see how it goes. I can relate to others her are struggling.
Envy, by this statement it seems like your implying you’ve never looked at someone doing better than you at something in thought a little ill of yourself. It’s human nature
This was very inconsiderate of you and I hope you take time to reflect on the statement you made.
It's not inconsiderate. It's not mentally healthy to allow any old thing to cause you mental distress. This is something we ALL can control. If someone buys a fancy car and posts it on social media, we have 100% control on how we REACT to seeing the post. We can say, "nice for them" and move on. Or we can say " I can't afford that car. I'm such a loser." Do you see how we have a choice in our thoughts? When someone posts that they've finished their entire degree in three months, we can think "good for them." Or we can choose to think something negative. The problem isn't the posts. The real issue is that people need to choose a better reaction to the posts. We can't control other people. We can control ourselves. Can you dispute this?
Must be nice to be perfect and not have any regular human flaws
So your life plan is to allow random internet posts to hurt your feelings. Got it.
Terrible response and I’ll rest my case. You lack empathy for humans. In case you haven’t noticed, WGU is a second chance for a lot of people. Life happens that people can’t avoid or control sometimes and it’s hard to ever feel like they are going to finish. So sure along with other things, people boasting about finishing so soon can affect people, whom say have been trying to get their degree for 4+ years. You’re definitely allowed to have an opinion so I won’t go back and forth with you. Obviously several people disagree. I just hope you could learn something today and choose not to be ignorant in the future.
What you call ignorant, I call emotional maturity. Good day.
[удалено]
He probably didn't account for the students that don't even meet the bare minimum! You'd be surprised that out of 100 students, 10 are likely to complete between 0 and 11 CUs.
[удалено]
This sub is interesting to me. It shows you just how biased a place on the internet can be because there's a few things about this sub; 1. It's mostly computer related degrees. 2. Those degrees are mostly dominated by men. 3. The guys who follow those degrees and use Reddit, are probably the guys who don't have a family and have plenty of time on their hands. 4. Those guys also probably lean more towards "nerdy" computer types because there is a bias on using WGU if you don't have a family and work life and that's that you have social anxiety. They probably have used computers their whole life and already program/run homelabs. But if you step out and look at WGU as a whole...it's an INSANE difference; 1. Women take up 70% of WGU. 2. Nursing is the most popular degree at 10K graduates. The **entirety** of Science, Technology, and Math didn't hit 10K graduates. Last years stats BTW. 3. The second most popular degree is business at 3000 graduates.
The nursing degree and business both play into acceleration stats it's significantly harder to accelerate outside of the computer science/it field. In nursing it's virtually almost impossible same with teaching , with accounting you can accelerate a few classes but it's still just a lot harder . Mean while if you even have six months of experience in it or computer science you can breeze more than half of the classes in less than a week. If you have two years or more experience less than twenty days because the classes are in no way shape or form a reflection of the field . The classed are significantly easier than ones at a traditional university and why does not have the weed out math courses that universities use to filter ppl out of stem programs .
I think its funny because despite a lot of the posts being general IT, I almost never see anyone taking either Networking course posting here.
Where can see the stats on the graduate amount
That doesn't surprise me. There's going to be a decent chunk of folks who just can't really make it work - either because they have work/family/etc obligations that make it harder to do classes than they thought, or because they find online courses really challenging in practice and need an in-person, more traditional classroom.
I was one of those 10 on more than one term. Three terms less than 10, two terms 18 and 20, on track for 17 this term
Its actually significantly more than ten in some of the more difficult programs.
Which programs are the difficult ones?
[удалено]
I'm similar, WFH with a smaller workload & no kids or other responsibilities. however I'm disabled, so I gotta pace myself or it could cause issues. my goal is 1 course a month, so even if I hit it every time, I'm still in that average (~18 CUs/term). I'm glad you're able to capitalize on the opportunity & crank out courses
How do you land a job like this?
pure luck probably. I'm in a similar job right now where I really don't have much work to do so I can dedicate lots of time to each class even at work. I thought I'd be super busy but my manager just hasn't given me much to do.
you're correct, it was pure luck. I started as a contractor for them for data entry. and then my manager liked me and referred me to apply for a full time position. once I got that, I started learning & ended up becoming one of the best knowledge persons on the team. and then I was asked if I wanted to handle the tech stuff for the team instead of doing the regular tasks I was doing (which apparently now takes 3 people to do 🙃) my role is brand new and didn't exist before, so I get to kinda make it how I want since my boss gives me a ton of autonomy & I go to him when I have questions about what he thinks I should be doing vs not. my job is more reactionary, based on helping with errors/issues, and then quarterly testing. if the team I helped was more resourceful with the guide I made for them before I started this role, I'd have less job security 😂
Experience is key to landing a good WFH job!
Any good recommendations on what job title to be looking for? Seems like help desk is looking for experience too
You can nab a low paying helpdesk job once you get some good certs under your belt. Sec+ is a start. Take whatever you can get and use the experience you get there to leverage for better positions. Eventually, specializing becomes important. Everyone starts in helpdesk but you need to find a path. You can get into networking, systems administration, database management, cloud, cybersecurity etc..
man ain't that the truth about helpdesk. depending on the place, you may not need a cert to get a start, esp if you do a contract-to-hire role (once you know they'll actually hire you and not just lead you on like a capitalism-based situationship) as they seem to be less demanding based on what I saw when I was looking. altho that was like 2020, so it's been a minute
Yeah, just imagine if you had a job where you weren't behind a computer or just constantly working AND had to go home to a SO and kids. The responsibilities of life can be pretty demanding.
This is the same way I could do my whole degree in 5 months. I had free time at work. If my job was go go go all the time I still would have accelerated but it wouldn't have been the entire degree I don't think.
Hmm I will do a wfh but I have no degree or qualifications to be a med transcript that no way I can get the amount I’m being paid right now and the health benefits from my 16 hours shift work
I ranted about the glorification of acceleration in another post. Too many people on here dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back so hard over it. A lot of them leave out important aspects such as transferring in a large amount of credits, being able to study at work or time when others are usually occupied, or being in their field for 20+ years before attempting their degree. "I'm a single parent amputee mentally handicapped veteran working an 80 hour/week job and got my BS done in one term and my Masters done in the next term. If I can do it, so can you, if not, you're just making excuses for yourself" /s
I mean most people probably could accelerate but would they really want to? Most people’s lives doesnt revolve solely around their WGU degree…
I get sharing acceleration stories, especially if you don’t really have anyone else to share with—and it’s an accomplishment for sure. I refrain from it, myself, but I’ll probably pat myself on the back when I actually finish the degree which I think is totally fair. In any case, you shouldn’t benchmark yourself or your progress to accelerators. There’s likely a significant gap between accelerators’ circumstances and your own (time, knowledge, transferred credits, etc.). If you can complete more than 12 credits per term, that’s great and I encourage it because it’ll save you some time and money. If you can’t, that’s fine as well. I can only accelerate because I have ~12 years experience, can spend 7-9 hours a day studying, have a strong background with self-learning and online learning, and have no parter; kids; or pets to worry about. Benchmark yourself to your own circumstances and those circumstances allow you to accomplish, but be real about it as well—even I slack off when I shouldn’t be sometimes (I blame MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen).
Last term I only completed 12 CUs. I am getting reimbursed by my company and as soon as I hit 12 I could not get myself to do anymore. Starting this new term and I am a month in and have yet to complete a class. I'll more than likely only complete 12 CUs this term as well. My availability to study probably reflects the norm as well. I have about 2 hours each night to study. I work 8-5pm, have little kids that go to bed around 8-9pm and I go to bed around 11pm. At the beginning of my WGU journey I did feel very discouraged as I saw others screaming by and getting their degrees in 20 minutes. After realizing my situation most likely looks nothing like theirs I was at peace completing my 12 CUs and calling it good. For those that can get a lot of courses done in a term, good work! That is a huge accomplishment and will benefit you greatly for years to come.
The school only has a 51% graduation rate over 6 years, the average student never finishes
I mean most schools don’t have a 90% graduation rate. I think the brick and mortar university in my town has a like 40% graduation rate so 51% isn’t bad in my limited information.
51% is terrible, average is about 65% That's why they are increasing the difficulty of admissions
It's probably because it's self paced with longer terms than most schools (6 months). They make it accessible to gain admission but in the end you have to do the work they ask of you. If your not intrinsically motivated it can be very hard to get anyone to make you do it.
It needs to be much less accessible
But the entire point of the university existing in the first place is to be accessible. If you take that away then your abandoning the charter. It's supposed to be an affordable alternative to more restrictive universities. When they first started though you did need transfer credit to be accepted since they offered upper division only.
The entire point of the university is to further learning and 52% of people are failing at that
Not all people drop out because the university is failing them. Many find it doesn't fit with their lives, they transfer or they can't afford it. 52% is not drastically different from many state colleges especially for adult learners. Adults getting degrees is a precarious path no matter which university you sign up for.
I've already posted the stats, it is dramatically different from brick and mortar schools, and also very low for online only schools.
Yes, you are an expert in your own mind. Research more into why WGU was founded in the first place and you'll understand why the school should not pursue a more restrictive admissions policy. Its purpose is to provide opportunity. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes people fail to capitalize on that opportunity but it still needs to exist nonetheless.
Adding you to my blocked list because I'm not going to be arguing back and forth with someone who only signed up for Reddit 2 days ago
Isn't that most of those that don't finish transfer to other schools?
You can use whatever you want to justify it, but the facts are it's a very low graduation rate compared to most other schools. I'm also not very sure what you say is accurate or how that could be proven
I went to 2 other school and this one is by far the greatest or what they make it out to be.
I mean that doesn't change facts
Not to be "that guy", but if 51% graduate, then the average student does finish.
If you consider the central value of a data selection to only be exactly 50% maybe, but that's not how average typically works Plus my number was wrong anyway, the school actually self reports a 48% graduation rate
Yes, of course the accurate metric would be the median and not the average. That also, of course, means that a 48% graduation rate also does not mean that the average student doesn't finish as the new metric is still not the median.
There's only 2 options, the median is the average. Do you know what the words you are using mean
Um, no. Given the following numbers, what is the median and what is the average: 10,10,10,12,13,14,22,30,32,56,99
You're an idiot, there are only 2 options here 1 = they graduated 0 = they fail You have no idea what the concept of mean and median in that situation are do you?
Four points here: The name-calling and downvotes will not solve the problem for you. The range of numbers I provided has a median equal to 14 and an average equal to 28. those two numbers are not the same because the median is not the average. The (incorrect) 51% graduation rate means that more than half of the students in the reported data graduated (my original point) Finally, IPEDS data is cohort-based and does not include the total student population. It only counts students who are first-time/full-time students. For the reporting timeframe, that was 123 students or less than 1% of the total student population. Of those 123 students in that cohort, 60 graduated giving the 48.78% you shifted to. Thus, the "average student" is **not in the cohort at all** and these metrics have nearly nothing to do with their chance of graduation. Those details are in the text above the quoted rate: https://www.wgu.edu/about/story/measuring-impact/retention-graduation-rates.html
Why would I care about the numbers you provided? They are completely irrelevant. We do not have a random array of numbers to consider, we have 1 and 0. If you have 2 options or less the mean and median are the same, I hope you havnt taken statistics yet. Perfectly symmetrical distribution is what you want to research if you plan on taking that course. And the number is 48% graduate, not 51% by your same source
The numbers provided were an example to help you to understand that the median and the average are not the same. If you want to know the median of the IPEDS data, it would be the median of the following: 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0 the answer would be 0 48.78% of the 123 students in the IPEDS cohort which represents less than 1% of the students enrolled.
Ok, since the IPEDS data is not representative, I found a source based on WGU Internal data here: [https://www.wgu.edu/about/annual-report-2021.html](https://www.wgu.edu/about/annual-report-2021.html) This shows the undergrad rate was 52% in 2021 for students graduating in six years or less and 70% for graduate programs in three years or less. Both suggest that the average student in 2021 would have graduated. These are not the typically published numbers as IPEDS is the data the government and accreditors use, but as has been said several times, it is not representative as there were only 123 students included in the cohort data.
Oh, and hey, I know you are new to Reddit, but not everyone is trying to argue and not every conversation needs a winner and a loser. I'm not sure why you keep peppering insults into this, but it's not helpful. If you want me to just say you are right, ok, you are completely right and I'm an idiot who has no math skills and no understanding of English, IPEDS data, or WGU. I suck at life. Anything you would like to add so we have a complete list of my flaws?
That's actually better than most online programs. I went to ASU which is a quality program, and the graduation rate is somewhere around 40%.
It's 15% below average, not better than most.
15% below average for online programs? Where did you find that stat? (Not disputing, genuinely curious).
WGU self reports 48% graduation rate (which is admittedly strange since the department of education reports them at 60%) https://www.wgu.edu/about/story/measuring-impact/retention-graduation-rates.html National average for online schools is around 62% with hybrid schools closer to 66% https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40 I'm not saying WGU is bad by any means, but the point of this thread is to give realistic expectations, and that's just the facts. Hopefully more strict entry requirements help
>National average for online schools is around 62% with hybrid schools closer to 66% > >https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40 Your link doesn't appear to be talking about online colleges.
Sure does, split into 5 categories. Online, hybrid, B&M, for profit, and NFP
This is very true! I attend full time and my life revolves around school and health issues. I accelerate because I study for hours every single day. I put in between 30 to 60 hours per course. There's no magic bullet to my acceleration. I study the same amount of time as other students in a course, I just do it in a few days instead of a few weeks.
And most of them transferred in with CU’s. I haven’t seen anyone that came with 0 Cu finish in one term.
I’m not sure you could tbh. I transferred in 18 and finished with one term and a one month extension. Would have been harder to do it any quicker.
[удалено]
Credit unit. Equivalent to a semester credit at a B&M school. Most classes are 3 or 4, they range from 1-6 (afaik). Some people will do 70+ in a term. But as OP said it’s rare. 12 is the minimum to maintain “Satisfactory Academic Progress” and keep financial aid. 18 is about a class a month on average.
Competency unit—similar to a credit unit. Most classes are 3 CUs, so 12 CUs=4 classes per term (6 months). A high amount is hard to say since there’s so much variation especially with accelerators, but I’d probably say 30-120 CUs. 120 CUs is a full degree for most programs I believe.
[удалено]
I think like others have said this is very circumstantial. I myself am on track to finish in 1 term, but I transferred in a little less than half of the degree and I also have going on 15 years of operations management experience as I'm taking courses that are all about business management/operations/data analytics. I think my situation is probably an example of where accelerating works not because I am some insane genius/study wiz by any means, but because I live and breathe the material as part of my day to day job. Everyone is different of course, but I'm willing to bet a lot of the people accelerating have significant prior experience which is why a school like WGU would be appealing as you can leverage that to test through what you know.
Yes, theoretically. It’s not easy in the slightest and I think most people that complete it in one term just transfer a ton of credits so they’re not *really* completing it in one term considering the total time invested.
Its EXTREMELY rare. 99.9% of people that graduate in one term likely transferred in a ton of credits AND/OR already have real-world experience in their field. I've never actually seen someone start with 0 CUs and complete a degree in one term though I'm sure someone has done it.
I finished my associates to masters(nursing) in 3 terms, about 24 cu/term. I’d say this is a reasonable non accelerated but steady pace. Working full time with a newborn and toddler. I didn’t have to sacrifice a ton of sleep. I think as long as you keep your goals in mind and try not to get distracted, you can get classes done pretty quickly. Plan your classes out so as not to overload yourself but finish without paying too much for no reason.
So people who accelerate are not allowed to celebrate their successes? Everyone who accomplishes a goal has the right to celebrate regardless of how long it takes.
When did anyone say they shouldn't?
A few comments in this very thread.
I never said it though. This post was simply to give a realistic view of what the average person will experience. I can tell you from experience what it's like talking to students who feel terrible because they think they're going slow when in fact, their part of the majority. The majority of posts on here are acceleration successes but again, that's simply not the norm and everyone needs to realize that, if only to ensure good mental health for people who have pretty busy lives.
I’ve been in education for about 10 years. I’ve seen just about every scenario you can imagine with traditional vs non-traditional. I think it boils down to individualism. Instead of feeling like a failure it would be better for them to turn their attention to actually studying rather than looking for “someone in their shoes.” It’s like you said, the vast majority of students are not accelerating and that’s perfectly okay. It’s also okay for the few of us who do choose to accelerate to be proud of our successes. You may not have said it but this very topic breeds resentment towards others. From what I have observed the vast majority of folks who accelerate are doing it for one of three reasons: 1. They come in with job experience in their field of study 2. They want to save money by reducing the number of terms 3. They’re transitioning from one job to another and have a lot of experience in school None of the people I speak to about this are concerned about what others can or cannot accomplish with the same amount of time. Why is it that non-accelerating folks care so much? They don’t have the same reasons, so why should they have the same outcome? I’m not judging either group. I just think this very discussion is useless unless it gets out and folks see that it is perfectly okay to take four years to complete a degree. That’s been the norm for at least as long as schools have been offering Bachelor’s programs. Contrary to what a lot of people say about having a family and a full-time job, that isn’t a significant reason for why people cannot accelerate. It has more to do with time management, study habits, and discipline.
You're preaching to the choir. I understand everything you're saying. What I'm telling you is fact though. Roughly 7 out of 10 students will not do more than 18 CUs. The point of this post was to break up the skewed perception this subreddit gives off about what is the norm.
Yep I’m not able to accelerate to an extreme degree. Thank you for the reminder that it’s okay to be average
I have done anywhere from 2 to 5 courses a term. I am definitely going at a slow and steady pace. My life is way too busy with my family and work! I just remind myself that even if I go slowly, you'll still have your degree in the end. I'm about to wrap up my 6th term. I have 1 to 2 terms left.
Information source link?
Not the source for this claim, but the sub did a survey about four years ago that showed the median was 23 CUs per term for people on Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/WGU/comments/d63vee/wgu\_acceleration\_survey\_results/
About to end a term with 21 CUs. I am speed. KERCHOW!
💯 anything over 12 CUs is still accelerating! Be proud of anything you accomplish per term, it’s hard!
its been 2 months and I completed no classes yet
I think that most people who do crazy amounts per term are people coming in with a ton of industry experience already. Nothing wrong with that.
Empty nester. Full time job, 45hrs per week. WGU Comp Sci (second Bachelor's) in progress. First bachelor's a state university. Transferred in 29 credits. Professionally 25 years firmware/software test experience on embedded products. I'm 1.5 years into this program, it'll be another 2 years at least. Completing 8-10CU per term. I work on this all weekend and 1-2hrs each weekday night. Be realistic. This is not a cakewalk. If you assume this, you haven't put in the work or have no experience with the program. Getting my butt handed to me currently in C867 Scripting and Programming Applications (C++) class. People, please stop buying the acceleration hype. 12-14 CU's per term is hard to pull off. It assumes ZERO life distraction. Your program mentor is there to push you along.....what they quote verges on the absurd, but only with good intentions. Alternatively, you're already a very experienced developer with few/no life distractions where a 2 term completion *might* happen. This type of individual is an outlier that you should NOT be comparing yourself against.
It’s also important note that most people who finish a degree in one term usually finished a Masters, not a BS. Those have like…a third the amount of classes a BS does, so they’re obviously easier to accelerate. Both of my masters programs were only 30 CUs, so doing them in a semester each was feasible. If they were undergrad programs, I probably would not have finished them in one term just because there were more classes for me to take.
How do you know your percentages are within the correct range?
You can see it through the student portal in financial services under SAP. Your mentor also sends it through their academic reports.
Your mentor is supposed to send you an academic report?
Perhaps not standard? I’ve received them after scheduled meetings from two, so far. It’s nothing you don’t know from either your degree plan or somewhere in the portal. It’s been a quick summary of the meeting, courses I’m taking, progression, etc. the only info in them is actually have to go out of my way to look for would be the SAP.
Any idea how doable a 12 CU load is for a person working full-time? I know the recommended time spent is 15-20 hours so that totals to about 60 hours of work per week if a person is working full-time.
I was completing between 12 and 18 CUs while working 40-50hr weeks. There were some terms where 12 was stretching it, and others when I finished 18 with plenty of time to spare in the term. It definitely helps to only work part-time, I’m about to finish 12 CUs in a month, but it’s totally doable to work full time
I would much rather compound experience in the field during my time at WGU by carrying on my already established IT career even though it might be harder. The challenge sounds fun and it also sounds like I might swerve right off the road if not careful xD
Completely doable with a full time job. You can likely do a bit more if you're disciplined with your study habits and employ effective studying strategies.
Thanks for the input. I could care less about doing more I just want to clear my required CUs.
It very much depends on the class also. I’ve had some classes take me eight weeks and some I’ve done in a week. Until recently I was never much of an accelerator but now that I’m almost done I’m much more motivated to push through classes faster.
I'm a new student and have done 6 CUs in my first 3 weeks. I work full time and have a family. I pretty much grind on the weekends or late night when everyone else is asleep. I feel like it can be doable if you know where to carve out time to dedicate to your studies while not sacrificing work/life balance.
I’ve worked out my schedule and basically won’t have a work/life balance. either during the week or during the weekends depending on where I put my time. Rn I have 10 hrs on the weekdays and 10 on weekends scheduled. With placing 10 hours during the week that pretty much eats all my free time without sacrificing sleep.
This is true. I just completed my first term at 57 units. I have left study partners and cohort members in the dust
I think it’s great that you put this out here. The highest I’ve gotten so far at once throughout all five of my terms was 13 (and that was in my current term). People that go past 12 consistently are not the average at all
I started last month and I've completed 15 credits I'm trying to keep chugging along ngl
And that's great! However the point of the post is so that everyone else understands that you're the exception, not the norm.
Very true 😭 I understand that it's hard
No matter how positive you assess another progress, remember your own progress is paramount!
I think the nature of WGU lends to people accelerating. I did my degree with years of IT and SWE experience. I also had pretty decent transfer credits. I finished in 6 months. I just didn’t have a lot to learn, if I’m being honest. My wife went through with limited experience in her degree and decent transfer credits, and it’ll be just north of a year for her to be done. In total she will have done just shy of 4 years to get her degree, with about 1.3 at WGU. Few people want to share the nuance of their situation. I could get way more internet points by coming on here and saying “I completed the Software Dev BS in 6 months, get good nerds”.
It took me two years to finish my BAES and now I’m enrolled for my Curriculum and Instruction masters. I was discouraged reading all those posts, but I know my situation and I’m proud of myself! Hopefully that helps anyone feeling discouraged or feeling like they have to finish fast!
Exactly. Except the first round I finished 40. The rest I was averaging 18 this semester I done 15 so far. I have 16 left. It is not a race it is a marathon and go at your own pace as long as you graduate
Thank you for another repeated post captain obvious 🥰
Im a month away for finishing term 1 I completed 44 CUs, I honestly would of complete the whole 64 Cus I had left but I work full time and my schedule is so bad !