WGU Admissions!

I finished my WGU application on March 20th and on March 21st I was already in contact with my enrollment counselor (she's been great btw!).  Her first suggestion was that I go ahead and contact my previous community college and have them send my transcript to WGU.  All transcripts have to be received by WGU on the 1st of the month before your official start date.  So, for instance, I had to have my transcripts received by WGU by April 1st in order for me to start on May 1st.  So, I contacted my community college and on April 25th WGU sent me an email stating that they had received my transcript.  I was pleased that the transcript request was completed so fast!

Next step, I paid the $65 application fee that WGU requires and started studying for the "Readiness Assessment" test.  This is a test that all students have to take during the application process that helps WGU determine your readiness for college level coursework.  I spent the next few days over at Khan Academy studying the Algebra section before taking the readiness assessment.  The assessment is a four part test; math, language, written essay, and admissions inventory.  The test is pretty easy if you know basic high school Algebra and English.  To find out what you should study for on each part of the test, check out this great article.  After taking the test, I thought that I would receive an email or be told if I passed or not, but I was told that they stopped sending out pass/fail emails and now you must wait to talk to your enrollment counselor to be told if you passed/failed the assessment   I had to wait about three nerve racking days after the test to talk to my EC, but I was pleased to learn that I passed!

The next step in the admissions process was my in-take interview.  This was an interview with my EC where we went through all of the basics again.  Make sure you have about 30 minutes to go through this call, and also make sure you are at your computer because your EC will want to show you how to navigate through the WGU student portal.  He/she will also explain to you how to make payment (if you haven't already done so), and also what to expect when you start "Education Without Boundaries" which is the orientation process for WGU.  Education Without Boundaries opens up on the 15th of the month before your official start date.  So, for instance, I'm scheduled to start on May 1st, so my Education Without Boundaries will open up tomorrow!

The last step of the enrollment process has been by far the most nerve-racking and patience testing part of the process.  Remember that I told you that the transcript from my community college needed to be received first.  This was for good reason.  The transcript department took about three weeks to process my transcript evaluation, so I was stuck waiting for about three weeks to know if I was to be cleared to start on May 1st.  WGU has only a 35% acceptance rate, so I was really worried that my previous college coursework would disqualify me from admission.  Thankfully, I just received word the day before yesterday (was in my SPAM folder, so make sure you check that often) that six of my classes transferred from my community college and that I've been cleared to officially start on May 1st!!!  One word for those that don't receive clearance and are denied admission due to not enough transferred units - there is still hope!  WGU partners with another school called "Straighterline", and if you make it through a term of Straighterline, you are almost guaranteed admission into WGU.  For more details on a Straighterline experience, check out this great post by candimc on wgustudents.com forum.  Keep trying, never stop, never give up hope!  There is always hope... ;)

As I said before, I've got Education With Boundaries starting tomorrow.  WGU gives students two weeks to complete the orientation, but I've heard that it only takes a few hours to complete the process.  During the orientation they are supposed to show us everything we need to know to "hit the ground running" on May 1st.  I'll let you know how that experience goes in the next few days.  Thanks for reading and I hope you come back again! :)