I felt the same frustration as many other students when I enrolled in July and wanted to make a post to hopefully answer some questions and relieve some of the anxiety from the lack of transparency and multiple drop-off points that happen during enrollment. The post is quite long but I tried to format it well so you can jump through to the sections you need.

If anyone has anything to add/suggest please do.

Thank you u/Remarkable_Hurry2800 for your contributions!

THE ENROLLMENT PROCESS

This post uses the headings from WGU's enrollment portal but I've rearranged them in the order that they come up during the enrollment process. There is a full summary of deadlines at the end of the post.

Application

Step 1: Apply via the "Apply Now" button at wgu.edu by the 1st of the month prior to your intended start date. Remember the pin number you create for step 2.

Step 2: Log into the enrollment portal. You may have received an email with a link to do so. If not, to find it through the website, go back to the "Apply Now" button, then click "Applicant Login" at the top. It will ask for your email and pin number.

Tip: If in doubt, just apply. If you're confused about which credits will transfer, whether you're ready to start or not, etc. - just apply. You can always postpone or push up your start date.

Financial Requirements

Step 1: Fill out the FAFSA and list WGU under schools using school code 033394. This is the application for all federal financial aid. It needs to be filled out to be eligible for any federal or state grants or loans - and any WGU scholarships. Once your FAFSA is approved you will receive an email from the Department of Education that tells you how much federal aid you're eligible for. You may still be awarded additional aid through your state or other agencies later. There are three types of aid you'll see coming through this channel: federal grants (not paid back, taxed), subsidized loans (paid back, no interest until 6mo after school), unsubsidized loans (paid back, immediate interest). Private loans are another (bad) option that you can obtain through an institution like a bank. In Step 3 of this section you'll complete the Department of Education's Loan Counseling, which will fully educate you about the types of loans and how they're repaid.

Step 2: You can start applying for WGU scholarships up to 90 days before your start date in the Scholarship Universe portal. You won't hear anything back about them until 3-4 months after your term starts and it's very rare to receive them. If you receive an email from WGU saying you've been denied they've denied you for all of them, not just one. You can only receive a maximum of one per degree. If you're denied but feel you have a strong need, you can submit an appeal by emailing the Scholarships Team at [email protected] and explaining your circumstances. There are also external scholarships listed in the Scholarship Universe portal. If you don't have a computer or internet access, they have a scholarship for that. Get your application in early, resources are limited.

Step 3: In the enrollment portal go to Fulfill Financial Requirements > View Financial Aid Details. Once your FAFSA is received, requirements will pop up here. Click those links and fill out the required forms by the 10th of the month prior to start. These forms are not locking you into any specific loan amount - you are just agreeing that you understand what loans and interest are and will pay back any loans you later decide to take out. The WGU portal may take a day or two to update them to completed. You will not receive an email or any notification when requirements become available so check back here often. The deadline for full financial aid completion is the 22nd of the month before your start date! For self-pay, this means full payment or an active payment plan. For aid, this means your financial aid package has been awarded and accepted (if not awarded, see MISSING DEADLINES note below). The package must cover full tuition cost, otherwise the discrepancy must be accounted for by other payment method.

More About Self-Pay: Tuition can be paid all at once or in 4 or 6 monthly payments. By the 22nd of the month you must either pay the entire balance or pay a $55 payment plan setup fee. Monthly payments are charged on the 1st of each month. You must finish all of your payments even if you finish your degree in less than 4/6 months because the tuition price is based on Competency Units (CUs - WGU's version of credits), not time enrolled. During your payment plan, if you ever have an issue making a payment reach out to student services or financial services immediately. They will transfer you to payment solutions, who will work with you.

More About Paying With Aid: Once you fulfill your requirements your financial aid status will be stuck in "Processing". This is normal. Continue to check in periodically to make sure no new requirements pop up. Once the financial aid office realizes that you've fulfilled your requirements and they don't have any new ones to send you they wait until you submit your Commit to Start to further process your application. As long as your requirements are filled with green check marks, no news is good news.

Step 4: You will come back to finish this step after you complete your Commit to Start. If you are self-pay this is when you'll make your payment or set up your plan if you haven't already. If you're using aid, once your aid is awarded you'll receive an email with a link to your financial aid offer. The offer will show a breakdown of your tuition owed and available aid. You will then select how much aid you want to take out. The system allows you to take the maximum amount available, only enough to cover tuition, or even less than you owe - so make sure to read and select carefully. You can revise this amount later if needed but processing takes much longer - around 3-4 months rather than a couple of weeks. The aid amount you choose is for the year - it will be split in half and applied per term. If you finish in one term the second term will not be disbursed.

Who Gets a Refund? If your loans, grants, and/or awarded scholarship money exceeds your tuition you will receive a refund for the excess amount. Disbursement usually happens between the 6th-13th of your term start month. At some point in the initial days of your start month you will see an estimated refund date in the financial services portal. It is normal for your estimated refund date to change several times. You'll receive an email 24 hours before your refund is paid to you asking you to double check your refund method before its sent.

(Sometimes) Step 5: If you're awarded a scholarship the process is similar to loans. You'll receive an email asking you to go to the portal to the Requirements area to accept the offer. Scholarships always disburse on the 15th of the month. The amounts are split over 4 terms and if you finish before then you forfeit the remaining amount.

**MISSING DEADLINES: If you are self-paying, the 22nd is a firm deadline for tuition payment/plan setup. If you plan to pay in full but need a little more time you will need to pay $55 to set up a payment plan, then you can pay it off early later. There is no interest applied to payment plans - the only additional fee is the one time $55 setup fee. If you are using aid you may be in a situation where you aren't awarded aid by the 22nd, even though your requirements have been done. This is because the aid award is the last deliverable in a long line of deliverables and processes on WGU's end. If one thing delays, everything behind it delays. Then add a thick coating of understaffing and record-high enrollment numbers onto the delay. With that said I was delayed and I witnessed it, everyone in enrollment works HARD every month to get all the students who turned in their requirements on time admitted on time - so take it easy on them and be kind. Once you receive your aid award and accept it there's a bit of dotting i's and crossing t's (aka orientation) and then you're an active student. For this reason, you have some leeway past the 22nd here if you have not been awarded aid but have already been scheduled by the financial aid office for review. They should have you scheduled as long as you meet the Commit to Start deadline (discussed below, keep reading, there's a summary of dates at the end). If you don't have an aid package 4-5 business days before the 22nd but have already completed Commit to Start you need to ask your EC to contact an Admissions Counselor on your behalf to ensure you are scheduled for financial review and admissions review. The admissions team works with the financial aid office towards the end of the process to verify this final requirement and then give your full application the final check of approval before you can do orientation.

Enrollment Counselors

Contacting Your EC: You may receive a call from someone who's job it is to get you in contact with your Enrollment Counselor (EC). They're contracted and don't work for WGU so they aren't a reliable source of information. Don't bother asking any questions until you get to your EC. If you miss their call or want to bypass them, you can reach your EC on your own. You can find your EC's contact information in your enrollment portal in a large box to the right. If it hasn't populated and you're ready to speak to someone you can call the "main enrollment line" at 1-866-CALL-WGU and tell them you just applied and need an Enrollment Counselor. This is also the number you'll call if you ever need to switch EC's.

Why would you need to switch counselors? Maybe they're new and not familiar with your unique situation, maybe they're overloaded and keep missing calls, maybe they don't work during hours when you're available..I don't know. Anything can happen. You know when something isn't working out for you. Your enrollment counselor should be keeping in regular contact with you in order to guide you through the enrollment process, answer any questions you have, and to act as a liaison between you and the more secluded WGU offices (transcripts, admissions, etc.) If you don't feel like they're doing this, switch - sooner rather than later. To switch, call the number above and ask the person who picks up to "be switched to an enrollment counselor who [insert what you need here]". They may pick you up themselves or suggest someone for you. You can also request a specific EC if you know a guy, just know that they typically only work within one college.

Do you really need one? 100% yes. Your chances of becoming a student without speaking to one are exactly 0. Get in touch by the 5th of the month prior to your start. WGU forces you to go through your EC for a lot of the admissions process. You (usually) can't talk to the transcripts office or admissions office on your own. Simple forms that you may need aren't readily available and have to be sent through your EC. Certain things in your portal won't "unlock" until they press a button. Stay in touch and switch early if you're eager to start and they're not very responsive.

Advocate for Yourself. Enrollment Counselors know more than the average prospective student about transfer credits, admissions, etc. but they don't know everything. There are a lot of small loop holes that are shared here on Reddit or in other student spaces that newer ECs may not be familiar with. Advocate for yourself. No one else but you cares that much about you starting on time. In their eyes there's always next month. This isn't to say they're completely reckless and will purposely hold you back! I loved my EC - but when it looked like something unforeseeable came up that would push my start date back he was willing to accept it - because it's not his degree or his life and he also has so many other students he needs to work with. I started on my original date because I kept pushing for it when it "wasn't going to work".

Program Eligibility Requirements

What Requirements? Find your program's eligibility requirements inside of the enrollment portal. In the Meet Program Eligibility Requirements section click the little "i" next to your degree. You can also go to the dedicated page for your program on WGU's website. For each program you will also see that it mentions that the listed requirements are on top of WGU's General Admissions Requirements. Unfortunately it looks like they've recently taken these general requirements off the website. If I remember correctly from a few months ago it was a high school/college GPA of 2.75+ or qualifying work experience. I'd assume they took it down because they don't accept high school students without transfer credits usually, even with good GPA.

New High School Grads: WGU looks for college readiness through having transfers credits or extensive related work experience when considering your application. Your best bet to qualify for admission is to get some credits via another online institution that WGU partners with like Sophia Learning or Study.com. This is most likely going to be the quickest, most cost effective route to admissions for you. If you are enrolling in the IT college WGU offers guaranteed admissions to students who go through the American Dream Academy program, which is free and can be completed in a weekend. This program will be ending April 2024. Please also read the next paragraph.

If You Don't Qualify: If your program requires specific classes they are likely available to test out of via CLEP or to complete as a course through another online institution like Sophia Learning or Study.com. This is going to be the quickest, most cost effective route to admissions for you. The most accurate, up-to-date information on what to take and where to take it is partners.wgu.edu. You'll find your degree program first, then the applicable transfers will be listed. WGU does not publicize the CLEP credits that they accept so you will need to check with your EC for that.

A Note on Programs that Require Specific Courses + a bit of my enrollment story: I'm enrolled in WGU's Computer Science program, which is advertised as requiring a C or better in college level Precalculus or Calculus. When I went through enrollment I had precalculus credit from a community college so my EC and I thought I was good to go. I had all of my transcripts in by the 5th so it should've been smooth sailing. Wrong. On the 9th my EC called me and said the transcript office wouldn't accept my specific precalculus class because the course catalog (from 10 years ago) didn't mention trigonometry, which apparently is a hidden requirement for BSCS admission. At this point I'm sliding down the wall, throwing up, crying because I really wanted to start in July and be done by December. But as I said, I was determined to start and I got the call on a Friday so I figured I'd get on Sophia that weekend, get the Calculus credit, and then beg them to let me in. Worst case scenario, I'd have the credit ready to go way ahead of time for the next month's admissions period. There were no promises made but they ended up finishing my evaluation on time. I sent my Sophia transcript on 6/11, WGU notified me that they received it on 6/12, I received my transcript evaluation on 6/14 - one day before the cutoff.

I told the story to highlight these lessons:1. WGU staff really is trying to get you started when you want to start, but you have to do your part. I doubt that there would have been any urgency on WGU's part to get me started on time if I hadn't originally got my transcripts in on time and previously been regularly engaged with my EC.2. WGU is NOT very transparent about their admissions requirements so if your program has specific ones, make sure that you ask about any hidden requirements or caveats that can be a hindrance. It's better to take care of this early in the process.3. It's not over until it's over. The only reason that the deadline to turn your transcript in is the 5th is because the deadline to receive the evaluation is the 15th and it usually takes two weeks - but it doesn't always take two weeks. If you're cutting it close and waiting DO NOT LET YOUR EC CHANGE YOUR START DATE UNTIL THE ABSOLUTE LAST MINUTE - THE MORNING OF THE 16TH.

Transcripts

What transfers? The most up-to-date, most accurate resource for what will count as transfer credit is partners.wgu.edu. This is always accurate in the moment, but it can change tomorrow and WGU's programs often do change. No resource outside of this webpage or an employee from the Transcripts Office can give you a 100% accurate answer on what will transfer. You can transfer in a maximum of 75% of the CUs needed for your degree program.

Step 1: In the "Submit Transcripts" area of your portal add any institutions or certifications you plan to submit transcripts for. If you add something here and then decide not to turn in that transcript, you need to ask your EC for a Transcript Exclusion Request Form so that the transcripts office knows they aren't waiting on that transcript before they can complete your evaluation. Most of the form is pre-filled by your EC so you will need to tell them which transcript it is and why.

Step 2: Request your transcripts. Check first with the National Student Clearinghouse. If unavailable, go to your prior school's website and look for their transcripts page. The email address (digital) and mailing address (physical) to send them to are available here. WGU generally will notify you that digital sends have been received within 1-2 business days. Mailed of course takes much longer.

Evaluation Turnaround Time: Turnaround time for transcript evaluations varies greatly depending on how many transcripts you're sending in, when they come in, what schools they're from, and how many other students are enrolling that month. WGU advertises that they try to keep it under two weeks. It is suggested that you have all of your transcripts arrive to WGU BY THE 5TH OF THE MONTH PRIOR TO YOUR START DATE. It is required that your transcript evaluation be completed BY THE 15TH OF THE MONTH BEFORE YOUR START DATE. Generally, the quickest evaluations happen for institutions and certifications that are explicitly listed on the Partners Page. Otherwise, the course has to be manually looked up and verified, which takes time. All of your transcripts will be evaluated at once and you'll receive a pdf detailing all transfers.

Tip: If you're cutting it close ask your EC to contact the transcripts office and ask for your scheduled review date. They schedule you once all of your transcripts are marked as received.

(Maybe) Step 3: Yes, you can appeal your transcript evaluation, switch programs, or send in more transcripts after your evaluation. All of these things will require another wait and another transcript evaluation, which will likely push your start date back. You can change your program yourself in the enrollment portal at the top left but I'd recommend talking to your EC first. To begin an evaluation appeal you must let your EC know you want to do so within 15 days of receiving it. To send in more transcripts, just email your EC letting them know the plan and then add the institutions to your portal so everyone can expect them and send as usual.

Sending Transcripts

Certification Submission Guidelines

American Dream Academy / Google: You need to find the Coursera share links for the Google certificate and the ADA completion certificate if you want to lock in the ADA guaranteed admissions. Email the links to [email protected]. I emailed mine to [email protected] at the same time as well for good measure. You can not send them a screenshot, saved pdf, etc. FYI the ADA program will no longer be available after April 30, 2024.

Sophia Learning: The recommended option is to send your official transcript through Parchment for $8. Parchment offers tracking and you will generally see it received within 2 business days. When I was having the Calculus issue mentioned above I was worried about Parchment taking too long so I sent the link for my Sophia Credly badge over as well using the method mentioned above for ADA/Google. I received an email saying they received it and were honoring it as an "official document". This method is worth a shot if you need to save the money but it didn't save me any time, both "versions" of the transcript were marked received within about 2 hours of each other.

If anyone wants to chime in here for common transfer institutions like Study or specific certifications I can add.

Commit to Start

Step 1: Once you receive your transcript evaluation and approve of it, get in touch with your enrollment counselor to unlock your Commit to Start (previously Intake Interview). This is the beginning of the end! There's a bit of a wait here where I assume your EC has to meet with either their manager or the admissions office to ensure you meet program requirements. Once it's unlocked you'll receive an email saying you've been provisionally accepted to WGU and your status in the portal will go from Applicant to Admitted.

Note: There's a slightly common issue with newer ECs being mistaken and telling students their financial aid needs to be fully awarded before Step 1 here. This is false! If they are adamant and won't unlock for you call the main enrollment line and speak to a manager.

Step 2: Go to Commit to Start in the portal and go through the questionnaire activities that give you the final rundown of what you're signing up for: the program, the credits, the cost, the equipment, the suggested time commitment. You are acknowledging and locking in all of these things at this time, meaning you are committing to paying tuition and can not transfer in more CUs or appeal your transcript evaluation after this. The deadline for completing this is THE 15TH PRIOR TO YOUR START, which is why you need your transcript evaluation back by THE 15TH, which is why you should try your absolute hardest to have the transcripts in by THE 5TH!

Tip: Even if it's unlocked early, you want to complete your Commit to Start asap so you can be assigned to a mentor sooner rather than later. Their schedules get hectic towards the end of the month.

Orientation

How Do We Get Here? After you complete Commit to Start you will need to make your payment arrangements or accept your financial aid award before you can begin orientation. See Financial Requirements: Step 4 + MISSING DEADLINES above for information on this waiting period and the final financial aid process. When finances are settled, an Admissions Counselor will give your application the final stamp of approval and you will officially be Cleared to Start! This may take a few days. Then there's just one more thing you need to do before you're officially enrolled.

Step 1: Orientation opens on the 15th or immediately if you Commit to Start after the 15th. You'll receive an email with a link to open orientation. All WGU classes require a Performance Assessment (essay or project) and/or an Objective Assessment (test) to pass. Orientation will be your first Performance Assessment style class, with a graded assignment. Orientation must be completed and marked as a "Pass" before the 1st. PAs can take up to 72 hours to be evaluated. Passing PA classes is heavily reliant on you following the rubric to a T. Some PA classes also offer a template. Do not stray from the rubric or you risk having it send back for revision. The orientation task is not an automatic pass, people have had it sent back. Follow. The. Rubric. Use the template. Make sure you have it submitted with time for evaluation by the 1st.

Step 2: A few days after Orientation unlocks you will be assigned a mentor. You will get an email with their biography/contact information and will also be able to see them in your student portal at my.wgu.edu. Schedule a call with them asap! Depending on the mentor and your situation you'll need to have 1-3 calls with them before you're be able to start your classes. If you're a late enrollee and you can't find a 30-minute block before the 1st, try two 15-minutes. Otherwise, you can email them and ask if they can squeeze you in somewhere so you can start on the 1st. During the calls you'll discuss your program and the classes you'll be taking. Some degree programs allow class order to deviate from the standard path, some do not. Some mentors encourage it, some do not. These initial emails and calls are a good time to see if you and your mentor are a good fit.

Switching Mentors: Like ECs, you can switch mentors. However, you may have to speak with a mentor manager to explain why you're ditching them since the mentor/student relationship is a little more serious than EC/student. Most student/mentor issues are related to weekly call requirements and acceleration availability. WGU previously required first term student to have a phone call with their mentors weekly. This is no longer the case. With that said, many students find the weekly calls helpful, myself included, and I usually hate talking on the phone. If your mentor is adamant about it give it a try before you put your foot down about it. I will talk more about how you can work with your mentor to find a long-term solution that makes you both happy regarding acceleration below but here are some ways to escalate if needed:1. If it's the weekend or early evening and you don't have a class you can open but all your other ones are completely finished (with all PAs graded) you can contact Tier 1 Support. They will move a class up for you.2. If you have proven that you can successfully accelerate but your mentor will not budge at all regarding acceleration, it's time to go over their head. Call Student Services and ask to be put in touch with the mentor's manager or the Director for your program. Let them know what's going on and they can make an executive decision.3. If you're constantly going days without classes because your mentor is unresponsive during business hours, it's time to get rid of them. Call Student Services and tell them you need to switch mentors because you're an accelerator but your mentor does not communicate with you regularly. If you're going days without classes during the weekend because you didn't communicate with your mentor at the end of the week about needing some accelerated - that's on you and you need to plan better next time but can contact Tier 1 Support in the meantime. Mentors don't work 24/7.

Acceleration Compromises: Most students tell their mentor they're going to accelerate. Less than 5% actually do. For this reason I don't advise people to mention acceleration to their mentors during their initial calls. All it generally does is prompt your mentor to try to temper your expectations, which can be demotivating right before you get started. If your mentor brings it up I'd suggest expressing interest but not disclosing to what extent, especially if you want to finish in 1-2 terms. The stats are against you and they're primed to think "here we go again with the delusion". Just show them instead. WGU's official policy regarding acceleration is that you must finish all of your initial classes (usually 4) before accelerating any classes. After that you can move one new class into your term at a time. You can think of the official policy as a minimum offer that some mentor will stick to, while other mentors will adjust and give more than one class. Your mentor does not have the option of fully not letting you accelerate if you have finished your other classes. However, their timidness regarding the topic can slow you down. Here's a few compromises you can suggest if your mentor insists on sticking to only one class at a time:1. They can queue a new degree plan for you every time you start a class. When your mentor creates a degree plan for you it lays dormant until you go in and agree to actually take those courses in that specific term. Many mentors create an agreement with their students that they will approve courses early but that the student will not register for or open it until they complete the course ahead of it. This is still technically one course at a time but it eliminates the wait time between classes. This is the best option if you're finishing 1-3 classes a week and your mentor can be reached daily during weekdays.2. Another option is to reach out to your mentor when you're coming to a closing point on the course. For some it's when they take the Pre-Assessment (pre-test for OA classes), or when they're halfway through a PA-class rubric, or something similar. This will work if you are spending around 1-3 weeks on each course and can generally get a response from your mentor within 2 days.3. Some students get loaded up with 3, 4, 5+ classes at a time. This probably isn't reasonable for most students and I can only see this working if you're finishing 3+ classes a week, have experience in your field already, and are in the Business or Education college. This is a big risk and if something happens and you can't finish these classes they will be marked on your transcript as incomplete before being moved over to your next term. No one wants this and if it happens your mentor is likely to scale way back on what they allow you to do.4. A good middle ground for students who work in sprints or have odd job scheduling is to move 2-3 classes up to be completed over a period of time (~ 1-3 weeks) and then take a break until you're ready for the next batch.

Step 3: Everything at my.wgu.edu should be unlocked now including your Degree Plan and the Course Pages. Click a course from your Degree Plan to open it. They will be in preview mode for now but you can take the Course Planner and pre-assessment for any class at any time. On your first day your classes will be available to start around 9am MT. You will have to click "Start Course" on each course page to take it out of preview mode on Day 1.

Welcome to WGU! 🦉

TIMELINE SUMMARY

IMPORTANT: All dates reflect the official last day to fulfill each requirement. These deadlines do not leave wiggle room for delays, changes, or appeals. Earlier is better!

I am applying for an CS BS degree and my application experience has been a journey. WGU so far has proven itself to be super accessiblity unfriendly - they'll only talk to you via phone, and only if you're lucky enough to talk to someone that can give you answers. They keep sending a lot of spam emails about why you should apply to WGU and then ghost your emails when you actually apply. It has been around 6 months since I first applied and since then, with the enrollment counselors being available maybe once in every two weeks everything has been going super slowly. Feels like I'm constantly being ignored, is this really worth it?

Enrollment is completely useless. Why Admissions and Financial Aid are farming out these steps to people who

a. who don't understand the process

b. who don't follow-up with other offices when that process doesn't work

c. who aren't responsive when they don't follow through with unlocking portions of your student portal

really makes for a frustrating experience for new applicants. It's almost as if they create barriers to make themselves relevant to a process that literally literate person with a computer can take of without their help. I'm honestly to the point where I'm going to apply to UMGC or SNHU. Paying more money for non-terrible service seems worth it at this stage. I've been weathering the same unresponsive, unhelpful enrollment counselor.

Believe the negative feedback you read online about WGU. These students are not exaggerating.

Edit: And please do more to help support and encourage people with helpful advise and suggestions. It helps absolutely no one to discount or dismiss their experience, when you did not personally encounter obstacles in these processes. I work for a university and have been a student off and on for 12 years. I'm familiar with a variety of admissions processes from other schools that never once put me through the gauntlet of incompetency that WGU seems to practice. It's remarkable that an institution like WGU can still find ways to successfully block the efforts of even the most capable, self-sufficient students (of which I count myself). To those who offered useful/helpful advise, I appreciate your response and will stick with it.

To those who saw an opportunity to reject the possibility that WGU is failing students in its enrollment process using nothing but your own experience as a yard stick? Grow up; and grow some empathy. You won a game of chance this time. I sincerely hope that if you're ever struggling through a bureaucratic nightmare that's keeping you from your goal, that someone takes time to lend you a hand. It's more than you deserve, after today, but I still wouldn't wish your attitudes on anyone else.

Greetings,

Trying to start at WGU, BS for Software Development as soon as possible. I've already talked to my enrollment counselor, submitted my transcripts, and submitted my IT coursework that would fulfill the prereqs for getting into the program. Unfortunately, my enrollment counselor has been difficult to communicate with.

I just want to know that with where I am at, how long does it usually take for me to hear anything about acceptance into WGU? Its already been a couple of weeks and I am getting concerned, especially from the lack of communication with my enrollment counselor.

Any info helps. Thanks.

So I'm wondering how long the enrollment process takes to complete.

I got an email on Dec. 4th that my transcript was received from my previous community college.
I also got an email on Dec. 10th about receiving my Google IT certificate from coursera that was required for me to meet eligibility for the Software Engineering program.

I talked to FAFSA & WGU financial aid dept and both said everything is good to go...

I had a meeting with my enrollment counselor today and asked how long until we can move forward with the rest of the enrollment process, but didn't get any solid information, as he stated pretty much, reviewing the Google IT cert was out of his department and told me that I was looking at about another 30 days or so give or take...

That seems kind of slow to review a certification they recommended to me in the first place.

I would like to get ahead of the game if possible and get as far into the enrollment as possible, that way I have time to gameplan before my Feb. 1st start date...

Does anyone have any information about this process? Does this timeframe my EC gave me seem about right and I just need to hang on? Or is there anything I can do to reach out to try and expedite this last part of the process?

Hey! First post here...I recently applied to WGU (wanting to start July 1st) and had ALOT of questions about how long the enrollment process takes so just thought I would share my timeline/experience in case it helps anyone else.

05-11-21...Applied online to WGU (about 10am), spoke to enrollment counselor& setup student profile (about 3:45pm), National Student ClearingHouse sent transcripts to WGU (4:45pm)

05-13-21- got transcript received emailed (9:05am)

05-18-21 - Had an appointment scheduled w/ enrollment counselor but they did not call or email me back

05-20-21 - got transcript evaluation back (7:45am) (If you were wondering i got an AS degree from a community college and they awarded me 39 CU's so 81 CU's to graduation! I would love to finish in 1 term but thinking it will probably take me a year.

05-20-21- 9:00am got provisionally accepted email! So excited!

I emailed my enrollment counselor about setting up my intake interview this morning but so far they are not the best at communication with me so wondering if I should just complete that online. Wondering if anyone has done the online intake or recommend to wait to hear back from counselor?

Also, any tips for starting at WGU greatly appreciated! Thanks

I'm currently going through the enrollment process and it has not been good at all... It makes me question the school. I was planning on starting on October 1st. And wanted to ask everyone here how their application process went and how it should go.

I do not have any college units to transfer in. I do have units from Sophia that have already been transferred in and received. The enrollment person had me upload my resume as part of the application process last week. I'm applying for the BSIT program FYI. Now I'm being told that they need my high school transcripts. I graduated high school over 20 years ago. Thankfully the school still had them, but they have to mail them out. The enrollment person I spoke to is now saying that it will take another 3 weeks and that my start date will now have to be pushed out to November!

I've done some searches on here and I've seen posts where some were able to just upload a copy of their diploma and some that didn't even ask. I really would like to start on October 1. Do I have any other options to keep my original start date?

Edit: Just to provide an update. High school transcripts made it through the mail and were processed by WGU in about a week. My final Sophia transcript evaluation (I had some classes completed that did not show up in previous evaluations for some reason) was completed a few days ago. I completed orientation today and I'm "Cleared to Start" for October 1st!

The 5th of the month prior to the start date for transcripts to be received seems to be more of a soft date with the actual hard date being the 15th of the month. I had to resend my Sophia transcripts a few times this week and they were processed and evaluated without any issues.

Is anyone having this issue? All up until me signing up for my single course, the enrollment counselor has been very active and communicative. Ever since I passed the single course and ready to start my actual degree program. They’ve been giving me the run around on how they haven’t received my single course grade yet and it’s been 2 months since I first requested for the grade to be sent to WGU. I got an email last week saying they received it. However, I have not been in contact with my enrollment counselor for about a month. After I completed the single course, they stopped all communication with me. It almost feels like they took me for a spin for the $100/class and after they just dropped me. Does anyone have this experience? Has anyone transferred to SNHU after WGU? Because that’s what I’m seriously considering at this point. Mind you I’ve been trying to enroll since December 2024. Any advice would help. Thanks!

Struggling with my enrollment and how much time it's taking.

I submitted all my documents and transcript requests two months ago. My first EC was completely unresponsive, and I requested a new one. The new one was SUPER responsive for the first week and now it's been crickets for the past 3 weeks.

I'm currently waiting on the transcript department to acknowledge my high school transcripts that have been sitting with them for 2 weeks now. I KNOW they have them as my high school confirmed they were sent electronically AND that they were able to confirm someone from WGU had opened the file that contained them... but my enrollment portal is still showing them as "expected." I did email the transcript department yesterday but got zero response. I also emailed my EC twice in the past 2 weeks, zero response.

I'm supposed to start July 1st. I had 36 CU transferred from Sophia (those have been received but NOT reviewed) and am VERY eager to get the ball rolling. I'm now starting to get nervous as I have until June 15th to have all my documents and ducks in a row.

What can I do to help speed this process up? Or is there anything I CAN do?

Hi everyone, I'm a prospective software engineering student, and I want to make sure I'm fully understanding the enrollment process before I go any further. I have a degree from a state school in English, and I want to see how many classes that will eliminate from what I'll need at WGU. I also plan to take a few courses at Sophia and Study dot com to reduce the amount I'll need to take with WGU. I filled out the online WGU application the other day and got an email from an enrollment counselor today. If I want to move forward as I mentioned, is now the time to meet with the enrollment counselor, or do I need to wait until I'm done with Sophia and Study dot com? I'm not positive I want to even do this yet, so I'm trying to not put the cart before the horse.

I wanted to vent regarding the enrollment process. While my EC has been great to work with this entire process has been a bit of a nightmare. I have had to move my start date back twice and now they are telling me that if the financial aid doesn't come back soon I might have to move it again! I have provided everything they've asked for sometimes within 15 mins of them asking, only to wait weeks for a response. It took 3 different transfer evaluations for my credits to finally be approved which took almost 6 weeks. I don't know if this is normal as all the other schools I've attended made the enrollment process process easy and smooth. Please tell me there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I have been waiting to start since mid early Feb.

During the application, it didn’t ask me to create an account. And when I tried to access my application from self enrollment page as suggested by a enrollment guide, I found that all my info fields are blank.

I remember there’s a website/portal where you can track the status of every step (transfer, intake interview, talking to EC, etc.)

Does anyone know how to access the page after applying?

Thank you.

So, I am still planning to attend, but I have to say that my experience so far with enrollment has been quite demotivating.

To start, I got the immediate sales call everyone talks about, when you have not even completed half of the application on the website. They immediately transferred me to an enrollment counselor, and it seemed to go fine. I explained my situation and set up an appointment a month out. I sent over some emails after a week or two, and never got a response.

A month later I get the text in advance, saying I have a phone appt. The time rolls around. I wait...I wait... and... nothing. I call their extension and leave a voicemail. An hour later I send an email asking for a new enrollment counselor, explaining why I need to change.

After a week, and never getting an email reply, I call the enrollment department and get a new counselor over the phone. Then a few days later I get a reply to my original email, saying they gave me another counselor...ugh. So I call in and explain the mess that I made. They understand and let me pick which one I want.

Meanwhile I have been rushing to get my transcripts ready, because I want to have time to contest the evaluation if needed. We go over each transcript and I exclude the ones that I don't need. I had made the fatal mistake of adding anything and everything I thought I could use as a transcript. I question my teaching cert, as I only have a paper copy. However, they tell me that my unofficial teaching cert I submitted is fine. I again question having enough time for an appeal. They say I have plenty of time before my start date. So I send all my transcripts in and wait...

After the portal shows that all of my transcripts are received, I call and confirm that everything is good, and that I will have time prior to my start date, for an appeal. Again, they say yes, you have plenty of time. I setup a new phone appt.

Two weeks pass, I do not get a call at the appt time, and have to wait over an hour later for a call. I inquire why my transcripts are still showing X of X received instead of pending evaluation. They say all is well, I just need to wait. I wait another week and call again, and I get a counselor that is not mine. They say that one of my transcripts is unofficial, the teaching cert, and I will need to exclude it. So the last 3 weeks or so were wasted because my transcripts were not even being evaluated. At this point I am out of time to appeal any results, and I am getting upset.

I am currently wait again for a transcript evaluation. At least I see the sacred "pending evaluation" text.

I feel like I am doing everything possible to double check, and ask the counselors about each step, but some of them have much better understanding of the processes than others. Should I just ask for a new counselor again?

EDIT*

As an update, I got my transcript evaluation back, and received more credit than expected. Everything else pushed through automatically and I am now waiting for orientation on the 15th. I'm so happy this turned around quickly. I am back to being fired up and excited to start again!! Thank you for the encouragement fellow redditors!

While going through enrollment I had a few hiccups and delays and when I searched through this sub for some indication of what was normal I really found very little. I assume that is because most people have an easy experience or are not miffed by hiccups.

On May 4th I requested a transcript be sent from my old college to wgu and registered my student portal. I received confirmation of delivery to wgu on May 4th at 12:30pm. It was confirmed as downloaded on may 5th at 10am. It wasn't until may 12th that my transcript was confirmed as received by wgu.

On may 14th my evaluation was complete. When I inquired into this part of the process I was informed (although this isn't noted on the website) that there is some kind of policy for a 3-5 day hold/allowed processing time, before admissions or my EC is allowed to follow up with the transcript department. It should be noted that the email of my evaluation was not sent to me originally and had to be requested from another EC I got it after a 5 minute phone call.

To be clear the website makes a statement of 24-48 hours on electronic transcripts such as mine.

The financial department and student services were excellent in every experience I had as I went through, and confirmed, the FAFSA paperwork and additional documentation. There was only a slight delay on my MPN from the 24 hours stated by the student aid website and the 72 hours it actually took. It was able to be confirmed as completed by somebody in WGU's financial department prior to the actual delivery of the document to WGU.

My biggest issue was with email contact in general. Several emails never received responses. After the 8th or so email that got lost/ignored I started doing as much as I could over the phone with much quicker success.

I uploaded my resume to show work experience and when my EC hadn't confirmed it for 2 days, or replied to emails about it, it took a phone call and 2 hours wait to have it confirmed by another EC. Any contact established by phone was excellent and followed up accordingly. Almost all emails introduced long delays and substandard communication that would often create more questions than answered.

I was pushy, from start to finish. My own personal reasons for wanting to get back into school (just finished getting my diagnosis and medication dosing right for ADHD) were added to wanting to be able to tell my Grandfather I was going back to school before he passed (quitting smoking he wanted, which I also did, but he talks about me going back to school every time I see him). I just got confirmed as admitted and he has maybe a day or two left. I was generally received well even when being obviously impatient.

In order to do the online intake interview it has to be unlocked by your EC. This was delayed as most things were with my EC and I ended up calling another EC and having them unlock it.

Start to finish may 4th to may 15th from creation of account to admission. Provided there is not some issue with finances I am set to start on June 1st in Software Development.

That should give anyone who was in my state of mind some clarification of timelines and differences between the image and the reality of this process.

I found my EC to be a fairly bad indication of WGU and it's customer service. Especially when the customer service was excellent on any call I made. From what I have read that is a fairly vocal opinion albeit potentially misleadingly vocal.

I think WGU should NOT assign a EC. Instead I think you should be encouraged to call and have whoever is available handle it. There is nothing that one EC can do that another can't and the assignment of an EC just adds delays to the process. (My EC was sick/out-of-the-office 3 of the business days during this process).

I know I focused on the negatives along the way, but only to maintain a perspective of customer service and quality assurance.

All in all, I would say this was an absolutely exceptional processing time for admission into a undergraduate program when compared to any other school traditional or online. 10 total business days. Huge success and I am impressed.

I am open to any questions that people may have.

Was anyone else's enrollment tedious and repetitive? I feel like all these phone call "appointments" are just repeating the same information over and over again. I applied and started the process in June with the intention of starting in August, but it got pushed back to September start because I missed the deadline for my "intake interview." I've had FOUR phone appointments with my enrollment counselor and all of my paperwork for transcripts and financial aid have been in since the beginning of this month. Now I just got another email saying I'll be completing my intake interview next week, and when it describes the intake interview, it's all stuff we have already discussed multiple times. I'm fine not being able to formally start until September now, but having to take time out of my day for the numerous phone calls is getting kind of ridiculous when nothing new is being shared or completed.

tl/dr: was your enrollment an endless amount of phone appointments with your enrollment counselor, or is mine just taking forever?

What should I expect during the process of enrollment and from the first call? I have a bit of anxiety when talking on the phone so I like to have an idea of what is going to be talked about and to be ready

I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I started the process and spoke to a enrollment advisor but what I pretty much got from them was that I needed an initial cert to get accepted. I’m military if that matters at all.