Pre-WGU | First meeting with my program mentor. Did it go well?

My first meeting with my program mentor was a bit rough, but everyone has their bad days so I'm hoping this was a one time issue. This won't stop me form my original plan of finishing WGU in one term. If anything, it may just slow me down a bit. Also... I went on a mini rant a few times in this video. Sorry lol.

[@xBounce3x]

Hey man, that is so unlucky. Like you said, don't be afraid to ask for a different mentor. I just had my first meeting and they called me right on the dot of our appointment. They also listened to my reasoning for the order of classes I wanted to take and approved it right away. Just wanted to comment so people know there are good mentors in case they were considering WGU. Keep up the work, love the vids!

[@CameronEvolved]

I'm glad you got a good mentor. Good luck on your degree!

[@hxsaph]

I start Jan 1st too for a BS in Information Technology. I was anxious about my program mentor, but he turned out to be an awesome guy. I recommend switching up your program mentor now if you have any doubts, because once you're in the game it might be a lot to tackle classes AND to catch the new guy up to speed on your plan. I'm wishing you the best of luck.

[@payme2806]

What a nightmare!! I start February 1st, haven’t been assigned a mentor yet. Best of luck to you, the videos are so helpful.

[@danielletaylor6396]

Hey I'm looking into going to WGU and have watched many videos and I've heard others say they had to request a new mentor. I'd just ask for new mentor because you sound like you know what you need & want😉 hope it all works out and keep us informed!

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for watching. I might end up requesting a new mentor, but we'll see what happens this week. Hopefully my next interaction with her will be better.

[@tehczavier]

Sorry, you had that experience. I must admit that my experience with the college of IT's enrollment counselor was similar. I'm curious to know how that department is trained, but I've spoken to other new candidates who have experienced similar issues with enrollment/program mentors. WGU truly needs to get that department in order, especially since students are flocking to IT majors.

[@CameronEvolved]

I'm really curious how they train their staff too. I hear vastly different experiences from people. Some have great EC and PMs and others have horrible experiences. I wonder if it's a training issue or just an issue with hiring qualified and competent employees.

[@DjXxify]

It sounds like we have a similar mentor lol. She was an hour late to the meeting where I actually register for my classes, but I eventually got ahold of her by calling student services (turns out the number in the email she sent to me was inaccurate). Then she completely forgot about the last "weekly check-in call" that was scheduled. But she is pretty responsive to emails so I think that will be our main mode of communication from now on. I just find it incredibly disrespectful (and unprofessional) when someone schedules a meeting with me and either skips or forgets about it. Especially when they have control over unlocking my classes! I may end up switching mentors in the future but I'll stick with my current one for a few more weeks just to see.

[@CameronEvolved]

I might have to call student services if my program mentor is always late, but yeah I agree. It's really unprofessional and I expected more from WGU since a lot of people recommend the school. If it doesn't work out, I'll request someone new, but I'll give her a chance.

[@alexdoescode1]

Sorry to hear that man. Glad you’re giving a timeframe as to when you’ll take additional action(end of jan). Sadly, all my interactions with them they’ve always been 15-20 min late to meetings. (I was enrolled in the accounting degree 5 years ago and did 3 classes before stopping + my current times with them).

[@CameronEvolved]

I assume some of their meetings might run over a bit, but 15-20 minutes late to every meeting is crazy. Hopefully this time you'll get a great program mentor... especially since you've already been preparing and you have a plan for finishing in 1 term.

[@allisonberg3477]

This same shit happened to me but with an enrollment coach. Supposed to call me at 5pm, 510 rolls around- nothing. 530- nothing. Finally at 6 I called to complain and got connected to my advisor right away. “I called but it didnt connect.” Right. He also could have texted or emailed but apparently he “couldn’t find it.” I still ended up talking with him and going through some things, but it’s been difficult getting further communication. So far I am NOT happy with my experience.

[@CameronEvolved]

I didn't have a great experience with my enrollment counselor either, but I hope it gets better for you. You have the option to request a different enrollment counselor as a last resort, although I'm not sure how complicated it is or how long it would take to get a replacement.

[@Steve-br7oc]

Im finding the weekly contact to be a bit much. For some it may help, but asynchronous communication via email is the ticket in this situation. Dont over think it man. Just press that your "extra" and explain what January means to you.

[@CameronEvolved]

Will do. Thanks for the advice and thanks for watching!

[@AzazelHash281]

Yeah my enrollment counselors have been bad to I got switched over like 3 times and the last counselor I had didn’t even call me when they were supposed to luckily I got admitted so I’m worried who my PM will be

[@CameronEvolved]

It could go either way, but I've heard more positive things about program mentors than bad so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Hopefully you'll get a good one. Good luck!

[@beefycerberus7535]

Definitely request a new program mentor if she continues to be like this. My mentor is absolutely fantastic. He has helped me so much, and I feel that he really listens to my concerns. He has never been late for a call, always calls on the dot. I hope this all clears up for you soon. :)

[@CameronEvolved]

Good to hear you have a great mentor. I'll give her a chance, but yeah if it doesn't get better, I'm going to request someone else.

[@davidkent4631]

Thank you for being very specific about everything

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for watching!

[@christianmorera4127]

I'm your 600th subscriber!

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks for watching!👍

[@QGDeclined]

The extra micromanagement does seem like a major bummer, especially for an institution courting highly motivated individual learners. No sense in agonizing over it until you get more clarity, though. Good luck hope things are able to be scheduled how you find most appropriate.

[@CameronEvolved]

Yeah you're right. I'm just going to keep pre-studying for now and hopefully next week things will improve.

[@andrewpagan]

I'm not even in the market for a coding bootcamp, so not sure how I got recommended this. I just want to say, from one Software Developer to a future one, you did not deserve this and this person does not reflect well on whatever WGU is. You deserve someone who's attentive and ON-TIME. Being sick is not an excuse for being late. It takes less than 10 seconds to call someone and let them know "hey I am not feeling well can we reschedule this please?" I'm sorry this happened to you.

[@CameronEvolved]

Thanks. WGU is an online college. The program mentor is my main contract person who's assigns/unlocks courses and stays with me until I finish my degree. I have the option to request someone else if it doesn't work out with her (which it probably won't), but I didn't want to do that since this was our first meeting. If it doesn't get better, I'm definitely going to request someone else.

[@andrewpagan]

@@CameronEvolved why did you decide to do an online college vs a boot camp or traditional four year college?

[@CameronEvolved]

@@andrewpagan I have 10 years of experience and industry recognized certifications. I think my resume is solid except the education part because I never finished high school. I'm going to college fill the gap. WGU is a competency based school so I can finish much faster than a traditional four college. I don't have a problem with boot camps, I just don't think it'll help me at this point in my career.

[@WorldsOkayestBot]

So i asked my mentor early on if I could take all the Gen Ed classes first and then all of my accounting courses last. Alot like yours, mine didn't necessarily tell me no..but was hesitant to allow it. I dont really understand why either, but i didnt press the issue. Crappy that your mentor was the way she was. Mine is a really great guy and will usually always accommodate my wants. As others have said, its perfectly acceptable to ask for a new mentor. Even the instructors are occasionally late. Alot of it is just running over time with other students, but 5 hours is pretty wild.

[@CameronEvolved]

I expect them to occasionally be late due to meetings running over with other students, but I agree that there's not really any excuse for being 5 hours late. If I was sick and wasn't going to make it, I would've at least sent out an email or something to let the person know early. I have another meeting with her this week so I'm hoping this time things will be better. If not, I'll request a new mentor.

[@kisha-maries9016]

You're very kind, 5 hours late is unacceptable. I'm not sure if give her another opportunity to potentially negatively affect my education.

[@Jimothy-723]

id consider reporting her to the school. 5 hours late is beyond un-professional.

[@CameronEvolved]

There's definitely red flags here, but I don't want a bunch of drama with the school for immediately requesting a new program mentor. I don't want to be seen as a problem student to them so that's mainly why I'm holding back for now. If it doesn't improve though, I'm definitely requesting a new mentor.

[@kisha-maries9016]

@@CameronEvolved please do. You've worked so hard for this moment. Nothing about this up. If she was sick, call out, ask another colleague to cover or send the reschedule email. For her to sleep all day while new on the job, then immediately call upon waking and yet somehow sleep-email you? Plus, beyond the fact she didn't bother to see what you'd completed before the meeting, I can't fathom you were her only call of the day. I'm sure you've thought of all this, though. I wouldn't want to be viewed as a problematic student either, and I hope she equally doesn't want to be viewed as an unhelpful hindrance of a mentor.

[@WinterWind]

Honestly I'd be complaining to the institution before I waited 5 hours. Two strikes already, she gets one more and then you request a change

[@CameronEvolved]

I don't want to be seen as a problem student to the college, so that's mainly why I'm holding back for now, but if I have a similar experience with her next week, I'm probably going to request someone else.

[@camerongineer]

Ugh, that's terrible. I really hope I don't have a PM like that. My enrollment counsel has been good though, so I'm hopeful. I'm not really worried about class order though, so it might not matter as much.

[@CameronEvolved]

I think there's more helpful and good PMs then bad so wouldn't worry about it too much. At least we can request someone else if it doesn't work out.

[@iamtired9350]

I would've switched advisor's asap 😡

[@CameronEvolved]

I would've told someone to do the same... but I'm not good at following my own advice 🙃. I'll give her one more chance.

[@cstpa1]

yo this is terrifying. my first mentor call is next week. her math was not mathin at all!

[@josecanas838]

I'm sorry to hear that my mentor is on point even sends email afterwards and we talk about plans an what other students are using to pass a clas

[@HO-vt5pk]

im planing on joining WGU but all these vids and comments are making it seem like the mentors are horrible, hoping I get a mentor like urs

[@krystaalbertson3320]

I feel like my enrollment counselor was talking about you 😅 he said he has only had one student request a new program mentor and then went through the training they go through now. But he said it makes him super paranoid that it will keep happening with mentors from the IT college.

[@bratu4ed]

Thank you for sharing. This is actually very helpful!

[@nicranze7901]

Man…. I had a very similar experience this past week. She actually rescheduled my first day, so I scheduled for the next day, she missed that so I scheduled for later in the day and she was 30 minutes late for that call. (Not what I was expecting from a veteran). I also got the same song and dance about the first four glasses. I was also planning on making progress the first week of January but she’s actually off that entire week and Ill have to rely on other mentors stepping in.

[@CameronEvolved]

Wow that sucks. Hopefully it's get better, but if it doesn't improve in the first couple weeks, you might want to request a new mentor. It appears some mentors really care, but others just see it as a paycheck and will not be very helpful or available.

[@keierawomack1152]

Seems like the guys are better my classes are still lock she said I can register but it’s saying it’s something she still have to do instead of a green box it’s read without a button

[@whatislovebutonelonggame5406]

I suggest you lodge a formal complaint and ask for a different mentor. Not only she was late, but the whole "re-scheduling" email why didn't you reply me?! Huh? Really??

[@CameronEvolved]

This isn't quite what I thought my first experience with my mentor would be like lol. I feel like I'm going to end to end up eventually requesting a new mentor, but I'm want to give her a chance.

[@chriswood257]

A couple of things you said about her really reminded me of my first mentor at WGU. Any chance her name starts with a T?

[@CameronEvolved]

Nope. How many times did you request someone new before you found the right person?

[@chriswood257]

@Cameron Evolved I never even requested a new one. I actually liked my first mentor quite a bit. I got an email one day stating that effective immediately, I was getting a new mentor. Something about how my old mentor had been assigned too many students and they were spreading out the load. Pretty strange.

[@jayvet8402]

Did you see they are adding a software engineer bs starting in March? I'm waiting and doing that one instead of computer science since all the careers I'm interested in are software or developer engineer positions.

[@Jimothy-723]

computer science is still more valuable.

[@jayvet8402]

@john doe I agree if you want to branch out but for devops, aws architects, etc there are many without degrees and software engineer will train you practically for the career while computer science opens more doors in IT software engineering like cloud will open specific doors easier.

[@CameronEvolved]

I didn't know they were adding a new degree, but it's great that they're adding something you're interested in.

[@jslim49]

First impressions is vary important to me . I would request A new program mentor .

[@hktepochcalli1481]

Name?

[@KingKongHitDaBong]

Minor setback but you got this boss. Also for the BSSD it seems the most amount of credits you can transfer in is 65 out of 122. Am i missing something or is that really all that you can transfer?

[@CameronEvolved]

Is that software development? Most degrees at WGU (especially IT degrees) allow you to transfer up to 75% of the total credits required to complete the degree. If the total credits is 122, if my math is right you should be able to transfer in about 90 credits.

[@KingKongHitDaBong]

@@CameronEvolved Yep software development (although changing to software engineering in march). I also thought you can transfer more which is why I was confused

[@MrInvisible2you]

Dang. This seems like so much unnecessary work just to get into a online college. I'm in the processes of applying to wgu right now.

[@AzazelHash281]

If your transcripts are good and above a 2.5 GPA you should meet eligibility after a week in a half if you get any of the guy enrollment counselors they’ll scare tf out of you

[@CameronEvolved]

My experience so far with WGU kinda sucks, but don't let that stop you. WGU is an amazing opportunity and even with all the issues I'm having now, it'll be worth it in the end.

[@makeshiftmuse251]

Thank you for the videos! I've been prepping for WGU myself, and you've been a huge help in tempering my expectations with certain things. I'm actually changing careers after 15 years working in manufacturing maintenance and engineering, going for the accelerated IT bachelor's and master's. The certs kinda worry me. Any advice on those in general?

[@Goobagoo]

Doing the same, I wish i had advice to give. Good luck man

[@dakota9015]

How is the accelerated program going so far?@@Goobagoo

[@richardpierce7799]

Well that's not exactly a great start to your WGU experience.😕 I'm starting my BSCC in February, and whenever I deal with my enrollment counselor, it seems like her job is just an inconvenience to her. I hope this isn't foreshadowing of what I can expect from the WGU staff.... Love your videos though, keep the material coming man!!

[@CameronEvolved]

I didn't like my enrollment counselor either, but not all of the staff is bad. Hopefully you'll get someone great the first time. Worst case scenario, you can request someone else.

[@jomo3735]

Can I as who was your mentor

[@Jimothy-723]

5 hours is by far unaceptable. you seriously should take this red flag for what it is and request a new mentor.

[@CameronEvolved]

I'm considering requesting someone new, but she might of actually been sick. I don't want to just immediately request someone new off of 1 bad experience, but I definitely will if i keep having similar problems with her.

[@Ghatazhak]

Change mentors now. She will get worse.

[@CameronEvolved]

I have another meeting this her this week so we'll see how it goes. If I'm still having problems with her, I'll request a new mentor.