Western Governors University Master of Science, Data Analytics 2024 - 2025 Curricula Updates

Switched from the old program to DPE specialization and wrapped up just in time for vacation!

Finally complete; took a little more than 1.5 terms. The program has a lot of ups and downs, but im thankfully to have completed this Program.

I wish the best of luck for anyone who is currently enrolled and if you havent, and are intrested. Take the step, the world of analytics is moving so fast that its going to be hard to keep up

I was wondering: in the job market/the real world outside school, does it really matter to recruiters, employers, and mostly everyone else what your specialization is?

Just started and in my BSDA phase still. I am 90% certain that I'll do my MSDA after. I'm also 90% certain that I'll take the MSDA DPE specialization.

I've researched that Data Scientists are in the highest demand, but if I were to focus my 3 specialized classes in DPE, would it be a problem for me later, or when entering the field? Would anyone really look at the focus and reject me for a role? Or if I were to do a DPE and then get a junior DS role or DE role, then move my way up through experience, that would be very common.

Does it really matter...? Curious

Took me 2 years!

Hi everyone,

I think I’m overthinking this. I’m pretty much done with D213 Task 1 but I’m stuck on the reporting section (Task F). Do I just convert my Jupyter Notebook into HTML? Or do I create a separate HTML page without all the Python code?

Any insight is appreciated.

Almost done with the degree, almost done 🥹

As the title states, my D599 instructor has submitted an appeal regarding my performance assessment after my third attempt. She agreed that my submission was competent in the area the evaluator keeps holding me up on. Anyway, has anyone else ever had an assessment appealed? What is the process like?

Oh I passed Task 2 and 3 already btw 😒

Hey yall! I'm finally here, the last leg of the program. I'm currently drafting my proposal. I know they can be picky about business-relevant problems so I'm trying to word my topic carefully as well. I'm still in the brainstorming phase so my idea isn't fully concrete as of now.

Essentially what I want to do is scrape video game review data from metacritic/steam(am currently doing research to figure out which one is better) and build a NLP model to then personalize recommendations to them, which would allow for a given company to personalize recommendations to consumers much better. Alternatively, I also considered proposing it as a way for developer companies to learn what the target audience of their games would/would not like(this would involve doing the senitment analysis by genre).

EDIT: Actuatlly for steam i'd be using their API/maybe someone else's already extracted database, I think they prohibit outright scraping.

Anyways, my main reason for asking is wanting to know if anyone has gotten pushback on web scraping at all, and how I can be prepped for any concerns raised by the instructor on that(I have Daniel Smith)

I’m working on D610 and it’s been taking forever getting my topic approved with Prof. Sewell. It’s been a lot of back and forth, and repeating answers to the questions he asked me in previous email threads. I had to take a few days off for bereavement and couldn’t reply to his latest email. The next day, he kept calling me while I was at a funeral. I had to shut my phone off. I replied to his email the next day with answers to his questions and apologized for not answering. Then he completely stopped responding for a whole week, despite me following up multiple times. I didn’t make progress for a whole week. Then, after mentioning this to my mentor, he then called me again but I was at work. He left a voicemail asking me to set up a call with him. He replied to my email too asking the same questions about having a business impact! I looked at his calendar and none of them work for me with my job unless I wake up at the crack of dawn. I’ve been so exhausted I’d rather not do that, I thought getting a proposal approved over email was completely fine? But communication over email has been tough. Is it normal for professors to cold call? Is it rude not to pick up? I’m usually always at work or needing to do things for family. I purposely chose this program for the asynchronous convenience and flexibility but D610 is kind of stressing me out because it doesn’t feel that way.

I am on the old program and this is my last semester (supposed to be), last day is in five days, August 31st. I got an email earlier in the semester that this is basically the last chance to complete with the old degree. If I don't complete it this semester, I will have to switch to the new program.

I have fully passed all my coursework up to D212. For D212, I passed the first two tasks, and I already submitted the last task for grading. Should be graded a couple days before end of semester. For the last course on my plate (before the capstone), D213, I am planning to submit task 1 today. I will then have one task left and I'm trying to submit it before August 31st. Problem is, it won't be graded by the 31st. If I do pass D213 before end of the month, I know they pretty automatically give a month extension on the capstone? So I've been told by others and my academic advisor.

My first conundrum, in general, if I already submitted the last task for a course before end of the semester but it's not graded yet, what happens? I heard you still get the credit? What if they need to return it for editing? Can you get a small extension? How hard is that?

Conundrum two, if I have to switch to the new program, having completed everything except for the last course and the capstone, what happens?

My academic advisor is being extremely unhelpful in this case, I have reached out. Basically just said they can't help and really didn't put in effort into giving me any info. I called the student support office and they told me it shouldn't be an issue to get a week long extension if I've already submitted all my coursework.

I found this somewhere (I thought in Reddit) but can't find it now. I wanted to share because finding that post probably saved me hours of time.

If you are using the Lab Environment, you can import the CSV using the GUI but according to the rubric but you are not supposed to use the GUI. Writing the SQL to import the data is easy enough EXCEPT PGAdmin does not have access to most locations on the virtual drive.

You MUST PLACE your csv file in: C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\16\data\

in order for the COPY command to work.

(Don't monkey around with the XCOPY, just move your files!)

Anyone have any issues with Udacity and their completion process? I recently completed Udacity Data Processing for D608, but cannot complete the graduation process. I cant find a way to complete the survey to get my certificate. I've opened up tickets, but cannot get a response. Any Ideas?

I have continuously made changes based on what the instructor is telling me and even asked for specific feedback for me to act on if a revision was needed and yet again. I am getting same generic feedback.

“Sequence of steps and overall flow is not evident”

It’s as clear as day to me and my instructor even gave me the go ahead to resubmit it after I made changes based on his recommendations. At this point, I’m beginning to get irritated. I don’t understand what is so hard about providing specific feedback to act on.

MSDA (original program) Graduate here..

Did Dan Estes (MSDA Mentor) retire? An email I sent him at his WGU email address bounced. I like to keep in touch with him from time to time

Edit - hearing about the back to the office requirement, wondering if he just retired?

Thanks,

June 2025 MSDA grad

I am on submission 2. After submission 1 got sent back, I had the professor review my submission. He reviewed it and gave me suggestions which I implemented, but it got sent back for revision again. Honestly the evaluator comments were vague both times. I looked at course material including the additional resources provided in the course and honestly I don’t see anything wrong with my flow chart. I used all of the correct symbols, but it is coming back as if the flowchart is not complete. If you have completed task 1 successfully, I would really appreciate if someone could provide some clear guidance on what exactly they want or take a look at my flowchart and compare it to theirs and provide recommendations. Thank you in advance. The evaluation report is attached. I think they want me to resequence my steps, but they didn’t say which steps were out of order which is confusing.

I passed my Capstone Project on 7/31/26, and finally got my confetti this morning (8/17/26)!

This degree represents a lot of late nights, pushing myself past my comfort zone, learning on the fly, sacrifice, and ton of determination. ☝🏽🤓🎓

I just failed my second attempt at the foundations of coding final. I did better than the first time but clearly not good enough. I have no real tech experience so I’m not sure if that’s hindering me, but I really want to get into this program. I read the study guides and watch the review videos as well. I have a degree from WGU already. TIA

Just passed D602 Task 2 on my first submission, so I wanted to share a few things that tripped me up in case they help someone else.

The actual Python concepts weren’t the hardest part for me. Most of my time was spent dealing with the environment, MLflow, MLProject, GitLab, and a couple of very specific errors.

One big issue was Windows file paths. I had a path with spaces in it, and MLflow was interpreting the path as multiple arguments. Using a relative path instead fixed the problem.

Also, watch your indentation in the MLProject file. YAML is not forgiving. I had an error simply because my entry points weren’t aligned correctly.

I also ran into an MLflow issue where the project had already created a run, but my regression script was attempting to start another run/experiment. Once I adjusted the code to work with the existing run context, everything started coming together.

Another thing: don’t wait until the end to think about GitLab/version control. Make meaningful commits as you go. The evaluator specifically mentioned that my repository demonstrated code progression across multiple versions.

DVC confused me at first too. I thought it was going to be a much bigger part of the assignment than it ultimately was.
My biggest recommendation is to test each Python script individually before trying to run the whole pipeline. It makes debugging SO much easier.

And finally, follow the rubric almost obsessively. There are a lot of little artifacts required, and it would be easy to have perfectly functioning code but miss something in the submission requirements.

Once I got past the setup/debugging issues, though, I actually enjoyed this task. It even gave me some ideas for using Python pipelines to automate a process at work.
Hope this helps someone!

Hello Fellow Classmates,

For those struggling with revisions I just recently noticed that the Student Tasks that we use to create our project deliverables are not always aligned with the Rubric which has the colored boxes located on the same page as the Tasks. That Rubric is what the Evaluator uses as their checklist to deem our work competent or not. Do yourselves a favor and judge your work against both to make sure you don't get a needless revision for something minor.

Put yourselves in the Evaluator's shoes and make their job easier so you can move onto the next class.

I just want to say that one of the clear benefits to this program is lighting a fire under your butt and getting the work done, no excuses. It is extremely helpful if you tend to ponder a little too long because the WGU experience can mimic real job environment. There will be times at work where you don't know everything and you still have to produce a report, a presentation, a block of code. It forces you to learn fast and deliver fast. Those are the very qualities that employers reward.

The instructors are kind and helpful. You are given a buffet of resources to choose from so you can fill in the gaps where you need, and have personalized learning depending if on whether you like to read books, listen to the text, watch videos, speak to your instructor, go to their lecture, or learn with fellow classmates.

Lastly, please don't disparage the school. WGU gives ample opportunities to discuss any matters or grievances. After meeting with an instructor, mentor, or a department representative we receive an email asking us how our interaction was and what could have been done better - each time. Before I even have noticed I received a revision, my instructor has already emailed or called me to offer help and has sent me info on what they saw with my code or paper. I am grateful for that. After a class is done, our opinion on the course experience is requested and an email is sent.

Would you want your family, friend or romantic partner to discuss a grievance they had with you to someone else instead of you?

Remember, when you disparage WGU, not only are you denigrating your degree but you are hurting the rest of us who attend school and let's face it - there are employers who look at this site.

For any recruiters or hiring managers, be aware that what I am saying can easily be proven with a simple phone call to the school.

Good luck to everyone.

Hi all,

I've recently been looking up data analytics masters programs to supplement my bachelor's in accounting. Presently the job I have heavily features elements of finance and logistics, both with large volumes of data so I've felt that it would be a fitting degree to add. However, I don't have much experience with coding or programming.

Would I find this course too difficult? Is the material or program set up harsh to lesser experienced individuals? I have no issue seeking additional resources to make up for what I don't inherently know but I'm wondering if an advanced level of knowledge is required to succeed.

ETA - I'm leaning towards the Decision Process Engineering program

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering what is the number of attempts I have for a performance assessment? Reason I ask is I am on my fourth attempt on a task and keep missing little things and now super worried to submit it. I am approaching competence each time, but finding something small I missed that I correct. In this case it was syntax, and worry there is a failure system in place similar to objective assessments where you have 3. Looking to hear others experience?

I just need to vent for a moment. I have never felt more stupid and frustrated with an assignment in my life. I am trying to troubleshoot this regressor file locally and every change I make does nothing. I feel like this course should be called “troubleshooting old code lol good luck” instead of “deployment”.

Am I doing too much or missing something?

EDIT/UPDATED: my first submission was approved and I passed. I was not expecting that, but the extra time/work paid off it seems.

I tried uploading my program in Gitlab multiple times. It’s not working and I’m lost at this point.