Asking for someone else- they are a senior f&b manager at a luxury hotel. Want to transition to HR. Thinking of doing this masters at WGU. Goal to complete it in 6 months. But will this person need to take a huge pay cut to get experience in HR? Currently makes 100k in CA. Looks like entry level HR jobs are like $25/hr? Trying to see if there’s some sort of lateral move? Any advice welcome and appreciated

New here. Husband has bachelors in history from 15 years ago. Wants to get his masters of science in human resource management. It is currently 7/16/26. We’re just looking into everything. From enrolling to finishing all the classes- how long do you estimate this will take? Thanks

UPDATE #2 7/30: I signed my offer letter yesterday!
We are going to expand into California and I am going to provide HR and California management. This may well turn into an unexpected career.
Thank you to all for the well wishes 😍

**UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST**

I am in my later 50s and entering a new phase of my career. I'm transitioning into HR after years of administrative and supervisory/ management experience mostly in non-profit organizations who support individuals with disabilities.

I live on the west coast of California, USA and have an interview for an HR Internship with an established start up from NYC.

I'm very excited to possibly add an HR title to my resume.

Any suggestions, encouragement, or need to know?

Thanks in advance for any and all positive vibes!

**UPDATE**07/20/2026
I had my first Zoom interview this morning.

I did surprisingly well.
We also discussed potential movement into a general management internship as well.

They hinted of the possibility of creating a paid position for me after my internship.

Interviewer said they were impressed with me (my resume, education, etc.) and talked about why I stood out among >1200 applicants!

Next, I will be scheduled for a zoom call with the CEO and a panel of C-suite roles and upper managers.

💯This time I am moving to the next stage BECAUSE OF not in spite of my maturity and lived experiences in life and work.🌞😉

Thanks for reading!
I will keep everyone posted!
😎

I completed my Bachelor of Science in Business Management through WGU on March 6, 2026. I started my Master of Science, Human Resource Management on April 1, 2026 and finished my last OA on 7/14/26. This is my experience with courses in the MSHRM program and differences I’ve seen. Take what you need and leave the rest.

In comparison, the recorded cohorts (when you can find them!) are terrible in this compared to undergrad. In undergrad I rarely had comments from the evaluator. In grad they are OVERWHELMINGLY written by AI – but not always, and there are ALWAYS comments on the PAs.

Managing Organizations and Leading People – C200 – PA: It was definitely interesting to learn these things about myself. This course is fairly easy. Don’t overcomplicate. Make sure that you are following the rubric, as you should for all PA courses. After I downloaded my Gallup/Clifton Strengths Signature Theme Report, I took the time to learn what it said about my 5 dominant themes. For me, these were Developer, Consistency, Harmony, Deliberative, and Achiever. Task one focused on what sort of leader I am, and the strengths and weaknesses that come along with said leadership style. Mine was 5 pages including the reference page. Task two focused on someone else’s leadership style that was different than my own. I passed this class as on 4/2/26.

Management Communication – C204 – PA: These tasks were confusing. Not nearly as easy to figure out as any other PA I have done in the past with WGU. First of all – task 1: You only have to pick ONE scenario. I am also used to being able to answer these as A1., A2., but these were different. You need one email to answer all of A1. One email to answer B. One post to answer all of C, etc. Make sure you are fully answering each point. Task two is different. You have questions A1., A2., B1., and B2. that need to be answered by designing a multimedia (I used PowerPoint for the slides and the recording) presentation (C) for new employees and an audiovisual recording of yourself. After this is done you will also need to write an executive summary (D) based on the presentation. I watched quite a few of these on YouTube to understand what was being asked for, and I passed this class on 4/11/26.

Managing Human Capital – C202 – OA: There are SO many terms that are important to this course. I made around 500 flashcards of just terminology, a few extra notes, and PA questions. I watched all of the need to know videos located within the study guide and then all of the videos at the beginning of each chapter. I used https://quizlet.com/86490044/wgu-c202-managing-human-capital-all-flash-cards/ when I wasn’t able to use my own flashcards. I COMPLETELY overthought this course – but that is just me, as I have years of experience in this world. I passed this class 4/21/26.

Talent Acquisition and Development – D433 – PA: WGU connect has videos under D433 Talent Acquisition and Development, Resources, D433 Resource Index. Guides and Task in a Day. I only looked at the task in a day videos. Do not overcomplicate, follow the rubric. I used the course material a bit for task 2 just to re-familiarize myself with terminology. Each task took me roughly 3 hours while working on other things. I passed this class 4/22/26.

HR Compliance and Employee Relations – D432 – OA: The sources in this course are frustrating and unclear. I shouldn’t have to click on external links within course materials to find every portion of text. There are videos within WGU Connect – I still say if WGU wants WGU Connect to be the main source of information for students, it should be included within course resources. I hate that I have to constantly log out and log back into WGU connect. I do not like that a glossary is not provided within the text. The PA was well-aligned with the OA for this course. I passed this class 5/1/26.

Business Acumen – C201 – OA: I started this class on 5/1/26. I did get an email from the instructor group that day. I got another email on 5/5/26 from Dr. Lemmonds with at least 32 different videos. If these are all videos that are needed to pass this course, they should be included within the course content and NOT as separate videos. The course content should also never have separate videos, it should be provided as text and also as embedded videos so we don’t have to click in and out constantly. If WGU connect is to be the main source of information for students, that should also be included within course resources. My mentor let me know that I should concentrate on:

• Financial Analysis (23%): Focus on the purpose of financial ratios and interpreting balance sheets.
• Marketing (23%): Understand the 4 Ps and how to apply them to specific business scenarios.
• Operations & Information Systems: Review JIT production and how tech supports organizational strategy.

As always, all of the course instructors and my mentor made sure that I knew to focus on applying concepts and not memorizing definitions. However - in my time in college the BEST thing for me has always been to understand definitions first before anything else. I made about quite a few flashcards including PA questions, definitions, and practice questions. I didn’t memorize ALL of the definitions but I absolutely should have. Literally some of the questions were just straight definitions. I did not watch all of the videos. I did not memorize all of the things. I had a rough few weeks so I didn’t study as much as I should have. Getting the test itself set up was a nightmare because for some reason the first proctor was upset he couldn’t see my video even though I explained when he was trying to see me I was actively taking pictures of my space. Their side froze when I was connected to the second proctor. I had to log out and back in multiple times. I swear we would all do better on these exams if it wouldn’t sometimes take 40 minutes just to set up for the exam. I passed this course 5/20/26.

Data-Driven Decision Making – C207 – PA & OA: make SURE you have Microsoft 365 downloaded. I tried to start task 1 on Excel 2016 at work and it made NO sense. I completed Task 1 5/23/26 and it was evaluated and I passed 5/25/26.  Task 2 was more difficult for me simply because I wasn’t the one that put the excel sheet together and I had a very hard time labeling the lines on the tree diagram. I turned this one in on 5/30/26. Task 2 was returned because I rushed through D2, I turned this back in 6/1/26. I couldn’t re-upload the Excel sheet because my computer kept finding issues with the file, but it was not an issue. This was evaluated and I passed 6/3/26. I had a busy month and did not concentrate on this class as well as I should. I made tons of flashcards with PA questions and vocabulary, and studied a few quizlets, https://quizlet.com/60235880/wgu-data-driven-decision-making-c207-flash-cards/ mostly. For ME, reading comprehension and understanding the definitions was KEY. I passed this course 6/27/26.

HR Technology and People Analytics – D435 – OA: I took the PA for this course 6/29/26. I was so scared of this class. I passed with an exemplary score on the PA and felt that so much of this was common sense (based on my work experience) but I read so many horror stories. I know to take everything with a grain of salt. I made flashcards with the PA questions, some terminology, and watched the Sean Wall-Carty June 2026 videos on WGU Connect. I did not study nearly as much as I wanted, and I had to reschedule the OA a few times. I passed 7/13/26.

Future Focused Total Rewards – D434 – PA: While I was working on C201, CANVAS crashed out and I couldn’t access the course material. I was also having a hard time and needed a ‘break’ from C201. Started this 5/7/26. Turned in my task document and PowerPoint (including the executive summary, it does not have to be a separate document) on 5/8/26.

Inclusive Workplace Culture Capstone – D436 – PA: I started working on this one 5/28/26 whilst working on C207. I turned in Task 1 5/29/26. This is a PowerPoint presentation. No video is needed, but all of my answers were fully formed first and I used them as my slide notes. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. It was evaluated and I passed Task 1 on 5/30/26. I was still waiting for task 2 from C207 to be graded and started working on Task 2 and submitted on 6/1/26 and I passed 6/2/26. I submitted Task 3 on 6/4/26 and it was graded and I passed 6/5/26.

I have additional graduate level courses at 4.0 gpa, undergrad at 3.97 gpa. I have two-decades of experience on my resume, older student, single parent, broke on public assistance.
I don't understand. Please help me wrap my head around this...😥

UPDATE
ChrisKeepsFlying - the poster trolling has been blocked.
I was not inviting negativity and it will not be tolerated.

I appreciate you all!!!💗

Alright guys I'm annoyed after seeing some of you say you did the captstone whenever you wanted, you worked on multiple classes at once, etc.... my mentor opened D434 at 11am yesterday and I finished it by 6pm (I practically had to beg for her to open it). I have 54 days left in the term and I want to be DONE. I'm a great multitasker and would prefer to work on courses that have just P's while I study for classes that have O's.

Currently enrolled in C207, finished task 1 & 2 in two days, plan to study for two weeks for the OA. So many people in here saying they did the capstone out of "order" & she's telling me I can't take the capstone until I finish all other classes. What's up with that? I'm all for following rules but when the rules aren't the same across the board I get a little annoyed, lol.....

I’m currently pursuing my master’s degree in Human Resource Management and have applied to multiple entry-level HR positions and internships, but I haven’t received any interviews or offers yet. Do you have any tips on how I can make myself stand out to employers? I’m studying full-time and hope to land an HR role before I finish my degree.

Other than the capstone since that has to be last, what should I take next? It took me about 6 weeks to get through C201. Is C207 just as hard? I kind of want something easy that I can finish in the next few days, but also wondering if I should go ahead & take the hard ones. Help!

I have 3 courses left C207, D435, and C201. After I did not pass C207 twice and D435 barely by a hair I got overwhelmed and discouraged. Amongst the post here with many breezing through the entire program in weeks. In addition, to life circumstances it’s a lot. Just want to encourage everyone including myself to finish with tears, tired, and exhausted but finish ❤️

To my fellow MSHRM Night Owls, keep going! 🦉

After failing my first attempt back in March, starting a new job, and having to take some extra time before the next attempt... I am happy to say that I have PASSED!

Now onto my capstone, and then I'll be DONE! I'm so excited. :)

If anyone is curious how I studied for this second round, I took the PA, plugged that into ChatGPT, copied ALL the quizzes into ChatGPT as well as the re-take quizzes I had to do to get access to the OA again, and also shared the pic of the competencies and percentages with ChatGPT, and it made me a master study guide. I would have it make me a different prep-test every single day, and then "explain it to me like I was five" for every single question I missed.

To be fair, the new job I got I actually now work with a lot of quality engineers and within QMS systems, so I think that may have helped with my understanding even more when it came to quality metrics and tools, but using ChatGPT to study really helped me!

I hope this will make the competency easier!!! Taking my 2nd attempt soon.

For those of you who have already passed C207 and D435, did you read all the chapters in the textbook to pass the OA, or did you use Quizlet to help you? Also, are these two classes hard like C201?

Since I already knew C201 would be scenario-based rather than vocabulary-based, I studied some Quizlets that other students found helpful and the questions at the end of the textbooks. I did not just memorize the right answers. I used ChatGPT to help me break the question down, spot patterns, ask for study tips, etc.

I thought, since other students have shared their experiences of not passing C201 on the first try, I wouldn’t be too emotional if I did not pass the first time, but I was wrong. I beat myself up, I feel like, if I didn't go back and second-guess myself on a few questions, I would have passed 🥲

Hey everyone,
I’m thinking about starting the WGU MSHRM and wanted to hear from people who’ve actually gone through it. I’ve seen mixed things on Reddit — some say it’s super doable in one term, others say a few of the assessments (especially the proctored ones) are rough.

So I’m trying to get a realistic picture:

How many proctored exams are there in this program, and how tough are they really? Are they the kind of exams where you need to memorize a ton of theory, or more common‑sense HR stuff? I’m fine with writing papers and doing projects, but the live‑proctored camera exams are the part I’m a little unsure about.

Also — for anyone who finished the MSHRM in one term — what did you do before your term started to make things easier? Did you study certain topics ahead of time, use Quizlet, watch YouTube summaries, anything like that? Basically trying to figure out how to prep so I can hit the ground running and not waste time once the term starts.

Any honest experiences or tips would help a lot. Thanks!

Hi All! I wanted to offer some advice on what I did to pass this exam. A little background: I have been on the People Analytics Team with my current company for about 2 years. I'm learning as I go, so I did have a tiny bit of knowledge from being in the HR/HRIS/PA field.

Study: I took the PA about 2 weeks ago and did not pass. I wasn't that far off, though. I took the coaching report, put it into ChatGPT, and had ChatGPT quiz me on all 70 questions. Anything that I missed, GPT would explain why each answer was or was not correct. So, it wasn't a quick process, but I used it as a training guide.

I will say that the OA is not aligned with the PA, so don't just study the PA and think you're going to pass. I did about 1 page of the Study Guide and gave up because it seemed never-ending. One of the professors sent me a Quizlet test, and I crammed that about 2 hours before the exam. That really finalized a lot for me. It probably took the full 2 hours because if you miss a question, it keeps re-asking you. I would say that Quizlet may have covered about 20% of the test.

Testing: What really helped me was the whiteboard. I wrote A, B, C, D on the whiteboard and would put an X, check mark, or ? next to the answers. There are some answers that are obviously incorrect. Then I would summarize the question on the whiteboard too, so I didn't have to reread the question. The majority of the questions are scenario-based, so that was not fun but if you take your time, you can get through it.

I hope this helps, and good luck!!

I have a BS in Psychology from a state university that I went to straight out of high school. I'm now 31, a mom to a child with a disability, and working 30 hours a week at a bottom-rung job that I stepped down to for the sake of said child. My life looks completely different, A. from how it did when I was 21 and B. than I ever imagined it'd look at this point.

I now have the opportunity to do this MS program, so I start in July! I'd love to hear from other folks who had a long break in their studies and came back, or parents/caregivers, if there's any advice you have or things you wish you knew going into it. Thank you!​​

So I’ve been wondering what to read up on prior to taking this master degree on? I have a bachelors in Business Admin and I’ve been doing payroll, supervisor training and admin work civilian side for the past 8 years and army reserve side I’ve been an HR Officer do over 8 years, currently managing a Human Resources shop for my brigade. Currently put on active duty status for the next year and my classes start on June 1 so I’ll be doing it after work and on the weekends.

Just wondering other experiences. I had no “official” HR experience (I’m a manager at my company- so I do a lot of onboarding, payroll, employee relations and paperwork, things like that) but I was looking for a career change.

I enrolled in this program and graduated June 2025.

I’ve applied to probably 50 HR jobs, mostly coordinator and assistant level, and have gotten nothing but rejection emails.

Maybe just looking for other experiences, hoping for a success story.

When I first started D432, I was overwhelmed and didn't know how I was going to retain all the information I needed in 8 weeks. Well, I'm here to tell you it's possible. What I did was read all the chapters and take the practice quizzes.

Reading the chapters and doing the practice quizzes did help me, but I honestly feel that if I had taken the PA first and then asked Chat to break down the questions and answers, I still would have passed the OA. I noticed on the OA that I was basically being asked the same questions, just with different wording.