Nurses who did their BSN after a AAS…where’d you do it? Online or in person? What did it (roughly) cost? Would you recommend that school to another (namely, me?)
Anyone who works with hiring nurses: are there any fly by night diploma mills still in existence that I should avoid, lest my resume be filed directly in the trash?
I’ve got an AA in Liberal Arts from way back, and an AAS in nursing (and of course, my RN). Are there any classes likely to be in my AA that can transfer to a BSN program and maybe cut down my investment of time and money? Or should I not even bother worrying about that?
Wouldn’t BSN lab & practicum requirements pretty much eliminate the online option? It seems your local State U. would be a good option for moderate cost and regional accreditation. I would stay away from the nationwide for-profit schools…regional accreditation is the key.
No, not for RN to BSN programs. Most BSN’s don’t have clinical requirements past what you needed for whatever got you the RN.
I’m looking pretty hard at Western Governor’s University. I like their (unusual) tuition system, and they’re accredited by Northwest Commission, as well as the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education - those are the two “right” accreditation agencies, I believe. They’re half the price of most, assuming I can keep up a full time course load. Biggest drawback (which it doesn’t mention on the website, but I’ve been told by a friend) is that their classes are Pass/Fail, so the best GPA you can get is equivalent to a B. That could be problematic should I want to get a Master’s anywhere but there.
My wife is currently attending Grand Canyon University. It’s an online program- a paper per week and daily discussion questions (post one, respond to two) for something like 13 months. Each class is 6 weeks and costs somewhere around $1,500 (which her employer pays directly). We are responsible for a “book fee” for each class, I think it’s $100 or $150 but have no idea off the top of my head.
I would urge you to find a program and take it. My wife has been doing fine in med-surg for the last 4 years or so with her AAS/RN but she basically gets laughed at when she applies for NICU or couplet care or even tele or ortho positions. She started at her hospital 8 years ago as a CNA but all the time and loyalty gets overshadowed by not having a bachelors degree. Hell, they’re even taking away her ACLS pay and weekend shift differential (totaling ~$10,000/yr)
Yep. Even entry level medsurg positions in Chicago nearly all request a BSN in the job listings now. That’s what happens when you have 4 gazillion hospitals in a 40 mile radius and everyone decides they need to go Magnet Status.
The university where I work has an all-online RN to BSN program. Tuition is about $7,000 / semester for out-of-state students, which looks like it’s higher than Western Governor’s (however, it’s a real bargain for in-state students if you feel like relocating to Mississippi!) The Registrar’s Office is typically pretty generous about accepting transfer credits.
I’m an English professor, so I can’t tell you much about the nursing program from personal experience, but it has an excellent reputation (and the students who have actually been admitted to the program, as opposed to the 80% or so of freshmen who say they’re pre-nursing majors, tend to be quite strong).
There are a few nurses where I work who do the Grand Canyon online option. A few more are doing St. Joseph’s online, and some are looking into DrexelOnline because we have a partnership with them and our employees get a discount.
As Emtar KronJonDerSohn said, getting the BSN is important. We have nurses where I work who have been here 30 years on a diploma. If they were to get laid off (very real possibility, unfortunately), there isn’t a hospital in Boston that would hire them without a BSN. It’s sad, but it’s also interesting to me. We have a lot of Nurse Managers and DONs who don’t have even a BSN currently, and they earn over 100K/year. It really skews the ROI stats for higher ed!
If you are in the Chicago area (so qualifying for in-state tuition), how about University of Illinois/Chicago?
They seem to have an on-line BSN completion program. The UIC website is a mess; all I could find was indirect evidence, such as this description of opportunities for City College AAS/RNs:
The College of Nursing at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has partnered with the UIC School of Continuing Studies to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Degree Completion Program for Registered Nurses online. Upon successful completion of all coursework, students will earn a fully accredited BSN degree from UIC.
(bolding added)
The linked-to .pdf describes the courses required. Yeah, some of your old AA stuff should work.
If you’re considering UIC, a good friend of mine is a certified nurse midwife who did her grad work there. I bet she would have input for you - PM me if you’re interested, but she is so disgusted with U.S. healthcare that she just moved to Canada to try her luck in the frozen tundra, so I don’t know how quickly she’ll reply.
The SO earned her AS in Nursing a couple of years ago, and went right into the BSN program… At Grand Canyon University.
She says it’s a great program and recommends it. She graduated in February. Before her BSN, nobody would respond to her résumés. As soon as she put ‘BSN’ after her name, she started getting calls.
Finding a good nursing job in this area is not easy. She is working, and making a lot more money than she did working with her AS at a nursing home. The work is better and more interesting to boot. The job is regular day hours, and weekends and holidays off. The downside is that as a recent grad, she’s working per diem. She likes not having to work every day, but she would prefer part-time to per diem.
In any case, here’s another vote for Grand Canyon University.
UIC is where my best friend is getting her Midwifery now. Eh…for what she’s paying, I’m not impressed, to be honest. I wouldn’t say no to a full scholarship, of course!
The University here (Charlotte) offers an RN to BSN. Not sure of the price but you go to class every Tuesday for one year and then you’re done. I’m sure local Universities where you live offer something similar.
A lot of state nursing boards have explicitly mentioned Excelsior. They request the license applicant call the board directly to ensure their education at Excelsior will meet the licensure standards. I personally made a call to one nursing board and was told the reason applicants must call first is because Excelsior is not a traditional program. I’m not entirely sure what that meant; but, it’s something to consider.
I’m still educating myself on what schools are good ones versus bad ones. I remember when I wanted to transfer from community college to a four-year school I always checked to see if and where the institution ranked on U.S. and World News Report or at topuniversities.com. I don’t think one needs to go to an elite school to be an RN; but, it might give you a feel good if you see where your school is ranked. I think the important thing is to make sure it is accredited by the “right” agencies.
Here’s a useful resource for education requirements with links to state nursing board pages: www.rnmobility.com.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, rg021!
I did end up at WGU (Western Governor’s University) and I’m nearly done. I really should have been done today, but I got so disgusted at the process, and just generally the need to even get a BSN, that I had something of a temper tantrum and hurt no one but myself in the process of not doing enough credits to finish this term. So one more term it is.
It’s not a bad program. It’s not a great program, either. There’s been a lot of changing of requirements, technical glitches and other annoyances. I’ve learned exactly two things (Change Theory is neat and it’s possible to reduce medical errors in an institution without blaming or punishing anybody, except that the real world doesn’t work like that. Also, just discovered Motivational Interviewing when I chose my topic for Evidence-Based Practice and Applied Nursing Research.) But from what my friends in other programs are telling me, it’s pretty much the same everywhere. An RN to BSN is an expensive piece of paper that is useless in actually teaching you anything. But it will vastly improve your chances of being hired in my city, so it’s necessary extortion.
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from doing WGU, but I would caution them that “on-line” is not entirely an accurate description (you may have to drive up to 50 miles to take some tests at approved testing centers, and Field Project in Community Health Nursing requires 90 hours of not online work with no guidance at all in how to meet the requirements of the course), and if you happen to, say, get married and change your name, prepare for literally weeks of headaches as you get that all sorted out with multiple agencies. And you’ll never be entirely sure what your student email is, because they tell you different things on different pages. Annoying little things like that got me very frustrated this term.
