Concorde

Hello,
Our oldest daughter is moving to Colorado Springs and is interested in attending nursing school at Condorde in Denver. She was told the hours are 0800-1500, but I told her that seemed odd for the days she would have clinicals. Can anybody chime in on the program and commute from Colorado Springs? They would be living close to Ft. Carson. I think she is looking at the LPN program, maybe the R.N. Is there a decent job market in Colorado Springs? I'm an RN and I've found that in several places we've lived, LPN jobs are more limited. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

From military spouse:

Can anybody chime in on the program and commute from Colorado Springs? They would be living close to Ft. Carson. I think she is looking at the LPN program, maybe the R.N.

I'm considering Concorde's RN program which starts in July and I do have some detailed information. I'm thinking that if your daughter is living close to Fort Carson, she might have as much as a 70 mile one-way commute (just an estimate), and I don't know if she would be willing or able to do that on a day-to-day basis. Also, I don't know your daughter's situation, but is she also considering doing her pre-req's and applying to a community college?

She has done some pre-reqs that were required for a program in AZ. She seems to be under the impression that the Concorde program requires no pre-reqs. She will be moving to Colorado Springs in a few weeks and she was told registration is in May for the July class. I'm not sure that she has completely decided between RN/LPN. She seems to feel that it is a 1.5 hour commute each way. I don't know how much weather affects it. I think she is interested because she realizes that she will be there for a limited amount of time (probably 2-3 years). My only concern is that it might not really be 0800-1500. I know when I went to school, clinicals were at 0630 (I think) and classses, labs had a way of changing or extending the day. Do you know if the program is as easy to get into as the admissions communicates to potential students? Any info on the "true" hours of the program? Thanks!

I am not sure what the hours would be for you daughter........but when i went to concorde (very 1st LPN class) we attended class hours 12noon - 6pm and the days we had clinicals we went to clinicals 6:30A - 3pm and of course there wasn't class on the day that we attended clinicals. As far as prereqs a&p, pharm were taking as part of the LPN program.....good luck to your daughter, she will do well....almost 13 years later and i don't regret taking the progam at all!!!

Just a note of caution: driving from the Springs to Denver in the winter can be very dicey. Monument Hill is just a BOOGER. Geographically it gets more snow, and since it is a long, gradual hill, it can be nasty to navigate in snow and ice.

And she won't be able to call and say, "Oops. Bad weather. See you guys tomorrow!"

This kind of weather doesn't happen every day in the winter, to be sure, but if one HAS to be there on a daily basis, I would consider the Monument Hill situation to definitely be a factor.

Best of luck to her!!!

I agree with Penny. I was in a similar situation years ago. I moved down to the Springs but was still working in Aurora. There were many times I couldn't make it over Monument Hill. It was complete white out, it was icey, just horrible. But I would call into work, and they would have nothing there. After awhile, I had to quit....or I probably would have been fired. It just wasn't worth it. And I would NOT suggest it.

Information from the Colorado BON site: Gloria Ohmart has accepted the position of Director of Nursing Education Programs (DNEP) at Concorde.

Cool, thanks for posting the info! I googled her and she seems like a very well-educated and interesting lady. She's a Certified Nurse-Midwife and RN, among other certifications. I can't wait to meet her. I hope she stays on as the Director for a good while.

Yep, Gloria O sure looks like she could do a great job. Very well-qualified.

I wanted to see if any of you went to Concorde that was talking about it and how did it go or how is it going? Thank you for responding!