Hello,

I graduated April 2011 with a Practical Nursing certificate from Cincinnati State/Great Oaks. Passed my boards in May 2011, and I currently work as both a LPN and a Home Health Aide at a local home care agency (was all I could find--it's mostly aide work with a few re-assessments/treatments thrown in). I have been trying to do Excelsior LPN-RN program, but frankly, I don't think I'm self-disciplined enough for it! I have all the books, but I'm going nowhere fast. I always find an excuse WHY I can't study (working in home care, my hours vary--sometimes early mornings, other times overnights or mid-afternoons plus I have 2 children). I went to an information session for Galen LPN-RN program. They are saying the classes are mostly online with labs/clinicals offered at night and on the weekends. I'm just wondering if anyone is currently in the LPN-RN program and can offer a sample of their schedule (the straight RN program is not offered online from my understanding). I've debated a lot whether I should go the Galen route or not. It's expensive, but more importantly I MUST be able to work at least some--it's not an option, it's a requirement. Of course, the lady at the info session says that most of their students do work and so on, but she was unwilling to give me an idea of what a typical week's schedule will look like (how many days, what times, etc). I realize it will vary from term to term, but I just want an IDEA. I don't want to throw away the Excelsior idea and enroll in Galen if I'm going to need to drop out later in order to be able to work! Because not working is NOT an option for me.

Any advice would be soooooo appreciated! Thanks!

its hard to do Excelsior, I finally finished all classes since 2008, I am awaiting my CPNE, I had to work a full time and a part time job so, study time was difficult. I believe I possibily would of finished faster and less stress if I had gone to a program. This is my opinion.

The local Galen school (I'm in FL) has a reputation for being insanely hard and failing most of their students. One C and you're gone. From what I understand, RN is a full time program and mostly in the classroom.. but the school by you may be different. Have you tried searching all of the msg boards here and/or Google for other's student experiences there?