[meagansmom]

I knew this site was a wealth of information and should have looked here before I leaped.........I may have goofed !!! I signed up with RUE today and after reading on here that RUE was not required. I have 3 days to withdraw my contract and I am going to do that tomorrow!!

But can someone tell me the steps I need to take to get started with Excelsior? You have to complete the prereqs and the Nursing 1 and 2 tests but how do you go about that?

For people that bought study quides online at Ebay or Amazon.com which ones were better, RUEs or College Network.

Also I would like to hear from some people that completed these programs directly thru Excelsior, how long did it take, etc.

Thanks so much,
Shelley

[dablab]

I downloaded the NC1 and 2 study guides and bought the recommended books and started studying, you can also get the recommended books through excelsiors book store for each of the tests, you just need to click on the test and it will show you the books needed (once on the bookstore website), you register for the exams through the excelsior website or I think you can call them. I used Chancellors for 1 test and it was ok but I did better using the recommended books and studying on my own. I think you have to be enrolled to use the practice tests as of 9/06 and those are really helpful in guaging whether you are ready to test. Hope this helped.

[meagansmom]

I sent RUE an email that I has sent the certified letter today to cancel. They called this evening wanting me to reconsider. Stating from Excelsiors study guides it would cost me much more than what they charge and much time to research all the material...etc.

I just need to hear from people that have used the information on Ebay etc. and went that route.

I really don't have $125 to fork out each month and if this works the other way why not???

Shelley

[dablab]

I know when I thought about using Chancellors I figured out how much I would spend on their study guides and then went to the Excelsior book store website and added up the amt I would spend for the books I would need (many of these I have gotten cheaper on Ebay). I figured out it was cheaper to go through Excelsior. Look closely at all the fees, it is to Rue's benefit to encourage you to buy their study guides and if that is how you think you will do better then by all means purchase them, but think long and hard before commiting to that contract, my understanding is it is all but impossible to get out of. Dot

[RN34TX]

Originally Posted by meagansmom

I sent RUE an email that I has sent the certified letter today to cancel. They called this evening wanting me to reconsider. Stating from Excelsiors study guides it would cost me much more than what they charge and much time to research all the material...etc.

I just need to hear from people that have used the information on Ebay etc. and went that route.

I really don't have $125 to fork out each month and if this works the other way why not???

Shelley

Good for you for cancelling in time with Rue!!

I went straight through EC (which is expensive enough without publishing companies) and passed all of my exams with one book: Mosby NCLEX-RN review guide. It broke down the material into an outline format and contained tons of practice questions in each of the areas tested in the nursing concepts exams. Much less cumbersome than getting med/surg, peds, etc. textbooks and much cheaper.

In all fairness to Rue, however, I did meet several people at my EC CPNE workshop who used Rue study guides for their exams and said that they were right on target and were pleased with their results.

I never met anyone who used any of the other companies such as College Network so I can't comment there.

Rue study guides can be bought on E-Bay without getting stuck in a contract with big payments every month.

Go to Excelsior's website and click on the school of nursing. It will give you info on how apply to the program and how to go directly through them to get your ADN without a middle man sucking you into expensive contracts.

It's not hard at all. You can do it without them.

[Nascar nurse]

I used Chancellor's study guides and really liked them - BUT WOULD NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR THEM AGAIN!

To find stuff on ebay - go to books, then I think?? you look for textbooks, then go to the sub-catagory of study aides - put in "nursing" and you should come up with a whole list of possibilities.

The Chancellor study guides come with cassette tapes. I played them only long enough to figure out the tapes read word for word from the book, but some people are more audio learners so you could take things like that into consideration with your choices. I have no idea what, if anything the other guides come with.

[meagansmom]

Thanks everyone!!!

I am still curious how you take some of the prereq and NC1 and 2 without ever being enrolled?? And for those of you that did this---how long did it take you?

Shelley

[RN34TX]

Originally Posted by meagansmom

Thanks everyone!!!

I am still curious how you take some of the prereq and NC1 and 2 without ever being enrolled?? And for those of you that did this---how long did it take you?

Shelley

All of your prereq's can be taken at your local univeristy or community college without ever enrolling in EC. Upon enrollment, you transfer your credits into your EC degree.

You can download the study guides for NC 1 and 2 from EC's website free of charge. You then take the exams at your closest Sylvan Center.

Don't enroll until you've done all of these things (unless you are enrolling to beat state requirement deadlines) because you have to pay an annual fee every year that you are enrolled and do not graduate.

It took me over 4 years from enrollment to graduate as I had not completed all of the prereq's prior to enrollment like I'm suggesting for you to do, and in addition, I literally dragged my feet through the program with multiple start and stop points.
I could have finished much sooner and regret not doing so to this day.

[Spazzy Nurse]

First of all, congratulations on getting out of the RUE contract! I'm so happy for you. My eyes were opened up too late. I paid for all of their crap and ended up just going through EC. They had incorrect answers and some spelling errors in their study materials. For the kind of money you have to spend to get your degree from EC, you want your study materials to be 110% accurate.

Have you talked to an admissions person at EC? They can help you out with a lot and tell you what you need to do step by step.

Another thing you can do for your gen ed courses is look into Dantes and CLEP exams. I took a CLEP for sociology. It was a few hours of studying, around $100, and WHAMO. Credit. Check into that.

Good luck to you!