Marian University-Online Accelerated Program

kt2nursing · Mar 27, 2014

Hey Wanttoknow and yesterdayschild! Wanttoknow, did you start the program?

I have so many questions and don't really know where to start but I was hoping both of you guys could answer some of them. I am trying to start in Aug but I am extremely nervous. I'm about to start taking the theology pre-rec course and was wondering how the lectures are formatted.Obviously I learn soo enought but do the teachers actually talk and explain the lecture slides or is it pretty much read the powerpoints and book by yourself and do the work? Which semester do you think is the hardest? Any study tips (besides study groups.... I know I'll need one)? How often do people go to the online "campus" location? And how many people would you say actually complete this program?

Oh, and do you have any suggestions on where to live around there. I have never been to Indianapolis so I don't know the good parts verses the bad parts or the safest but cheapest locations in the area.

Thanks for any and all help!!

pinkbob4 · Apr 6, 2014

Hey kt2nursing, I'm a 4th-semester (4th-year?) student in the Marian online accelerated program. Finishing this May. Yay! Here are some longwinded answers to your questions that I wish I had when I was in your position:

- About 70% of the online nursing and pre-req. courses (including theology) pretty much require that you teach yourself. This program takes a very self-motivated person. I happen to learn better this way, so it’s a good fit. Other people seem to really struggle. You’ll do a lot of reading. Professors do have audio powerpoints, and these vary in quality/depth. I found it easier and faster to simply teach myself from the books. As I said, 70% of the courses are this way. About 10% (including the wonderful pathophysiology) have such good professors that you’ll enjoy listening to their lectures. The final 20% are courses (leadership, community, nursing topics, informatics, professional roles, et al.) which deal with subject matter that is common sense and you’ll hardly have to do any preparatory work in order to pass the tests.

A couple professors were truly awful in that they refused to educate paying students. Instead, they ignored emails or gave disparaging answers to honest questions. In 2^nd semester I sent about 20 emails to a professor about a simple exam question and never got a response. That professor was recently fired. HOWEVER, most professors are at least good enough at their jobs if not outstanding.

- 1^st semester: usually considered the toughest because it’s science and skills heavy and it is the biggest semester credit hour-wise. More students dropped out from my cohort during this semester than any other. The first half you’ll almost never come to the testing/skills lab site at the pyramids on 86^th street. The second half you’ll come a few days a week to learn basic nursing skills in preparation for your first hospital clinical (which caps the semester). I never thought I’d doubt my hand-washing and bed-making skills!

- 2^nd semester: super easy. I had it in the summer and it felt like a vacation.

- 3^rd semester: Some students felt this was actually the hardest. Indeed, it was paperwork heavy. But I really enjoyed our clinicals in labor/delivery and mental health – two specialties that deal with crazy women. I kid, I kid.

- 4^th semester: the busiest but probably the easiest semester. It has community health, which is hit-and-miss: some days you’ll gain a ton of experience working in low-income urban health clinics, and other days you’ll observe a home hospice nurse drive around in the country for 6 hours. Then there is leadership, which I think is a snoozer, but some people love it. You hang out with hospital managers for 72 hours, which includes sitting in on a lot of administrative meetings and watching people send emails/answer phones for hours at a time. However, leadership gives you great opportunities to network for future jobs at St. Vincent Health. There is also the critical care clinical, which places you in various ICUs for 12-hour shifts. This semester also has my favorite “extra-curricular” course: ethics. (I just find it fun thinking/writing about ethical case studies.)

- Study tips: I don’t have many. I have done fine (mostly A’s, a few B’s) by just reading the assigned chapters and taking the tests. I find that over-studying always hurt me because I take the tests too seriously; meaning, I overthink simple questions. (In nursing school, the most obvious answer is usually the correct one, even if you say to yourself “there’s no way the answer is THAT simple!”) You will be taking course exams as well as Kaplan nursing exams throughout the program. Both are similar in that they will be training you how to be thinking for the NCLEX nursing boards test.

I do know that students often form study groups, usually in person but sometimes online. I never did this. The newly redesigned pyramids site has ample space (couches, desks, etc.) for group activities.

- Don’t be fooled by the “online” in the program’s title: you WILL BE on “campus” (the 86^th street pyramids) or at the hospital or in the community at least one day of every week starting the second half of the 1^st semester, if not multiple days a week. You’ll need to be on “campus” to take tests, quizzes, listen to guest speakers, have mandatory group meetings, be oriented for almost every class, learn nursing skills, and a dozen other reasons I’m forgetting. If you don’t live within two hours of Indy, this program would be torture. I started the program while living in Bloomington but eventually had to move because of the insane amount of gas and time spent commuting multiple times a week. One girl was living in Chicago! (About 3+ hours away). I don’t know if she’s still around.

Sometimes you’ll go to the main Marian campus, which is an absolutely lovely place. They implemented a new teaching element at the Marian campus during my cohort which is called SIM lab. Once a semester you’ll be placed in simulated scenarios involving mock hospital rooms and state-of-the-art robotic patients (which always seem to be malfunctioning) or with paid actors (surrogate patients) who act out an illness for you. The results are usually embarrassing. They film you making an ass of yourself. Then everybody sits down and watches the film. Not exactly my cup of tea, but some people got a kick out of it.

One last thing: be ready to have the official schedule change a lot and at late notice. I did this program without raising a family or holding a job, so fortunately this didn’t matter to me. But a lot of people really struggled and got ****** off with the program’s disorganization.

- Dropout rate: roughly 15%. My cohort started with about 90 people and we lost about 13. People leave because nursing isn’t for them, or they get caught cheating, or they get caught misrepresenting Marian U in public (public intoxication in school scrubs), or they simply can’t do the work. Some dropout entirely. Some retake a semester.

- Indianapolis: most neighborhoods north of 38^th street are pretty good/safe bets, with varying degrees of affordability. South of 38^th and it gets spotty depending if you’re east or west. Downtown living is expensive but very worth it. I live near downtown and love it for its culture, art, history, parks, and bar and food scene. The area around the “campus” on 86^th is pretty ugly, with endless strip malls and traffic. Broad Ripple is a great community that’s near the school with cheap places available if you know where to look.

- In summary: go into this program because you want a nursing degree, not because you want the world’s best nursing education. Don’t get me wrong, this IS a good education, just not the best. Yes, you’ll learn how to think and behave like a nurse, but at the same time, you’ll have a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that something’s amiss. It sometimes feels a little too hurried, a little too easy, or a little too sloppy.

You’ll wonder why you’re paying SO SO SO SO MUCH money for what amounts to a mostly self-taught education. (Heck, I could have learned the same material for free at a library!) But you just have to remind yourself that you’re paying for a nursing license in the quickest way possible. A professional license in 16months – how cool is that!

You’ll also have to put up with tons of schedule changes and inefficiencies and headaches. But you can think of yourself as a pioneer in this newish mode of online nurse training. In a few years, I predict this program will finally know how to run smoothly. Right now, they’re expanding their enterprise hugely (they’re about to open a branch in Nashville, TN), and they have growing pains.

You can do this. You already earned at least one degree, and this one is probably going to be easier. Just accept that the program is far from perfect. And that’s okay, because who really deserves perfection!?!

pinkbob4 · Apr 7, 2014

I just re-read my last post and felt like I painted Marian's program in a negative light. I apologize. To be certain, this is a great program. But like any education it has its difficulties. I simply meant to paint its realities in the truest light. Whomever undertakes the Marian online education has made a great choice and in the end will be satisfied.

EyeheartNursing_RN · Apr 8, 2014

Great post pinkbob4! You gave the details I have been looking for. I will be starting with the first Nashville cohort in May. I'm super excited. As you indicated I am expecting some growing pains for the program. I hope that the professors are up to par because i refuse to pay over 50k and get a lousy education. Another thing that'll be interesting is the lack of an actual campus. I would have loved this for printing and meeting.

pinkbob4 · Apr 11, 2014

eyeheartdani - I'm so excited for you. As long as you truly want to be a nurse, I don't think the path there (or the cost of the path) should matter. After all, you can expect steady employment and tons of opportunities that will help pay off student loans over the years. College debt is just a way of life these days anyway. Marian knows we are capable students (we all have previous degrees) and they hold us to a high standard. For instance, we can't pass a course with anything lower than a C+. If you get something lower than that on any given test, the administrators are super quick to contact you and ask if you need additional resources or tutoring. So, they look out for their students big time. This program also has a very competitive NCLEX first-pass percentage, and they are constantly aiming to improve it. I think I might be in the first or second cohort that is required to do more rigorous KAPLAN training in preparation for boards. Plus, after you graduate, the school invites you (well, actually it's mandatory) to take a 4-day NCLEX boot camp. I've heard nothing but good things about this experience.

You'll have to keep everyone updated on what the Nashville site is like. What hospital are you associated with? Do you ever have to visit Indianapolis?

EyeheartNursing_RN · Apr 13, 2014

Thanks for the encouragement! We are partnered with St Thomas hospital. I doubt we will have to ever go to Indianapolis. I like the fact that there is a 4 day NCLEX boot camp. The NCLEX is the one thing that I am worried about. We register for classes on Tuesday the 15th. So I should get to see how many will be in the first cohort. Julie told me she was expecting 15-16 so it'll be interesting to see how many are actually going to be in the program. I'm just hoping that all the professors are good and prompt with responding!

kt2nursing · Apr 25, 2014

Pinkbob4-

Thank you so much for your in depth response. You actually painted a pretty good and realistic picture. I totally understand that every program has their pro's and con's and I am glad you highlighted both.

Everything is moving so fast but if I'm lucky I am hoping to start in August. As of right now nursing school sounds like a breeze compared to figuring out how to pay for it, finding housing and moving across the country to a state that has below 20 degree weather. I get could in 75 degree weather!!

This is a random question and I am really assuming you wont have much clue but I got to ask. You said the second half of the 1st semester you start going to the testing/skills lab. Does that mean you wont have mandatory dates where you will have to be there an the actual sight. And if you do, will it be weekends? The only reason I ask is that I have to be out of town that 8th weekend and I'm freaking out it might interfere with an important/mandatory date. I have talked to the counselor about this but he didn't know anything about dates. He said he was going to ask around but hasn't gotten back to me.

_marburg · May 5, 2014

Hey eyeheartdani, I just added you as a friend. I am trying to send you a message to learn more about Marian's Nashville program.....could you message me back when you get a chance? Thanks! :)

pinkbob4 · May 6, 2014

Hey Kt2nursing - Unless the curriculum has changed since early 2013, you will be required to come to the sight maybe once or twice a week during the second half of 1st semester. It will be for exams and to be taught hands-on nursing skills where you spend several hours one day learning a set of related skills, take a day off, and return the next day to be tested on those skills. You never come on weekends, so you're fine.

Remember that this is not an online education. It's a hybrid education.

In fact, there are no weekend meetings at all in this program unless you did what I did a couple times and sign up for weekend hospital clinicals.

p.s. A weekend night-shift clinical rocks!

pinkbob4 · May 6, 2014

j.pkidd - this post is for you. (Sorry, but the site won't allow me to respond to you with a private message.)

Original post from j.pkidd:

May 3 by j.pkidd

Hello,

I am very appreciative of your post pertaining to Marian University's Online Acceleration Program. I plan on perusing a BSN there and I wanted to know a few things. I am coming from NYC so I am sure the environment will be a little different for me I hope you can guide and mentor me lol. My first question is how helpful are the advisors? Regarding assignments and papers what was the highest amount of pages you ever had to do on a assignment? and what is the highest amount of question you ever had on an exam? I also wanted to know if there is any writing center close by to proofread students work or is that only available on campus? I also wanted to ask pertaining to quizzes and exams did you find the power points helpful in preparing you for the exams? I plan on living on ********, Indianapolis, What do you think about that enviroment how safe is it? Any input that you can give me would be greatly appreciate.

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1. The advisers can be helpful as mediators when settling questions between students and profs. (Advice: if you send a prof an urgent email with a question or constructive complaint, do yourself a favor and also send it to the advisers, otherwise you may not get a response, or a quick one.) They do a lot behind the scenes, but I never really used the advisers for anything, though they pop up from time to time in the study rooms to talk to you about things. If you "fail" an exam (get below a 76% by Marian's standards) they will contact you immediately to try and help. Other than that, I can't really answer your question because I almost never interacted with advisers.

2. Highest # of pages on an assignment? I'm guessing you mean how long were some of our care plans and essays? It varies greatly. For example, with our Leadership nursing reflections, I wrote up a single page following each clinical. Patient care plans were usually a minimum of 6 pages (not typed, just filling in boxes/short answers specific to patient, describing pathophysiology, listing every medication, making diagnoses, reflecting, etc.). You will do a lot of patient care plans. For writing classes such as Ethics, I would type 4-8 page papers usually, but I'm a long-winded writer as you can see. We had to also make 2 or 3 PowerPoint presentations, with an actual in-class presentation for one.

If you're talking about # of pages to read for an exam - anywhere from zero to a couple hundred per exam. But then again, some people do fine w/o reading.

3. Highest # questions on exam? Last week I did a 3-hour long Kaplan test with 180 questions.

4. There is probably a writing center on main campus, but I don't know anything about it. By the way, I wouldn't worry about your writing skills for this program, especially since you already have a college degree.

5. Each class is different. You'll just have to see what works for you. Some classes have very good powerpoint lectures, and that's all you need (pharmacology, pathophysiology, critical care). A lot have mediocre/unnecessary lectures, where it is just easier/faster/better/more in-depth to just read the book. And a few require that you listen to the lectures AND read bits and pieces from the book.

6. The address you mentioned is just south of St. Vincent Women's Hospital, which will be a convenient place to live. That area of the northside of Indy is generally very safe and well developed. There are a lot of newish housing developments nearby as well as shopping and conveniences, restaurants, bars, schools, etc. I'm not sure what kind of nightlife it has up there, but you can always drive 15 min south to Broadripple or downtown. It will be a huge change from NYC, that's for sure! Good luck. Any more questions?

seekans · May 15, 2014

Hi

I will be starting the program in Indianapolis in august. I will be relocating to Indianapolis and was wondering where would be a good place to start looking for housing. Also has anyone in the program worked at all for the 16 months in the program. I am just wondering how feasible it is to work part time

summerbluesky · Jun 7, 2014

I started at Marian. I completed a couple of pre-reqs there. When I met with my advisor I was told that my first semester in the program would be 18 credit hours at $798 a credit hour. My first semester would cost $14,000, and financial aid would only cover $9000. They suggested private loans for the rest. Someone would have to cosign for me, and I would have had an unbelievable amount in loans.

I work at a local hospital. I talked to nurses on my unit. Several are Marian grads. I was told it's a good school, but that the program is all-consuming and that they were struggling to pay loans with their nursing salaries. They said you could work or go to school. Or have kids and go to school but that doing all three would about be impossible.

I switched to another school that my employer is giving scholarships for. I have to work. I have kids.

I'll be in school longer. But I'll have less debt.