Metropolitan State vs. Mankato State (RN to BSN)

U.S.A. Minnesota

Published

Specializes in ICU Rapid Response.

I'm accepted to both Mankato and Metro State's Rn to BSN program. Any insight into these? I am a career bedside nurse with absolutely no interest in management, teaching or public health. Just doing this program to finally get my BSN done with. Which program has the least amount of "BS" (I've heard Metro has a lot of it)? Which program might better apply to bedside nursing? Thanks in advance!!

Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.

I went through Metro (well, am going...almost done.) Yes, there is a lot of B.S. I think realistically for nurses that have been in practice for awhile most if not all of it is B.S, and that is anywhere you decide to go. I recently finished a health assessment class and they wanted us to do a complete cardiac/pulmonary exam -- my forte, as a critical care nurse -- well, guess what? They didn't have us listening to anterior breath sounds at all. They didn't have us checking CMS in the LEs. My instructor didn't know where the posterior tib pulses were (um...no...not on the outside of the foot.) I personally found that a lot of the community faculty were far from experts on the subjects they were teaching (e.g. Health Assessment taught by a midwife, family nursing taught by a PhD'ed MICU nurse.) I do think the staff/tenured faculty are good ... just not some of the others. My professors in nursing theory and nursing research were excellent, exactly what I would have expected from a large public university.

That said, it's cheap, and it has a decent local reputation. If you want to do it fast though there aren't a lot of options -- if you have ALL your generals done, you can do it in two years part time, but accelerating that is difficult. Most people take 3 years to do Metro's program, so you might want to look at your degree plan and how long it is going to take you as well. If you have any specific questions, you can shoot me a private mail.

Specializes in ICU Rapid Response.

Thanks for the info!! I'm leaning towards Mankato at this point. I have all the generals done but have one prereq for the metro program which will push back my start day until spring semester now. Mankato lets you start right away. I did hear that the assessment class at metro was a joke. One of my friends went through it (he's a chiro and a practicing nurse). He felt it was a huge waste of time and money. As a bedside RN, I just wish there was a program more suited to my needs (but I know that is not the goal of the BSN programs). Just going to have have to suck it up for a couple of years and get through it. Thanks again!!

As a Mankato grad I think it is a pretty decent program. I graduated from their ABSN program in 2007.

A coworker is currently enrolled at Mankato and she is having a good experience.

Specializes in ICU Rapid Response.

Thanks for the info. I think that I like the flexibility of the Mankato program better.

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