Credibility of Walden University

Specialties NP

Published

I am looking into FNP programs and have heard good things about Waldens program, but I am just interested in the credibility this University has when employers look at at your resume? I am tossing up Concordia University WI (which is completly online except a 2 week assessment course and you find all of your own clinicals. The cost is 570-620/credit.) and Walden Univerisity, which I am aware is entirely online and you find your own clinics. I am unaware of the cost of Walden, if anyone knows that would be great information too!

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
Many employers prefer to hire graduates from a specific program. The IPA and hospital I work with has a total of 12 NPs and 10 of them graduated from the same program. This happens in the real world, for better or worse.

It doesn't mean that other programs have inferior education. It means that employers are often comfortable knowing that graduates from a specific program have done well socializing into their role in the past. Think about the common sense of the matter: if you have three employees that do a great job and they all graduated the same program, all things being equal, wouldn't you hire another employee from that program vs taking a risk on an unknown?

I would really depend on the interview, and work resume of the prospective employee. I am not in a position to hire, nor have I ever been, so your analogy is really wasted on me. Most of the NPs and for that matter MD, I have worked with, I neglected t enquire about their educational background out of general indifference. I assume if they are licensed, and competent, it is certainly not my place to judge or care where they went to school, as I suspect is the case with most people other than you and a few others. I live in a very rural underserved area of Mississippi where most of the people are generally uneducated, and frankly there is not a great deal of emphasis on education in most circles. That is not to say that there aren't a lot of smart people here, but just not a lot of "highly" educated people. To answer your question, NO I would not consider the school over the individual in any case. However, I would consider experience....which is an entirely different thread, as you well know.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
You have not seen the curriculum you have not attended the school, and as of NOW you don't know any NPs who have graduated from there.[/quote']

If Juan isn't qualified to speak to the preparation of NPs because he didn't attend the program, doesn't that also mean you aren't qualified to speak about the preparation of NPs because you are not yet an NP?

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
If Juan isn't qualified to speak to the preparation of NPs because he didn't attend the program, doesn't that also mean you aren't qualified to speak about the preparation of NPs because you are not yet an NP?

I have not spoken to the "preparation" of NPs, I have simply defended my school against all comers. Juan is certainly not in a position t speak to the preparation of NPs at Walden University, that I am certain of. I am certainly n a position to speak to the preparation of NPs a Walden, because I have spent the last 2 years busting my ARS to become an NP at Walden, and I will graduate in 90 days with or without Juans or your approval. I already have a job lined up and another offer if I want it. Your comment makes no sense!

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
I realize I have been quite flippant in my responses so allow me to say just a few more things. Did I strike a nerve with you in my response to shadower180's question? I thought I gave a really honest, bias-free response to the question and I do strive to do that each time though it certainly may not come out that way to some readers. I am not sure if it was a previous post I have written that may have rekindled the kind of response I got from you but I wasn't on a "bash on Walden" frame of mind when I wrote that response. I also don't like to subject what's left of the neurons I have ruminating over where nurses should go to school to become NP's especially since oftentimes their goals are totally different than what was once mine. Take it or leave it.

Unfortunately Juan, your comments about Walden have had an accumulative effect on me, and I suspect others. You have spent a significant amount of effort in the past trying to disparage Walden in arguments with me, that it is hard to separate you benign comments about "poorly regarded" schools and take them with a grain of salt. I have only one conclusion to draw, and that is, Walden must be listed among the poorly regarded schools of which you speak. If there is no proof to defend your comments, then I will call you or anyone else out on the subject. You can take or leave that as well!

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
I have not spoken to the "preparation" of NPs.

I am certainly n a position to speak to the preparation of NPs a Walden,

Your comment makes no sense!

My comment makes no sense? Read the first two sentences above.

You are, in fact, able to speak about the student experience at Walden, not the preparation for practice. Without out any experience in practice, exactly what are you basing your assessment of your preparation for practice on? In six months, sure you can make that assessment, as you will have transitioned into your new role In advanced practice.

It's great you have a lucrative job offer and I am sure prospective students will be happy to hear that. You are fortunate to live in an area of the country where emphasis is not placed on a piece of paper on a wall. Unfortunately this is not the case everywhere. I live in a major academic medical area where your alma mater does matter.

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
My comment makes no sense? Read the first two sentences above.

You are, in fact, able to speak about the student experience at Walden, not the preparation for practice. Without out any experience in practice, exactly what are you basing your assessment of your preparation for practice on? In six months, sure you can make that assessment, as you will have transitioned into your new role In advanced practice.

It's great you have a lucrative job offer and I am sure prospective students will be happy to hear that. You are fortunate to live in an area of the country where emphasis is not placed on a piece of paper on a wall. Unfortunately this is not the case everywhere. I live in a major academic medical area where your alma mater does matter.

What does the word preparation mean.....I can speak to the preparation of NPs at "Walden" to a much greater extent than Juan can I assure you. I know that the "preparation" to practice as an NP has been rigorous thus far.

Preparation - The act or process of making something ready or of becoming ready for something...Marriam-Websters.

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.

It's great you have a lucrative job offer and I am sure prospective students will be happy to hear that. You are fortunate to live in an area of the country where emphasis is not placed on a piece of paper on a wall. Unfortunately this is not the case everywhere. I live in a major academic medical area where your alma mater does matter.

Well, I am not from a major academic medical area so it hold no meaning for me, or for that matter, anyone else I know. Just because your area of the country places a high priority on that sort of thing, it doesn't make it the only right way. In the same fashion that our way isn't the wrong way.....they are just two different ways. Underserved areas of the country are just happen to get educated, qualified people regardless of the "name" on the front of the university they attended.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
Preparation - The act or process of making something ready or of becoming ready for something...Marriam-Websters.

Using your definition:

How are you making a determination if the "process" of your education at Walden has "made you ready" for "something" (advanced practice) if you have yet to socialize into advanced practice?

You can certainly argue that the education of have received has been rigorous. The outcomes of that education are yet to be determined are they not?

Specializes in Certified Family Nurse Practitioner.
Using your definition:

How are you making a determination if the "process" of your education at Walden has "made you ready" for "something" (advanced practice) if you have yet to socialize into advanced practice?

You can certainly argue that the education of have received has been rigorous. The outcomes of that education are yet to be determined are they not?

Now we re arguing the semantics of "preparation"....Really?

I simply said that I was in a far better place to comment on the preparation of NPs at "Walden University" than Juan was. Is that really that hard o understand?

It appears that you are simply arguing for the sake of argument... Ok you tell me, who would be more prepared to comment on the "preparation" of NPs at Walden university, someone who has attended, or someone who has NOT attended?

You continue, very consistently I might add, to not make any sense!

I don't mean to put words in BostonFNP's mouth and I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong, but I believe what s/he means is that students, being new to whatever they're studying (in this case, FNP preparation) are rarely in a position to realistically evaluate the quality of the education they're receiving, simply because they are new to the field and have nothing to which to compare their current experience. Experienced FNPs, on the other hand, may have signficant experience with graduates of a wide range of programs, and have legitimate bases on which to formulate opinions.

Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

Mark,

So now you are calling me an academic bigot? Seriously what does that word mean and in what context are you using it to label my opinion of Walden based on my previous posts? I stand by my previous assertion that I am suspicious of the integrity of Walden as an academic institution based on the fact that many of the so called clinical faculty do not have full time academic appointments at Walden and are actually full time faculty somewhere else. That practice is a huge deal in my eyes and a complete breakdown of academic integrity not allowed in highly-respected academic institutions. I blame AACN for the loose standards in allowing advanced practice nursing schools to proliferate unabated and even receive accreditation.

While I am not an FNP myself, your school has NOT produced any FNP graduates so the jury isn't out yet regarding how successful the school will be in that regard. I believe that some graduates will be successful without a doubt - school alone is not the only ingredient in a successful career. I would never dash someone's aspirations and I am not in a position to judge how you will fare in the real world. Remember that you have said so yourself in the past that you are attending Walden because you have been denied admission at your local state university. I hope second time's a charm for you.

As an individual with an opinion, I would never attend Walden nor would I recommend it to anyone in my family. That is where I stand on this issue and no amount of protestation on your part will change that. Regarding the "less regarded" statement I made that you seem to really be slighted by, I will tell you this: while I did not have Walden in mind when I typed that comment, you are fooling yourself if you don't accept the fact that if we are to send a survey to 100 individuals right now and ask them to rank 50 schools of nursing with Walden on the list, this school is not going to emerge in the top. I wrote "less regarded' in quotation marks for that very reason. There are schools that the public simply perceives to be at the bottom of the heap. You are just going to have to deal with that fact and I wish you all the power to try to defend it.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
You continue very consistently I might add, to not make any sense![/quote']

You continue to overstep your position as a student trying to speak for practicing NPs.

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