Choosing a School

[CraigB-RN]

I've seen lots of request for suggestions about which school to choose and what do you need to get it done. So I thought I"d give some suggestions.

1. DO YOU HOMEWORK!! FIrst start by getting as much information about each of the programs out there. Get brochures, look at input from online sources such as Allnurses.com and Nursingspectrum.com. BUt you got to do you're own looking. Others can't do it for you, we are all looking for different things.

2. Review you Needs. Do you need structured, or freeflowing, are you looking for cheap verses lots of help. Do you have a place to practice the nursing skills.

3. What kind of support system do you have?

4. What are your goals. i.e. ADN by 2004 or the such

5. Put all this in writing in a way you can understand it. I used a sheet of paer with the pros and cons of each school listed. (for the ADN it was easy, when I did it Regents/Excelsior) was the only game in town.

ONce you've done this, you do the same thing that every high school senior does and start weeding out the schools.

Once you've decided, then go for it. Get started, don't put it off. The longer you wait the longer it will take to get the program done.

Now the bad side of things.

Be prepared to take flack from nurses around you who don't understand. SOme people think that the only way is the way they did it.

Be prepared to frustrated. NOt enough hours to study, YOu might fail a test, any number of things can get you down. THis is were haveing the support group pays off. My wife was going to PA school the same time I was fnishing. We were able to support and help each other.

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Good point everyone. I had to list that issue when I applied to be licensed in another state as well.

renerian

[imenid37]

thanks for your help tim . the u of wyoming people seem very nice on the phone and via e-mail. i am leaning toward their program, but i gotta take that gre for them, but not for a lot of other schools. yikes!

[Tim-GNP]

imenid37:

When I went to State University of New York--- they required GRE's as a condition for full matriculation status [which was needed before you graduate].... SO, in the summer before my fourth year there, I went to take GRE's...

I finished them in less than 20 minutes, answered "C" to all the questions, and my 'creative' writing paragraph consisted of 'run, run, see John run." -------- I scored 890.

As you can tell, I didn't take them very seriously.

In the educational literature, there have been no COMPELLING studies that demonstrated a positive correlation between GRE score and success in completing a graduate degree program.

But, then again... no one asked me.

Ah, yes... the hoops of academia...

[opalmRN]

Originally posted by Tim-GNP

You must gradaute from a program APPROVED BY the STATE BOARD OF NURSING in the state you wish to be licensed in.

Many LPN and RN programs have existed for years without NLN accreditation, but their graduates remain eligible to sit for state boards. Regional accreditation has to do with your desire to go on for more advanced degrees. It also separates the true academic programs from the diploma mills.

This sums it up completely.

Thanks for setting the record straight,

C

[NICURNtobe]

Tim - Love your test-taking strategies!!!

[imenid37]

gre= garbage required for entry (or exit in tim's case). thanks a lot!!

[is this heaven]

imenid37:

When I went to State University of New York--- they required GRE's as a condition for full matriculation status [which was needed before you graduate].... SO, in the summer before my fourth year there, I went to take GRE's...

I finished them in less than 20 minutes, answered "C" to all the questions, and my 'creative' writing paragraph consisted of 'run, run, see John run." -------- I scored 890.

As you can tell, I didn't take them very seriously.

In the educational literature, there have been no COMPELLING studies that demonstrated a positive correlation between GRE score and success in completing a graduate degree program.

But, then again... no one asked me.

Ah, yes... the hoops of academia...

I hope I'm doing this correctly...So glad someone else has pointed out lack of correlation between the two.

[jcraig]

HELLO CRAIGB, I CURRENTLY WORK AS A PARAMEDIC IN THE TOWN THAT I LIVE AND I AM BURNT OUT. I HAVE BEEN BOOTED OUT OF THE NURSING PROGRAM AT OUR LOCAL COLLEGE ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO. I HAD A BACK GROUND AS A EMT-I AT THE TIME. I FELT AS THOUGH BEING AN EMT GOT ME LOTS OF HARD TIMES IN THE CLINICAL SETTINGS. THE INSTRUCTORS SAID THAT I WAS OVERLY ANXIOUS AND UNSAFE IN A CLINICAL SETTING. I AM NOT SURE AS TO THIS DAY WHAT I ACTUALLY DID THAT PROVED ME TO BE UNSAFE , BUT I FELT THAT THEY WERE PICKING ON ME TO AN EXTENT. I DROPPED OUT AND WENT AND GOT MY PARAMEDIC CERT. I HAVE WORKED AS AN EMT FOR A TOTAL OF 14 YEARS AND A MEDIC FOR A TOTAL OF 6 YEARS. I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A NURSE BUT HAVE BEEN SCARED TO CONTINUE WITH IT DUE TO MY EXPERIENCE IN THE PAST. ALL THOSE PREREQUISITS THAT I DID HAVE ALL BEEN LOST DUE TO THE LAPSE IN TIME. MOST PLACES WILL NOT GIVE ME CREDITS FOR THEM BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I TOOK THE CLASSES. I AM REALLY DISGUSTED OVER THE ENTIRE SITUATION. I DO WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL REALLY BAD. I FEEL THAT THERE IS NO ADVANCEMENT IN THE FIELD AS A MEDIC AND I AM VERY TIRED OF OUR MANAGEMENT BABYING OUR SHIFT SUPERVISORS. I MAKE PRETTY GOOD PAY, YET NOT ENOUGH FOR THE SITUATIONS WE GET INTO. YOU KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE LIKE I'M SURE. I AM SCARED TO QUIT MY JOB AND GO BACK TO SCHOOL FOR THE FEAR OF FAILING AND WASTING MY TIME AGAIN. DO YOU HAVE ANY POSITIVE ADVISE AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ME. I HAVE PRAYED ALOT ABOUT MY SITUATION AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRAY AND I HOPE THAT GOD WILL GIVE ME AN ANSWER. I AM NOT A NURSE BUT FOUND THIS WEB SITE VERY INTERESTING. HOPE NO ONE OUT THERE IS OFFENDED BY ME JOINING THE SITE.

I was a 20 year Air Force Medic and Civilian Paramedic.

I did enjoy my experience. I could have done without the stress of the CPNE. For the year I was enrolled I was working as a Tech at Johns Hopkins in the Surgical ICU. A large number of my co workers were instcutors for Hopkins School of Nursing so I made sure I took advantage of that.

[New Castle Ken]

The state board of nursing determines which schools in their state can sit for boards. The problem is when graduates try to return to school or move to another state.

College programs should be regionally accredited by the agency that is responsible in their section of the country. People should contact the Department of Education themselves as some claim accreditation and are not.

Nursing programs should also be accredited by either NLN or Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

All nursing schools should be NLN accredited or you can't sit for the NCLEX ( the nursing license exam). (sorry i didn't do the quote right and can't seem to edit it)

is that something new? not to insult or anger anyone but, i think maybe it is not so. i graduated from what is now the community college of baltimore county in 1987. it was not nln accredited at that time. i took nclex and did pass it. in fact, we got a score back in the olden days, i got a letter from the state of md that i was one of the top scores for the summer 1987 nclex test takers. our program had one of the highest pass rates for nclex in the state at that time.

i am looking into this info for grad programs. i would like to know more about ccne accreditation. how widely recognized is this? does it have the same standing as nln?

there are programs granting basic nursing degrees that are not nln accredited now and i do believe those grads sit for nclex. in my area, bloomsburg university(bloomu.edu) boasts a 95% pass rate for nclex. they withrew voluntarily from nln accreditation in 1995 (see nlnac.org), but are still graduating nurses. i think that nln accreditation implies a level of quality, but i don't think it's the be-all, end all authority. i know my program and yes, it's ancient history, did not agree w/ the premise that the bsn should be the basic degree for all registered nurses to practice. at the time, in the 1980's, this was a very hot issue.

it's hard w/ distance programs, and i am trying to find this out myself, what are good programs and what are valid accreditations. ccne seems to be a reputable organization it is recognized by the us dept. of education, but i still want more info., so if you know about ccne or you know anything about the u of wyoming ms in nursing education, plmk. i am wondering if a program w/ nln accreditation would not want to hire me if i had graduated from a ccne accredited school. i think some schools are accredited by both incidentally.

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