Excelsior

[Coldfoot]

Hello all. Ok, I've spent the last 4 hours or so reading the 4 pages worth of archives on excelsior and going through the packet. I need to call and talk to an Advisor but I'm impatient and they are closed so I'm calling in the morning.:)

So having said that, I want to put this out to all of you and see what you knowledgable people that aren't trying to get several thousand of my lonely little dollars have to say.

First, I have about 10 years experiance between ER's (Tech and Army Medic), some Tech time on Med/Surg, 6 years as a Paramedic with 2 of them being full time 911 in Denver, about a year of Critical Care Medevac and am currently doing remote medicine. I work two weeks on and two weeks off. My two weeks on gives me a lot of study time, my two weeks off doesn't give me much.

I am married, my wife stays at home and schools my kids so I am the sole income.

I want to get my RN in the worst way. I've got an unrelated AAS with very few classes covering RN school prereqes. . I hope to earn my ASN/ADN and get to work, then eventually get my BSN. I hope to do some work as an international traveler.

So the way I understand the Excelsior program, it should work well for me but....

1.I've seen post referancing testing before enrolling but nothing from Excel about that. Anyone with first hand experiance?

2.The way this works is I study, I test, I get credit right?

3. Anyone with experiance trying to get their UK or Oz licence after going through Excel?

I think those are most of my questions, any responce is valued.:)

[batmansnurse]

Hey Deb

I posted a question earlier and then found your post. Iam an LPN 1yr I would like to go on to become an RN at my own pace of course I dont know much about Excelsior but am very interested in hearing about your experience with them. Where did you take your clinicals and how long where the actual clinicals? Was there financial aid available for you? Thanks for your input.

[Coldfoot]

Batman, you really need to check out their website.

EC website

Their isn't true clinical time, just clinical evaluation.

Give them a call

Good luck:D

[debRNo1]

Originally posted by Coldfoot

you really need to check out their website.

EC website

Well good luck to those who attempt this and we Excelsior grads are proof that YES it can be done. Coldfoot is right check the website provided and always make the final word that of Excelsior and dont listen to the rumors. There were students jetting around the country to avoid a particular site. "THEY" dont fail you at certain sites and for every failure there is a reason and its NEVER the site just an error in judgement or not following the rules of the "game".

I started way back in 1996 and finished in 2001 and many things have changed so always keep updated and enrolled students have alot available on the website, there are also nurse educators that you can "annoy" with questions too.

KIR: I dont remember waiting all that long to be enrolled. I did my CPNE at St Peter's in Albany. If you have already checked your eligability then Im sure you will be accepted and hear from them very soon. I used the med surg text I had from LPN program (keane) and it was fine. Good luck and I hope you hear from them SOON !!!

Batmansnurse: CPNE is a three day "evaluation". You arrive on fri eve and get orientation and do your "labs" There are four lab stations and you will have a chance to repeat in AM should things not go well. That eve they will assign PCS #1 (pt care situation) You have a chance to write care plan that night and bring with you in AM. You are assigned a pt and certain "areas of care " Do your thing successfully 3 times and your on your way home with 8 credits under your belt !!! I didnt apply for any AID and paid as I went, the exams have risen in price since then.

I always researched the exam itself as well as the material. The study guide has a percentage breakdown for each sub-subject so you can kinda figure how many questions R/T a particular area there might be. This way you can figure out just where to put the emphasis on you study time. As far as the CPNE I researched the exam and fully understood what was and was not expected of me. I went there fully and most likely overly prepared to take this exam. At the PB lab the instuctor commented that he thought I may have completed it in record time !! I paid $1200 for the CPNE plus did the workshop PLUS had 5 years invested so I covered this CPNE thing from every aspect I could. You need to be IMO overly prepared and be ready for anything that might come your way. You need to appear confident and knowledgable but not cocky. You are expected to perform as a brand new grad just out of school would. Just know that study guide backward and foward and have the critical elements MEMORIZED so well that in a time of stress its still there somewhere in your mind.

I used mnuemonics and the GRID.

In retrospect it wasnt bad and I consider myself lucky to have fairly easy areas of care assigned, never had an IV, no tx's and my pedi pt was a BABY DOLL !!! Stress could do you in you need to learn some control method and be able to NOT get flustered. At one point my pt who wasnt so nice got me a little nervous and I told the instuctor I had to "step outside" it is acceptable- I got together, calmed down, bit the bullet and went back in the room and finished up and amazingly passed the 3rd and final PCS, I was on my way home about 10:30 sunday morning

I was on the former "study buddy" website too bad its still not around I would say if you could "hook up" with another student who is neck and neck with you as far as the CPNE goes it will do you a world of good. We shared our experiences there and I was able to read past experiences of other students. We would do practice PCS's and care plans and send them to each other for review. When we began to send each other the EXACT same interventions and care plans we KNEW we were ready !! Of the four of us in my little group well we ALL passed and still keep in touch. The encouragement and support did us a world of good. I wrote up my weekend when I got back and it is posted here somewhere ?? There are some other study groups on Yahoo (they too are posted somewhere here) check them out and get all the resources and use them to your advantage.

Lots of luck to all...............

If I can help please em or pm me

deb

[Kir]

Wow, Deb!

Thanks so much. Thanks to all others that helped with this thread too! I learned a lot.

Kir

[jlburkeen]

I am an Excelsior student who is almost done. I have one nursing exam to go before the final clinical exam. I completed half of a traditional program first before transferring and it is a great program if you are self motivated.

Don't apply to the program until you have passed your pre-recs and NC 1 & 2 because it costs you $700 to get enrolled then $400 a year after that. Make sure this is going to work for you before you spend the money.

I have used Chancellor's study guides to pass all my exams and I have gotten A's on all of them but I also used my Med/Surg text book as back up in case I didn't understand a disease process.

I definitely recommend taking A/P at a traditional school first...DON'T TEST OUT OF THIS ONE! The reason I say this is because this is your foundation for everything else your going to learn in nursing school. To be successful you have to understand disease processes and you won't if you don't understand the human physiology first. Just a suggestion.

It's also allot less expensive than traditional schools. Besides the enrollment and annual fee you pay $155 per nursing exam plus $1,200 - 1,400 for the clinical exam. This clinical exam (CPNE) is 3 days long (8 hour days) working in a hospital with an instructor following you. They are offered at select locations around the country so if you don't live close you will also have to pay for airfare and hotel.

Excelsior's website is great and gives you all the information you need http://www.excelsior.edu.

I hope this helps you out!

Jen

:roll

[jlburkeen]

I forgot to mention this. If you buy the study guides don't go through the actual companies. I bought all of mine from other students for a fraction of what they cost. For example Chancellor's sells theirs for $250 each I bought them from other students for $70-$100 and now I'm reselling them.

Just a little piece of advice.

Jen