Excelsior Extends CA EMT Deadline

[framps]

Deadline is now Dec. 5th.

That's great for CA EMTs right?

WRONG!

What they neglect to tell CA EMTs is that without Nat'l Registry certification you will not be admitted. Even though your cert may say California State Fire Marshal EMT on it, EC says thats a county cert you have and you are not a qualified applicant.

California is the only state in the country where this is the case.

I sincerely doubt that any CA EMT applying for EC had any idea that their cert. was not a state cert. After all, mine says state right on it!

Why not state the policy clearly on the web site?

Why not refund the money of those hardworking, underpaid EMTs who rearranged their lives with plans of enrolling in Excelsior?

Excelsior cannot answer those questions. Their response was the same as mine. "The website clearly states that either

State or National Certification is required in order to be eligible for our nursing program."

[jhanc_rn]

Sorry to hear you had trouble getting into Excelsior, I too have had similar trouble. After going through all the hoopla and taking the first two tests I wasn't accepted into the Nursing program because I work in the Emergency Department of a local hospital, not ride an ambulance. They say my "clinical experience is insufficient." This was frustrating to me because I get a LOT more clinical experience in the ED than on the ambulance. My DON even wrote letter stating that my hospital would precept me as I go along. I don't get it. Anyway, I am now trying to figure out what to do so I can get to be an RN. Any suggestions?

[opalmRN]

Originally posted by eremt

Anyway, I am now trying to figure out what to do so I can get to be an RN. Any suggestions?

Are you an LPN? or what is your background, education etc.

[jhanc_rn]

No, I am not an LPN. I am an EMT that works in the emergency department of a rural hospital. I figure my best bet might be to get my LPN. I am trying to find someplace that will accept what I have already done (Nursing Concepts I and II, plus all the prereqs, physcology, math, etc.) so I don't have to start all over. I do have an associates degree but it is in computer science. The hospital where I work has agreed to let me do my clinicals here, again if I can find a school.

[Hello Nurses]

I'm sorry you are having a difficult time but it is growing old hearing all the EMT's complain about not getting in, I worked hard to get into Excelsior i did not just take one class and expect to get in. I feel EMT's are not experienced enough to get in the RN progam It is a difficult program the clinical requires alot of experience that i'm sure takes alot more then being a EMT .I know this response is negative but sorry it is just like taking prereq's for the RN program and waiting to get in it's hard and i give credit to you all that wait and wait to get in you deserve it. God Bless:)

[chris_at_lucas_RN, RN]

I'm with you, Hello Nurses.... I'm GLAD EC is using some kind of sorting out criteria.

Am I glad the EMT's aren't getting in? Of coure not! I'm sorry to hear it--but, but if EMT = nurse, then you would be.

I can't qualify to be an EMT either, because in spite of my BA, my MA, my professional license in a health-related field, I'm not qualified.

Too bad you didn't think to do what I did--I just told them flat out, I can't afford to give you $60 and cancel my enrollment in my present nursing school unless I have some idea you will accept me. They had me fax them photocopies of the appropriate pages from my program's course descriptions, and my informal transcript, and gave me a verbal OK, based on the accuracy of what I had provided to them.

And when I sent them my real stuff, I still had to wait like everybody else, and I still got worried that maybe it wasn't going to work out, and when I did, I was relieved.

As for getting credit for those first two exams, probably not, because it seems no two schools teach nursing in the same order and the same way, although in the end, you will have gotten it all. Your pre-reqs should transfer if you took them at an accredited school that your nursing school (wherever it winds up being) recognizes.

Sometimes we forget the other side of the Bush test: if it DOESN'T quack, walk, look or smell like a duck, it probably ISN'T a duck....

Good luck.....