Nursing Program @Grand Canyon University

sailornurse · Apr 30, 2007

back up there guys...
i went to gcu 13 years ago...went to chapel (1 hour, sat in back) once a week, back then it was required...not now for the accelereated program...
we had catholics, jews, agnostics, smokers, partiers, etc...
never had any religion permeate my studies or classes...i was adjunct faculty there for the last 2 years...never did i pray or even talk about god in my clinicals/post conferences...
i graduated in 1988 from gcu, same thing as hogan says, i would review my notes during mandatory chapel, no biggie. in my nursing class there was only one southern baptist & she was from salt lake city!!!, rest of class were catholics, greek orthodox, protestant, agnostics/atheists/partiers. i went there for the nursing education as asu was being scrutinized by bon. this was before rn to bsn program was created as i was an adn-rn. it was by far the best nursing program, though i could not afford the tuition now, back then it was about $1500.00 per semester. good school.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Apr 30, 2007

You may have a patient someday ask you to pray w/ him...what will you do then?

...I NEVER prayed in my 2.5 years as a student and 2 years as a faculty...

These 2 points don't make sense. You state that we should go to the school in order to prepare ourselves when a pt asks us to pray, and then state that you NEVER prayed while you were there...So then, what's the point of a religious school??

The fact is about GCU, some of us are very skeptic about organized religion. All I had to hear was a little bit about this program to know that I didn't want to deal with it. No thanks :uhoh21:

BlondieRN09 · Jun 29, 2007

I don't do organized religion either... but I will be attending GCU's BSN program in the fall. When UofA is nearly impossible to get into, NAU isn't a school I'm interested in, and I can get my entire BSN program/books/scrubs, etc paid for, I certainly jumped on that chance. I agree with a comment made above - GCU wants me because of me... not my 3.6 GPA. If you want your degree bad enough you will put indifferences aside and accept the fact that GCU has a fantastic program. I've interviewed several hospital HR officials who have all agreed that they seek out GCU grads because their belief that they have an excellent program design.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2007

I don't do organized religion either... but I will be attending GCU's BSN program in the fall. When UofA is nearly impossible to get into, NAU isn't a school I'm interested in, and I can get my entire BSN program/books/scrubs, etc paid for, I certainly jumped on that chance. I agree with a comment made above - GCU wants me because of me... not my 3.6 GPA. If you want your degree bad enough you will put indifferences aside and accept the fact that GCU has a fantastic program. I've interviewed several hospital HR officials who have all agreed that they seek out GCU grads because their belief that they have an excellent program design.

I agree. I've changed my mind, and I've changed my tune in the last few months. It's so hard to get into a nursing program - go where you can get in, afford it, and get that RN.

Good for you and congratulations.

BlondieRN09 · Jun 29, 2007

I agree. I've changed my mind, and I've changed my tune in the last few months. It's so hard to get into a nursing program - go where you can get in, afford it, and get that RN.
Good for you and congratulations.

If you're applying for GCU and need any help on the process, tips, or recommendations let me know I'd be more than happy to help. :)

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jun 30, 2007

I've interviewed several hospital HR officials who have all agreed that they seek out GCU grads because their belief that they have an excellent program design.

I've come to the conclusion that all HR people say this about whatever program that the person is attending. I've spoken with almost every hospital in town, and they all say they prefer Pima grads, but then UofA students say that they all prefer UofA grads....

Honestly, I've NEVER heard any manager say anything about GCU. They really don't care either, they just want you to have a license, and a heartbeat.

Good luck with the program.

lacosa · Aug 25, 2007

Im currently applying to GCU, and would lthe ove some advice about the school (applying, resident life, academics, etc...) please reply if you have any pertinent info. thanx

experiencedrn · Aug 26, 2007

Let me help out all of you.

First, GCU does not push relgion, True there use to be a Baptist tie now the campus is non denomenational and the only time you must attend chapel is if you are a tradtional first time student. They offer many RN programs, online, traditional and fast track. They were sold to a new management company about 4 years ago and are no longer in the red. The nursing and business instructors for the most part are top rate. The cost is a bit more however you are getting a BSN not an ADN and you have smaller class ratios. Not to mention its a private University. I recieved my ADN through GCC, my BSN and currently in my MSNL and MBA program. at GCU. It will be well worth your time and money.

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2007

It's the best BSN program going in AZ...

I should know, I taught there 2 years, and graduated from there 11 years ago :saint: ...

Calzonan RN · Aug 27, 2007

I would definitely check it out. I've heard great things about GCU, in fact, I work with one of the instructors that teaches there and she really does know her stuff and I'm sure is a great instructor.

The only thing that would worry me about GCU (and you'd have to check this info out) is that when I was doing my clinicals at T-Bird one semester we had GCU students who were graduating in 6 weeks. They told us that this was their first contact with actual patients. I'm not sure if it was the prior degree to BSN program (because they do have a fasttrack program for those who already have a Bachelors degree) or if they were traditional, but it just surprised me that they had no experience with patients.

I've heard that about most of the BSN programs though, that they have less clinical exposure than the ADN programs.

I'd definitely check into it though, I saw a billboard on my way to work and it said there's no wait time for GCU, not sure how true that is, but even a one semester wait is better than the MCC system right now!!

Good luck!!

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Aug 28, 2007

I've heard that about most of the BSN programs though, that they have less clinical exposure than the ADN programs.

:uhoh3:

Not this myth again...

read this info:

http://www.azbn.gov/Documents/education/Clinical%20Utilization%20Among%20Arizona%20Nursing%20Programs.pdf

You'll see that the mean # of hours spent in clinicals is higher for BSN than for ADN...

Likely due to the extra semester (leadership class) which, at GCU carries 120 clinical hours...

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Aug 28, 2007

It's the best BSN program going in AZ..

Hmm, I would have guessed NAU first...

I was doing my clinicals at T-Bird one semester we had GCU students who were graduating in 6 weeks. They told us that this was their first contact with actual patients.

Yikes!!!