Anyone know about Maryville's FNP program?

nursingonpurpose · May 20, 2014

Hello, I am considering MVU. What are your thoughts thus far about the program?

nursingonpurpose · May 28, 2014

Hello, I am thinking of attending Maryville. Can anyone post any info regarding the program?

nursingonpurpose · Jun 25, 2014

Hello,

Can anyone post there experience with Maryville thus far?

I am considering their program.

mrvlegov · Jun 26, 2014

I transferred from Maryville about a year ago. VERY disorganized, teachers were nonexistent and ridiculous amount of papers, group projects and presentations with very little direction and no clarification. The teachers didn't know what was expected or didn't respond when you asked them. I hope it gets better but the current students have told me not much has changed.

keisha e · Jun 28, 2014

Some negative things have been posted but I can only speak from my own perspective. The program is moderate and doable for us who work as the classes and pace are structured so that you do not feel overwhelmed. I have only had to take two classes during one of my semesters and I passed both. The content and material are equivalent to the FNP standard so you can learn what you need to pass the exam when you graduate without a lot of fluff.

There are a few professors who are in the doctoral Nursing program and seem a little disorganized at times but I got past that. Two in particular! I commented on the end of term feedback that they get it together. All the others were great and made themselves available to the students. I had no trouble locating preceptors and so I can say if you live in Florida I can help you find some easily.

I did not have any problem with any classes and I think if you approach school seriously and devote the time to prepare for classes you will succeed. Good luck.

75495RN · Jul 6, 2014

I started at Maryville in February. I had completed almost four semesters at Baylor (brick-and-mortar traditional, and a little whacky in some ways, but OK if you were in the inner circle). My husband became ill and everything stopped except caring for him. After he was well enough, it took me longer to recover from the stress. It's amazing what you can do when you have to, but you still have to pay the piper eventually.

I eventually went for a BSN (I already had a BA and MA and a very decent transcript, good GRE, so that's how I got into Baylor--oh, and I paid a grand an hour after the "scholarship"). I felt if I took a few steps back and got a run at it, I might be able to get back into the right mode.

My only disappointment with Maryville was the low intellect and poor academic skills of many of my classmates. That sounds arrogant, I know. Perhaps for some whose grades haven't been spectacular, that might be a comfort. It scared the crap out of me, because since Baylor (a "Christian" school, mind you) had refused me an I or W when my husband's metastatic cancer was diagnosed, I was admitted conditionally. I had had a 4.0 in my ASN program. I was Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key and Psi Chi, all honor societies you have to be invited to. At the time, obviously, I was in no position to go fight with anyone in Dallas or Waco, and after he got well, I thought, it isn't going to matter. Well, it did. Oh, I should add that just before I started at Maryville, I was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau for the 4.0 I'd earned at UTA. And here I found myself surrounded by teammates (that particular course was entirely done by teams) who could not conjugate a verb, did not understand what they read, plagiarized (that was kind of funny--two of them posted the identical material, I mean to the letter, in a graded discussion board post!), and if they didn't understand an assignment, they just said, I don't know. Since teams all receive the same grade, I cringed at the thought my name was going on those papers. Cringed, no--I cried. I eventually "volunteered" to be the one to polish and submit, and I just rewrote everything.

So I decided that Maryville was not for me. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I went back to UTA, where you must take the courses they say, when they say. The first courses for the two year option were Theory (very doable, manageable, heavy on the writing, reading and with lots of freedom to work when you can, how you can) and Advanced Pathophysiology, where everything was very rigid, you tested with an active video recording going on the whole time by some website that for all you know has access to all kinds of things on your computer--and the exams are given in a two hour block and you by golly will take that test then and arrange your schedule accordingly. It is very thoroughly and aggressively policed. I understand that there are those who cheat, but there are also those whose anxiety levels are already pretty high (most high achievers with consciences) who are pushed past their best work by that environment. The professor point blank says if you are working or taking another course, don't plan on passing. The material is massive and the detail is exhaustingly minute.

If I am going to reach my goal, I realized, I needed to set aside my academic arrogance, follow the advice of a mentor who knows me well, and take the simplest straightest path. I have to have faith that my instructors will see my work for my work, even if it is embedded in a team of people who do not embrace the academic standards which are typical of masters level work, or to which they agree.

As for not being able to find a professor? This was not my problem at all. We had a phone number and email address, and the professor always answered. She was quite a comfort and a cheerleader for all of us. Her job, she said, was to nurture us from novice to expert. I have never had a professor so accessible, so supportive or so caring. If the others at Maryville are half as good as she was, as a human, as a thinker, as a teacher, as a nurse, I'll consider myself to be blessed.

danashawn · Jul 11, 2014

I currently attend MVU and like anything there are bumps along the way. However, I have found the courses to be doable with a full time job and family. Yes, there are more group projects than I anticipated and they only go well when you have good members in your group, but overall they have been okay. Some professors are more engaged than others, but that is like any other University. Most professors offer two chat meetings a week in order for students to ask questions directly. Even the most disorganized professors have these open chats. Although some assignments aren't clean cut, if you follow the grading rubric to the T you will be perfectly fine. There is a lot of "busy" work as far as paper writing, but I guarantee by the second class you will be up on your paper writing skills, lol. The negatives I have found: large amount of group assignments which means weekly group chats via skype/google; a lot of paper writing; some disorganized professors. Positives: Scheduled assignments are due same time each week, so easy to follow; easy to reach professors via phone, text, and email; work is not HARD, just busy; work is doable with busy schedule (I worked 4 days a week, plus call on weekend); entire syllabus and grading rubric is laid out so you can work ahead; and you stay with the same students each semester so you get to know them pretty well (this makes projects easier).

Overall, I am glad I chose this school. No place is perfect, but this school is providing me with what I need to reach my goal of becoming a NP. If someone does find that perfect school with perfect courses, professors, students, and curriculum you are one lucky person, but doubt it will happen! I am happy with MVU!!! (oh, I have just completed my 4th class, all A's so far and yes I had to work for it, we had plenty of students drop out!)

75495RN · Jul 11, 2014

danashawn, I'm really glad to see your post. I've applyed for re-entry. I'm not too worried about work, I think if it's easy, there's not a lot of point (jmho). Have you taken pathophysiology yet? That's my biggest worry.

blesso2014 · Aug 2, 2014

Hi,

can you tell me more about this program. I applied and still waiting for answer, I am worried though about the new DNP requirement

75495RN · Aug 2, 2014

I heard from my adviser there that this class is pretty big, and they were working on acceptance decisions last week. The DNP requirement is for people who start school after it is in effect, January '15 I think. So you are good if you can get into a program before then. I'd apply to several schools--though I would not recommend UTA, it is an option that might help. My preference is for Maryville--I'm waiting on a readmission decision but am told it is very likely. If you call Maryville, you can get good info from them. They seem to be more honest and open about their program than some other schools....

mizzcandi75 · Aug 11, 2014

Hi,

I'm currently in my 3rd course with Maryville University online FNP program and so far it's going ok. I also took two course with Liberty University online so I will compare the two a little. Maryville, as is the case with any school , has some really good and some really bad professors. They have all been very easily accessible through email, phone, and two weekly conferences. My first class the professor was awesome, she went over each and every assignment every week spelling out her exact expectations. She set a very high standard by which I have judged my other two professors and they are somewhat lacking but not too bad. The syllabus and rubric are very specific about what has to done for assignments presentations, etc. there is a lot of group work which I do not care for because I would rather do my own work and be graded solely on what I do and not hope that the rest of my group pulls their weight. However I have not had any problems with any of my groups not doing their part. There will be at least one presentation for each class, but they are not difficult to do if you can make a PowerPoint or upload a video. Some classes have a lot of papers, some have no, but it is a lot of busy work. I found the same to be true with Liberty University, a lot of busy work, so it may just be the hallmark of online programs. I have not had many tests so far, the majority of grading has been from papers. I will say that, I have learned a lot from my Maryville classes where as, I felt like I did not learn anything from Liberty. My biggest complaint with Maryville is the group work, I just don't like it. But overall it is a good program.

Also, I work full time, have a husband, and two kids that play sports and still have not had any problem managing the workload from classes. Most classes are 8 weeks long so part time takes two classes a semester which ends up being one class at a time. There are a couple sixteen week classes though, I believe they are pathophysiology and pharmacology. And they are doing away with the cohort style starting this fall, so you will not have the same people in every class. Hope this is helpful.

baldwina1015 · Sep 3, 2014

Hello all, I was one of the original posters on here and since I graduated from Maryville last month I thought I would write a review seeing as I have gotten many emails from people who have read this post asking about the school. First of all I graduated a semester early as an AGNP instead of FNP because you are required to find your own preceptors and for family you need to complete 70 hours with someone in OB and I was unable to find someone so I had to change my major last semester. I was very disappointed, but happy I could make the change and not let everything go to waste that I had worked hard for.

First of all every class is basically structured the same. There are weekly discussion board board due by Wednesday and you have to reply to at least 2 people (sometimes 3 depending on the instructor) by Saturday. The DB posts are usually focused on something covered in the reading that week, usually about 2 paragraphs are so. There is also group work that may be due on Friday or Sunday depending on the class. Groups are organized different in each class and is up to the instructor. Sometimes you can pick other times it is random or in alphabetical order. Then there is always a big paper or presentation due at the end of the semester that you work on throughout the course of the class and have different portions due throughout the course until the final project is due at the end. There are only papers due for the first few classes. Tests start with patho and pharm. There were four total when I took them a year ago and then in adult 1 and 2 there are only a midterm and a final. The exams are 50 questions pretty much in all courses and were never comprehensive. They were not proctored, but this is rumored to be changing soon as most online schools are doing this now. They are timed and you get 90 minutes. You can go back and change answers before you submit.There are quizzes but they did not count for grades, for me anyways, this may have changed. You are also required to make comments or grade other students on their final project.

The semesters are 16 weeks. There was also a new rule implemented that if your exam average was not 78% then you failed the course no matter what your grade was and you are out of the program. This did happen to many people and I only know a few who were reinstated after filing grievances and then needed to repeat the class again. You all already know about getting a C as I saw that in other posts.

Now the cons: There are NUMEROUS problems with this program. The main one is disorganization. There are no lectures. There are office hours weekly where the instructor comes and you can type questions in a chat room and she responds on webcam or with voice. Some instructors used that time for lecture, but that only happened for me twice. They are not required to give lectures or powerpoints only to be available for questions. They are suppose to respond to questions promptly (this was the case for me, but I know it was not for many others). Being in a group with someone that does not pull there weight sucks and you have to make up for it and they end up getting the same grade as everyone in the group, this can make things stressful. Last semester they switched to Canvas which is a new way to access the class. The previous one was far superior and this change really made things worse. The program was already unorganized, but this really made it ten times worse. The instructors don't even know how to use it. I had numerous problems with instructors not knowing how to use the technology. Everything is out of order and it is not user friendly. This brings me to spicynodes which is a horrible program that we had to use in adult 2 instead of DB posts we used this. It is like a mind map and it takes a TON of time to do and the site often messes up and you have to redo it for some reason (tip write it in word and copy and paste so if it is not saved and deletes you don't have to start all over). To avoid cheating the school decided you cannot edit your posts or see other posts until you post (including in group DB), and you cannot review your test and see what you got wrong due to the fear of cheating. They will go over it in office hours so you need to remember what you answered and try to figure out what you missed. It is difficult to talk with administration they often do not respond to questions. This was hard for me as I attended from RI. there really needs to be lectures and powerpoints, but I doubt this will happen as there were many requests and complaints and they were all dismissed. Tests are poorly done and you will not be able to get points back. Other students argued and provided evidence with no luck. Since we had a facebook page for all the classmates there was a rumor that it was a place for cheating and it caused a lot of grief for us from the administration. Also some states do not have a deal with them as far as the Board of Education allowing them to take on students. Different states have different definitions of what a "presence" is. This was a huge issue from some students they took from states like this. Like I could not do clinical in MA because of there I had to stay in RI or it would not count. So be careful and do your homework on this before starting or your clinical time may become and issue, however they caught onto this with our class and hopefully fixed this issue. Which brings me to the fact that I think they accept everyone. We had hundreds of people in just my class. I think this became a big disorganized mess because they allowed too many students in when the first class was just one semester ahead of me and they were just working out the kinks. Its all about the money.

PROS: Never have to go on campus, ideal for me in RI and for my work and family life. I worked full time 32 hours and have a three year old and did clinical. It was tough but possible!! This school served its purpose for me and I would probably do it again depending on what else is out there now, because I got to go to school and work and have my family and that would be impossible otherwise. I was lucky to get some good instructors and in great groups in which we could divide the work so it was doable. The facebook page was amazing where all the students shared tips and resources and support, I was so thankful for that and that I got the chance to make some great friends. You go to stay in the same small cohort of about 20ish people for the most part creating a bond, however they have changed this for incoming classes I heard and now mix them up every class. Also another plus I had a instructor who did give me clinical time one semester which was an amazing help and luck that she was from my home state.

Anyways even with all the problems and frustrations I would do it for the simple reason that this allowed me to work and stay in my home to complete all my work. I would never have been able to go to traditional school and still work full time. I hope this helps some of you with your questions. Each semester we will out evals with suggestions and things that need improvement, hopefully they listen and make some changes and get it together!