academic rigor/solid learning vs churning out papers/busywork

[unplannedRN]

Hello,

I need a fast program for all kinds of practical reasons, and no matter how rigorous the program, I will study even more, voluntarily...I LIKE to actually learn and be challenged, so I hate busywork. I'm looking for a tough but minimal-busywork online NP program--FNP or PMHNP

I work FT and commute 8 hours a week, too--no chance I could drop to under 32 hours and would have to switch to another job anyway, before I could do that; no option where I work. I won't be able to attend live Skype meetings at any old time.

Background: I'm also about 15 years older than most "finally-getting-back to school" candidates, so I have to be very cautious about piling up massive debt. I just finished an online full-time online RN-BSN while working FT; already had a BA from a brick-n-mortar school.

That BSN came from a very writing-intense school, and it seemed to me that the writing load actually took away from learning time. I spent hours and hours simply looking for references to back up what I sometimes already knew, and more time writing what I did learn, than having time to learn more.

It's fine demonstrating what you've learned, but I found myself having to cut short the learning part to get the "next big paper" (or project) done--since there was no set maximum, nor final "that's the end of the course" aspect, just the actual work submission that was required to demonstrate skill and pass the course.

In many cases I really was interested in the material, and would have preferred to learn it and more, pass the exams, and get to an optional seminar and my clinical experiences.

I am looking for a school that is FAST, but rigorous, one which demands the student know a LOT and be willing to study very hard....but not in busywork, chit-chat online that is really just about opinions, and no more "busywork" than absolutely must be. (I have yet to learn a single iota in those scholarly critical-thinking "peer discussions"; it's either the blind leading the blind, or just opinions about the lecture.)

Why all the busywork, away? MDs and PAs don't have the same philosophy or approach as NPs, I know, but they manage to learn a lot about health care, without writing a massive term paper every 2-4 weeks, on the "business and philosophy of medicine", or long chats with their peers on classroom lectures--yes?

The mad rush to offer DNP programs first has a lot of schools offering a nearly worthless rehash of the same business/ finance/ theory/philosophy/research MSN courses, just longer and heavier versions for the DNP, and with more demanding papers. Where is the patient in all of that? I've only seen a few that actually add clinical knowledge or research opportunities, even in the research modules for EBP.

I care about nursing policy, the future of nursing, etc. all those leadership topics, of course, but they bore me most of the time...I want to learn health and biology and psychology, public health, and how to apply them and help with research. I spend hundreds of hours every year reading PubMed research journals already, so I don't need a kick in the pants to think critically, synthesize, and take them all with a grain of salt.

Can anyone advise me on which schools work you hard, demand a lot, but spend every spare minute (beyond the absolutely-necessary "nursing core courses") in the science and practice of holistic nursing? I would be grateful to hear any information. Of course, cost information would be helpful.

I have heard Georgetown (which I could never afford) and a few others (which??) is like this, but that most online schools are still very much in the churning-out-papers and video chat mode--especially those where independent study is prized, or they've had only educator/IT/Nurse Leader MSN programs until recently, like Walden.

That seems to me like having you pay more money to sit in front of your PC, instead of in a classroom. What freedom you gain, or save in commute time, or gain in scheduling flexibility, are lost again because of the long, long hours tied to one single chair--yours, at home!

As for you lucky ones who can take time off for school! Wow....I can't imagine being able to just attend college--I've worked FT every inch of the way, from CNA to now!