ABSN Program: Gwynedd Mercy University

lovely39 · Jan 16, 2017

What I needed to know about the GMercyU ABSN program as of 1/2017. I thought I should share the recent information I gathered, since is it not nicely laid out on the website. It is like a scavenger hunt for almost every school I am applying too! I'm no recruiter, I do thoroughly research for schools I apply too.
GMercyU ABSN is 15 months
ACEN accredited not CCNE
More info about ACEN vs CCNE here! As I was a bit concerned but it is fine!
84% ABSN N-CLEX Pass Rate
Private School = More Expensive!
$785/credit * 68 credits for the program = $53,380 (not including housing)
Application Deadline: ~
Start of Program: Dates
Interview?: ~
More info: [email protected].
I have other questions regarding graduate students who finished at GMercyU. Hopefully they will be answered.
Graduates of GMercyU experiences? School hunt after Graduation Experiences? Any Advices from your experiences?

Great information!! Thank you, and yes it is hard to get information on these schools. I applied to GMercyU and got accepted in the May cohort but pushed it to the August cohort so that I can save some money, and try to get some more information on the school also. I want to get some advice from anyone that graduated from there and how was their experience, but I can never find anything. Hoping that someone responds to your post.

rrh1005 · Jan 23, 2017

I'm currently in this program. If you have any other options available to you, I wouldn't go the Gwynedd Mercy. I'd probably try to stick with an older, more organized program.

chuieeglam · Jan 23, 2017

Could you explain more? I would like to know your experience if you don't mind?

rrh1005 · Jan 24, 2017

Sure, I would be happy to. Just to clarify a couple of things about myself - I'm doing well in the program. I don't want you to think I'm just bitter about an unfair teacher or a bad grade. It really isn't anything like that. I also consider myself to be a pretty laid back person. Not a lot gets under my skin, but somehow gwynedd managed to do that. I'm in the Philadelphia campus and not Bensalem. It is very possible that people in Bensalem are having a completely different experience than I am. Lastly, If you end up going to Gwynedd, I'm sure you'll get through and get your BSN and everything will be fine, but if I had any idea what this program would be like, I would not have wanted to go here.

The biggest issue for me is the complete lack of organization. It might not sound like a big deal to you now, but when you're juggling a heavy work load and nothing on the schedule is consistent, it becomes incredibly frustrating. Dates, and times for tests, clinicals and labs are constantly changing. Our program was advertised to us as Monday through friday 8:00 to 4:00 in Philadelphia, but I now have clinicals every weekend for the rest of this semester. I'm fortunate in that I don't have kids, or am trying to juggle a job, but it is incredibly hard for people who do. On top of the changes in scheduling, half of the people who applied to my cohort were forced to start at Bensalem and were notified about this change less than a week before classes started. It is pretty messed up considering a lot of people moved into the city to start at the Philly campus and then without any heads up were told otherwise. Some of my classmates had to get lawyers involved in order to stay put.

The other thing about the program is the lack of support from Gwynedd regarding these issues. If you try to politely request to have a calendar in advance, or heaven forbid, change a clinical location that doesn't work for you, you probably won't hear anything back from anyone...EVER. From my own undergrad experience, I'm used to professors and admin wanting to work with you and try their hardest to accommodate you to help you succeed, but that isn't the case at Gwynedd. Not to mention our program directer recently left, so we are without one at the moment. No one gave us a heads up about her leaving, no one has addressed the issue and we haven't been told if and when we'll get a new director. We're constantly being left in the dark about everything.

Those are my two biggest complaints. There are other things that get to me, but I feel like i'm starting to sound pretty whiny. As I said before, if you choose Gwynedd, i'm sure you'll graduate and be a good nurse with a BSN, but if you have any other option, I would go for it. Any ABSN program will be stressful, but Gwynedd is too new of a program and has too many kinks to work out and only adds to the anxiety of being a nursing student.

Hope this was helpful, and I hope I didn't scare you. I just think people should be aware of these things going in to it.

lovely39 · Jan 24, 2017

Sure, I would be happy to. Just to clarify a couple of things about myself - I'm doing well in the program. I don't want you to think I'm just bitter about an unfair teacher or a bad grade. It really isn't anything like that. I also consider myself to be a pretty laid back person. Not a lot gets under my skin, but somehow gwynedd managed to do that. I'm in the Philadelphia campus and not Bensalem. It is very possible that people in Bensalem are having a completely different experience than I am. Lastly, If you end up going to Gwynedd, I'm sure you'll get through and get your BSN and everything will be fine, but if I had any idea what this program would be like, I would not have wanted to go here.
The biggest issue for me is the complete lack of organization. It might not sound like a big deal to you now, but when you're juggling a heavy work load and nothing on the schedule is consistent, it becomes incredibly frustrating. Dates, and times for tests, clinicals and labs are constantly changing. Our program was advertised to us as Monday through friday 8:00 to 4:00 in Philadelphia, but I now have clinicals every weekend for the rest of this semester. I'm fortunate in that I don't have kids, or am trying to juggle a job, but it is incredibly hard for people who do. On top of the changes in scheduling, half of the people who applied to my cohort were forced to start at Bensalem and were notified about this change less than a week before classes started. It is pretty messed up considering a lot of people moved into the city to start at the Philly campus and then without any heads up were told otherwise. Some of my classmates had to get lawyers involved in order to stay put.
The other thing about the program is the lack of support from Gwynedd regarding these issues. If you try to politely request to have a calendar in advance, or heaven forbid, change a clinical location that doesn't work for you, you probably won't hear anything back from anyone...EVER. From my own undergrad experience, I'm used to professors and admin wanting to work with you and try their hardest to accommodate you to help you succeed, but that isn't the case at Gwynedd. Not to mention our program directer recently left, so we are without one at the moment. No one gave us a heads up about her leaving, no one has addressed the issue and we haven't been told if and when we'll get a new director. We're constantly being left in the dark about everything.
Those are my two biggest complaints. There are other things that get to me, but I feel like i'm starting to sound pretty whiny. As I said before, if you choose Gwynedd, i'm sure you'll graduate and be a good nurse with a BSN, but if you have any other option, I would go for it. Any ABSN program will be stressful, but Gwynedd is too new of a program and has too many kinks to work out and only adds to the anxiety of being a nursing student.
Hope this was helpful, and I hope I didn't scare you. I just think people should be aware of these things going in to it.

Oh man ........... How long have you been in the program? I was supposed to start in may at Bensalem, but I pushed it the August start date that starts in the philly campus. I am waiting on two other schools to see if I can get in, but haven't heard anything yet.

xkayyx3 · Dec 11, 2017

Hey, how was the admission process? Difficult to get in?

kittyxgirl94 · Oct 18, 2018

Hello! I got accepted for the January term but I need to push the start date because the deposit I have to pay for in a week, orientation is in a week, and they want me to take a course. I need to save up some money and waiting for other schools as well.

When you ask them to push back the start date do you have to reapply? or did they just change your term date? Also did you have to pay for your seat later or the date didnt change? thank you

kittyxgirl94 · Oct 18, 2018

Oh man ........... How long have you been in the program? I was supposed to start in may at Bensalem, but I pushed it the August start date that starts in the philly campus. I am waiting on two other schools to see if I can get in, but haven't heard anything yet.

Hello! I got accepted for the January term 2019 but I need to push the start date because the deposit I have to pay for in a week, orientation is in a week, and they want me to take a course within the same time frame. I need to save up some money and waiting for other schools as well.

When you ask them to push back the start date do you have to reapply? or did they just change your term date? Also did you have to pay for your seat later or the date didnt change? thank you