Accepted!!

aramis2121 · Sep 25, 2013

Congrats! Be prepared this program is tough! Study Study Study! :yes:

momoftwoangels1 · Feb 10, 2014

Congrats on getting in! I am trying to get an idea of how competitive this program is. Do you happen to know what kind of GPA and HESI score you should have in order to be competitive? I will have completed all my pre and corequisites with a 3.5 and am taking the HESI next month!

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2014

Congrats on getting in! I am trying to get an idea of how competitive this program is. Do you happen to know what kind of GPA and HESI score you should have in order to be competitive? I will have completed all my pre and corequisites with a 3.5 and am taking the HESI next month!

I got all As and Bs in nursing prerequisites and was on the honor roll both semesters of LPN but honestly don't know what my GPA for just nursing and prerequisites would have been. My overall GPA was right at 3.1 (was a crappy student the first time around).

I pulled out my HESI scores and they were:

Test: my score (benchmark)

Reading comp: 92% (80%)

Vocabulary: 88% (80%)

Biology 80% (75%)

A & P: 84% (80%)

Math: 92% (77%)

Cumulative score of 87.2

The program is pretty competitive but they also allow a lot of people in. They historically have consistently received about 200 applicants and now have 50 seats. I don't know if any of their requirements have changed for the upcoming year but is sounds like several people we're let in from the waiting list at kind of the last minute. Have you taken your HESI yet?

momoftwoangels1 · Mar 23, 2014

Thanks for responding! I took my HESI. My final score was a 91.2. Trying to decide if I need to do it again. Got 100 in Grammer and Math. Killed myself in Biology with a 76. Vocabulary: 98 A & P: 84 Reading: 92.

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2014

Congratulations! Wow, you did great!

I don't think it's really necessary to redo your HESI with those scores. I never considered redoing mine, I was happy with it. I bet you are a shoe-in!

Are you from KS? Most of my class is but we have a number of people (mostly male paramedics, it seems) that are from out of state. You can do clinicals up to 4 days in a row (12 hour shifts) so a lot of them will fly in, do 4 days on, 1 day off then another 3 days on before heading home.

momoftwoangels1 · Mar 24, 2014

Thanks! I am from out of state. I hope I get in! lol I am excited to get started. I also think it would be fun to go to Kansas. I have never been there :-) I heard that because there are not many paramedic to RN programs online, there are a lot more paramedic applicants, which makes it harder to get in if you are a paramedic. I guess by the date on your original post you are finishing up your first semester with the program? (I can't remember if starts during spring or fall semester.)

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Mar 24, 2014

Yeah we are finishing up our first semester in early May. We graduate December 12.

I don't know about the degree of difficulty for paramedics vs lpns but we do have probably about 1/3 of our class from a paramedic background. It is interesting having the different knowledge base. We help them with care plans, they help us with IV sticks. :) I'm looking forward to seeing the interaction in the fall when we have Critical Care.

Let me know if you have any questions about the program. Sounds like you should have no problem getting in!

momoftwoangels1 · Mar 24, 2014

Haha, that sounds fun (The dynamics). I see that there are eighty hours of required clinicals. What departments are the rotations in? Can you do extra clinical time if you want to? I noticed you are trying to juggle full-time work. Is that going okay?

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2014

80 seems a bit low. The first semester we had 2 days of skills check offs then 7 days of clinicals clinical days are all 12 hours. We have options of going to Summit in Hutch (surgical), a prison or Hutch Hospital on Med/Surg, IV Infusion, Pulmonary, Ortho/Oncology or Skilled Nursing floors.

Summer clinicals are 6 days for Peds and OB and fall clinicals are 14 days for Psych, Critical Care and Leadership.

Most of us work FT. I work in a doctors office, usually 9-9.5 hour days 4 days per week (each of our docs get an extra day off or they'd be paying out OT every week to their nurses). Some weeks feel a little hectic but you get your entire semester schedule of assignments, tests and reading chapters at your orientation in January so it's not so bad. Some of my classmates are working far ahead because either they or their spouse is heavily pregnant so they want to be able to have some time off from homework later in the semester.

We just got our list of books needed for the summer earlier this week. They do try to keep us in the loop and acknowledge that we are all busy adult learners. I'm really happy with the program so far. :)

ineedachange1, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2015

This program sounds great!!! I am in NYC and I terrified of completing the program via Excelsior because of the horror stories I heard about the CPNE. I not this post is from 2014 but any information about your experience and/or suggestions about the program would be most helpful. I have an MBA in Business and I completed all my pre-reqs (under 6 years) so i really want to start a program quickly - i have wasted enough time. any advise and/or information about this program would be most helpful

Ddestiny, BSN, RN · Apr 7, 2015

The program is great, I would definitely recommend it to anyone that wants to continue their education. The instructors are flexible but they don't take any crap. We had one classmate that didn't ever want to do anything at clinical and....well, we don't know anything specific except that he wasn't listed in the graduation announcement in December.

It it can be hectic flying in to go to clinical but a lot of the out-of-staters buddies up at orientation and would rent houses around the clinical sites for a week at a time and fly in for clinicals. In the last semester you can do the vast majority of your clinicals at home if you get the facility approved.

PM me with any questions you might have and I'll be glad to answer them for you. :)