Advice needed

[NeuroNP]

My sister-in-law was in her last year of her BSN when something happened at her school (I think she was accused falsely of something) and was told that she'd have to repeat that year. It was probably handled badly by all parties and in the end she ended up leaving the school with the intention of transferring to another school to finish her degree.

She met with the Dean of Nursing at another, smaller school who looked over her records and transcripts and told her that she'd need to complete one semester and she'd be done. So, she enrolls and goes to orientation, where she is now told that NONE of her nursing classes transfer and she's going to have to start from scratch and go for 2 more years (at $7000/semester! Maybe I'm cynical, but I think they lied to her to get her in the door and get her $$)

Now it's too late to make the deadlines for any other programs in the area so she's in a bind. Someone suggested seeing if she has enough credits at her former school to qualify for a BA in "General Studies" (I'd never heard of this, my school didn't have such a thing) and then see if she could get into an accelerated nursing program. The big problem I see there though, is she'd have to retake all the nursing classes she's already had just to get that last semester.

Anyone have any advice on what she could do? I suggested contacting the board of nursing to see if she could challenge the LPN exam and either work as an LPN or then find an LPN-to-RN program. She's very frustrated right now and made the comment that part of her wants to forget it and just go learn to be a radiology tech (ct, u/s, etc...I'm not sure if that's a 2 year thing or what...) and be done with it.

I think she's just frustrated. She's put this much into school and is frustrated at the idea of having to start over. My brother-in-law is deployed overseas right now and will need to finish school when he returns in a little under a year, so I think that she may be thinking that she will need a job and not be in school then and so she just needs to finish ANYTHING.

Any ideas on how she might be able to finish her nursing degree without having to retake a lot of classes and/or pay a lot more tuition?

[caliotter3]

This happened recently so her nursing classes should be acceptable at Excelsior. I suggest she explore the option of Excelsior, either the ASN or BSN. It's worth looking at. Have her look at http://www.excelsior.edu. She can also find phone numbers at the site to speak to someone directly. Good luck.

[MelodyRNurse]

That is really unfortunate. I wanted to transfer to a different school too, but I would have to repeat all clinical courses and I refuse to do that.

I would definitely suggest contacting the board to see if she could challenge the NCLEX. The worst they can say is no, and it may save her a lot of time and money if they say yes.

If she goes to be a rad tech. She will be in another, completely different, two year program. It would probably be easier for her to just continue a nursing program. She already has all the related courses and she has already been over most of the material.

[TazziRN, RN]

Does she have it in writing anywhere that she was told "one semester"? I'm guessing not, but it would help.

[NeuroNP]

Does she have it in writing anywhere that she was told "one semester"? I'm guessing not, but it would help.

Nope. Apparently she just talked to the Dean. It's understandable, you'd think the Dean of Nursing would know what she's talking about.

Someone mentioned challenging the NCLEX. Can you challenge it for status as an RN or were you just meaning as an LPN? I know that there used to be diploma programs out there (I don't know if these exist anymore) and a BSN program has more nursing classes than an ADN progrm, so it seems not outside the realm of possibility that one could challenge the exam and become an RN without finishing the BSN program...

I hadn't even thought of Excelsior. I looked at it myself at one point, but from what I remember, you had to be an LPN at least already (or there was something about clinical experience...). But maybe if you've already done enough clinical work at a brick-and-morter school?

[caliotter3]

She meets the criteria for Excelsior because she has completed more than 50% of an RN program.

If she lives in CA she can challenge the NCLEX (either RN or LVN), RN as a non-grad, LVN for having completed enough of the program to achieve equivalency. She needs to talk to somebody at the BRN concerning both of these options and must be aware that a CA license obtained in this manner is not accepted outside of the state of CA.