Any Excelsior College grads now CRNA or SRNA?

hollyberryh20 · Apr 29, 2010

Hi All,

I noticed that there were several of you that graduated from excelsior college, can you provide me with feedback as to your experience with excelsior, I am an LPN and recently signed up with the college network to attain my ASN through excelsior after being terminated from a traditional four year nursing program that I completed but was dismissed because I couldn't pass the hesi exit exam.

I have a solid knowledge base after 4 years of nursing school and was just curious how the experience was for most of you going through excelsior to attain your degree, and any advice on how to be successful on the weekend clinical exam?

Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks

Holly:nurse:

RN543 · May 1, 2010

Hi All,
I noticed that there were several of you that graduated from excelsior college, can you provide me with feedback as to your experience with excelsior, I am an LPN and recently signed up with the college network to attain my ASN through excelsior after being terminated from a traditional four year nursing program that I completed but was dismissed because I couldn't pass the hesi exit exam.
I have a solid knowledge base after 4 years of nursing school and was just curious how the experience was for most of you going through excelsior to attain your degree, and any advice on how to be successful on the weekend clinical exam?
Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks
Holly:nurse:

Hi there. As for my experience with Excelsior, I have nothing but great things to say. And being that you have already a lot of knowledge, I think you will do well. I finished the lpn-rn program in less than a year. However, as far as The College Network... I have heard very bad things. From what I understand... the college network publishes materials to help you with the excelsior exams, but they charge a lot of money and get you to sign a contract that is very difficult to get out of. The college network does not grant degrees... excelsior does. The college network is just a publishing company that creates materials that may or may not be helpful to excelsior students... and they make a crap load of money off of excelsior. If you go through college network you have to pay them... plus all the regular fees that you would pay to excelsior as well. So it is an additional several thousand dollars going that way. I went directly through excelsior... as well as several of my friends, and we did not need any of those other materials... and we did very well. You just apply directly through excelsior... you can download their content guides for each of the exams and it gives you an outline of what to study and recommends books you can buy. In my opinion, that is all you need. Excelsior also offers practice exams for an extra 65 dollars that are very helpful as well. And if you insist on using the college network materials to help you prepare, I hear you can get them on ebay for a lot cheaper. Anyway... I suggest you do a search on this site for the college network, and you will read what I'm talking about. And I suggest that if there is any way you can get out of the contract with the college network, being that you just signed up for it, that you do so... and save yourself thousands of unnecessary dollars. Good luck. If you have any other specific questions about excelsior, feel free to PM me.

StrawberryBanana · May 31, 2010

Hi All,

Great thread. I'm curious to know about Excelsior tuition. I have looked on their website, and I'm still a little confused about the tuition rates. I'm trying to calculate my finances and devise a plan about how much I should put aside, each month, to pay out-of-pocket for tuition. I am an LPN and plan on "going" full-time for the ADN.

Also, I have heard stories of people finishing their ADN, through Excelsior, in 8 months. Is this truly possible? I work per diem, but I can afford to stop working, completely, if it helps me to graduate/finish quicker. Any ideas? I'm a little worried, due to my lack of clinical experience. I have been an LPN for 3 months and only on a part-time basis.

Every other nursing program I have looked into is around $15-26k per year, so I'm truly hoping this is a better alternative. Look forward to hearing from Excelsior grads :).

RN543 · Jun 3, 2010

Hi All,
Great thread. I'm curious to know about Excelsior tuition. I have looked on their website, and I'm still a little confused about the tuition rates. I'm trying to calculate my finances and devise a plan about how much I should put aside, each month, to pay out-of-pocket for tuition. I am an LPN and plan on "going" full-time for the ADN.
Also, I have heard stories of people finishing their ADN, through Excelsior, in 8 months. Is this truly possible? I work per diem, but I can afford to stop working, completely, if it helps me to graduate/finish quicker. Any ideas? I'm a little worried, due to my lack of clinical experience. I have been an LPN for 3 months and only on a part-time basis.
Every other nursing program I have looked into is around $15-26k per year, so I'm truly hoping this is a better alternative. Look forward to hearing from Excelsior grads :).

Hi there. Just a note... you might get better info if you post a question in the distance learning forum or lpn to rn forum. This thread is in the CRNA forum (certified registered nurse anesthetist) so there won't be as many excelsior grads reading this thread.

The lpn-rn program cost me about 6K. Can be more depending on what books/materials you feel you need to purchase. And if you don't pass the cpne on the first try, its another 2K to retake it, plus airfare and hotels. Also, if you decide to take a workshop to prepare you for your cpne, that can be several hundred more, plus possibly travel expenses if there is not one close to you. I recommend you call excelsior and have them send you some info. One of the brochures they send you is all about the tuition and fees. If you still have questions, you could call again, and they are always really nice and helpful over the phone in answering any questions you have. But at the beginning you have to pay enrollement fee which i think now is only 400 (was 900 when i started) and you can do a payment plan to pay over 6 months. Then each of the exams (i think there are 7 nursing plus any gen ed ones you need) are about 240 a piece. Whenever you get the money, you just take another, go at your own pace. Then you have to take info literacy which is a 1 credit online class for about 300 and something... you can take that at any time. And then your fcca i think was 200, you do that after you finish your nursing courses. Then the big chunk at the end is the cpne which is like 1900 i think. Plus travel expenses. You can set up a payment plan if you are someone who is eligible to take it (finished fcca and all nursing courses) but won't be taking it for several months... that way you can pay over a few months... but then you will have to finish paying before you take it. Then 500 graduation fee at the end too. So the start up isn't bad. Just take courses as you get the money... and save up for your cpne and graduation fee at the end. If the program takes you more than a year, you have to pay the SSAF (student services annual fee) which is 495 i think, which you would have to pay a year from when you officially got accepted into the nursing program.

Yes it's possible to finish the program that quickly. I finished in a year, would have taken me only 6 months but I put off taking micro for several months after i had completed all my other courses. All of your nursing courses, you just take an exam at a testing center to get credit. So it's as fast as you want it to be. One week I took 3 exams and passed all of them, so basically I got 9 credits in a matter of a week. Like I told you in the other thread you posted in, the fact that your lpn book knowledge is still fresh in your head will be helpful. The only exams i had to spend more time on studying was my sciences (a & p and micro) and transition to RN. The rest is probably all stuff you learned in lpn school. When you are ready to take your cpne, if you put in that you are available with only a few days notice (meaning you may find out on a tuesday that you have to be in new york on friday) and you are open to going wherever they send you then you can get a cancellation date and may only end up waiting a few weeks to take your cpne. Some people wait as long as 9 months depending on where they want to take the cpne (you can request a specific center) and if they are just getting a regular date, not asking for a cancellation date.

Anyway, good luck!!!