Anyone getting their NP certification through Kaplan University?

Nursing Students NP Students

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Hello,

My name is Jessica, I have been an LPN for nearly five years and I am finally finishing up my RN June 3rd, 2014. I am eager to quickly go back to school and am thinking about going to Kaplan for their RN-MSN program. Then after that, I would like to do their FNP specialization.

Where I get my BSN heavily depends on if they have a good NP program. From what I understand, the program is affordable and accredited by a couple of different agencies.

I have read some threads on here, but I can't find any pertinent information. (People seem to go off in tangents and I have even seen nurses ridicule each other on this site, which seems a little unbecoming for people in the nursing profession, but I guess we are still human).

I would like to know the following:

Has anyone done the ANP or FNP online program through Kaplan?

How was it? Did you complete the program or are you still working on it?

How are the class in terms of difficulty? I know all nursing is somewhat difficult, however, compared to my fellow nursing students, I felt that the LPN and the RN wasn't all that bad.

How do employers feel about NP that obtain their education primarily online?

How long did it take you to do it? I know this will vary, I just want to hear some of your experiences..

If you are an NP and did not go to Kaplan and did an online program, where did you go? What would you recommend?

Thanks in Advance,

Jessica

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to student NP.

I did my MSN in management and leadership thru University of Phoenix. Did it in 11 months then did two post MSN certificates.

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Specializes in Cardiac rehab, med-tele, psych, research.

I started Kaplan University's Family Nurse Practitioner program in Sept 2012. The first year is basically spent taking research and theory courses. There are a lot more classes compared to an average university masters degree program- over 100 credits compared to 40-55 in regular universities.

When I finally reached the important classes like advanced pathophysiology and pharmacology, I was really disappointed in the lack of formal testing and the way I was learning in general. I know masters programs are different than undergrad, but I felt extremely under challenged. I felt like I was alone as I had to self-teach myself everything. There is no lecture or really even any guidance from the instructors. The curriculum is set and they just check to make sure you are posting on the discussion board. This form of learning may work for some, but I don't feel like I have enough experience (RN now for 4 years) to feel confident enough to self teach myself to become a nurse practitioner. The flexibility was really nice though. They structure the school week between Wed-Tue so that you still have your weekends to catch up.

After 45 credits, 1 year and 3 months, with still at least another 1.5 years left, I decided to apply to university FNP masters program in FL. It was a hard decision to make because I had to study for my GRE for about 3 months and basically start all over. I was so blessed to get into University of Central Florida's Family Nurse Practitioner Program! I will be starting this fall. Hope this helps.

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Specializes in Emergency.

You will find a variety of answers about "how people feel about getting your NP online" as well as other hot-button questions. I find the answers tend to be very vocal and very black and white when in reality I have yet to find someone not online who feels this is an issue. Now this could be that my local community of providers does not seem to care about this issue but providers in other areas do, or it could be that the alumni of online universities have been successful in my local community.

As someone who has been a hiring manager in other fields, I can tell you that I couldn't discriminate against a particular program because of it's perceived reputation. I hired folks based on experience, interview, and references. If these three didn't match up, then they didn't get hired. If they had all kinds of experience on their resume, but couldn't back it up in the interview, then something was fishy. I would take someone who had very little experience, but alot of energy and obviously was dedicated to their job over someone who claimed to have all the experience in the world but didn't have any of the standard, basic, war stories that went with the profession...

I think most quality organizations that are going to be a successful place for a new grad to work at will be doing the same, as they want to make you successful as much as you want to be successful.

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