Arkansas State University (ASU) MSN

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Hi! Has anyone gone through the MSN program at Arkansas State? Currently looking at their program but I haven’t heard anything about them. I know they don’t go to campus at all for a skills day like other schools I have looked at do, and wasn’t sure if that was bad thing. Any thoughts are appreciated! 

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Specializes in OR.

Hi! I was wondering if you had any insight yet on Arkansas State? I'm struggling between them and Chamberlain. Chamberlain's admission process is way faster, but I kinda want to wait on Arkansas State to see how their program looks. 

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RNCurry85 said:

Hi! I was wondering if you had any insight yet on Arkansas State? I'm struggling between them and Chamberlain. Chamberlain's admission process is way faster, but I kinda want to wait on Arkansas State to see how their program looks. 

Hi! I have not heard anything about the school but wound up not applying because after talking to them it felt more like a degree mill to me. I also haven't heard good things about Chamberlin. Best of luck to you! 

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I am a current FNP student at Arkansas State. It would be much cheaper than Chamberlin. You are correct that they don't offer a hands-on skills day, which is a massive detriment to me. They give you a check-list of skills to do in clinicals and include things like suturing. How am I supposed to suture with no training? Actual patients aren't keen on being practice dummies for something like that. 

I don't feel adequately prepared for practice but I am not sure that is all on Arkansas State. A lot is just NP education in general, but providing no hands-on training certainly doesn't help. The program is all online and there is a significant amount of theory, writing, and research along with discussion boards and massive amounts of clinical reports where you are often writing the same thing two or three times. 

They do provide a lot of assistance with finding clinicals and are very cost-effective. 

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Specializes in OR.
TheologyNerdRN said:

I am a current FNP student at Arkansas State. It would be much cheaper than Chamberlin. You are correct that they don't offer a hands-on skills day, which is a massive detriment to me. They give you a check-list of skills to do in clinicals and include things like suturing. How am I supposed to suture with no training? Actual patients aren't keen on being practice dummies for something like that. 

I don't feel adequately prepared for practice but I am not sure that is all on Arkansas State. A lot is just NP education in general, but providing no hands-on training certainly doesn't help. The program is all online and there is a significant amount of theory, writing, and research along with discussion boards and massive amounts of clinical reports where you are often writing the same thing two or three times. 

They do provide a lot of assistance with finding clinicals and are very cost-effective. 

I'm actually comparing costs as I type, and yes Chamberlain is much more expensive!
I like that I would get assistance with clinical placement too. With Chamberlain you're on your own. 
Do you feel like the Full-time plan is doable with a family and a job?

hcurry9 said:

Hi! I have not heard anything about the school but wound up not applying because after talking to them it felt more like a degree mill to me. I also haven't heard good things about Chamberlin. Best of luck to you! 

Thank you!

Did you go into NP courses anywhere else?

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Yes, all the professors and staff are very nice and helpful and want you to succeed. I live near the school so was able to do clinicals near there. If you are out of town, I can't speak for how much they will help if you are in another state. They just have a lot of contracts and established clinics around the school and can easily place students with them. 

It is possible to do while working and with kids. I also had to work and I also have kids. It requires a lot of self-study and self-motivation. Having a lot of responsibilities does detract from time to engage and study. If I were single, I could have spent a significantly larger amount of time studying and doing my own study on top of assignments. I got frustrated with amount of reports and busy work that kept me from learning things I actually need to know. 

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Specializes in OR.
TheologyNerdRN said:

Yes, all the professors and staff are very nice and helpful and want you to succeed. I live near the school so was able to do clinicals near there. If you are out of town, I can't speak for how much they will help if you are in another state. They just have a lot of contracts and established clinics around the school and can easily place students with them. 

It is possible to do while working and with kids. I also had to work and I also have kids. It requires a lot of self-study and self-motivation. Having a lot of responsibilities does detract from time to engage and study. If I were single, I could have spent a significantly larger amount of time studying and doing my own study on top of assignments. I got frustrated with amount of reports and busy work that kept me from learning things I actually need to know. 

I've taken a couple of MSN core courses and the assignments were typically a discussion with response and an assignment due per week or a big assignment like a 3-6 pg paper or PowerPoint due one week. How the assignments there at ASU?

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That is essentially what it is for awhile but there will be things like Shadow Health, weekly tests, research papers, etc. to do as well. 

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Specializes in OR.
TheologyNerdRN said:

That is essentially what it is for awhile but there will be things like Shadow Health, weekly tests, research papers, etc. to do as well. 

Thanks for all your help!

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Specializes in OR.
RNCurry85 said:

Thanks for all your help!

Did you have required on campus visits?

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TheologyNerdRN said:

Yes, all the professors and staff are very nice and helpful and want you to succeed. I live near the school so was able to do clinicals near there. If you are out of town, I can't speak for how much they will help if you are in another state. They just have a lot of contracts and established clinics around the school and can easily place students with them. 

It is possible to do while working and with kids. I also had to work and I also have kids. It requires a lot of self-study and self-motivation. Having a lot of responsibilities does detract from time to engage and study. If I were single, I could have spent a significantly larger amount of time studying and doing my own study on top of assignments. I got frustrated with amount of reports and busy work that kept me from learning things I actually need to know. 

Hello! 

I began with A-State's FNP program this term. I'm wondering if you had to do it over, would you choose the part-time route taking only one class per term? I just registered for next term and wonder if I'll have enough time to study what I need for Advanced Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation while also taking Theory Development in the same 7-week term. These 7 weeks seem to pass SO quickly and I'm wondering if maybe I should take a bit longer to complete the program. Would love your opinion.

Thank you!

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RNCurry85 said:

 

I just began their FNP program and there are no on-campus visit requirements.

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