Be very Careful about considering Excelsior's Online ADN program...

EMT2RN · Dec 19, 2004

The company I use charges 49.99 per course - and that includes a practice exam CD. So, I guess you just have to shop around.

EMT2RN · Dec 19, 2004

Oh - and I wasn't trying to be harsh . . . it's just that you can hear so much about Excelsior that just isn't true - especially on who can and can't get in, or where the degree is accepted. There's a lot of misinformation out there. My wife is an Excelsior grad, and she is a nursing supervisor at our local hospital. So, onward I go . . . one step at a time.

featherzRN, MSN · Dec 19, 2004

I personally would not recommend anyone pay for study guides. The ones excelsior provided as part of the program were good enough for me and didn't cost extra. :)

EMT2RN · Dec 19, 2004

I personally would not recommend anyone pay for study guides. The ones excelsior provided as part of the program were good enough for me and didn't cost extra. :)

It comes down to different learning styles for different people. I, personally, could not just sit down and read, read, read out of the textbooks and retain any of it. The interactive CD was what helped me retain, and the practice test with rationales makes me really think about what I'm learning. I can sit and read a textbook all day, and have no idea what I just read . . . it's like I'm on autopilot.

Jo Dirt · Dec 19, 2004

I personally would not recommend anyone pay for study guides. The ones excelsior provided as part of the program were good enough for me and didn't cost extra. :)

I agree. Just this past Friday I took the EC microbiology and passed with a B, after studying (well, cramming) for four days. I had no study guide except the one provided by Excelsior. It is the only one you need.

Same with my A&P test I took a week before I took micro. I had studied with EC's study guide for two weeks before taking A&P. Same thing with NC 1 I took two weeks before I took A&P. Now, I'm studying for NC 3. NC 3 is going to be a little more difficult, because you are expected to know a lot about opoids and such, but I'm studying away with the study guide making progress. Really, it is all you need. You look at each point in the study guide and look up the information. It doesn't get any easier than that.

Furthermore, I know a fellow LPN who paid $500 for the study guide for sociology from Moore Publishing. She said she studied everything in that study guide and went and took the sociology test and failed! She is getting to retake it only this time she is using the study guide provided by Excelsior. We'll see what happens with it.

I think Excelsior is one of the most misunderstood nursing programs there is. It certainly doesn't deserve the stigma often attached to it. Those tests are hard. If you don't know your stuff you will not pass the tests. Luckily, I'm highly intelligent and that helps a lot, too.

RN34TX · Dec 19, 2004

Be very careful before you sign up for the Excelsior program if you plan on working in a major metropolitan hospital or even a larger hospital in a rural area.
I know of two people here in Colorado that have had problems with their Excelsior education.
So...my advice is to try and get into the second year of an ADN program at a community college if you're an LPN (which in most states has a very small waiting list as compared to entering into it in the first year). If you're a CMA, Paramedic or whatever Excelsior currently says qualifies you for the RN-ADN program, do what it takes to get into a real-time, nursing school. I have heard three stories besides my own now and would council anyone seeking to become a nurse to seek other options than online programs. It may take me longer, but it will be better in the long run.

I'm very sorry to hear that your state is having issues with EC. But like many people, you seem to be under the impression that whatever is going on in your area is how things are everywhere else which is not true. I'm not trying to slam your advice as it may be valid in your area, but let's say that some LPN/LVN with current acute care experience who lives in Texas reads your post and decides not to do the EC program and goes to a tradtional LVN-RN transition program as a result of reading comments like yours.

I started in that type of program and know many LVN's who went that route and ALL of them told me what a waste of time and money it was spending countless clinical hours during that "one year" transition program making beds, giving baths, and passing pills because during that second year you get lumped in with students with no clinical background outside of maybe being a CNA who are still struggling with learning about starting IV's and insering NG tubes, all of which are skills that any experienced acute care LVN should be competent at and should not still be demonstrating in front of instructors. I worked at a teaching hospital on a Med/Surg floor where there were a lot of LVN-RN students and there they stood around, waiting for their instructor to check off that they drew up the correct dose of insulin, something they probably do at work every day.

As far as "major metropolitan" goes, when I graduated EC last year I was offered an internship in the specialty of my choice at every last hospital that I applied at in both Dallas and Houston (which Houston by the way, is the 4th largest city in the country.)

Different programs meet different students needs and everyone needs to select what works best for them. I've worked around the country (not in CO so I can't speak for them) and I would say that with very few exceptions (IL for example) doing the traditional transition program is a big waste of time and money for current acute care LPN/LVN's and paramedics. But even IL has EC grads working there who have been RN's in other states for two years.

My current employer is in major need of RN's and I often wonder how many LVN students right now are out there putting in their clinical time making beds and passing pills who could go through EC's program and be here now working as RN's where they are truely needed.

FYI- EC does not accept MA's or EMT's below paramedic level and EC's ADN program is not "online."

I'm not saying that EC is a perfect program either as I found the CPNE to be an awful nerve-wracking experience but there has got to be a better more efficient way to help LPN's become RN's. It's just that no one has come up with it yet.

Either you bite the bullet and go through the strict boot camp style clinical exam, or you put in countless hours doing for free what you get paid for at work every day for a year.

Jo Dirt · Dec 19, 2004

FYI- EC does not accept MA's or EMT's below paramedic level.

SO I WAS CORRECT...HEY, EMT2RN WHO TOLD ME TO STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION I WASN'T SPREADING ANY MISINFORMATION!!!

I knew what I was talking about after all. I was kind of insulted at his comment that I was spreading misinformation because I am the type of person who likes to make sure they have the facts straight before they say something, I also know I can be wrong but in this case I was correct. No misinformation on my part.

You are so correct RN34TX. I know I am sailing through the courses at Excelsior, because I am familiar with the marterial. This would not be so for someone with a nonmedical background. What annoys me is that the way people act, LPN's are barely functional, almost invalids who haven't the slightest idea what a registered nurse is. Here in Tennessee, regardless of your experience as an LPN, you are herded together with all the nonmedical people in the nursing programs as if you had never made a bed or looked at a prescription medication all your life. You are treated like a total beginner, even to the point of the indignity of sitting with people fresh out of high school injecting oranges, even though you may have been giving all types of injections for years and even teaching new RN's how to perform certain procedures.

For an experienced LPN going through the drudgery of another two years of nursing school is not only an insult but a monumental waste of time and money.

This influenced my decision to go with Excelsior, and regardless of peoples' ignorance and prejudice I feel Excelsior is offering a priceless service to experienced LPN's and paramedics (EMT2RN!)

Also, I know that all the major hospitals in Tennessee (including Vanderbilt) welcome EC grads with open arms.

EMT2RN · Dec 20, 2004

SO I WAS CORRECT...HEY, EMT2RN WHO TOLD ME TO STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION I WASN'T SPREADING ANY MISINFORMATION!!!
I knew what I was talking about after all. I was kind of insulted at his comment that I was spreading misinformation because I am the type of person who likes to make sure they have the facts straight before they say something, I also know I can be wrong but in this case I was correct. No misinformation on my part.
You are so correct RN34TX. I know I am sailing through the courses at Excelsior, because I am familiar with the marterial. This would not be so for someone with a nonmedical background. What annoys me is that the way people act, LPN's are barely functional, almost invalids who haven't the slightest idea what a registered nurse is. Here in Tennessee, regardless of your experience as an LPN, you are herded together with all the nonmedical people in the nursing programs as if you had never made a bed or looked at a prescription medication all your life. You are treated like a total beginner, even to the point of the indignity of sitting with people fresh out of high school injecting oranges, even though you may have been giving all types of injections for years and even teaching new RN's how to perform certain procedures.
For an experienced LPN going through the drudgery of another two years of nursing school is not only an insult but a monumental waste of time and money.
This influenced my decision to go with Excelsior, and regardless of peoples' ignorance and prejudice I feel Excelsior is offering a priceless service to experienced LPN's and paramedics (EMT2RN!)
Also, I know that all the major hospitals in Tennessee (including Vanderbilt) welcome EC grads with open arms.

Paramedics are EMTS, they are EMT-P - therefore they are the highest level of EMT out there (there are also EMT-B and EMT-I levels recognized by the national registry of emergency medical technicians). So, no, you did not know what you were talking about. Somehow, I think that wouldn't be a first.

paraloco · Dec 20, 2004

Paramedics are EMTS, they are EMT-P - therefore they are the highest level of EMT out there (there are also EMT-B and EMT-I levels recognized by the national registry of emergency medical technicians). So, no, you did not know what you were talking about. Somehow, I think that wouldn't be a first.

that post really shook me for a bit. All my former co-workers who have gone thru EC have done very well in our area, most becoming charge nurses, or flying with air rescue. I do have to wonder if BSRNs feel resentment at 2 year rn's making as much. Seems like they'd wanna protect their investment in their educations

Jo Dirt · Dec 20, 2004

So, no, you did not know what you were talking about. Somehow, I think that wouldn't be a first.

I most certainly DID know what I was talking about. But I'm not going to argue over such a petty issue. EC does not state that they accept EMT-P's, they plainly state paramedics, not EMT's. If you want to call them EMT-P's that is fine, but I am going by what Excelsior says.

EMT2RN · Dec 20, 2004

LPN2RN - Please don't spread misinformation. Excelsior certainly does still accept those "others who are not directly involved in nursing." - such as paramedics, PAs, etc. MAs and EMT-B and EMT-I were recently excluded, because the programs were not considered extensive enough to give a good clinical background. However, you do not have to be a nurse to become a nurse - myself and many other paramedics are enrolled at Excelsior college, and ar happy to be in the program.

That was my original post . . . hope you improve your reading comprehension before your next test.

Anyways . . . I'm out of here. There is more misinformation on this board than truly helpful information.

Jo Dirt · Dec 21, 2004

LPN2RN - Please don't spread misinformation. Excelsior certainly does still accept those "others who are not directly involved in nursing." - such as paramedics, PAs, etc. MAs and EMT-B and EMT-I were recently excluded, because the programs were not considered extensive enough to give a good clinical background. However, you do not have to be a nurse to become a nurse - myself and many other paramedics are enrolled at Excelsior college, and ar happy to be in the program.
That was my original post . . . hope you improve your reading comprehension before your next test.

EMT2RN...oops, I'm terribly sorry. I hope my reading comprehension improves before my next test, too. That happens to be this Wednesday (NC 3). Of course my reading comprehension has been good enough this past month to pass NC 1, A&P, and microbiology with a B. Maybe that explains why I wasn't so up on things here.

Anyway...ya'll gonna wish me luck?