Bellarmine MSN FNP starting fall 2020

kdowns07 · Apr 3, 2020

I was so hoping someone would post on here! I received my acceptance here little over a week ago and have been sooo torn between this program and MUSC's DNP program. I haven't heard much about Bellarmine, but speaking with the staff it seems like a good school with built in support. I just haven't known anyone who's also interested in this school and/or knows a lot about the MSN program! I'm leaning towards Bellarmine, for a big reason: they help with preceptor placement if you live in Kentucky (I currently don't but I'd be willing to move in my second year) and I like the timeline to becoming an NP.

MUSC is great for the area (South Carolina), but is expensive (more than Bellarmine) and they only accepted me into their part time program even though I applied to their full time program so I won't graduate until Summer of 2024 and that's taking classes Fall, Spring, and Summer for all 4 years. My end goal is to be a DNP so it would save me on applying to another school for my DNP and I am in the area already (it's online so that doesn't really matter to MUSC). They offer no guarantee of preceptor placement. I haven't been able to really find out information on if they really do help their students with placement or if we're left to fend for ourselves. I haven't seen any complaints.

I apologize for the long message, but I was wondering what made you decide on Bellarmine (if you don't mind sharing)? Looking for any help in making this decision since my instinct is Bellarmine, I'm just so hesitant because I haven't heard much about the school and can't really find anything online.

mnurse1995 · Apr 5, 2020

On 4/3/2020 at 12:45 PM, kdowns07 said:
I was so hoping someone would post on here! I received my acceptance here little over a week ago and have been sooo torn between this program and MUSC's DNP program. I haven't heard much about Bellarmine, but speaking with the staff it seems like a good school with built in support. I just haven't known anyone who's also interested in this school and/or knows a lot about the MSN program! I'm leaning towards Bellarmine, for a big reason: they help with preceptor placement if you live in Kentucky (I currently don't but I'd be willing to move in my second year) and I like the timeline to becoming an NP.
MUSC is great for the area (South Carolina), but is expensive (more than Bellarmine) and they only accepted me into their part time program even though I applied to their full time program so I won't graduate until Summer of 2024 and that's taking classes Fall, Spring, and Summer for all 4 years. My end goal is to be a DNP so it would save me on applying to another school for my DNP and I am in the area already (it's online so that doesn't really matter to MUSC). They offer no guarantee of preceptor placement. I haven't been able to really find out information on if they really do help their students with placement or if we're left to fend for ourselves. I haven't seen any complaints.
I apologize for the long message, but I was wondering what made you decide on Bellarmine (if you don't mind sharing)? Looking for any help in making this decision since my instinct is Bellarmine, I'm just so hesitant because I haven't heard much about the school and can't really find anything online.

Hi! Well, I think first and foremost since you're looking at two different degrees, I'd start there. Do you want to get your MSN or your DNP? I'm hoping to eventually get my DNP but did lots of research and pro/cons and decided for now my masters is the right move for me. I see you say you want to eventually get your DNP so it's really just how you want to achieve that. For me, I'd rather get started in the NP career sooner rather than later and be able to work towards my DNP on my own timeline because I'm in no rush. There's plenty of affordable MSN to DNP options I've seen. Therefore I knew I wanted MSN.

I also don't live in KY currently but did my undergrad at University of Kentucky and have lots of connections there so I am also planning to move to KY between the first and second year because for me, preceptor placement is a very important aspect of a program. It shows that they're involved and that they care because I know lots of friends in programs constantly stressing about finding preceptors! So that was a big pro for Bellarmine. I had always had high respect for Bellarmine because it's known as a great nursing school in KY, their accelerated BSN is highly ranked nationally and though I haven't seen any rankings for their MSN program, a lot of the instructors are the same as the ABSN so I'm sure it's just as good. It's a small private institution so that was another huge pro, I feel like the staff are very involved and organized, especially with only 20-30 MSN students. I've always held Bellarmine in high regard which is why it was the only school I applied to! Let me know what you end up deciding.

kdowns07 · Apr 6, 2020

I ended up deciding on Bellarmine! Yay! LOL. I feel the same about MSN vs DNP and wanting to start working as an NP as soon as possible. It's been my goal from the start so this really makes sense. I, too, liked their preceptor placement. I have never lived in Kentucky so I have no idea how I would like it, but I see sooo many people posting about preceptor issues and I don't want to risk being in that boat and struggling. I've had good and bad experiences here in Charleston with reliable preceptors and the last thing I want is to feel stranded trying to navigate finding a new preceptor mid way through a semester to finish hours with. Overall, I'm really excited about it! I can't wait to start as crazy as that sounds LOL. I'm finishing up my BSN right now this May. I'm 30 so continuing to wait to get where I want to be just doesn't make sense. Life is too short and I waited long enough to start this path.

mnurse1995 · Apr 7, 2020

6 hours ago, kdowns07 said:
I ended up deciding on Bellarmine! Yay! LOL. I feel the same about MSN vs DNP and wanting to start working as an NP as soon as possible. It's been my goal from the start so this really makes sense. I, too, liked their preceptor placement. I have never lived in Kentucky so I have no idea how I would like it, but I see sooo many people posting about preceptor issues and I don't want to risk being in that boat and struggling. I've had good and bad experiences here in Charleston with reliable preceptors and the last thing I want is to feel stranded trying to navigate finding a new preceptor mid way through a semester to finish hours with. Overall, I'm really excited about it! I can't wait to start as crazy as that sounds LOL. I'm finishing up my BSN right now this May. I'm 30 so continuing to wait to get where I want to be just doesn't make sense. Life is too short and I waited long enough to start this path.

That's awesome! I'm so glad we're going to be in the same cohort. I agree. Kentucky is amazing. I went to elementary school and college there and it's a beautiful state full of great people. You will really like it. I am very familiar with the whole state so please let me know if you need any advice on moving.

kdowns07 · Apr 8, 2020

Thank you and I definitely will! I am very excited to begin classes. Thank you so much for making this post and replying. I was really torn between the two schools and your post helped me focus on what's important to me.