BSN Prelicensure Program at WGU right for me?

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 30, 2015

Where do you live? This program is only available in five states: California, Florida, Indiana, Washington and Texas.

ampersand · Sep 30, 2015

Florida

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 30, 2015

I am not 100% certain in this policy, but I THINK that you cannot have failed out of a previous program and still enroll. You might call and speak with a pre-licensure BSN enrollment counselor. They would have the definitive answer

Meaning: you need to really work hard to pass this semester, no matter what!

I am a clinical instructor in the pre-licensure program in Indiana.

luna_moon · Sep 30, 2015

Do you know when they will be sending out acceptance emails for the November start date? I'm in Texas

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Oct 1, 2015

If you're asking ME about acceptance letters, No, I am not part of that process. Sorry.

tsm007 · Oct 1, 2015

I am not 100% certain in this policy, but I THINK that you cannot have failed out of a previous program and still enroll. You might call and speak with a pre-licensure BSN enrollment counselor. They would have the definitive answer
Meaning: you need to really work hard to pass this semester, no matter what!
I am a clinical instructor in the pre-licensure program in Indiana.

You can have a withdrawal from a previous program and still be accepted. I was in a program before and withdrew and I am pretty sure another student in my cohort did the same and was still accepted. I did not have poor grades when I withdrew. I withdrew for personal reasons, but the withdrawal was not counted against me.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Oct 1, 2015

You can have a withdrawal from a previous program and still be accepted. I was in a program before and withdrew and I am pretty sure another student in my cohort did the same and was still accepted. I did not have poor grades when I withdrew. I withdrew for personal reasons, but the withdrawal was not counted against me.

Yes, I think a voluntary withdrawal is ok, but a failure, or withdrawn while failing is the problem. Again, ask the WGU people for a definitive answer.

tsm007 · Oct 1, 2015

Even though the program is cohort based, can you work ahead in the classes you have?

You can sort of work ahead. You can work ahead on any non-clinical course. Clinical courses you can't technically work ahead, but you sort of can. I did. You can't submit any of the course work until that term actually starts, but you can get the next course of study to load for you and your mentor may open up the resources for you so you can work on it. They might be reluctant to do it, but mine would do it for me. You will not be able to complete the program any faster though. It just will help you to have some cushioning when you get to the end.

- How do the students typically perform? How intense would you say the program is?

It's hard to compare it to a standard program. It is somewhat intense and performance really varies. Some did really well and some struggled all the way through with the course work. However, there is a lot of assignments, but really only one graded test (or 2-4 papers to write per class). The rest of the assignments aren't exactly checked for accuracy.

- Is the classroom portion competency based? Like if you take the test and don't pass, can you take the test again?

Competency based. You can retake the test, but you will be set back to a later cohort if you don't pass by a certain date. They give you I think 4 attempts to pass. THIS is one of my beefs with the program. I think they are doing a disservice by allowing this many reattempts. These are the few students that I think graduate unprepared for the job - the ones that have to take 4 attempts for each class to pass. The only person in my cohort not to pass NCLEX took 4 attempts on almost every class. Even though she is my friend she clearly did not know the material. Anyone that passed it with a couple attempts (maybe even 3 for one course) did not run into problems in clinicals or NCLEX. I personally feel the max attempt should be 3.

- Could I work part time while in the program? There is so much face-to-face time in my program that it's difficult to work.
- Could I work as a Nurse Tech (Nurse assistant or PCT) after the first semester? The hospitals around me allow that for my current school.

Yes, most people did work part time and quite a few worked full time. I think most hospitals would let you work as a nurse tech too, but that I am not sure on.

Could I do the clinical portions on night shifts, if I wanted?

You can request night shift, but no guarantee that you will get it. They try to match you when they can, but sometimes you get shifts and dates that are not what you want.

ampersand · Oct 1, 2015

@meanmaryjean thanks for the input. The first class is half a semester and 5 exams. I still have the possibility of passing but the faculty are difficult to work with. I'll call tomorrow to double check. But, if I can forsee myself not passing to their standards, let's say have a 75% average on four tests and it would be very unlikely that I would bring it up by test #5, at that point I could voluntarily withdrawal. That way creating a work-around to that issue.

@tsm007 thank you so much for the insight! I would feel fairly confident that I could become a nurse through WGU at this point. I frequently do better on 2nd attempts tests/exams if I am having trouble. I can understand four attempts may too many but the NCLEX is the ultimate deciding factor. I really could stand to work again, I don't want to mooch off my wife longer than I already am!

Again, thank you everyone for responding.