National University Accelerated BSN

U.S.A. California

Published

Hi Everyone:

I am currently in the process of trying to get into national university's ABSN program for the fall 2009 at L.A location, anyone who has gotten into the program (both L.A and S.D) before or still in the process of applying, I would really appreciate any feedback from all of you guys about your general status (overall GPA, TEAS, etc) or your insight about this program overall. I feel like nowadays every nursing program becomes a lot more competitive than before, even for the private schools. So any feedback or comment would be very welcome from all of you guys, Thank you.

You shouldn't do private school because you're going into a job that doesn't pay that much back. Unless you have rich parents and/or a lot of scholarships, you're going to spend the majority of the rest of your life paying back a private school tution loan. Please think twice before you commit to this. It seems to me like you're just looking for a quick way to get it over with rather than riding the wave out. Paying back a massive loan VS. waiting a few years to go to a 'cheap' school. You do the math. Also, in our state of economy, it's just not wise to go into debt right now.

I went to a junior college for my RN. It cost me about $2,000 total for everything once I was done. (but that didn't include car wear and tear and gas). I have no school debt. Please think about doing the same thing! I was in your shoes at one time and I am SO glad I decided to wait a bit longer.

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Specializes in Public health nursing.

Speaking for myself, perhaps my circumstance is different than most. As much as I would want to take out loans, my "rich" parents would rather fund my education rather me paying interest to the government or some private bank. My parents see my education as an investment, and like any investment, there are the potential risks. I also have some money saved up and will be applying for scholarships as well. Too bad I don't qualify for the Pell Grant or Cal Grant as I have my Bachelors already. In any rate, it's not like I'll end up paying 100K like some other private institution that shall remain nameless :rolleyes:.

I also look at it as this: for each semester I get denied from any nursing program, I lose money (btw, I have applied to community colleges and public universities in and out of state). Since I've already lost one year, my net loss, give or take, is $40K-$50K from what I could have earned as an RN.

I am truly grateful I got accepted into a nursing program as I am this much closer of having a career in nursing, and ultimately as a nurse practitioner. Sure it would be nice to be accepted into a state school, but the cards were simply not in my favor. From this experience I've learned that beggars cannot be choosers. Thanks for your kind consideration upon this matter though :D.

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You shouldn't do private school because you're going into a job that doesn't pay that much back. Unless you have rich parents and/or a lot of scholarships, you're going to spend the majority of the rest of your life paying back a private school tution loan. Please think twice before you commit to this. It seems to me like you're just looking for a quick way to get it over with rather than riding the wave out. Paying back a massive loan VS. waiting a few years to go to a 'cheap' school. You do the math. Also, in our state of economy, it's just not wise to go into debt right now.

I went to a junior college for my RN. It cost me about $2,000 total for everything once I was done. (but that didn't include car wear and tear and gas). I have no school debt. Please think about doing the same thing! I was in your shoes at one time and I am SO glad I decided to wait a bit longer.

Are you kidding me man, looks like you have not done enough research on what the cost would be for those private accelerated BSN programs, I am sure it would not go over $60,000 for period of 2 years, besides, like Elle mentioned, my parents would also fund me for tuition so I wouldn't be worrying about paying back those big interests, and definitely I would make those money back in less than a year working as a BSN (with some savings left:p). Besides, I am using this money to buy time and career experience rather than doing nothing and waiting around for years to squeeze onto those so limited spots from public schools. If you are in a position where you want to get into some public schools with advanced degree for nursing and cheap tuition, I bet the competition is furious, even the best private schools like western university, loma linda, they are crowded and the requirements are outrageous, and best public schools like UCI, UCLA, their school of nursing is almost as hard as medical school to get in even if you have straight As from your prerequisites (I applied to UCLA before with all As in prerequisites). Anyway, I would still choose private school at this time over public ones as I am accepted and would start the program soon. I wish I have the patience and mindset like you, but for the time being, this is still a good investment for the rest of my career. (those tuition loans would be nothing once I start working:D:smokin:)

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Hi Elle_Guerira, Have you heard about the orientation fee thing? Wow, JomoNurse was right, we have to pay almost $1,300 for it. Even before the start of the program, we have to spend so much already. Let me know what you think about this.

And after I read your posts, you seem that you have done thorough research on our school and have high hopes for the program, hopefully we could help each other out during the program.

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O, yeah, BTW, what did our admission counselor say our total fee (including everything) would be for the program, she said something less than 50k, I am not sure.

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Specializes in Public health nursing.

Eep, the orientation fee is close to $1400 you mean :uhoh3:. Yea, I really wanna know what the breakdown in costs is cuz when I first heard about National last year, there was some mention of it costing somewhere in the $35K-$45K range. But going to the information session this year, one of the admissions counselors said upward to ~$55K! Thank you inflation :down:. But really, what does that 55K truly breakdown to? I wonder if they've taken personal expenses in consideration with that number. Time to whip out my pen and paper and take some serious note-taking during the orientation.

I've been "trolling" around at National's San Diego thread, and those who had or currently attend have nothing but glowing experiences of the program (aside from the cost of course), so I'm really really hoping for the same sentiment at the LA campus.

Do you plan on commuting to campus?

BTW, were you able to get your health and liability insurances taken care of?

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You shouldn't do private school because you're going into a job that doesn't pay that much back. Unless you have rich parents and/or a lot of scholarships, you're going to spend the majority of the rest of your life paying back a private school tution loan. Please think twice before you commit to this. It seems to me like you're just looking for a quick way to get it over with rather than riding the wave out. Paying back a massive loan VS. waiting a few years to go to a 'cheap' school. You do the math. Also, in our state of economy, it's just not wise to go into debt right now.

I went to a junior college for my RN. It cost me about $2,000 total for everything once I was done. (but that didn't include car wear and tear and gas). I have no school debt. Please think about doing the same thing! I was in your shoes at one time and I am SO glad I decided to wait a bit longer.

I think you are overlooking the fact that you paid $2000 for an Associate degree and the National Program is a BSN program. I don't know when you got your RN but there is a 2 year waiting list for the program at SDCCD plus another 2 years in the program. If you want to go into the military or work for the VA they will not hire you without a Bachelors. The cost of the ABSN program (40-50k) is lower than the entry level pay grade for a bachelor prepared nurse (60k). I for one, plan to apply because I have a kid and it is costing me more to wait on a state school than borrowing the money. If I wait to get into a cheaper school for 2 years I have lost 120k :twocents: :twocents: :twocents:. I am open to other options and state schools but SDSU wont even talk to you if you already have a bachelors degree and they favor their own students over transfer students so if you take your prereq's at a Jr college and try to apply, the students that took their prereq's at that college have priority even if you are more qualified (I found that out the REALLY HARD way!:banghead:). I am not dependent on my parents so I will need the loans and I don't think I can get loans to pursue an associate degree since I already hold a bachelors. It shouldn't be a problem to pay the money back. Most hospitals will arrange to forgive 10k of loans for each year you commit to them and the military will forgive even more and you go in as an officer. :yeah:

National University has more accreditation than any other I have researched and they have a 100% NCLEX pass rate. It is not like Kaplan that only has CA BRN accreditation and no one will accept the classes if you want to transfer.

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Specializes in ER.

Hello Everyone,

Name is Charles, sorry I did not get to personal meet everyone at the orientation. I would like to formally say hello to everyone. Since we a small group and will be spending the next 22 months together, I would like to get to know everyone and hopefully we can help each other succeed and pass all of our classes.

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Specializes in Oncology.

Hi everyone,

I'm actually starting the ABSN program at National University in Fresno next month. The total cost of our program is about $37,000. I actually think that's reasonable seeing as how Samuel Merrit in Oakland (a private school affiliated with Sutter Health) costs $50,000 for their ABSN program.

As someone mentioned earlier, the nursing program at National is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, as well as the California Board of Registered Nurses...Thus you will be able to use the BSN from NU to apply to any graduate program at a CSU or UC (which is my plan in the future :)).

Anyway, I just wanted to share that information about the school. I did a lot of research before I applied to National, and I wouldn't have went through with my application if the school wasn't 100% legit. NU is also a non-profit university, unlike University of Phoenix and West Coast University.

Plus, the $37,000 in loans won't be so bad in terms of repayment when you're making an average of $80,000 a year (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291111.htm) in California. Yay for being the top-paid state for RN's! :D

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Specializes in Public health nursing.

Hi Charles & Pinky687!

Hmmm, I dunno about new grads making 80K/yr (though that would be extremely nice :yeah:). 50K-65K sounds like the ballpark range for new grads in CA, but it may be a little higher up in NorCal. It's kind of a bummer while perusing these boards you read about limited job availability for new grads because of a) the saturation of new grads and b) hiring freezes in hospitals. I'm hoping when we graduate in the next 22 months the job climate will be of a more positive outlook. Keeping my fingers crossed!!! At present, I'm so happy to begin a new chapter of my life as an NU nursing student! :w00t:

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Hello Guys, do you know what room are we going to have our first class at the Los Angeles Campus, right now I feel like everything is unsure for the start of the program, just wondering if everyone feels the same right now as we only have less than 3 weeks before it starts....

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Specializes in Public health nursing.

Sorry, I don't have the faintest idea. On SOAR, the class location still says "TBA". Have you purchased your textbooks yet?

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