Can't decide between Maryville, Walden or La Salle Nurse practitioner programs

Published

Hello

I'm looking for some feedback. I got accepted into 2 online (Maryville & Walden) and 1 brick and mortar (La Salle) Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP programs starting soon. I plan on working on call at night and was looking for a program that will have flexible clinical hours. Can anyone give me feedback about their experiences with Maryville, Walden or La Salle University?

Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

More and more schools are moving to online for the didactic content, including Johns Hopkins, for NP education. However, the reputable schools do require some campus visits for skills training and assessment. Reputable schools also often find clinical placements or at least assist the student in finding one.

Honestly, I am sick and tired of the schools that will accept anyone with a pulse. And shame on the prospective NP students that are looking for such schools and an easy program. I'm beginning to think there should be an assessment of applicants to NP schools to ferret out their motivations and commitment.

6
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Room.

I went to Maryville post graduate adult geriatric primary care NP program. I personally thought it was fine. We had live content review via webex with our instructors. All exams are proctored. I felt they were responsive to concerns and they do have a clinical support staff. You do find your own preceptor, and a solid process of following up with the validity of your preceptor and site is in place. Maryville is located in Missouri and seem to have a decent reputation locally. All that being said if I could do it over again I would have chosen a school here in illinois. The find your own preceptor part isnt worth the headache in my opinion. I work a ft job administratively that honors my NP -C credentials (was there before NP program).

I also work prn as a primary care home visit NP a few hours a month. Good luck with your decision.

3
Up Vote Up Vote ×
34 minutes ago, angel337 said:

I went to Maryville post graduate adult geriatric primary care NP program. I personally thought it was fine. We had live content review via webex with our instructors. All exams are proctored. I felt they were responsive to concerns and they do have a clinical support staff. You do find your own preceptor, and a solid process of following up with the validity of your preceptor and site is in place. Maryville is located in Missouri and seem to have a decent reputation locally. All that being said if I could do it over again I would have chosen a school here in illinois. The find your own preceptor part isnt worth the headache in my opinion. I work a ft job administratively that honors my NP -C credentials (was there before NP program).

I also work prn as a primary care home visit NP a few hours a month. Good luck with your decision.

Glad it worked for you. I had someone from that program ask me to precept them for their final clinical (adult primary care) and they hadn't done any of their clinical rotations in the primary care setting. I thought that was unusual. Asking honestly, how will you keep your credentials valid if you are only doing the NP role (I think for the 1000 hour requirement, it is expected to be hands on) a few hours a month? Will they require you to retake boards?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Room.
1 hour ago, Rnis said:

Glad it worked for you. I had someone from that program ask me to precept them for their final clinical (adult primary care) and they hadn't done any of their clinical rotations in the primary care setting. I thought that was unusual. Asking honestly, how will you keep your credentials valid if you are only doing the NP role (I think for the 1000 hour requirement, it is expected to be hands on) a few hours a month? Will they require you to retake boards?

No. Its 1000 clinical hours within 5 years for recertification. I will have plenty. I like my ft job. I had no interest in being in a clinic setting seeing 40 pts a day. Also my clinical background helped tremendously. Again, there are definitely better schools, but its also what you make it and what is your long term goal. Its nice to have options, make decent money and not work weekends. holiday's and 12 hour shifts to get it. Hopefully the future NP hopefuls will make better choices for their education.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 12/18/2019 at 10:39 PM, angel337 said:

No. Its 1000 clinical hours within 5 years for recertification. I will have plenty. I like my ft job. I had no interest in being in a clinic setting seeing 40 pts a day. Also my clinical background helped tremendously. Again, there are definitely better schools, but its also what you make it and what is your long term goal. Its nice to have options, make decent money and not work weekends. holiday's and 12 hour shifts to get it. Hopefully the future NP hopefuls will make better choices for their education.

right but even at 4 hours a week not taking any weeks off ......you would barely meet the requirement

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Room.
On 12/20/2019 at 7:31 PM, Rnis said:

right but even at 4 hours a week not taking any weeks off ......you would barely meet the requirement

I perform visits. I do not work by the hour. I have already met the requirement.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 11/20/2019 at 10:07 AM, schoolisexpensive said:

All of those are terrible online programs, I hire for my clinic and anyone with an online NP degree I throw out

Well D@mn!

That sounds a bit discriminatory. I wouldn't parade that concept to the masses like it's a badge of honor.

Not all online schools are bad. Of course you have to use discernment to weed out the legit, accredited programs with the poor performing, money-taking-in-exchange-for-no-value schools.

3
Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 12/14/2019 at 3:05 PM, ghillbert said:

Pick a school that:

- is accredited

- has admission standards beyond "can you write a check?"

- provides clinical experiences for you

- provides evaluation of your clinical experience

- has prior graduates available that you can ask about the program

- has a comprehensive exam

Adding to this:

- Has exam standards (80% exam average regardless of additional fluff work)

- If online has proctored secure browser examinations

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
14 hours ago, djmatte said:

Adding to this:

- Has exam standards (80% exam average regardless of additional fluff work)

- If online has proctored secure browser examinations

The exam standard was something I thought was specific to my school. we had proctored test and our test averages had to be 87 %. This standard has not been a part of any of the BSN programs I teach in , is this a common standard for nursing schools?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 12/25/2019 at 12:24 AM, Rnis said:

The exam standard was something I thought was specific to my school. we had proctored test and our test averages had to be 87 %. This standard has not been a part of any of the BSN programs I teach in , is this a common standard for nursing schools?

Frontier established an exam standard just after I started. For them you needed an 80% average on exams regardless of whether you did phenomenal on every aspect of the class. Their thoughts were that you need to pass an exam for licensure so you better start excelling at test taking. Hated it at the time but I appreciate it looking back.

3
Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 12/24/2019 at 10:16 AM, djmatte said:

Adding to this:

- Has exam standards (80% exam average regardless of additional fluff work)

- If online has proctored secure browser examinations

And not just proctored secure browser examinations. For many of these programs, you are able to take the "proctored" exams within a 2 day window. So what happens is students form groups and for each exam one of the group members will volunteer to take the exam first, then will disseminate the questions and answers to the rest of the group. So what's the point of proctored exams??

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
1 hour ago, Dodongo said:

And not just proctored secure browser examinations. For many of these programs, you are able to take the "proctored" exams within a 2 day window. So what happens is students form groups and for each exam one of the group members will volunteer to take the exam first, then will disseminate the questions and answers to the rest of the group. So what's the point of proctored exams??

The proctored environment is more to ensure and verify a sterile testing environment more-so than to minimize cheating between students. To be fair, the kind of cheating you note can be similar to boards as well. Similar situations are present on facebook as we speak as other NPs have pointed out to me. There are private groups out there that encourage this under some guise of board prep. People actively compile board questions after their tests and pass it on. Boards are only rewritten so often and if memory serves, there are only two specific tests they pull from.

I do think at least the scenario you present may be a bit of a stretch. At Frontier, I was with the same students over the course of 3 or so years. We met in person at multiple functions, formed longstanding friendships and collegiate bonds that still exist to this date. Likely much more than most other online programs are able to emulate. Nowhere in our time (to my knowledge) did something like this occur. Maybe on small scales in smaller study groups. It still doesn't diminish the importance of remote proctors.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion