Concorde?

I went to Concorde at the San Bernardino Campus. It cost 17000 when I went. The instructors were allright, the financial aid department was weak. They "realized" on the due date for financial aid that they hadn't had us fill at our paperwork which ended up being a mad rush.

It was just a quick way to get through school with less hassles than most community colleges, they took care of your immunization requirements for you, applying to take the boards, etc. All you had to do was show up to class every day and study a bunch.

I heard that now they require that you be either a CNA or a MA before starting the program. With that, you might want to look into adult schools, same types of requirements, but they only cost 3000 dollars.

Something to consider.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Do look into the LVN programs at the community colleges and adult schools, which are practically free compared to the fees for the private schools. $17,000+ is a lot of money to spend for the privilege of earning substantially less than an RN in most cases.

Also consider concentrating on RN prerequisites instead. You will have to take them anyway to do an RN program later, even if you already are an LVN.

Best of luck to you. =)

Concorde is expensive. Have you heard of ROP? I got my LVN license there and all I had to pay for was my books and uniforms. There is nothing to finance. Their LVN program is located in Anaheim. I think it is called North Orange County Regional Occupational Program. Good luck!

Concorde is expensive. Have you heard of ROP? I got my LVN license there and all I had to pay for was my books and uniforms. There is nothing to finance. Their LVN program is located in Anaheim. I think it is called North Orange County Regional Occupational Program. Good luck!

How long is their LVN program and do you have to start it in the fall?

I attended a Southern California LVN program that was private, pricey, and similar to Concorde Career Institute. Be advised that your credits will not transfer to any legitimate RN program, because Concorde is not regionally accredited.

However, your LVN license will transfer when you're ready to do the LVN-to-RN route. Most community colleges and universities will issue you en bloc credit, or advanced placement into their LVN-to-RN programs, thereby enabling you to bypass the first year of the RN program. Many people have successfully bridged to RN after completing their LVN educations at private colleges that lack regional accreditation. I hope this clears things up.

Another note...your A&P education that you receive at the private schools will not transfer, so be ready to take some prerequisites at a local community college or university before applying to an LVN-to-RN bridge program. They will not accept the A&P, med math, and so on.

thanks that does help. what LVN school did you go to?

I went to Concorde at the San Bernardino Campus. It cost 17000 when I went. The instructors were allright, the financial aid department was weak. They "realized" on the due date for financial aid that they hadn't had us fill at our paperwork which ended up being a mad rush.

It was just a quick way to get through school with less hassles than most community colleges, they took care of your immunization requirements for you, applying to take the boards, etc. All you had to do was show up to class every day and study a bunch.

I heard that now they require that you be either a CNA or a MA before starting the program. With that, you might want to look into adult schools, same types of requirements, but they only cost 3000 dollars.

Something to consider.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

are you glad you went to concorde? was it hard to find a job after you graduated?

How long is their LVN program and do you have to start it in the fall?

It is 12 months long and it has 2 starting classes each year, one in June and one in October.

Hello...I am currently enrolled at the San Bernardino campus. I will grad. in Jan (i took the part time class- and I suggest the full time 12 mo class if you have a choice!)...when I signed up it was $24,000 and I know that it is at least $2000 more now. I have not heard that they require you to be a MA or CNA 1st- this was not the case when I signed up...but you may want to check now.

I just wanted to give you an idea of what the cost has risen to over the past several years...

Would I do it again? Yes, but I would take the shorter class as I said above. The instructors are always coming and going and we have seen several directors of the program during our time there...not a lot of consistency in the administration. And with the instructors changing the way they do you always have to adjust to each new person's expectations- which can be hard for some.

One plus is that Concorde has a very high NCLEX pass rate (leave it to me to not remember exact #s- sorry!)...they offer a NCLEX study class (a weekend long, I believe) and if you take this class (incl. in the tuition) then they pay for your 1st try at the boards...of course, hopefully, it should only take the one time so you don't have to pay the fees.

GL with what ever you choose to do...and I hope that you find the path for you!

~Brandy :)

when I signed up it was $24,000 and I know that it is at least $2000 more now. I have not heard that they require you to be a MA or CNA 1st- this was not the case when I signed up...but you may want to check now.

I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience. I talked to one of their representative on the phone and she informed me the tuition is around 25K right now. she didn't say anything about being a cna or a ma to take the lvn class. but she said i needed to go in for an interview type thing once i'm in california. (i'm in upstate ny right now)

how long after you did your interview were you able to get everything in order and start class?

*Shirley

Shirley~ Well, for us (my Mom and I are taking the class together) we started to take a look at the program in July/Aug. of '06...the next pt class was scheduled to start in late April '07 and they kept telling us we needed to hurry because the slots fill up quickly. Whatever- I'm sure they do (and we DID start with a full class of 30) but THAT early?- I doubt it. We began the testing process in the winter of '07.

Anyways, it was a bit of a process...there were 2 tests we had to take- entrance exam like tests- and you have to pass them to get into the program. If you don't pass them they try and sell you the MA program to work your way up to the LVN program- but that's up to you (and 8 more months of school and who knows how much more $$$ to Concorde if you choose that route!)...that's a bridge to cross if you get there....So, you just spend quite a bit of time talking to your rep, scheduling test times, taking the tests and then waiting for your results (we waited for about a week before finding out if we passed or not- good NCLEX practice I guess). At the same time they help you figure out all the financial aid stuff so there is 1000 pages of paper work to fill out...

When it's all said and done, all papers filed, all tests taken and passed, they then tell you that the final thing you must have a meeting with the Director of Nurses and she (or he, I suppose) has the final say as to if you will be accepted or not. I have not heard of anybody being turned away after the DON meeting- I mean, come on, they now have your $25 grand- why would they say, "thanks anyways"...???...and all they really ask are questions like, "why do you want to be a nurse?" and the like...That interview is the least of your worries (and if your stay at Concorde is anything like mine you will see several DONs during your time so I really think it's more for show...)

I do believe that we were finished with the process about 2 wks before the class started. They did tell us that there was a race between reps to turn in the paper work because of the limited space left and that we got the last 2 of 3 slots open still...but I don't know how much of that is true. As I said, we did start with a full class- and there were several people there at the start waiting to see if anyone dropped- so I guess it is important to get in there and start/finish the process.

Hopefully if you are interested then you will already be in there getting everything squared away as soon as you can and things will run smoothly for you! :) Best of luck!

If you have anymore questions I'll try and answer them if I can...

~Brandy :)