Denver School of Nursing Process Information

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Hello everyone! I am starting this thread for those of you who are interested in the process of getting into Denver School of Nursing. Throughout the years, I have found that not many nursing students are willing to offer much information about their programs. There isn't much in-depth information about this college on this website that isn't outdated (from 2006). I hope that this information will be useful to some of you and that this thread isn't used to bash DSoN for their lack of accreditation. Everyone knows they are not accredited and that you may want to look elsewhere if you wish to further your education. And, everyone knows that they are candidates for both national and regional accreditation. The regional team visited the school in November and the national team is visiting in the spring. So, with that said, here is my information:

I applied to DSoN in August 2010 for the April 2011 BSN cohort for students with prior education. The application period ended in October. One month later, I received a call from the Director of Admissions stating that I had been chosen for an interview. One week later, I interviewed with the director. The director did most of the talking, making sure I understood that they lack accreditation and what that means if I were to want to continue my education. The questions he did ask me had to do with identifying what stressors may keep me from reaching my goal of graduating - things like having to work, children, etc. He then took me on a tour of the facilities which were quite impressive. After this, I was scheduled to take the HESI a month later.

The HESI tests you on reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and mathematics. The practice book put out by Evolve-Reach is all you need for preparation. The only advice I would offer as far as studying beyond the practice book, would be to memorize every conversion you can. I memorized around 100 conversions due to adivice given to me by the director. This memorization helped immensly! I scored 93% overall and the average for the group I tested with was 81%. You need to score 75% in order to move on in the enrollment process. If you are unable to score the 75%, you will be given one more opportunity to pass. In my group, there were only two students re-taking the exam.

One week after taking the test, I met with the director to sign my intent to enroll in the program. I chose to take pathophysiology ahead of time which saved me $2000. I would definitely recommend taking it at a CC not only to save you a few thousand dollars, but also to relieve your first quarter stress.

I am meeting with financial aid in a few weeks to discuss loan options. I have financing available from family as a back up, but would like to do as much on my own as possible. The most one can qualify for as far as Stafford loans is $28,000. That leaves a little bit of a deficit for students to have to deal with. The Sally Mae loan is really not that great an option due to variable interest rates (which we know are going to rise), and the need for good credit and a co-signer. I do have excellent credit, but do not want to go this route if at all possible.

I received an e-mail last week, stating that the orientation for the April BSN cohort is at the end of March from 9AM - 2PM. Our tenative schedules will be available one month before classes begin. Also, all immunizations, background check, drug test, and CPR certification are due by the beginning of March.

Well, that is all the information I have for now. I really hope that some of you find this information useful and I wish you all much success as future student nurses!

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Thank you so much for your time and effort in this posting. It's very informative and I would love to hear more. I am getting my CNA now here in the Denver area and after I find work, would like to start nursing school. NSoD is on my list despite the expense and lack of accreditation (they have a good reputation regardless). Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks for your post....very helpful! I recently started considering DSN and don;t know too much about it. So they are ACCSC accredited and on candidate status for NLNAC accreditation? Does this only affect you when you want to further your education on to your master's?

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I'm confused as to why I keep hearing that DSN isn't accredited when it states on the ACCSC website that they are http://www.accsc.org/DirectorySearchResults.aspx?SearchRequest=&Locations=CO&Programs=&Credentials=&Categorys=

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Hi abstractmom! Yes, DSON is accredited by the Accrediting Comission of Career Schools and Colleges. The issue people have is that the school is not Regionally or Nationally accredited, but they are candidates for both. I spoke with someone from the regional team recently who said that they had hoped to get to DSON in their February meeting, but unfortunately, they were too swamped and that they will for sure be brought up in June's meeting. National wouldn't speak to me at all about DSON, but I do know that we should be hearing about their decision in June as well. Lacking these two accreditations may cause some facilities to not want to hire a DSON grad and if one plans on furthering their education, they may have trouble transferring credits. With that said, I called the major hospitals in the Denver area, and they all said they would hire a DSON grad.

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Perfect. Thank you!

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Today was orientation day for 48 BSN students and 15 ADN students. It went from 9-1 and included breakfast and lunch. The staff and faculty at DSON seem amazing! They all have inspiring stories and made it clear that they will do everything in their power to help us succeed. They stated how rigorous the accelarated program is. They also mentioned how difficult pathophysiology is, so again, I highly recommend taking it ahead of time. The students who will be taking patho were informed that they are to read eight chapters in preparation for their first test which is at the end of their second week of class.

The NCLEX pass rate for 2010 was 92% and their job placement was the same as well.

I was impressed with the school's organization and with all that comes with our tuition. We were each given a rolling backpack, our books which included a medical dictionary, NCLEX practice guide, and APA guide. We also received a stethoscope, bp cuff, scissors, penlight, tape measure, pen, tablet with sticky tabs, and our royal blue scrubs. Another item we will eventually get is a lab kit.

My first semester schedule which is minus the patho class is as follows:

Tuesday: 8-11, lab 3:30-5:30

Friday: 8-11

Not a bad schedule at all. If I had needed patho, I would have had to be there two additional days. The BSN class was split into groups A and B, and then from there split an additional time for labs as groups 1, 2, and 3. Had I gotten in group 1, my schedule on Tuesday would have been from 8-1:30.

Well that is pretty much it! I hope that I have been able to give you all a little more insight so that you may plan accordingly.

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What an awesome schedule! Can you tell me what, besides patho, you have taken previously? I'm assuming you had all the pre reqs done, but were there any other classes that would normally fall into the first semsester taken elsewhere?

Loving your process info. It helps a ton. Thank you from all of us!

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Pathophysiology was the only first quarter, non-nursing course that I needed and that could be taken ahead of time. The rest of my classes from here on out will all be nursing courses.

There are two ways one can go about getting their BSN or ADN through DSON. One way is to do all prerequisites through them (comes with a $73,772 price tag for BSN), and the other and less expensive way, is to do the prerequisites ahead of time at a community college ($50,845 if you need patho, or $48,000 if you take patho ahead of time - also for BSN). I obviously did all my prerequisites ahead of time which included: Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Human Growth & Development, General Psychology, Fundamentals of Biology, Nutrition, English 1(reading & comp), English 2 (advanced reading & comp), College Algebra, and Statistics. On top of all this, they require an additional 24 units of General Education classes for those who are going into the BSN program with prior education. The classes I took were Computer, Anthro, History, Speech, Drama, Geography, Political Science, and Philopsophy. Most of my fellow students have a bachelors already. I have an associates degree but at this point, have enough units for a bachelors.

Glad this information is of use to you! Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

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abstractmom,

Some advice: If you are really wanting to pursue DSON, I would recommend printing up their application for whichever program you are interested. That way you can see the specific prerequisites required for that specific program. It helped me to get a more clear idea as to where I was lacking or not in the area of prerequisites.

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I am hopefully going to attend DSON and I am in the process of finishing up my pre-reqs for the BSN program. I was wondering what statistics class they accept? The math or psy?..or either? If anyone is able to answer it would be much appreciated!

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That is a good question. I am unsure of the answer though. The stat class I took was math based. If you have already taken the psych version and have all other prerequisites completed, I would go ahead and turn in an application. The dean is very generous with allowing substitutions if it's close to the required course.

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