Does it matter what school you atttend?

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Hello,

I am so happy to have found this forum. I have been dreaming of being an RN for a long time and now I feel I am closer to reaching that dream. Now that online school is available I feel I can accomplish this dream. Does it really matter what school you obtain your degree from? I will not have the luxury to go to an actual college since my schedule does not allow it. I can however study online. Do you know of anyone that has obtained their degree online? Did they have any challenges obtaining a job in the field? I am looking into Straighterline for my college prerequisites and Western Governors University. My long term goal is to become a CRNA. Any advice from anyone out there will be grealty appreciated.

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to Nursing Online Distance Learning forum for more response.

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The only thing that really matters is that the school you choose is nationally accredited. Now, if you are just starting out then some things will need to be done in person, such as labs and clinicals. You can't get those skills online. WGU is a very good school. I have not heard of the other. Best of luck in whatever you decide!

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I think your best bet would be to research articles on what it takes to be an RN and a CRNA (Educational Requirements, years of critical care, etc), Online nursing is very possible for RN-BSN degrees and there are many regionally accredited universities that give outstanding education opportunities, but \for the RN part, to my knowledge you must go through clinicals/lab to become an RN. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

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I don't know if CRNA programs go by GPA but I've heard the WGU doesn't grade like other places - I think they only issue a 3.0 across the board and some have decided against that course because of that. I could be wrong - but you should check.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
The only thing that really matters is that the school you choose is nationally accredited.

Just wanted to add that regional accreditation is also important, especially when it comes to furthering one's education later.

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True! I hadn't thought of regional accreditation!

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Specializes in ER.

It sounds like you are not an LPN or RN. If that is the case, you usually need to go to a school that has a clinical component to it where you go to a hospital once or twice a week. Some LPNs choose excelsior to get their RN for the alternate style of learning but one downside is that some states like CA will not take the alternate style for RN without additional coursework if that is he initial licensure.

Some RN to BSN programs will not accept students from schools that are not NLN accredited.

There's also a few scam companies out there that sell modules instead of actual classroom in hopes you may test out of classes for excelsior. They aren't affiliated excelsior.

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