excelsior College

i searched allnurses and got more than enough

information on this college, so im good.

I've done both Excelsior and a traditional program. Here's my experience:

I went through the Excelsior program in 9 months, then had to wait 9 months to take the CPNE (clinical portion.) I failed the CPNE because I "exceeded the time allowed" to complete an IV push. Pretty stupid, considering I have done a million pushes at work. The CPNE was a $3000 weekend (clinical fee, airfare, hotel), in addition to the costs for the required Nursing Concepts courses. I would have had to wait another 9-12 months to get another CPNE date, and then I might have failed for some other minor error. Excelsior is a crap shoot: you might pass CPNE, and you might not. I had already spent 18 months trying to complete this program, and time was/is important to me. That was in April 2008.

I enrolled at St. Petersburg College, May 2008, graduated May 2009, and take my boards next Thursday. The entire cost of SPC was under $4000. If I had stayed with Excelsior, I might still be waiting to finish. Traditional school required a serious commitment of time (full time work + full time school = no time off), but (I kept telling myself) it was only temporary.

My advice, LPN to LPN, is to do the PBCC program because of the additional clinical experience it provides. Your LPN school clinicals are not enough to make you an RN. I"m not saying this to be arrogant, I'm saying it because it is true. If you are working in a hospital, you will get experience, but going straight from LPN school to Excelsior you will not be well prepared clinically. At SPC, I also had clinical experiences that I would not have had otherwise, specifically at All Children's Hospital and in a psychiatric facility. I will never be a peds or psych nurse, but the experiences were very valuable.

I hope this info. is helpful. Good luck!

Hi.. I started in the PBCC program, ohhh 1988 I think. Had the chance to come back to Pa. PBCC is a or was a nice program. Wish I could have finished. Try that way if you can. You can not get gov loans for ASN EC program. And you have that dredded CPNE YUCK! I had 43 gen ed credit that EC took. I have all but one NC class left. I have done well "A's" on all. BUT OH the CPNE is coming up. EC has helped in my situation, so I am glad for them, BUT if you can I would stay with PBCC. Tell ol' Jupiter hi for me! Susan L. LPN to RN in PA.