Excelsior/Pre-Req's?!?!?!?

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2007

Are you an LPN now? If so, just apply to www.excelsior.edu and they'll accept you and you can take everything you need through them.

DanisTeeta · Jun 3, 2007

No, I am in the homestrectch of my LPN program andI take my Boards in Aug/Sept. I want to start w/ EC ASAP after I pass my boards and am trying to get organized. So, I can do everything through EC, even the micro/chem labs???

Thanks

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2007

You can do every single thing through EC. And they will not require labs. They know it's unrealistic. In fact, they won't require chem at all and if you have A&P there's a good chance they'll waive micro.

Email me if you want. I'm in the program now.

:)

DanisTeeta · Jun 3, 2007

Sue---thanks SO much.....I am new to this forum, how do I email you???

Teeta

evenanne · Jun 3, 2007

Why don't you just take your pre-req's at your local community college. The majority of them are now online anyways. It's propably cheaper than Excelsior and you can apply for financial aide if you have too. Remember: when your thru with Excelsior you probably will want to further your education and you'll have to apply at Universitys that want you to have certain pre-reqs with their labs. You will need Chemistry and Nutrition and Statistics among others. When I finished Excelsior (Aug 2006) and started looking around for a good BSN program I really lucked out by taking my pre-reqs thru my local community college-I already had everything they required and all I did was apply and I'm was in. The majority of BSN programs now have an online option. Remember this: by the time you finish with that gosh-awful CPNE you most likely will not want to have to go thru that again by going into their BSN program. At least I didn't. It's still one of the most stessful things I've ever been thru. If you take your pre-reqs thru a community college, you have more options for the future. If you take them thru Excelsior, your pretty limited and lot poorer.

By the way, I live in South Florida also. I'm going to FAU now for by BSN. Everything is online and I have the financial aide option which I wouldn't have with Excelsior.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2007

Why don't you just take your pre-req's at your local community college. The majority of them are now online anyways. It's propably cheaper than Excelsior and you can apply for financial aide if you have too.

Cheaper? $180 to $220 per test. How can it get cheaper than that?

Rock, LPN, RN · Jun 4, 2007

i would recommend that you gain clinical experience before embarking on advancing to the next level.

the cpnes can be very difficult for an unseasoned person.

what is your hurry? if you are quite young, you have a great deal of time before advancing to the next level.

evenanne · Jun 4, 2007

Suequatch, the community colleges are on par with that. When you factor in all the fees that you have to pay Excelsior, they're running neck and neck. In addition, the community college credits are more readily acceptible to a higher institution of learning. Anyway, I'm just suggesting another alternative. One thats worked for me. I've already finished Excelsior and passed the NCLEX and am now attending a BSN program. I think that's where Teeta wants to be at the end of all this. I would have had to take extra cources to attend my university if I had done my pre-reqs at Excelsior. If it cost the same and they are all mostly online anyways, why not get the most out of it? Just a suggestion. Oh, by the way, I don't care what anyone says: the CPNE has nothing to do with experience and has everything to do with learning those critical elements and doing it "their way". If you can, Teeta, full speed ahead. Don't rush but don't worry about experience. I never worked in a hospital a day in my life but I passed the CPNE with flying colors (worked UR in an ofice and pediatric private duty where I took care of the same kid for 6 years. Hadn't done manual vitals since nursing school when I took the CPNE).

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2007

this is my recommendation to you. take all your sciences on campus or online via a community college. then all the other at ec if you like or clep some of them.. why, because if you decide to go to a bsn program the sciences without a lab most likely will not transfer. ec also tells you to check with your state board because some states require that science course have a lab with them. these are classes you never want to take over or at least i don't. let me mention here too that university's will only accept so many hours of clep courses, so you need to look into bsn programs and find out how many you can have. me personally i took all my pre-classes at a community college i want to make 100% sure that they will transfer and the transfer -ability of a course depends on your schools accreditation and the receiving schools accreditation. ec does have the national standard as far as accreditation is concerned and you should not have any trouble transferring classes in or out...

tater.jake · Jun 5, 2007

I second the CLEP idea. It is the absolute cheapest way to get credits. I'm working on sociology right now. It's true you can only do so many clep credits, but it beats the hell out of wasting time in class and paying ridiculous tuition. You might as well milk those clep exams for all you can.

I just had my transcripts evaluated, and I only need A&P 1, sociology, life span psych, and information literacy for prereqs. Since I have an active LPN license, they are waiving NC2 for my nursing component. It appears to be a pretty short road to an RN. In the mean time I work at a local hospital to get my real education (because I sure didn't get it in my LPN program).

If anyone has an idea for alternatives to "life span developmental psychology" or "information literacy" let me know. The only idea I have so far is to substitute "human growth and development" for "life span psych."

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2007

In the mean time I work at a local hospital to get my real education (because I sure didn't get it in my LPN program).
If anyone has an idea for alternatives to "life span developmental psychology" or "information literacy" let me know. The only idea I have so far is to substitute "human growth and development" for "life span psych."

on the real education.

The information literacy is something you MUST take. Real PITA, but I didn't even do the reading, took the test, and passed it.

Developmental Psych is the only thing you can take for dev. REALLY boring but a lot of nursing theory - which I also hate - is based on it. Maslow, yada yada yada.