For those a BSN or MSN acquired online, did you face discrimination when job hunting

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If you got your BSN or MSN from a school that's mostly known for online teaching, like Western Governor's University for example, did the fact that your school was online come up or looked at in a negative light?

Any other input? Anybody here in a position to hire people, what do you think about online BSN or MSN degrees?

Doesn't Penn State have a online RN to BSN? Just because it's online does not make it easier. Actually you do more work, papers, power points, group discussions. Drexel University offers online nursing programs, and they are one the most prestigious schools in Philly.

They may have one now- I don't know because I attended classes when I went there. As I said previously I think that a school that offers both is probably a better bet if at all possible. Many major universities offer some online classes now including the University of Pittsburgh which is extremely well respected for health care occupations. Even Notre Dame has online classes. But you can be sure that the online classes of these schools are in line with the on campus classes because the programs are high quality and the course descriptions and objectives are the same.

I see nothing wrong with some online study- working nurses sometimes have no other choice. Just be careful. I drove 109 miles one way to get to the grad school that I went to. I did this twice a week for several years. If they had offered online I might have been very tempted to take at least some of those classes that way, but they did not. It was the school that I wanted to go to so I found a way to do it. I think making sure that the program is meaningful is the key. If you are going to spend countless hours and thousands of dollars it had better be worth it. You are investing in your future, use your money wisely.

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By the way, there has been a lot of news lately which was discussed at the school I work at in regards to some of the questionable practices of some of these schools. As I said, I live in an area that is saturated with schools, and competition for students is fierce. The recruiters can be very convincing.

Here is a place to start if you are considering schools and want to know what really happened with the previously mentioned lawsuits.

http://www.kroplaw.com/uop/index.html

Our concern in protecting the students is that the cost of the programs outweighs the potential value in earnings. Many of these schools result in students defaulting on student loans because they can't find work or they can't find decent paying jobs that allow them to pay back their loans. These are not necessarily the schools that you are looking at, as many of them specialize in first career such as medical tech, massage therapy, etc. But some offer other programs - LPN, LPN to RN, BSN, MSN, MBA. So inform yourself and be careful.

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Specializes in med/surg,ortho, tele,.

imo some online programs who aggressively recruit and charge a fortune like UOP devalue the whole profession of nursing.

I have some American military friends in Japan who tell me they can get UOP nursing degrees that are heavily subsidized by the US government. But they opted against UOP due to all the lawsuits and bad press. imo Kaplan's nursing program is is just as aggressive as UOP.

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Reputable, in the sense that people pay attention. But, would you seriously base patient care on something you read in the news media? (As the only source.)

We're not talking about patient care, we're talking about a source for the fact that Kaplan and UoP have been sued. On a discussion board. Surely you see the difference.

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To the comment about not being able to do a GED online, but bachelor's and such can be--The type of person who needs a GED is a high school drop out. They wouldn't have the drive to do an online program, and probably not the time and resources to independantly do a program online. They would also have a much lower education, making it harder for them. They most likely have poors study habits also. This is just my opinion and a guess. I just imagine that the type of person who is doing a GED is in the lower economic group with poor education to begin with, not the type of student online programs are for. Not knocking this group, just trying to explain why they are not any GED programs online.

There are home schools that are completely at home, you can get a high school education at home. Though not technically online, it is at home.

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I have checked on many of the online programs, I would stay away from programs that require you to give them your contact information before giving any program details. Any truly reputable program has its informaiton completely free online. If they need your contact information it is most likely for marketing. I have heard of predatory lending practices, this is the first of predatory education tactics. UOP tuition is outrageous, if it were completley legit they would have degree requirements, teacher names, etc freely available. They don't.

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My Aunt has been a retired nursing instructor for the last 3 years. Last year she decided to look into going back to teaching nursing... but strictly part-time as she has a back injury. She sent her CV to various online nursing programs. When she found out how little they pay the instructors/facilitators of these online classes we were both was stunned.

Many students getting online degrees complain that the teachers do little to teach. Well I think the low pay of online instructors is why the quality of online education is sometimes poor.

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Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
To the comment about not being able to do a GED online, but bachelor's and such can be--The type of person who needs a GED is a high school drop out. They wouldn't have the drive to do an online program, and probably not the time and resources to independantly do a program online. They would also have a much lower education, making it harder for them. They most likely have poors study habits also. This is just my opinion and a guess. I just imagine that the type of person who is doing a GED is in the lower economic group with poor education to begin with, not the type of student online programs are for. Not knocking this group, just trying to explain why they are not any GED programs online.

There are home schools that are completely at home, you can get a high school education at home. Though not technically online, it is at home.

This is getting a bit off-topic, but I'd like to address your opinion. A few years ago, in the middle of her junior year of HS, my sister had a devastating illness that forced her to stay at home for over a year. She would have been very delayed in graduating high school had she not looked into alternative programs. At the time, she lived with our parents in a small town in Indiana, and there weren't any options for her in the local school system. Neither of our parents could drop their full-time job to homeschool her. So, she found a 100% online high school program that was DETC accredited and was approved by the state.

She finished her program and graduated with honors six months before her classmates at her local high school. Her HS diploma was accepted by her local CC, and she's now a year away from finishing her ADN. She's making all A's with a few B's in a nursing program where most of her peers are barely scraping by with C's.

She may not be the typical HS dropout, but not everyone drops out of HS just because they're lazy and they don't have the drive. Something to think about the next time you want to write someone off. :D

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
To the comment about not being able to do a GED online, but bachelor's and such can be--The type of person who needs a GED is a high school drop out. They wouldn't have the drive to do an online program, and probably not the time and resources to independantly do a program online. They would also have a much lower education, making it harder for them. They most likely have poors study habits also. This is just my opinion and a guess. I just imagine that the type of person who is doing a GED is in the lower economic group with poor education to begin with, not the type of student online programs are for. Not knocking this group, just trying to explain why they are not any GED programs online.

There are home schools that are completely at home, you can get a high school education at home. Though not technically online, it is at home.

I don't think your assumptions are accurate at all. My stepdaughter left high school a semester before she was due to graduate due to continual harrassment over her sexual orientation. Ironically it was the same year as and 15 miles away from Columbine, with a similar bullying culture. She has since taken an equivalency test that required 100% independent study, and earned an Associates Degree in an online program.

Out of my son's circle of friends, several didn't graduate, who came from affluent households. They failed too many classes. We cannot know everyone's home situation and it's grossly unfair to assume they have poor study habits. Even now teenagers are forced to get jobs to help the family. They are responsible people shouldering more than the "rich kids" who are spoiled and party on their parent's dime.

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Both Kaplan and Phoenix University have had multiple class action lawsuits filed against and this should raise red flags for employers as well as potential students.

I'm doing my RN to BSN through Kaplan University,altough expensive so far I have no complains (I'm in my first term though so maybe I shouldnt praise the sunset before the day ends...)

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I agree that if you must get the degree online got to a school that also has a brick and mortar school. I do believe there is discrimination against people with online nursing degrees. IMO The shake and bake online nursing programs don't compare to going to classes at a University or good College. I always look at the school when hiring.

I would disagree with your statement.I went to a regular college that had a respectable nursing program and right now I'm doing a private online RN-BSN program.It is quite an expensive program and I could have chosen a brick and mortal one for that kind of money (one year is like 12.000 dollars) but I choose an online option because I didnt feel like attending classes (even though I have the time to do it, no kids,flexible hours-I work as a home health nurse and pretty much I make my own schedule). I decided I wanted to go with a virtual learning because I didnt want to be tided up to a classroom for the next years.I wanted to be able to leave the country if I wanted lets say for a vacation to Mexico or Europe ( my online university allows its students to leave the states as long as there is an internet connection at the place of their voyage). In addition if I ever wanted to switch to another RN position (lets say I finally landed a hospital job) I would be open to work any hours since my classes are online. Two years is a long commitment and my priority is to get a job experiences so I felt that choosing an online program would best fit my needs.Please avoid making generalizations because you really dont know other's people motives for choosing an online degrees. In addition it is not completely true that online programs are easier.Most people who went through RN to BSN program (through online or brick and mortal school) will tell you that in general the transition courses are is easier than their associate degree,it has nothing to do with whether it is online or not. I'm just about to finish my first 10 weeks at online private University and I can tell you that is not not easier than the mentioned brick and mortal school,I'm rather tempted to say it is harder because you have to figure out things on you own.Imagine statistics online,where there is no teacher available on daily bases and you have to self-learn.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
come on! wikipedia? We were taught to avoid those sites like the plague back in brick and mortar and online college.

They are filled with propaganda and can be edited by anyone. not peer reviewed or scholarly either:lol2:

While Wikipedia isn't considered a source one should site with a ton of confidence.. often I have found the pages there to have great citations within the articles, so you can do more research from there. But even without using Wiki.. one can google and find tons of reliable information about the issues people have had with these online, for profit "universities".

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