Frontier or Georgetown

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Hi there....

So, I was just accepted to both Frontier and Georgetown for my nurse-midwifery degree. Leaving aside tuition, can anyone weigh in on why one program might be better than the other? I am really struggling to make a decision here. Is it always better to go for the bigger name school? I feel like I'll get an excellent education at either school, but I worry that given the online nature of the program I should go with the school with the most name recognition. Does that make any sense or does it not really matter out in the real world. Frontier is very old and established, so they likely have most of the bugs worked out, whereas Georgetown's online program is only 7 years old. Georgetown touts its Clinical Placement team as being the ones to find your clinical preceptors for you, but I've read about students having to wait out entire semesters bc the team couldn't find them a clinical site. I have not heard of this happening at Frontier, but maybe it does.

Any insight you have about either program would be really helpful...including your thoughts on whether or not where you get your degree matters out in the "real world".

Thanks in advance...

B

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Specializes in OB.

My thoughts just based on knowing graduates of both programs (I did not attend either program personally), and knowing the director of the Georgetown program personally...go with Frontier. Higher quality program. Both would be perfectly fine in terms of school recognition and getting a job, but I think Frontier is stronger didactically. It is a royal pain to find your preceptors, but I wouldn't be wooed by anything Georgetown says about them finding you your sites. If it's a distance program, you're going to be largely responsible for working it out yourself OR have to wait out semesters, as you said. Just my two cents.

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Thank you SO much for taking the time to provide feedback.....it was really helpful. In comparing the curriculum between the two programs, FNU looks stronger to me too, but I didn't know if that was an accurate assessment.

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On 10/16/2018 at 6:01 PM, nursemidwife2be said:

Thank you SO much for taking the time to provide feedback.....it was really helpful. In comparing the curriculum between the two programs, FNU looks stronger to me too, but I didn't know if that was an accurate assessment.

Just out of curiosity, did you receive your acceptance letters before the deadlines or after? I'm just trying to figure out if they do like a first come first serve or if they evaluate all the applications at once.

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Specializes in Midwife, OBGYN.

When I was exploring midwifery programs, I only heard really good things about Frontier. I don't know much about the Georgetown's program but in terms of the quality of the program and name recognition, Frontier is more well known. As you have mentioned, Frontier's program has also been around longer and is more established.

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Georgetown in my opinion, is ridiculously expensive. I don't think any program is worth that kind of money.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Integrative/Holistic Health.

Georgetown IS ridiculously expensive, but it's also extremely rigorous and definitely has name recognition. I can't tell you how many times I've heard from preceptors that they like working with GU students because we're so well prepared for clinical rotations. Class sizes are small -- limited to 12 students per section -- and classes meet for a minimum of 2 hours per week. There are two in-person weekends that are absolutely amazing and promote developing friendships with classmates. My professors have been fabulous with one exception. I'm down to my last couple of weeks in the program and I can say that it's been worth the cost.

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Specializes in Retired.

Did you have to find your own preceptors?

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Specializes in Perinatal Nursing/ Women's Health.

@nursemidwife2be Did you end up choosing one or the other? I am looking into both now but for the "post-masters" online programs and wondering how they compare?

TIA

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Specializes in RN CNM DNP.

Finding preceptors that aren't in it for just the money or you taking their patient load is a royal pain...unless you have a personal network its going to be a royal pain in the patootty ...I would go to a school that has a clinical placement program.

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Specializes in Perinatal Nursing/ Women's Health.

@Mamita123 I do have a network of CNMs I believe would be happy to work with me as I already work with them in an L&D capacity. As much as I would like to move for school that would require up-routing my entire family so it is not an option for me. I am more wondering peoples experiences of the two programs..

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Specializes in RN CNM DNP.

Thats really what you need or Frontier just won't work for most

Wishing you the best!

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