Frontier Midwifery Program

You may need to elaborate on your questions.

It you meet all the eligibility requirements and write a decent essay, then most students get in. Getting in is the easy part!

How hard was it to get into?

That is possibly not the most useful question to ask.

What is their graduation rate? What is their pass rate on boards? Does my state allow Frontier/distance program or will I have to relocate? Can I find my own preceptor or do I want a school that already has established preceptors and will place you? How invested are the faculty in your education?

The attrition rate for CNEP students is.... interesting.

The attrition rate for CNEP students is.... interesting.

Do tell!

Frontier Statistics | Frontier Nursing University

This used to be a graph for CNEP students - it's been updated and now appears to represent all students.

Over 20% of the student body drops out or fails out. This number has been increasing with their increasing enrollment numbers.

Can't say I'm surprised. FNU didn't increase their enrollment by strengthening their admission standards.

So, to answer the OPs question - it's probably not all that hard to get in. And it appears to be getting easier.

Staying in? That's another issue.

Wow! 20% is a really high number....

Curious, what are "CNEP" students?

Curious, what are "CNEP" students?

Community- based nurse midwifery programs. I'm not sure what that means though or how it is different from distance- learning programs.

Anybody care to enlighten us?

Community- based nurse midwifery programs. I'm not sure what that means though or how it is different from distance- learning programs.

Anybody care to enlighten us?

I think it's just a spin on words, making it sound more warm and fuzzy than "distance learning". You are still doing the majority of course work online, and your clinical hours are done locally where you are living. If I recall, and if it hasn't changed in the last few years, you will have a few several-day long on campus visits to assess your progress.

Seeing Frontier brochures at a Lamaze Conference was what inspired me to go to nursing school. I was going to be the most awesome midwife everrrrrr! lol I fell in love with critical care along the way and realized I'm way too opinionated about natural birth to be genuinely happy as a CNM, and any other license besides CNM in my state will make it impossible to find work. I get to float up to l&d from time to time and that keeps my baby and mama cravings at bay. :)

Good luck in your journey, everyone!

Frontier may be very easy to get into, but finding midwives in your area who are willing to preceptor you is completely your responsibility (and incredibly difficult!) I've heard of several students having to take semesters off because they simply couldn't find anyone to take them on. This real-life challenge is definitely something to consider (as well as the reputation of the school once you're out and working).

Frontier has an excellent reputation in the midwifery community.

It's true that it's ultimately your responsibility to find a preceptor. They do assist you, and have a roster of CNMs that regularly take students. In a larger city, there should be little difficulty finding preceptors. In a small community, it will definitely be more challenging. If I had continued the program in the town I lived in when I started the program (community of 100,000 in central AZ), I would have had to temporarily relocate to Phoenix. Living in Denver, I know of several students who have commuted from southern Wyoming for their preceptorship, or live temporarily here in town with friends or family. One student relocated here temporarily from Houston for her preceptorship.

But if you're willing to temporarily relocate or commute, you should not have to take time off before you can finish.

Frontier may be very easy to get into, but finding midwives in your area who are willing to preceptor you is completely your responsibility (and incredibly difficult!) I've heard of several students having to take semesters off because they simply couldn't find anyone to take them on. This real-life challenge is definitely something to consider (as well as the reputation of the school once you're out and working).

This is true. A number of my classmates have left the program or switched tracks - to FNP - for these reasons.

The JMWH recently published an article about barriers to education for midwives - and one of the greatest challenges was having sufficient clinical placements. Frontier just continues to increase enrollment and makes it the students' responsibility (aka problem) to find clinical sites.

CNEP made sense back in the day when we didn't have the ease of communication like we do now. But really, at this point, telling students they need to find their own 'community' preceptors really isn't necessary. If FNU has the alumni that they say they do, and the reputation that they say they do, and an internet connection - they should be able to network and find clinical placements for students - or at least some leads on clinical placemeents. It's not the 80s anymore. We can, and do, communicate in an instant over many, many miles.