Frontier or Stony Brook?

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I am finishing my Family Nurse Practitioner this May 2012 and hoping to get a post-master's in Midwifery. I have had my heart set on going to Frontier via distance learning for quite a while now. However, as I've compared Frontier with SUNY Stony Brook's program, I find that Stony Brook requires far less (almost half) of the credit hours to complete a post-master's CNM certification than Frontier. Stony Brook is $430/credit hr, Frontier is $450. With double the credit hours required, it would double my tuition load as well to go to Frontier.

I have talked to both schools and found Frontier to be far more approachable, responsive and helpful. Stony Brook was cold and institutional. I am concerned about the quality of Stony Brook's classes, were I to go that route.

So, I'm in a quandry. Does anyone have an opinion about the quality of the education you receive from either institution? Will I be a better CNM graduating from Frontier? Or does skill really come from doing the job, not the classes you take? I just don't want to mortgage my future if it is unnecessary, nor do I want to get a sub-par education.

Any advice?

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Specializes in L&D, Maternal-Infant, Doula.

have you made your decision yet?? wanted to ask before taking the time to respond. :-)

lori

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I have not yet made my decision, though I have completed my Stony Brook application and not yet completed my Frontier application. Please share any advice you might have.

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I have not yet made my decision, though I have submitted my Stony Brook application. I am still working on, but have not yet submitted Frontier's application. Still waiting to see what happens with Stony Brook. Would love any advice you have to offer.

Thanks!

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I would like to hear more insight on this as well. SUNY and Frontier are both on my list.

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Specializes in L&D, Maternal-Infant, Doula.

I am a current student in the Certified Nurse Midwifery program at Frontier, pursuing my Masters, rather than Post-Masters as you will be. My recommendation at this point would be go with your gut. If you're already having problems and you're not even in the program yet, that's not a good sign. If you decide to continue with your education there, and then have further problems, you'll probably be pretty upset with yourself because the red flags were there ahead of time. Now, I personally have no experience with the Stony Brook program and I know nothing about it, so you can take that bias into account with my response. :-) What I love about the Frontier program is the deep history and tradition that is the foundation of what the program is all about. If you don't know much about it, you can research Mary Breckinridge and see a little bit for yourself. As far as the tuition doubling, I don't know the difference in content of the programs, but I know that Frontier CNMs have stellar reputations from what I've seen for myself, so the education must be a large reason for that. I would look into the differences course-by-course to see what the difference is in the content between the programs so you can see why Frontier has more hours required. You don't want to go the quickest and easiest route if it will not give you adequate preparation for the career you are going to pursue, especially in a career as important as midwifery. I'm not saying that Stony Brook's program doesn't prepare you, because obviously I don't know that. I'm just saying look deeper into the content and the differences in the curricula to make sure you aren't getting what you pay for. Less is not always more.

Hope this helps. If you have more specific questions, please let me know and I'll help if I can. :-)

Lori

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Specializes in L&D/postpartum.

Frontier is just a school. It's grown way too big, and yeah there's some history, but it's not a big deal once you're in the program. Would you be choosing your own preceptors at Stony Brook? If so, you're going to have the same exact clinical experience. Frontier is friendly because it's like a business. They admit more and more students to make money before they have the resources to properly serve them. There is a lot of staff turnover. Stony Brook is annoying to deal with-I applied there for undergrad. But don't have any grand illusions of what Frontier is, and that it's somehow superior to everything else. They are currently making all students buy $150 webcams to watch them while they take tests. If you get married and change your last name, they charge you $100 for that. It's a business.

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Specializes in CCU, OB, Home Health.

I'm a CNEP grad (CNM program at Frontier) and also just completed the CNM to WHNP program thru Frontier. (as in, just two days ago, yay!) I do think that Frontier has a well deserved reputation for high quality education, and you will find that around the country Frontier midwives are well received for that reason. I do not know much about Stony Brook either way (other than hearing they've got a strong Math program, know nothing about the midwifery program).

Frontier has been going thru some growing pains. It is true that they drastically increased enrollment and their staff were struggling to meet the needs of many more students than they had in the past. However, I'd pick the same school over again. It's not just the content one learns, but also the overall philosophy of the school that I appreciate. They are focused on promotion of physiologic birth and evidence-based care, as well as a solid foundation in public health and community service. It sounds a bit cheesy, but I do feel that I not only got my MSN from the school, I also became part of a family.

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Specializes in Eventually Midwifery.

Just out of curiosity, what school did you decide on and what are your thoughts on the education that you are receiving?

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