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I've been an LPN for 2 years now and also work agency with General Healthcare Resources. I want to get my RN but my husband is in school also for his RN :bugeyes: so I have little choice but to do it online if I'm going to do it at all. I went to EC's website and created my EC account. Now what do I do :confused:? How do I know what and how many classes/courses I must take to get my degree? Do I have to pay the $75 fee to apply just to find out if I have to take too many courses? I took a lot of prerequisites at local community college for the RN already.

Also, I cannot find out on my state board of nursing (PA) if they even accept EC degrees- do you know if they do?? I don't want to get into anything I cannot get out of (ie: TCN). Thanks

Kelly

Hey, DId you ever apply to Excelsior? If so what happened? I am considering this school but just reading everyones feedback first.

Thanks

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You can also look on the EC website. They have this info there somewhere..
Just a warning... Excelsior has many good points, but thier website is not one of them. It is very hard to navigate and it seems like the most vital information is buried under loads of unrelated links. It generally takes me about five minutes just to find a study guide and don't get me started on finding state board requirements. They really hide that stuff good.
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does anyone know if financial aide covers programs like excelsior, rue, or distance learning?

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does anyone know if financial aide covers programs like excelsior, rue, or distance learning?

You can not get financial aid for the LPN-RN program through excelsior. The only reason is because it is an examination based program... you are basically "testing out" of all your nursing courses, they are not actual courses you are taking. So because of that, you can't get financial aid. All their other programs, including their RN-BSN program do qualify you to receive financial aid though, so it has nothing to do with the school. The only thing you could maybe do is get a private loan, but that would be credit based. However, the program is not that expensive (cost me about $6,000) and you can just pay as you go.

As far as RUE goes, I would do more research on that company before signing with them. From what I understand they are just a publishing company and they only offer supplemental materials to help you with the Excelsior exams but you are still getting your degree from Excelsior. RUE is not necessary, however, it may be helpful to some. But it does end up costing you more money in the end that way. Good luck.

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6,000 does'nt sound that bad I guess. When I looked into it a couple years ago I thought they quoted me about 10,000. I had sticker shock and thats one of the reasons I have'nt pursued it. I believe that was the college network though...

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6,000 does'nt sound that bad I guess. When I looked into it a couple years ago I thought they quoted me about 10,000. I had sticker shock and thats one of the reasons I have'nt pursued it. I believe that was the college network though...

Yea, if you go with the college network or RUE, you pay for all the regular excelsior expenses plus more for the publishing materials. So that's probably why it was 10,000. It's probably even more now. Supposedly people say you can buy these materials used on ebay if you really want to use them... however... for me, and several friends that went through excelsior, we did not need anything else. Excelsior recommends books to buy and offers supplemental materials as well. So, yea, I'd say 6,000. However, this could be more depending on if you had any pre-reqs to do, or if you attend a workshop for your cpne (which i recommend, but that is later down the road)... also plane fare and hotel if you don't have a cpne site close to you. But even 6,000 was a good chunk of money... but it was quick for me, i completed the program in less than a year, while working full time... while my friends contintued in the lpn-rn transition program at the private school I went to for lpn... and they paid about 20k for their lpn-rn. So, it was definitely a smarter choice for me. And I know now that I'm starting work as an RN, it won't be long before I make up that 6K. But anyway, you should check out the excelsior website (though at first it can be difficult to navigate)... and you also might want to call them. Everyone I've ever talked to was extremely helpful in answering my tons of questions. The only annoying thing was that before I got into the nursing program, and I was just talking to general admissions people, I would sometimes be on hold for a while (up to 30 mins). They will also get your info and send you out a packet with all kinds of information, including a breakdown of all your tuition costs. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Hey, DId you ever apply to Excelsior? If so what happened? I am considering this school but just reading everyones feedback first.

Thanks

Hey Jezzy

I applied to excelsior a month ago. I am an LPN going for RN and they took most of my credits. I agree with others stating that they hide a lot of info in the website. Make sure if you decide to attend read through the website and let me know. Good Luck.:nurse:

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Specializes in Hospice.

You sound like you have the same core that I did. You probably will have to take the 7 nursing classes and the required english and computer ones too. Pay the money, they will give you a clear outline of what you need to do. I graduate next month and spent more money because I took a long time to finish, thus the yearly Tuition fee really added up. The CPNE cost me $6000 because I did not pass the first time. That money included motel and travel too. Best of luck!

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Hello All,

I am a newbie LPN graduate. I am virtually inexperienced, in a sense. After hearing about Excelsior, I am eager to apply. My only fear is a rejection letter.

My nursing school GPA was a meager 3.2 and previously, to that, I had a 2.02 at my community college. I took about a year's worth of random courses, in a different state, when I was unsure about my future and what I wanted to major in. What brought my grade down was 2 semesters, where I essentially had to withdraw from several courses, not realizing (at the time) that it brings down your GPA. Otherwise, I would have a solid 3.3 for that college.

Does anyone foresee any problem with acceptance, to Excelsior, with this sort of GPA? I'm really kicking myself, as my nursing school is a sep. institution from my community college back home and many of those courses...I never even ended up using. Ultimately, I have a 2.0 GPA that really is nothing but a thorn to my side. My actual nursing school GPA was a 3.2 --almost a 3.3 actually.

Also, do you feel it would present a problem if I went directly into the RN program, as an LPN who literally just graduated? I have heard so many wonderful things about Excelsior & it just FEELS so right. Hoping for some answers..thanks all.

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Hello All,

I am a newbie LPN graduate. I am virtually inexperienced, in a sense. After hearing about Excelsior, I am eager to apply. My only fear is a rejection letter.

My nursing school GPA was a meager 3.2 and previously, to that, I had a 2.02 at my community college. I took about a year's worth of random courses, in a different state, when I was unsure about my future and what I wanted to major in. What brought my grade down was 2 semesters, where I essentially had to withdraw from several courses, not realizing (at the time) that it brings down your GPA. Otherwise, I would have a solid 3.3 for that college.

Does anyone foresee any problem with acceptance, to Excelsior, with this sort of GPA? I'm really kicking myself, as my nursing school is a sep. institution from my community college back home and many of those courses...I never even ended up using. Ultimately, I have a 2.0 GPA that really is nothing but a thorn to my side. My actual nursing school GPA was a 3.2 --almost a 3.3 actually.

Also, do you feel it would present a problem if I went directly into the RN program, as an LPN who literally just graduated? I have heard so many wonderful things about Excelsior & it just FEELS so right. Hoping for some answers..thanks all.

Hi there. No I don't forsee a problem with your GPA. In my opinion, that's actually good for nursing school. I haven't heard of anyone getting rejected by Excelsior. I don't even think they have GPA requirements. And it's not like other schools where they only have limited spaces and you are competing against others. It is a go-at-your-own-pace kinda do-it-yourself school so I'm pretty sure as long as you have your LPN license you are good. As far as some other courses like a&p, micro, composition, etc... they may not accept them depending on the grade you received in those courses. But you can take any general ed courses through excelsior if you need them. And your excelsior gpa will only reflect the credits you take through excelsior plus the credits you transfer in for your gen ed. They do not factor in your lpn school grades in your gpa, you just receive 30 credits for having an lpn license. So if you failed something before or withdrew in the past, it won't count in your excelsior gpa. So you certainly have the chance of obtaining a very high gpa for your RN program.

As far as starting right away, I think it makes it easier. That's what I did, and I did really well and didn't have to study that much. All of the book stuff from lpn school was fresh in my head so I only had to review some materials, not re-learn them. Often if you've been a nurse for a long time (from what I hear), especially if you work in a specialty area, you forget a lot of the book knowledge that you don't use on a regular basis. And you know, I had a couple friends that wanted to wait a few months before starting excelsior because they needed a "break" and neither of them ended up starting the program. Of my 2 friends plus myself that started right away, we all finished within 1 year. So go for it! If you haven't taken your boards yet, and received your license, you can't apply to the college of nursing, but you can get started on any general ed requirements that you know you'll need, plus they now allow you to take 2 of the nursing examinations before getting accepted into the program.

Have you checked to make sure your state accepts excelsior grads to take the RN boards? There are a few states that don't. Also if you plan on moving to another state, or doing travel nursing, you may want to check into other states requirements before you do excelsior just to make sure. Most states accept excelsior grads... and of the few that don't, some will allow you to work in that state once you have gotten your license in another state and possibly might require you to have your license a certain amount of time first. That's the only drawback to excelsior as I see it.

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Specializes in Home Health, Podiatry, Neurology, Case Mgmt.
Hello All,

Also, do you feel it would present a problem if I went directly into the RN program, as an LPN who literally just graduated? I have heard so many wonderful things about Excelsior & it just FEELS so right. Hoping for some answers..thanks all.

I've been an LPN for 4yrs and let me tell ya, if i could go back and do this ALL over again, i would have started fresh out of LPN school when my head was crammed full of info instead of re-learing things along the way. What the previous poster said about taking the gen eds and the two nursing exams BEFORE enrolling is true. You should go ahead, apply to the school and send all your transcripts from both the college and lpn school in, it will take them 2-3 wks to go through it all and let you know what credits you still need. In the mean time, start on Health & Safety! It's honestly a pretty good overview of LPN school in my opinion touching on the nursing process, communication and med dosage questions. Since i was out of school for so long i had to re-read everything to help it all come back and got an A on the test. I ONLY used the recommended textbooks and some of my LPN school textbooks i still had.(they had notes in the margins that jogged my memory from school lol) Check through this board as well there are lots of hints and tips...go through Excelsior's website and read and click on different links to get familiar! I started this over 2 yrs ago and gave up and gave in, not realizing how to go about doing things. I was used to deadlines and due dates so i took the content guide for the test i was taking and assigned myself due dates (usually a week per section) and then paid for and scheduled the exam so i would have "final exam" date. This kept me motivated and moving along, that way i didn't end up slacking off cause life got in the way!

Hope this helps!

TAsha

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Thank you SO much for the awesome reply! I'm going to post again, but I'm running around at this very moment. I will be back! :) Your reply/post was really encouraging. I wish I had known about this college ages ago. :D

Oh yeah!...PS. You receive actual letter grades @ Excelsior? :) If so, that's fantastic. I'd take it either way, but I would love to aim for A grades in that case!

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