Goodwin or community college

If you can get into the CT CC Nursing Program, do it. I have heard nothing good about Goodwin.

Just so you can do the math, here is the sheet that tells you the tuition and fees for fall 2015 at Tunxis CC (I imagine it's similar for all CT CCs): Fall 2015 Tuition & Fees | Tunxis Community College

Also, here are some threads about Goodwin:

https://allnurses.com/connecticut-nursing/goodwin-college-nursing-464714.html

https://allnurses.com/connecticut-nursing/goodwin-college-east-857048.html

https://allnurses.com/connecticut-nursing/goodwin-college-359713.html

My friend started at Goodwin but couldn't keep up with the cost, so she quit and still owes a bunch of money. I just feel its sketchy since I get a 30% tuition discount through work. That's a steep discount for 'quality' education. You can redo all your prereqs in 1 year at a CC and it will still be cheaper than Goodwin.

I heard mix reviews I had a friend go up there for OTA said it was an awesome program great teacher's, but cost was crazy!!! The downside is all your courses have to completed at Goodwin you can't transfer out due to their point system so that add's up in cost. There are some weird rumors about hospital's not hiring Goodwin nurses, there just rumors that is it. Your a nurse I mean if you can foot the bill I don't see anything wrong with Goodwin. Oh they don't use the Teas test it's another exam forgot the name. Everything is points you have a max of 25 point's to get in. A bachelor's get's you points. Being male get's you points, rumor possibly. High score on their test get's you in. Then you grades from the pre req's. They also require more pre req's then the community colleges, but most of the extra pre req's are what you take during nursing anyway's. You can transition to their online RN to BSN program and I think they also have a BSN program as well.

Best of luck.

I went to goodwin because the high cost was worth it to me, to avoid the CC wait list. I figure, if I graduate just one year earlier by going to goodwin instead of sitting on a waitlist, then that right there almost makes up the difference in cost (obviously it is more complicated than that, with interest etc. But you get my point I hope).

I was flatly unimpressed with the quality of my prerequisites. I felt like I was in middle school in some of my lectures. For your final evaluation in chem lab, every team was assigned an "experiment" to complete and write up. My groups experiment? Was determining volume by water displacement. I kid you not. I think that was worth maybe 20% of my grade. A&P was good, micro was okay, and biology was just as bad as chemistry.

I felt that the nursing program was well organized and comprehensive, and I feel I had mostly decent clinical experiences. Some of the teachers were terrible, but that is par for the course with any program.

I had no trouble getting a job in my desired specialty, and no problem when applying to grad school. I actually came across Goodwin graduates at the hospital I worked at on a regular basis :)

Looking back, I would still make the same choice. I am sitting on ~70K worth of student loans now that I am done with grad school, more than half of which is from my ASN and prerequisites. But still, I find this much preferable to being waitlisted.

It's possible that I'm wrong about the waitlist thing though. Maybe it's not that bad? CC is so, so, so SO much cheaper that I would absolutely choose it over Goodwin if it won't delay your start date too much.

Hi Petunia.

I just got accepted to Capital Community College's nursing program starting this fall. CC program is the route! You have one major misconception....only your Chemistry, and A&P 1 & 2 have to be within the last 5 years. They accepted my intro biology and my microbiology from 16 years ago! (yes, I'm an 'older' student now).

If you think you can get the grades to get accepted into the cc program, then do it! I work with 2 women who went the Goodwin route and they already regret their decisions. They're talking about waiting another year and applying for the program I'm doing. You may not have to take as many prerequesites at Goodwin, but they have this weird 'points' program which basically requires that you take so many credits there before you'll be considered for admission to their program. I know because I almost went to Goodwin, myself.

..the cc program is competitive, there are a lot of people who did not get in or got wait-listed this year. That being said, it's a well respected (not to mention more affordable) program. And you never know what'll happen....I got a nice little surprise when I applied for financial aid following my acceptance...I got a full grant from the College itself!

I hope this helped. I found myself in your same dilemma just slightly over a year ago = ).

Honestly what Goodwin is charging is equivalent to what some BSN programs are charging for tuition. I have nearly the same amount of debt from student loans as another commenter here and I got my BSN in 3 years. I'd look around and talk to various schools, financial aid departments are awesome at finding loans and aid for students to cut down on costs.