Got into Galen College of Nursing's LVN to RN!

mary2169 · Dec 18, 2009

I think it's great that you are thinking ahead regarding your educational plans, and for most people who have their lives worked out to be able to attend a 4 year university, I would highly encourage that myself.
Many people attending nursing programs such as this in my area have lost their jobs, and they have families to feed. They have decided to complete a program that won't take as long as a 4 year BSN, so they do the 1+1 at schools like Galen (LPN the first year, then RN the second year). All the hospitals in my area offer tuition reimbursement for Indiana Wesleyan's program, so they don't seem to have a problem with it. I have heard nothing but good things about them, so I will reserve any opinions about them having a shady reputation.
It's wonderful that you have the option of completing a 4 year degree, and I agree that you should definitely stick with your plan. Good luck to you in your educational pursuits, and welcome to Allnurses.

why would you mention that indiana wesleyan's program does tuition reimbursement if you are talking about galen's program? are you saying that people should go there instead of galen?

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Dec 18, 2009

Indiana Wesleyan has a ASN-BSN program. I was suggesting it for those who have completed their ASNs at certain non-accredited schools.

mary2169 · Dec 19, 2009

oic, i am confused on what i should do. do i really want to spend 15-17000 at galen to be an lvn and then another 20000 to continue on with thier rn program? i went to the baptist health care system, here in san antonio, open house and they are not accredited either. the uthsc, sac, and st phillips all said that they only accept a certain amount of people every term and i can literally be waiting 2-3 years before i even get accepted. anyone have any advice? i thought about just going get my lvn with galen, but the way they set up the curriculum does not allow that. another words they put all the classes that other schools would classify as pre reqs into thier 2nd term for the rn's. so basically you would have to be an rn at galen to have some of the pre reqs other schools would accept. should i take my pre reqs now and then go to galen for the lvn so that i can transfer to another school later. please someone help me.... :cry:

itsmejuli · Dec 19, 2009

I did my pre-reqs at a community college, went to Galen for LVN and will start RN at the community college in May.

Galen is great if you want to get your RN as fast as possible. You just have to realize that you will have to complete the BSN at a college that will accept Galen classes.

By the time you'd finish pre-reqs and an LPN program you probably would have waited long enough to get into an RN program at one of the colleges you mentioned.

TXgirlRN · Dec 21, 2009

Congrats DAVE! I just graduated RN @ Galen (first class) had all prereq and still paid $20,000! Well worth it in the long run got in and got out! Passed NCLEX 75 ?'s! Graduated in 12 months because of all the transfer credits I had....best investment ever made!

nursecampbell · Dec 27, 2009

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the tampa program. I am moving to tampa in feb. They have a class starting May 17th. How hard is it to get accepted?

rcor32RN · Jun 23, 2010

Dave,

All of your posts are very helpful, I was just accepted into Galen's LVN-RN bridge in San Antonio, can you tell me a little about your experience? Was it really initially only 3 days week, then 4?

I am assuming by now you have comleted and passed your Boards, how did that go? Any trouble finding a job due to not having the BSN?

Any advice?

Thanks so much

rcor32RN · Jun 23, 2010

TxRNgirl..

CONGRATS!!! Good for you to get in and out! I was just accepted into their Bridge program, any advice? I am actually relocating from another State to attend this school. Again, congratulations!!!!!!

JustMe0925 · Jun 23, 2010

Is there any pre-reques to get into Galen?? Or, any classes I could take now to take some workload off of me while I'm in the program? Thanks so much!!!

christijamelle22 · Jun 24, 2010

@Justme..there are no pre-reqs required. I just started Galen in May 2010 and I love it! I also came from another state to attend this school. The only need for the pre-reqs is in the RN program..you don't necessarily NEED them but if you want a shorter qtr 1, you can take english 101 and anatomy and get them out of the way and just focus on your nursing courses. hope this helps and welcome to the Galen family!

KMD728 · Jun 25, 2010

Hi all!

I posted to this thread a long while back asking about getting in.

Now, I have been in the SA Galen LVN-RN program since October of 2009. I am finishing up the 3rd quarter out of 5. Yay! Down hill slope!

As far as pre-reqs, I had none going in. And I'm on the 15 month length as oppossed to the 18 month.

But the catch is, I didn't, and still don't work. I was lucky enough to get to decide to strictly focus on school.

With that being said, having no pre-reqs wasn't so bad. It really only effects your first 2 (or 3, depending on which length program you're on) quarters.

It's not so much that it's difficult, but that the pre-reqs are just a lot of busy work.

But I managed well and even made the Dean's list.

They offer at least one day off in the week. Quarter 1 & 2 we had Friday's off, in quarter 3, we have thursdays off.

You start your clinicals in your 3rd (or 4th--18month program) quarter. For my clinicals I was at Downtown Baptist. We had an evening clinical. Our clinicals are on Mondays. Absolutely loved it! Learned a lot, and had a great instructor. And the RN's at BMC were nice enough to let us follow and observe things.

So far I've loved Galen. I went straight into the RN program from the Galen LVN program.

The board of nursing came in earlier this week and reccommended us for FULL accredidation, this is what I've heard, so classes should be getting close to being transferrable for a future BSN.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

Any other questions, let me know!

JustMe0925 · Jun 25, 2010

Hopefully that is the case. I mean, if ppl are paying that much for an associates they should at least have the option to further their career. Fingers crossed!! I'll be applying to Galen in a year!!! Thanks for your posts!!!