Grand Canyon RN-BSN

[tokmom]

Is there any updated information? I have been in heavy contact with them and am looking at taking their RN-BSN program. I work with a GCU grad and she has nothing but positive things to say, but I want more opinions. ?

Any pro's and cons? Thankfully the only class I'm missing is stats and that is offered in the actual BSN program. I'm a bit nervous as my algebra skills are way old. If anyone took this class, do you have any advice?

[pinkpetunia]

Now do you wish you had chosen a school with no group projects?

[PrismRN]

Now do you wish you had chosen a school with no group projects?

I'll answer (my opinion), no. The CLCs (group projects) can be a PIA but I'll take that in trade any day over longer courses >5 wks and onsite clinicals. Plus I found GCU competitive as far as $. Oh, and they took ALL my old junk and aren't making me retake any classes or add extra humanities to fluff me up. The curriculum is exactly as I expected, no surprises, and no rate hikes. Definitely glad I chose GCU.

[derkfamily]

I am just about ready to sign on with GCU. It's hard to believe I have all the prereqs and only need 12 classes. For other schools, I would need to complete more prereqs. Has anyone been told at graduation time that they need more classes? I would hate for that to happen. Some of the papers and group projects sound extremely challenging but I'm assuming they are doable? Just a little scary!

[rainyn]

I've only completed 3 classes so I've only done 3 group projects so far, but they have been very doable. The work itself is not hard, just coordinating and motivating other people is sometimes challenging.

I have a friend in another online RN-BSN program and she has many group projects as well. It's not unique to GCU.

[derkfamily]

Pinkpetunia I am also close to your age with no children at home any longer. I am about ready to start this venture as long as my official transcripts are accepted and I only need the 12 classes. I could start as early as mid-August. Do you know when you will start?

[PrismRN]

Pinkpetunia I am also close to your age with no children at home any longer. I am about ready to start this venture as long as my official transcripts are accepted and I only need the 12 classes. I could start as early as mid-August. Do you know when you will start?

:welcome:

[PrismRN]

I am just about ready to sign on with GCU. It's hard to believe I have all the prereqs and only need 12 classes. For other schools, I would need to complete more prereqs. Has anyone been told at graduation time that they need more classes? I would hate for that to happen. Some of the papers and group projects sound extremely challenging but I'm assuming they are doable? Just a little scary!

Here's my (in class 7 now):

I have not heard of anyone being surprised in the middle or end of their program with more class requirements. The enrollment counselors were pretty clear with me up front that my 12 were my 12, they ran my transcripts through their evaluators and that's what they came up with. I DO know of people who were told up front (based on the transcript evaluation) that they need more than the 12, but that happens at the beginning so you know what you're up against and can politely decline enrollment if you don't want to do that. If you sign on, I would just keep on top of your academic advisor (you have one throughout your program), maybe something in writing that you are guaranteed that these 12 will satisfy their requirements for graduation? Honestly I never even thought about it, and I haven't heard any horror stories, so I'm just plugging along thinking I'm done after #12. If something were to go awry in the middle of your program, that means their transcript evaluators made a booboo when you applied (bad for them).

Re: the papers and group projects (CLCs), I'm not sure I'd call them "extremely" challenging, challenging yes, but nothing that's going to make you drive off a cliff. I agree with rainyn, it's not the project itself that's causes my bleeding ulcer, it's all the coordination and trying to organize things in an online environment (remember back in the good ol' days we used to sit at the Denny's with our study groups? LOL). I'm on the middle of week 2 now, our team of 5 has been assigned since day 1 (10d ago), 4 of us have been actively communicating with each other about the project, and wondering where member #5 is? She's been posting daily (required) comments in the classroom, but nothing to us. Finally last night a note "sorry, I've been working". Okaaaay, and so have we, but we managed to at least pop in and say HELLO and get the ball rolling! :flmngmd: THAT'S the kind of stuff that does make you want to drive off a cliff. The project itself is just the usual research & whatnot, and in fact, if you get a good group, they are waaaay less work than a regular paper ('cause you're only responsible for 1/5 of the project). Sorry this was so long! Don't let the CLCs deter you, they just are what they are, and after 7 classes I'm stressing less and less each time.

[JRich]

I am just about ready to sign on with GCU. It's hard to believe I have all the prereqs and only need 12 classes. For other schools, I would need to complete more prereqs. Has anyone been told at graduation time that they need more classes? I would hate for that to happen. Some of the papers and group projects sound extremely challenging but I'm assuming they are doable? Just a little scary!

I've never heard of anyone being told later that they needed to take more classes. This was one of the reasons I picked GCU. I currently live in Texas and I would have had to take history and government classes here to be able to get my bachelors. One of the schools here also wouldn't accept my classes from my original college in MN. Don't understand why since it was all accredited. There was no way I was retaking all my sciences and english classes. So GCU was the best choice for me!

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

I'll answer (my opinion), no. The CLCs (group projects) can be a PIA but I'll take that in trade any day over longer courses >5 wks and onsite clinicals. Plus I found GCU competitive as far as $. Oh, and they took ALL my old junk and aren't making me retake any classes or add extra humanities to fluff me up. The curriculum is exactly as I expected, no surprises, and no rate hikes. Definitely glad I chose GCU.

There isn't anyway to get around group projects. They are EVERYWHERE. I know friends that went to U of P, and she had CLC's. Two others went to instate schools (different ones) and they had CLC's too. One was soo mad at a slacker group member, she drive an hour to confront her!!!

Oops, I quoted Prism. I meant to quote petunia. :)

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

CAN WE DO THAT???? :dncgbby:

We could always ask the administrator. All they can do is say NO.

Here, let's try this:

ADMINISTRATOR PERSON WHO PEEKS AT THE THREADS. CAN WE COMBINE THEM?

(now we can tell if they really spy on us, bwhahaha!)

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Apparently we do! Yay for us! :grad:

I love when you say this :loveya:

I KNEW IT! :bdyhdclp:

And I proudly wear my vintage BSN pin on my lanyard. :)

Yeah, WELL DON'T QUOTE ME on the MSN thing. I think I already forgot how to write a paper! and a relative needs to kick off that is worth some money, so I don't add to my student loan debt. Since that relative doesn't exist, the odds are pretty slim

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

I am just about ready to sign on with GCU. It's hard to believe I have all the prereqs and only need 12 classes. For other schools, I would need to complete more prereqs. Has anyone been told at graduation time that they need more classes? I would hate for that to happen. Some of the papers and group projects sound extremely challenging but I'm assuming they are doable? Just a little scary!

Welcome!

Yes, it is scary to head back to school after being out for a few years. Things change, technology savvy is needed to complete the assignments. However, I bet we can all say that we are experts at Word programs and power points! (We also had help with programs that assist with APA).

Anyway, I have read online that people have needed extra classes, however, I think they are few and far between and they probably started before their transcripts were evaluated. I didn't jump into the fire until I had an official class schedule of what I needed. I think most of us are ok, since we had to take many general ed classes for our RN. I went through with someone I met here on AN who followed the this thread. We did a buddy system and we compared everything from credits needed, classes that were approved, monetary refunds, cost and everything else. I have to say that GCU was consistent the entire time. Neither one of us had any surprises.