Grand Canyon University RN to BSN Reviews

Howdy all, I bit the bullet and after much research, I decided on Grand Canyon! Wow, I did not expect BSN schools to be like used car salesmen--hounding me by emails and phone calls. Rather impressed on how Grand Canyon sort of left me alone, but at the same time kept in touch.

Commence my first class Sept 30th, excited, yet very nervous, as I'm not a big fan of school, LOL! I did extremely well on my Associate degree, graduated back in 2009 from Northern Virginia Community College. We shall see.

Would love to hear from past and present Grand Canyon RN to BSN students.

3225 Answers

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I'm currently in the RN-BSN program and in my 6th class. I waffled at first with GCU, even though my employer, had an affiliation with them. A lot of the bad stuff that happened did so when they first started online. What I understood was they grew too fast and could not keep up with the high demand and their system sort of took a nose dive. All this was from a GCU counselor who admitted they had some severe growing pains for a while.

My counselor calls me once every few weeks or sends me an email to see how I'm doing. They know my grade, because they are checking! My financial aide was a breeze and everything went through in a timely manner. No problems whatsoever.

Instructors, professors etc: I have two other friends attending GCU. One has had an instructor that has some pretty strict rules on posting that seem over the top to me. However, my other friend and myself have had good instructors who have challenged us. All have been responsive to questions we have asked. I even had one call me to tell me the answer to my question.

Those five weeks go quickly and be prepared to write a paper or do a power point for every week for those five weeks. They tell you that you will spend approx. 10-12 hours a week on homework. Be prepared for more than that. On heavy assignment weeks, it can be double that. I come home many times after a 12 hour shift only to sit down and write out a paragraph or two for my paper and get up 5 hrs later for work. Now that I have a rhythm down, I spend a bit less time, but not much. We were all hit between the eyes on the amount of work. However, with that being said, I have met some nice people in my classes and some very nice instructors. My stats instructor was cool and highly sought after.

I'm currently pulling a 4.0 which is good, but I'm very busy with papers and everything else has taken a back seat until next April, lol. My grade has not been handed to me.

Religion: There is a spirituality class that I have to take. I think it's going to interesting and open to a lot of debating in the open forum. So far religion hasn't even been mentioned in any of the classes.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! :)

Good luck! I popped in here because I was curious as to what swayed you to GCU. I've been researching online options for a couple of days (and yes I know what you mean about hounding!) but they are starting to blur together for me.

I ruled out Western Governor's because the "flat fee" per semester isn't a good option for me; I plan to take one class at a time. I did like the GCU's courses were 5 week intensives instead of 8. They also seem to have lighter and fewer fees...?

What made you go that way?

Ok, now skipping all the promotional, advertising stuff and reading customer reviews, Yelp, etc and I'm thinking this place looks shady. Lawsuits, claims of poor educators?

thanks, Flames, for that input. Yeah, I know the bad experiences are the ones that get the most attention, so I'm on the lookout for that. How many courses have you completed at GSU....or are you just at the very beginning?

This might be no worry at all, or a significant one, but I see plastered all over the place "A Private Christian University". And one of their required Gen Ed courses is Christian World View. I've been told that I shouldn't need ANY GenEd classes, as everything from prior degrees should transfer, but wondering if I will be forced to take a class I would normally run in the other direction away from? One of the "negative" reviews was actually a positive in my mind, lol, as the person complaining said it wasn't Christian enough (didn't like the tolerance of gays, for example, in a theory class). Which, frankly, works just fine for me.

Thoughts?

Scott, don't want to derail this thread, will be careful, but am really hoping for some good info to help me with this choice! Tx :)

Howdy!! We are currently living out of the USA, so I wanted a course I could do completely online. Some would say it could be completely done online--only to find out there was a clinical portion. Some were just to pushy!! Sorry, if your going to call me numerous times, flood my inbox, you are off the list,lol

I went to GU because :

1) Price is right, yes there were cheaper schools. if you belong to the ANA, you get 10% off. But there are ** to that.

2) They did not hound me. I can pass on a counselors email if you wish. PM me

3) Everything is completed online!

4) Like the 5 week classes!!

5) They were always quick in getting back to my emails!! I was going to goto Lafayette, but it took them 5 weeks just to evaluate my Transcipts!!

6) Just had a very good feeling about the school

7) Just finished a free 3 day online course that they provided just to help make you aware of all the resources that they offer, and how to submit papers, how to post--very easy to do, but was great that they provided this

So that is pretty much it so far,lol Time will tell!!

I Spend a lot of time online, I enjoy online forums, etc, so I sort of take many bad reviews with a grain of salt!! I have had classes with instructors which I thought were awesome, yet there were many reviews that stated he/she were terrible! So it is hard to trust online reviews. I just know my interaction thus far has been excellent with GU staff.

And more people tend to complain online, than post a positive experience.

I have not completed ANY classes--except for this freebie 3 day 1, that you do not have to do, it is there just to assist you.

Yes it is a Christian school, but so far I have not noticed it too much! I only have to complete 12 courses---and 2 of those I can test out of if I want to.

I think the only non-nursing class I require is Statistics. Semester is only 5 weeks long, and if I don't like it, well will move on,lol

Thanks for the info!! I believe I read a few of your posts here on this site,which helped me make my decision!

I have been very impressed thus far with the 2 counselors that have been helping me, 1 of the gals even talks hockey,lol

Are you taking any breaks?? As I believe 1 course ends Sunday, and the next starts the very next day. I just need to have mine completed by 2016, but should be completed well before that.

Thanks again for the info and best of luck!

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

I only took a 2 week break in order to take stats with a particular instructor, otherwise I run my classes together. I do know one person who is taking a 2 week break between every class so she can have a life outside the school, lol.

My strategy is to work ahead as much as I can. For this class, I have already handed in my paper for this coming Sunday and I'm working on stuff due next Sunday. Once I get ahead of myself, it generally gives me a few days "off" without homework. I would rather keep insanely busy for the first 3 weeks and then coast the last week. ;)

I normally have a lot of free time, so hoping I can get ahead--I tend to put things off,lol I'm paying out of pocket, so I can take as many/long breaks as I require, found it interesting if one had student loans, 1 requires approval of breaks longer than 2 weeks! I guess I do still require approval for 2 weeks or longer to keep the ANA 10% discount. If you could PM me the Stats instructors name that would be super and greatly appreciated! Math is not my strong suit, I'm fortunate that my wife loves it,lol

Can 1 take more than 1 class at a time?? I doubt I would do that, but we shall see. At present I do not work a lot, but that may change a bit. Best of luck on the remainder of the classes.

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
Flames9_RN said:
I normally have a lot of free time, so hoping I can get ahead--I tend to put things off,lol I'm paying out of pocket, so I can take as many/long breaks as I require, found it interesting if one had student loans, 1 requires approval of breaks longer than 2 weeks! I guess I do still require approval for 2 weeks or longer to keep the ANA 10% discount. If you could PM me the Stats instructors name that would be super and greatly appreciated! Math is not my strong suit, I'm fortunate that my wife loves it,lol

Can 1 take more than 1 class at a time?? I doubt I would do that, but we shall see. At present I do not work a lot, but that may change a bit. Best of luck on the remainder of the classes.

Hey flames, clear our your inbox. ?

I have heard of people taking more than one class, but further down the line when you have proven yourself. IMO, I would never want to do! All classes have big assignments due each week. It would be tough two have two papers, and 4 dq plus all your responses... ***shudder***:nailbiting:

I just did,lol Did not realize how little 1 can keep!! All clear now--TY

I was just curious about taking more than 1 class at a time, I really have no reason to stress myself out more as I won't be back in the USA until summer of 2016.

ty for the PM info!!!

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