Hello & Question

Hello everyone! :)

I currently live in Ohio and have been an RRT for 7 years. I am looking to get into Regents/Excelsior to get my RN this fall. (wanted to last year but was blessed with a daughter :) )

I want to thank you all for all the information in past threads in regards to that program. That was incredibly helpful. I fully intend to skip all the publishers and go straight through Regents/Excelsior. AGAIN - thank you!!!!

I have a few more questions that hopefully you ladies can answer:

1. Can I take a few of the Excelsior College courses now without enrolling in the school? AND - can I get their study guides free??

2. What books did you use to study off of?? How long did you study before taking an exam?

3. I was told (and the WOM stuff makes me nervous) that you can take all 7 tests and then transfer them to local community colleges - take one semester of clinics and get your RN that way. Anyone ever heard of this before?

I'm sure more questions will pop up as I get into this. I hope you all don't mind me bugging you. I am going to try very hard to get this completed soon. I recently finished my BS in CIS all online (independent study, etc) so I know I can do this format. I just got to get it all together to get started. (BTW - if you're wondering. . I can't get a job in CIS without any experience in this crappy market. Such a waste of money. Plus, I don't want to work a M-F job anymore with my daughter)

Thanks ladies~!!!!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Hi Sadbulldog

Welcome to our gang of s. I hope your time here will be even more informative and productive, and I wish you well in your search. HAPPY HUNTING!

[chris_at_lucas_RN, RN]

Bless your heart, can't believe you didn't get any answers to your questions....

But first, we are not all "ladies," far from it. And even some of us who are females might bristle at being called "ladies...." LOL

You can do the first two units without enrolling--in fact, they will send you the study guides for free. I think you can take the first two exams as well, but your best bet is to check with Excelsior (http://www.excelsior.edu).

You would do well to get the books and articles suggested by EC, especially if you don't have any of the textbooks yet, because it's easier to find the right pages, etc. But if you have nursing textbooks that aren't too old, you can look up the info there (or on the web) and fill in the outlines, so you know you have all the info you need.

I just ordered the set of Chancellor study guides, and the whole set didn't cost much more than my first semester of nursing textbooks did--and these come with tapes. You can also get them used online, but I wanted new. (Just a thing I have....)

If you pass the 7 exams at EC, you don't need or want to transfer them (I haven't found a nursing school yet that accepts anybody else's nursing school courses), because you can't get in unless you've already had enough clinicals. So when you finish the 7 exams, you are ready to take the final clinical exam, the CPNE, and then, passing that, you can take the NCLEX.

does that about cover it?

Good luck!

[DMoon]

Great reply, Chris. Sadbulldog, the only thing I have to add is this:

The hospital I worked at while I was completing the program (Regents back then) had a small but decent library. I was able to get virtually all of my textbooks on loan from them, which saved me some serious $$$. They didn't always have the first text listed in the study guides, but they ALWAYS had at least one on the list, and a sufficient number of other books that I never had a problem. Couldn't have made it through without my library folks! So check them out (no pun intended!)!

The key to success with Excelsior is plain, old-fashioned hard study. I agree with Chris on this, too--start with Excelsior and stick with them all the way through. They produce some very fine nurses.

Good luck to you!

Dakota