How to narrow down the choices

I'm hoping someone can give me some tips to narrow down the choices while trying to pick a school for RN to BSN. At first glance, it would seem easy to eliminate the higher priced ones, but then I was thinking that in the overall cost they may not be as much. A cheaper school may require more credit hours to complete.

I do not have a speech class, chemistry (I do have biology), Algebra, or statistics. I think I like the idea of the classes that do the 5 week, or 7 week classes rather than regular semesters as well. It seems with the classes that start at semesters I could be waiting quite a while to start, since application deadlines are months before class starts. Plus by the time I take the other pre-reqs I need, I could be looking at 2 years before starting. Which is insane.

So any ideas how to narrow this search, and make it a little less overwhelming?

Well, I sorted mine by accreditation and price...and I'm missing a chemistry lab that I do not want to take (lol). This is the school I am leaning towards:

http://www.muw.edu/nursing2/tupelo/

Hello

I know how daunting the task is to start to research where to obtain your BSN. My suggestion is to look on-line. There are many reputiable universities that offer fast paced courses that you can do from the comfort of your home. I personally am finishing my Master's online and LOVE IT! I looked at going to a near by college for my degree but am so gald that I chose on-line. Just make sure that the school is accredited. Not to plug where I am going but I am very happy at Walden and feel that it has been challenging but flexiable. Good luck!

I'm afraid I don't have much advice, just lots of sympathy! It seems like every day I learn of new programs out there -- the time it takes just to navigate the (sometimes poorly designed) web sites and try to figure out/guess what *might* transfer (I have a liberal arts BA as well as ADN) and what it *might* actually cost is crazy. And of course many sites don't list this info on their site, you need to fill out a "more information" form, and wait for the sales people to call you and make their pitch.

I rule out anything that is not CCNE accredited; anything that has an onsite clinical requirement (most that I have looked into have you do "clinical" with an agency/employer near your home, often in public health); anything that seems outrageously expensive.

I have a slight bias toward schools with a brick and mortar version, thinking it might look more legitimate on a resume (no idea if people reading resumes actually care about this). And I of course would like to actually learn some things, so a quality program with accessible instructors, etc. would be nice -- but that is so hard to tell, naturally all the web sites, admissions counselors, etc. assure you of how *wonderful* the education will be!

My BA was light on hard sciences/math, so I also consider chemistry/statistics/algebra/etc. requirements. OTOH, I actually wouldn't mind taking a statistics or genetics course... and am somewhat skeptical of a program that grants a BSN without requiring some of those courses.

So far, American Sentinel University -- http://www.americansentinel.edu/online-degree/bachelor-degree-online/rn-to-bsn-program.php -- is ahead on affordability, simply because they give you 90 credits for having an RN license, leaving only 30 credits to be completed, at $340/credit. But as I said, it's not all about affordability....

Then to completely blow my mind, there's WGU which doesn't even do credits per se, just charges a flat rate per semester, so that one could *in theory* be finished in 2 semesters for under $7000.

So there are my rambling thoughts for what their worth! Good luck & keep us posted!

Best,

Drea