Just completed RN to BSN less than 6 months

415RN, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2019

I'm on the verge of taking Biochem at WGU but not quite there yet, so I can't answer your question yet.

I truly do love all the posts from the people who did gargantuan numbers of units in a short time. The incentive to do that is really there because the more you do, the less your degree costs.

It's definitely not any kind of a diploma mill. I've found the courses, for the most part, challenging content with great instructors. I started Oct 1 then of course had a big life upheaval, and took the entire month of November off. Still, between Oct 1 and now I've done 20 units that included A&P 1, A&P2, Micro (all challenging, but doable) as well as Nutrition (in a day, very easy) Human Growth and Development (also in a day, very easy) those last two only had an exam to demonstrate competency and pass. Some courses have papers to write.

I'm working on Stats now and I haven't had a math class in more than thirty years. It's totally fine. Challenging in a way that makes me very satisfied that I chose this program, the degree I earn will be one I put in long hours and worked hard to get.

Mkakids · Mar 4, 2019

Can I ask what the effects WGU has had on your GPA? I've heard it can bring GPA down, and was wondering just how much? I currently have a 3.8 and will graduate from an ADN program in May. I'm looking at WGU to bridge to a BSN, but want to go on to a MSN in the future and don't want to kill me GPA.

Any insight?

tlkSTL · Mar 5, 2019

WGU. Does not go by graded it’s either pass or fail. I did bsn and Msn in less than one year and worked full time. It’s a self paced program.

jshowersrn · Mar 6, 2019

I am currently a student at WGU and in the EBP course. I am terrible at writing papers and can't seem to figure out what these papers should actually look like. I think I heard about you last year as I started in March. Congratulations. As for the person who made the comment. I know others who finished in a year. I am not one of them. Its been a long time since I was in school. Any pointers for the remaining courses would be well appreciated.

Mkakids · Mar 7, 2019

On 3/5/2019 at 4:31 AM, tlkSTL said:
WGU. Does not go by graded it’s either pass or fail. I did bsn and Msn in less than one year and worked full time. It’s a self paced program.

Is your GPA out of a 4.0 then?

RobinLVN, ADN, RN · Mar 7, 2019

THANK YOU!!! This post is so valuable! I was all but about to give up on planning to go for my BSN after all the hell it took to get into an LVN-ADN program (which I start this June).

I am a quick learner. For the haters, I took Dev. Psych and Nutrition, online, concurrently, in under 16 days, and before ya'll quip about the substandard education, I also took those courses at UCLA 10+ years ago (but it was combined so couldn't transfer it - long story) and the material was the same.

So, back to your story - 6 months to complete the BSN. May I ask if you were working during this time? I had to retake all my prerequisites (with working full-time and I'm a single mom of a 5 year old with no childcare from the dad) so I'm getting pretty tired as I've been at this for 8 months straight. I can do another year for LVN-RN bridge program but don't think I'll have much left in me after that.

How long would you guesstimate this program to take working full-time?

415RN, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2019

I am working full time (I work 5 eight hour days) and I started 10/1/2018. I am three weeks from the end of my first term.
I have done: Professional Leadership and Communication (4 weeks, their schedule, you have live zoom room classes to attend)
Anatomy and Physiology I (4 weeks)
Human Growth and Development (a weekend)
Anatomy and Physiology II (4 weeks)
Human Nutrition (a day)
Microbiology (4 weeks)
Statistics (4 weeks)

I came in with 68 hours of transfer credit, 50 for being an RN, 18 of things like English Comp, Govt, Sociology, Speech, Humanities.
I have done 24 so far (the list above.)
I'll probably get one more easy class done by the end of this term.
Then I'll have BioChem, and after that I'll start doing my community health nursing hours (required for Californians.)

People who say it's easy and a diploma mill are showing they don't know what they are talking about.

WGU's coursework comes out to a 3.0. I have a 3.8 college GPA so yes, if anyone ever cares about my GPA, this will bring it down. I don't see that as holding me back. My program mentor has gotten to know me and is familiar with my work ethic, how I've organized my life around doing this. She's read my papers and seen my raw scores and she knows what I'm made of. When it's time for me to move on, I am sure that whatever I want to do, I will be able to.

37changes, ASN, RN · Mar 14, 2019

I was just looking at the RN-BSN program on their site yesterday. So nice to have found this post!

For classes like the one mentioned above, where you have live sessions to attend, therefore, a set schedule ... are you able to buzz through other classes during this time? Or are you just stuck on that one class for those 4 weeks?

Thanks!

415RN, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2019

HI 37changes- that Professional Leadership and Communication course is absolutely the only one that you have to attend live sessions in order to get the credit for the course. They offer you a few different options for schedules, so sign up early to get the one you want that works with your schedule, and it is the first class you take. Everyone in my group was also doing one of their other courses at the same time. In the four weeks it took me to complete that class, I also completed Anatomy and Physiology I.

I took my Statistics Objective Assessment on Sunday and passed that class with an "exemplary" (as opposed to just a competent.). Because I still have till 3/31 before this term ends, I wanted to do another course. I moved the Informatics course up into this term on Monday morning by texting my program mentor and asking her to move it up for me. On my lunch hour, I took the pre-assessment to see how familiar I was with the content and so it could direct me to any areas I needed to particularly focus on for studying for the Objective Assessment. I got Exemplary on the pre-assessment, and came home from work and took the objective assessment, so now I have Statistics and Informatics to add to the list of courses I posted above. (I worked as a informatics nurse on a roll-out and implementation and support team for a large Northern California hospital group, so that area of knowledge is something I am very familiar with, and it was clear from the pre-assessment that this was an area I had already, in my life, acquired a competency in.)

I am not going to move any more courses forward, but I am starting to work on Biochemistry now, so once the new term starts, I'll be well into the work required to pass the objective assessment. I'll be done in two terms at this rate, and I feel very good about that.

37changes, ASN, RN · Mar 16, 2019

Thank you for your detailed answer! It sounds like it is going very well for you. That's awesome. ?

37changes, ASN, RN · Mar 22, 2019

I got my transfer evaluation done and I only have 39 to complete, so that's pretty cool.

Set to start May 1 if all goes well. This thread has been super helpful -- thanks again!

CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN · May 14, 2019

Tagging along, I am in the process of enrolling for the RN to BSN program. Any further updates would be great from those who have been through this.