Need advice on picking best RN to BSN online program

Nursing Students Online Learning

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Hey everyone, I was looking for some advice for picking a good online RN-BSN program, my biggest concern is that it has the appropriate accreditation's so that if I wanted to continue into an NP or DNP program local to me later that all my credits would be accepted. I've found so many schools that advertise cheap and super fast, but I'm always scared that if it's to good to be true then it is. Some schools advertise 6 months and some are the full 2 years? I don't care as much about the time as I do about it being recognized a legitimate by any graduate degree program I might apply for later. Just looking for some guidance or maybe someone who has done their RN to BSN online and then attended a graduate program at another school who may know what is most important to look for when deciding what online programs to apply for. Thank you!

WGU is not the best either. They required so many credit hours just to make money out of you. and they are willing to help when you need them.

0 Votes
Specializes in Psychiatry.

I am at UTA's RN-BSN program. It's accredited and it costs about $9000. You go at your own pace and although it is advertised as being as quick as 9 months, you can realistically be done in less time if you double up on classes.

https://academicpartnerships.uta.edu/programs/rn-to-bsn.aspx

http://www.uta.edu/conhi/_doc/unurs/AO_RN-BSN-programguidelines.pdf

You can use intro to philosphy in place of technical writing. You need to take texas politics. You may need either British literature, world literature or US literature.

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On 1/18/2019 at 3:26 PM, Neo Soldier said:

I am at UTA's RN-BSN program. It's accredited and it costs about $9000. You go at your own pace and although it is advertised as being as quick as 9 months, you can realistically be done in less time if you double up on classes.

https://academicpartnerships.uta.edu/programs/rn-to-bsn.aspx

http://www.uta.edu/conhi/_doc/unurs/AO_RN-BSN-programguidelines.pdf

You can use intro to philosphy in place of technical writing. You need to take texas politics. You may need either British literature, world literature or US literature.

When researching online RN to BSN schools, be very wary of the "finish in 9 months / 30 credits" scam advertised to ADNs. I'm presently enrolled in chamberlain (slated to start in may, i have taken no classes yet, only submitted the 60 dollar application fee) but in the meantime I'm researching my other options. I too was VERY attracted to UTA and similar online state schools advertising very low credits to completion and low tuition for ADNs.

What they dont TELL you is that time to completion assumes you have completed NUMEROUS prerequisites /lower pre nursing education classes, many of which were NOT included in your associates/diploma training. For example UTA with their glamorous 9 month/9k program requires TWO texas history classes - these required - in addition to two history classes, literature, composition II, a statistics class, et cetera. I analyzed my transcript, analyzed UTAs "lower level" prerequisites and estimated when all is said and done, it will take TWO YEARS to graduate from this school and nearly twice the cost advertised.

Chamberlains relatively upfront 45 credit program at 590 dollars per credit hour, is 26k in comparison. This is more expensive, but i will finish in 15 months. The program is truthfully more honest, designed for straightforward ADN students with no other education. UTA is dishonest, as almost no ADN students will be capable of finishing in less than a year unless they happen to have extensive non ADN schooling.

If you really can finish UTA in 9 months, good for you, but you are certainly in the minority of ADNs who don't have prior education; most bachelors trained nurses would have done a bachelors bridge program in first place, not an ADN.

1 Votes
Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I had 3 associates degrees when I did an RN-to-BSN bridge, so I only needed something like 32 credits to finish my degree, and most of those were nursing courses. But to be clear, Chamberlain does require students to have credits that are not nursing-specific such as math/statistics, English, humanities, sociology, etc., so there is always going to be some of that. A bachelors education is intended to create "well rounded" graduates.

But this is why I always tell people to make spreadsheets to compare programs. When I did that, I found that there were some schools that would have required me to take 17-20 more credits beyond what I did for my BSN (I already had 206 credits going in), and it would have tacked a lot of time and money on to the journey.

1 Votes
Specializes in 25 years NICU 5 years Telephone Triage.

I just got accepted to Aspen University's online RN-BSN program. They have been great. I signed up for their 0% interest free student loan. $250/month for 43 months. This doesn't include books. I am also getting tuition reimbursement from my employer $2500/year. My total cost will end up around 8k. I think that's pretty reasonable! I am taking one class at a time.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psychiatry.
On 4/2/2019 at 11:46 PM, NooNieNursie said:

UTA with their glamorous 9 month/9k program requires TWO texas history classes - these required - in addition to two history classes, literature, composition II, a statistics class

I agree that UTA is deceptive. For example, you require two electives specifically from UTA to be eligible to graduate which automatically makes the total cost >$9k. You are able to take classes at a community college while taking classes at UTA. You can take electives with nursing classes.

UTA is one of the cheaper and more convenient options.

0 Votes

I have an update to this thread (haha) as my foray into educating MYSELF about higher education (scams, truthfully) continues.

My previous high evaluation of Chamberlain must be PROFOUNDLY modified as i just discovered the 45 credit program is ONLY for the nursing courses. SO essentially, it is just like the 30-35 credit state programs advertised, except they shortened the nursing class times BUT increased the number of classes, to milk MORE money out of the STUDENT, at an already outrageous cost of $590 per credit hour.

My transcript is presently in review, and i will find out the final # of credits and classes i need to complete my BSN. Unless this program is seriously lacking, given my basic ADN education i am going to need a LOT of prerequisites.

SO far, from what I see, ohio state has the best program of the ones i've researched. Credit hour cost is $380, but the nsg class portion is only 30 credit hours, and the required prerequisites are entirely reasonable for a BS degree. I may end up going with them after all, and just dealing with fact i cannot start until fall.

So, just writing this to update everyone - i was COMPLETELY wrong thinking chamberlains 45 credit program included necessary prerequisites (at least partly), it includes NONE, making it actually WORSE than many other options. However, it seems chamberlains required prereqs are light... but so are many competitively priced state schools like ohio.

Basically, point still remains: none of these "finish in a year or less" programs apply to the ADN who had no other education but ADN. The only one that might is , but we all know that is a pass/fail school which will drag down GPA.

2 Votes
Specializes in Psychiatry.
5 hours ago, NooNieNursie said:

ohio state has the best program of the ones i've researched. Credit hour cost is $380, but the nsg class portion is only 30 credit hours,

Did you mean Ohio State University or Ohio University because they both have RN-BSN programs online.

https://nursing.osu.edu/academics/undergraduate/rn-bsn/rn-bsn-curriculum

For OSU, you still require a lot of the classes required anywhere else: two semesters of English, literature, art, history etc.

For Ohio university, you need other support course. See university wide GE requirements

https://www.ohio.edu/chsp/nursing/rn-bsn/nursing-courses

The catalog

https://catalogs.ohio.edu/content.php?catoid=57&navoid=4428

0 Votes
Specializes in 25 years NICU 5 years Telephone Triage.
7 hours ago, NooNieNursie said:

I have an update to this thread (haha) as my foray into educating MYSELF about higher education (scams, truthfully) continues.

My previous high evaluation of Chamberlain must be PROFOUNDLY modified as i just discovered the 45 credit program is ONLY for the nursing courses. SO essentially, it is just like the 30-35 credit state programs advertised, except they shortened the nursing class times BUT increased the number of classes, to milk MORE money out of the STUDENT, at an already outrageous cost of $590 per credit hour.

My transcript is presently in review, and i will find out the final # of credits and classes i need to complete my BSN. Unless this program is seriously lacking, given my basic ADN education i am going to need a LOT of prerequisites.

SO far, from what I see, ohio state has the best program of the ones i've researched. Credit hour cost is $380, but the nsg class portion is only 30 credit hours, and the required prerequisites are entirely reasonable for a BS degree. I may end up going with them after all, and just dealing with fact i cannot start until fall.

So, just writing this to update everyone - i was COMPLETELY wrong thinking chamberlains 45 credit program included necessary prerequisites (at least partly), it includes NONE, making it actually WORSE than many other options. However, it seems chamberlains required prereqs are light... but so are many competitively priced state schools like ohio.

Basically, point still remains: none of these "finish in a year or less" programs apply to the ADN who had no other education but ADN. The only one that might is WGU, but we all know that is a pass/fail school which will drag down GPA.

Hi there. I just had the initial "interview" over the phone with Chamberlain. It was 45 minutes long! It made me uncomfortable because she was very intrusive about my life. Chamberlain appears to be deceptive for sure. She was very pushy about signing me up over the phone with her. I told her no (because I had already signed up with Aspen. )

Aspen did not ask me tons of questions about my personal and work life like Chamberlain did. I recommend looking into Aspen. They offer a 0% private tuition loan at $250/month for 43 months. Total price is $10750. It takes around 18 months to complete a BSN, taking 1 class every 8 weeks. They accepted all of my credits from my community colleges. They gave me 50 credits for the ADN and 40 credits for my work experience and RN license. So now I only have to complete RN courses totaling 10 classes for 30 credits. No pre-requisites. My current employer will be giving me $2500/yr in tuition reimbursement also!

Thanks for sharing your experience about Chamberlain. Now I know they would have been a waste of my time and money.

Aspen is very upfront and honest. They have been quick to reply. I wasn't charged an application fee. It took 48 hrs after my transcripts were received to accept me into their program.

What did you think of Chamberlain's long phone interview?

1 Votes
7 hours ago, ILoveHorses67 said:

Hi there. I just had the initial "interview" over the phone with Chamberlain. It was 45 minutes long! It made me uncomfortable because she was very intrusive about my life. Chamberlain appears to be deceptive for sure. She was very pushy about signing me up over the phone with her. I told her no (because I had already signed up with Aspen. )

Aspen did not ask me tons of questions about my personal and work life like Chamberlain did. I recommend looking into Aspen. They offer a 0% private tuition loan at $250/month for 43 months. Total price is $10750. It takes around 18 months to complete a BSN, taking 1 class every 8 weeks. They accepted all of my credits from my community colleges. They gave me 50 credits for the ADN and 40 credits for my work experience and RN license. So now I only have to complete RN courses totaling 10 classes for 30 credits. No pre-requisites. My current employer will be giving me $2500/yr in tuition reimbursement also!

Thanks for sharing your experience about Chamberlain. Now I know they would have been a waste of my time and money.

Aspen is very upfront and honest. They have been quick to reply. I wasn't charged an application fee. It took 48 hrs after my transcripts were received to accept me into their program.

What did you think of Chamberlain's long phone interview?

Hi there

I just want to offer ANOTHER update

it turns out the 45 credit program DID have prerequisite built into it, as i had originally assumed and why i selected the program.

My transcript review is complete and everything transferred. I was very fortunate in this regard and start the program with 89 credits and many prereq satisfied; i just need statistics (which is fantastic as this is required for all APN programs pretty much), american history and pol sci. Since the 45 credit program includes prereqs, i was able to knock out several classes leaving me with 33 credits and 1 year to complete. Fantastic. Estimated tuition costs will be 20k, which DESTROYS any state school as i am rather certain my transcript review would not go this well and i would be doing at least 6+ lower level classes in addition to the nursing po rtion.

Regarding the interview - it totally caught me offguard. I wasn't expecting it. However, it seems reasonable to interview a student before allowing them to apply to school, just to weed out ppl who are obviously poor candidates, someone who is unable to fashion a coherent response or seems impaired. My only problem with the interview is it was unexpected, i didn't anticipate it at that point in process so answers to some questions i had to simply admit ignorance (such as the history of chamberlain college).

I didn't enjoy the interview, and would have preferred if i was warned in advance "are you ready to start your 45 minute interview?" rather than just starting this prolonged interview i might not have had the time to complete, or the preparation.

anyway, i would like to make *another* update, the 45 credit program DOES INCLUDE prerequisites i was given wrong information (the admission liaison seems to make errors when communicating on phone...). Because this does include essential prerequisites, the average student needs 45 credits (which includes prereqs) and your previous ADN education substantiates 77 credits. Some unlucky students may need more than 45 credits. My transcript review went amazingly and i need 33 credits and of those 3 classes come from useful prereqs.

For ADN with no prior education chamberlain seems a fabulous option; odds are any state school would review my transcript and REQUIRE i retake all these classes as they appear to be coded as not undergraduate level.

EDIT: it seems aspen is offering a very similar program, but for 10k less than chamberlain. I would have to investigate, as it seems the only other online private college with cheaper/faster routes are pass fail schools like . If aspen has a grading system, i might look into that (trying to avoid pass fail schools for future education)

1 Votes
Specializes in 25 years NICU 5 years Telephone Triage.

Hi Noonie Nurse: Aspen does have a grading system! Trust me, they are great. I start on the 16th. It was free to apply. They reviewed my transcripts and accepted 50 credits. I am starting with 90 credits: 50 from ADN and 40 from RN license and work experience. Which leaves 30 credits of Nursing classes only to complete at $10750. Books are not included. I would suggest you look at their website and call them! I felt like Chamberlain was very sales oriented and pushy. If you want to save 10k, give them a call. It can't hurt!

1 Votes
1 hour ago, ILoveHorses67 said:

Hi Noonie Nurse: Aspen does have a grading system! Trust me, they are great. I start on the 16th. It was free to apply. They reviewed my transcripts and accepted 50 credits. I am starting with 90 credits: 50 from ADN and 40 from RN license and work experience. Which leaves 30 credits of Nursing classes only to complete at $10750. Books are not included. I would suggest you look at their website and call them! I felt like Chamberlain was very sales oriented and pushy. If you want to save 10k, give them a call. It can't hurt!

thanks for the suggestion

I think monday i will call them just to see total fee schedule and prospective credits to complete for me personally

my chamberlain tuition includes all books and fees as well so savings probably closer to 8-9k but that is nothing to sneeze at.

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