New Program- To RISKY?

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Hey everyone,

I am a pre-nursing student that already has a BS and an MS in psych. In order to apply to most of the BSN programs I need 3-4 science classes. I have found a new BSN program in my area that allows you to pursue your BSN in 2 years, while doing any and I mean any other general required classes concurrently, thus making it so I could start nursing school in a month instead of waiting another year to apply to finish the classes then who knows how long until I wold actually start a program.

My hesitiation is that they have 2 nursing classes so far so the program is a little over a year old. The insitution has been around for awhile and is accredited by the higher education board, and the program is in the process of seeking nursing accredidation, but more time needs to pass before they are granted that. I am just concerned about applying to a brand new program and wondering how its non-accredited status because it is a new program will affect me in the future.

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I wouldn't be as worried that the program is new...I would be more concerned with the fact that it is not accredited yet. If you know for absolute sure that you wouldn't continue your nursing education after this, then ok. But, if you think you might want to go for your masters, or NP or something more in nursing, you should really stick with a nursing program that is accredited.

Good luck to you!!!:nuke:

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I just spoke to the program and the CCNE is coming in April for a site visit. They made it seem like by the time I graduated in 2 years, the program would be accredited by the CCNE and graduates that attended before accredidation would be retroactively accreditied.

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If that is the case, then I would go for it!! It could work in your favor to have a "new program". Administration and instructors will be working hard to create a good reputation for their school (hopefully)!

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Specializes in Neuro.

New programs can be kind of risky, and kind of annoying. I'm the third class in a new program (accelerated). The first class had just graduated when I applied, but they did have a 100% NCLEX pass rate, which was encouraging. The only issues I've really encountered are they are manipulating the program a lot, which means we seldom know what's going on in advance. We get a lot of "Well, last year we did suchandsuch, but we're doing it different this year." "We'll let you know as soon as we know." "Oh wait, you guys haven't learned this yet? Last year they taught that first."

It's kind of frustrating to be a guinea-pig, sometimes, but they really do listen to our input regarding what's working and what's not working, so we get to kind of be involved in our education. And hopefully we'll be the third class in a row with a 100% NCLEX pass rate!

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One of the schools I got accepted to hasn't been accredited yet. They have a temporary accreditation and are seeking it in 2007. I assume that they'll get it, but who knows!

I will be class #3

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Specializes in Psych.
Hey everyone,

I am a pre-nursing student that already has a BS and an MS in psych. In order to apply to most of the BSN programs I need 3-4 science classes. I have found a new BSN program in my area that allows you to pursue your BSN in 2 years, while doing any and I mean any other general required classes concurrently, thus making it so I could start nursing school in a month instead of waiting another year to apply to finish the classes then who knows how long until I wold actually start a program.

My hesitiation is that they have 2 nursing classes so far so the program is a little over a year old. The insitution has been around for awhile and is accredited by the higher education board, and the program is in the process of seeking nursing accredidation, but more time needs to pass before they are granted that. I am just concerned about applying to a brand new program and wondering how its non-accredited status because it is a new program will affect me in the future.

This is my exact situation! I have a BA and MS in psych and I am applying to a couple of different programs in my geographical area. They both want you to have your prereq's done though and its taken me two years but they are. The first program is an accelerated BSN. They didn't have their accreditation when I first started talking to them but now they do. The second program is an ELM and they need to have at least two classes graduate before they can be accredited. Both are reputable schools and one even has an already accredited DO program. If the school you are looking at has a good shot at accreditation then I say go for it and good luck!

Dee

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Thanks for all the replies. Another interesting tidbit is that the state board of nursing in colorado is making it mandatory for ALL (LPN, ADN, BSN, MS and PHD) programs to be accredited by CCNE or NLNAC by January of 2010, otherwise they can no longer operate as a program, no matter how long they have been around.

My issue is I really want to go on to be a nurse practioner someday and don't want to start this program, which has no waiting list and I would almost be guaranteed to start in a month or so, then they don't get accredited by the time I graduate and then what? I am confused because the only two np programs in the state say nowhere on their admission requirements that your BSN had to come from an CCNE or NLNAC program?!?!? Nothing about your school is even mentioned except for listing all schools and degrees!

This is so frustrating.

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Thanks for all the replies. Another interesting tidbit is that the state board of nursing in colorado is making it mandatory for ALL (LPN, ADN, BSN, MS and PHD) programs to be accredited by CCNE or NLNAC by January of 2010, otherwise they can no longer operate as a program, no matter how long they have been around.

My issue is I really want to go on to be a nurse practioner someday and don't want to start this program, which has no waiting list and I would almost be guaranteed to start in a month or so, then they don't get accredited by the time I graduate and then what? I am confused because the only two np programs in the state say nowhere on their admission requirements that your BSN had to come from an CCNE or NLNAC program?!?!? Nothing about your school is even mentioned except for listing all schools and degrees!

This is so frustrating.

I've yet to see an advanced nursing degree that didn't list one of the requirements for admission as something along the lines of this: "graduation from an accredited school of nursing, with current and valid RN licensure". I don't think you can get a license if your school is not accredited - so they will KNOW your school was accredited if you were able to sit for NCLEX.

I got all of this information from the NP program/MSN program websites for the state of Colorado, all under "Admission Requirements" on the program pages. I copied and pasted it all here:

UC Denver website: # A baccalaureate degree with an upper division major in nursing, an entry level doctor of nursing, or a generic master’s degree in nursing from an NLN or CCNE accredited program

Colorado State at Pueblo site: 1) A baccalaureate degree must be in nursing from an institution accredited by the regional accreditation agency (or equivalent).

UC Colorado Springs/Beth-El: # Completion of an accredited baccalaureate degree in nursing program including prerequisite undergraduate courses:

* Introduction to Statistics

* Nursing Research

* Health Assessment

University of Northern Colorado: # A bachelor’s degree in nursing with a 3.0 GPA or better (on a 4.0 scale) on the most recent 60 hours of baccalaureate-level coursework from a nursing accredited institution

Every single school says you have to have an accredited degree. I found all the info in about twenty minutes for each school in your state. And I found NP programs specified at three of the above institutions; the other one only mentioned MSNs (was it Denver, which I find really hard to believe!) but I didn't dig too far into the site.

Info's there, you just have to dig a bit.

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There is a BSN program not too far from here that was new, that I considered about a year ago. They graduated their first class that had an NCLEX pass rate of barely over 70%. The second graduating class, it fell lower than that.

They get a class of 20 students in the Fall and their first two classes, graduated fewer than 10. I personally, don't see how the tuition even puts a dent into offsetting the salaries of the three nursing instructors.

At the school I am now, there are tons of students who are "defectors" from the other school's program, and they said it was a total disorganized nightmare.

Not to say that is the case where you are looking at, but it's something to take a serious look at.

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Thanks again for the replies. I have decided to only apply to schools that are accredited BSN by the nursing boards. It is just not worth it to me to be that stressed out about it and have my degree questioned and have it screw me in the future. Even if it means it will take longer to start or even to get in.

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