Nursing school with little wait list in Madison area?

[jesmc]

Hello,

I really want to start a nursing program as soon as I can. My youngest will be starting kindergarten in the fall, so I'm ready to get my career started. I am planning to work as a CNA while I'm waiting to start school and then while in school. My plan was to get my LPN and then work as an LPN while going to school for my RN. I do however have 121 semester hours of college, but it is mostly general education and sociology classes. I don't have chemistry or anatomy. My sciences were geology and environmental. So, I'm not sure if I decided to go the BSN route instead how long total it would take.

Are BSN programs faster to get into? Are there 4 years of clinicals, or just a couple? Would it be possible to finish a BSN in 2 years if I did have enough transfer credits from my prior college?

All of the RN programs I've looked into have massive wait lists. And after reading a previous post about Herzing's accredidation, not to mention outrageous tuition, I've decided against that route.

Any advice would be great! I wouldn't mind traveling a couple times a week w/in about an hour of Madison a couple times a week for classes, but would prefer to stay closer w/ gas prices the way they are!

Thanks,

Jes:p

[em7008019]

I had 1 semester of chemistry from MATC, I also transferred in Microbiology & A&P 1 & 2 from MATC.

The day to day is either 730- 1130 for the am group or 1230 - 430 for the pm group. You usually have class 2 - 5 days a week depending on the term. Term for most classes are 9 weeks long and you have 1 to 2 classes per term. I think there were a couple classes like Pharm that they were talikng about extending to 18 weeks.

For clinical and you have 4 of them (LTC, Med/Surg I, Med/ Surg II, & OB/Pysch) AM people go from 730 until around 300 and pm people are from 230 or 300 until 930 or 1000 just like working second shift. Plus an internship (we had 200 hours I think they were planning on decreasing to 150). Everyones is different and you get about 12 weeks to complete it.

I was in the PM group. When I went we started in July '06 and we finished the middle of April '08. You do go through the summer. The only breaks you get are 2 weeks over christmas and 2 weeks in the summer. There is also no flexiblty in the schedule, they only offer courses once a year. I probably still have the course lay out somewhere if you'd like to see it.

The big thing to check on there is that they received their accredidation. They didn't have it yet when I graduated. There was also a lot of instructor turn over around the time I graduated so I don't know very much about the instructors they currently have.

Good luck, Let me know if you have any other questions.

[clearblue3]

Thanks SO much for your quick reply and lots of info! So...I am guessing that the clinicals are spread throughout the program right? I am confused on the AM/PM groups. If you were in the PM group were classes or clinicals in the afternoon/evening or both? Also were other prereq's like the speech/comp, electives etc. worked into the program? I have all that done so I am wondering if that will help me out. Was it difficult to get in? Thanks again!!

[em7008019]

I transferred in a bunch of classes. I will indicate them below in the course sequence I found from when I went through the program. Anything you can transfer in will make life much easier because there are some though classes that a together. I had no problems but I had some friends who really struggled, especially taking Pharm & Body structure together and Med/Surg & A&P together. I will also indicate the day the classes fell on (if I can find them) to give you an idea.

As far as AM / PM goes there are two groups of 24 students that go through at the same time. When you enroll you either choose AM which is classroom from 730a-1130a with clinical during first shift hours or PM with classroom from 1230p-430p and clinical during second shift hours. The only way you are allowed to go in to the other section is of someone will trade with you.

Course Sequence for 2008 Graduates

Date

Class

Days

July ‘06

Computer Applications

Intro to Psych (transfer)

Student Success (transfer)

Sept ‘06

9/6-10/26

Body Structure (transfer)

Pharmacology

MWF

TTh

Nov ‘06

Fundamentals of Nursing

Comp I (transfer)

Jan ‘07

1/10-2/28

Clinical I (LTC)

Life Spans

MTW

ThF

Mar ‘07

3/5-4/24

Alterations

Career Development (transfer)

MW

May ‘07

Clinical II (Med/Surg I)

TWTh

July ‘07

A & P (transfer)

Med/Surg Nursing

Critical Thinking (online)

MW

Sept ‘07

Mental Health & Community

Speech (transfer)

Microbiology (transfer)

Nov ‘07

10/30-12/20

Clinical III (Med/Surg II)

Nursing Managment

TWF

Th

Jan ‘08

1/9-2/26

Clinical IV (OB/Psych)

OB/Peds/Geri

Cultural Diversity (online)

MW

TTh

Mar ‘08

Clinical Internship

The classes I took online were thru Herzing and I took them during other terms where my course load was easier. I think I took cultural diversity July ’06 and Critical thinking Nov ’06.

Hope this gives you a good idea. If you have all the classes I did then the program really isn’t that tough. Most of the time you only have one “class” to concentrate on. Clinicals are mostly showing up and you have to write a care plan. Some small assignments, but nothing like the amount of time you’ll spend doing things for the classroom courses.

If you have any other questions let me know.

[allrn]

I am a recent graduate from the nursing program at Herzing University-Madison, and I can tell you that at first it was pretty rough (very unorganized-there had been some position changes prior). They got it together fast...I feel like I got a thorough education, and had some amazing clinicals! It is pretty exspensive, but I got in and out and can now say that I have an RN behind my name :) Graduated in May, took the nclex in June, Passed at 75 questions (phew!), and have a job! ......I will even say that at one clinical one of the nurses said she loved it when the Herzing students were there because we worked hard, and "actually did work!" compared to the other schools they have come in.