Ohio University RN-to-BSN Program

[chuckster]

Since it seems that there's quite a bit of interest, I'm attempting to start a new thread devoted exclusively to the OU on-line RN-BSN program that will hopefully build on the comments on assorted previous threads.

I'd like to ask nevergonnagiveup, mtsteelhorse and babynurse73 - all of whom (I think) are either already in the program or have applied for admission - to post about their experiences. I just sent in my application and plan to post periodically about relevant issues. If we can populate the thread with good material, it could become a very useful resource for both those considering the OU program and students already in it. Once that happens, I'd hope we could prevail upon the forum moderators to make it a sticky thread.

As indicated, I've only recently applied to the program. So far, I'm happy with the support and information I've gotten. I've been contacted by an OU "enrollment specialist" who was somewhat helpful (I suspect that they have dual roles, one being to provide basic information to prospective students and the other to follow-up with the prospects and help to fill the roster for the program). This person e-mailed me, followed up with a phone call and was able to provide some useful, if basic, information about the program. I also sent a lengthy e-mail to OU with quite a number of specific, detailed questions. This too resulted in both an e-mail and telephone response, this time from an academic advisor in the OU School of Nursing. Again I received some useful and quite helpful information. All in all, my early experience has been pretty positive.

As indicated above, I plan to post about relevant issues that come up as I work my way through the admission and evaluation process. I'd very much like to hear from others about their experience with OU and I'm sure that there will be a lot of interest by others in our collective experience with the program.

[hollierncrrn]

Chuckster- I can only assume I will be getting the same message. Although I have yet to hear from OU. I really feel like I have been given the run around the last couple of days.

[aobnurse]

I applied to OU for the fall semester. It's been a LOOOOOOONNNNNG time since I graduated from NSG school (1980). Of course I haven't received anything from them telling me if I've even been accepted into the program. I've read the majority of posts and, frankly, I'm considering UOP. I know they're expensive, but it seems they have things a little more together than Ohio U.

Chuckster, I really have to hand it to you. I think I would have given up by now!!!!

[michelemybell]

I too have looked into other programs online and in classroom but the cost is a huge factor!

[hollierncrrn]

chuckster- May I ask what letter your surname begins with? Just looking for some sort of an explanation as to why I once again did not hear anything from OU (after being told by admissions that I would). If the process was really alphabetical there are a lot of letters that would follow mine (H).

To me it makes more sense to process in the order that applications were recieved. I too applied in Feb and confirmed with OU that they had all of my transcripts in Feb as well. I am offended not only by their lack of common courtesy, but also feel as if I was knowingly misled by the admissions department. If it wasn't for the fact that their tuition cannot be beat I would move on, but money is a big factor. So I guess I will keep on waiting...

[hollierncrrn]

deltaroxxy2- Thank you for the info re books! Looks like I won't be needing it right away though... As a current student what do you think of the program? I honestly hope it is worthwhile for me to stick out the admissions process.

[deltaroxxy2]

deltaroxxy2- Thank you for the info re books! Looks like I won't be needing it right away though... As a current student what do you think of the program? I honestly hope it is worthwhile for me to stick out the admissions process.

I love it...It has definitely fulfilled my needs regarding obtaining my BSN. The classes are involved, but not overly complicated. I feel as though I am learning and growing with the information I've obtained thus far. I'm easily bored, so I love the fast paced 5wk classes. I'm doubling up on classes, so that I can be done sooner.

My process was delayed due to a transcript, but I felt as though they responded quickly with all of my questions/concerns. I have no idea what is causing potential students to have so many problems. I would definitely be discouraged. But as a student, I really have had nothing but a positive experience.

Good Luck!!!

[UGADawgs]

Got this e-mail this morning.

It looks like Ohio University is doing everything possible to discourage me (and possibly others) from entering their program. A July start will mean that OU will have had my application for more than 7 months.

You could be using this time between now and the July start date to work on your general education classes through their independent study/credit by exam courses http://www.ohio.edu/independent/iscourse.htm while you wait. Except, no you can't either because they won't give you a DARS so you don't know what you have to have and what you don't. Oh well, that really does suck. You'd think they'd at least have the decency to evaluate your transfer credits so you can go ahead and map out your degree program and use the downtime to knock out some prerequisites like the junior level writing course. Screams unprofessional. I've never heard of someone meeting the application deadline at a school before and then being told they're considering their application for a later date other than what was indicated.

Perversely, this is also one of the things that I find most attractive about OU. Even though they're making you wait until the next session, it is still only about a 5 week wait. If you were dealing with the same issues in a college on the semester system, you may not be able to start until September.

I was all about Penn State until about 3 weeks ago, but now I'm leaning heavily toward OU. I applied last week for the September start date, and by now all of my transcripts should have arrived in their offices. Costs aside, the scheduling flexibility and 5-week carousel style course delivery really appeals to me.

What if something happens and stuff hits the fan at work or I hit a stressful period or non-work related things come up, and need to take some time off from school? With OU I can take a break and then jump right back on the wagon 5 weeks later and my graduation date will only be pushed back by a little more than a month and I'll still graduate in the same general part of the year that I would have anyway. With a traditional, semester-based class, I'd have to wait for an entire semester to go by and it would set me back by 4 months.

Also, with OU's 1 or 2 courses every 5 weeks instead of 4 or 5 courses every 15 weeks, if something happens and you have to withdraw from your classes for that term and take a "W" grade past the refund date, you only lose the money you spent on the one class that you're currently in and only have to get that one ugly W on your transcipt. In a traditional, semester-based program, if you have to drop in the middle of the term you lose your tuition for the entire semester if you drop all your classes and get 5 Ws. No thanks. I think I like being able to take one or two at a time a whole lot better.

Also, it's just more conducive to my learning style to focus all my effort on one thing at a time, rather than have to shift gears several times per day and do a little bit with this course and a little bit with that one and then a little more with this one over here, even if the workload ends up being the same. The amount of books, websites, instructors and their contact info, students in your groups, etc. is smaller with one class and easier to keep on top of.

So, yeah, Ohio's scheduling and delivery flexibility looks real good on paper. If they can impliment it in practice, then I'm definitely sold.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

chuckster- May I ask what letter your surname begins with? . . .

To me it makes more sense to process in the order that applications were recieved. I too applied in Feb and confirmed with OU that they had all of my transcripts in Feb as well. I am offended not only by their lack of common courtesy, but also feel as if I was knowingly misled by the admissions department. If it wasn't for the fact that their tuition cannot be beat I would move on, but money is a big factor. So I guess I will keep on waiting...

I'm near the end of the alphabet (S). If you are an H, the whole alphabetical order theory falls apart. Funny story about my surname - it really should begin with Z (it's a Dutch name) but the doctor who filled out my dad's birth certificate wrote an S instead. By the time they discovered the mistake, correcting it would have required a court request for a legal name change. My dad always joked that he changed it himself because he hated being last when things were done in alphabetical order.

As to transcripts, all of mine were received by the end of first week of March. There was a problem with one of them - it listed transfer credits from the wrong campus of a state university, so I had to get a letter from that campus stating that I did not attend there. That was done by mid-April, at least a week prior to the 22 April deadline. As you did, I also confirmed with the admissions office that they had everything and they told me I was on-track for the 20 June session. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. And like you, I'm also more than a little upset at the lack of communication and common courtesy - and maybe even outright lying - by OU

Since you had everything to them by the end of Feb, it would seem that the theory that the applications were processed in the order they were received is also not the case. So my working theory now is that they processed applications based on the number of transcripts associated with each. I have several degrees, each from a different school with transfer course work from a few more leading to a total of 9 transcripts.

You could be using this time between now and the July start date to work on your general education classes . . . Except, no you can't either because they won't give you a DARS so you don't know what you have to have and what you don't. Oh well, that really does suck. You'd think they'd at least have the decency to evaluate your transfer credits so you can go ahead and map out your degree program and use the downtime to knock out some prerequisites like the junior level writing course. Screams unprofessional. I've never heard of someone meeting the application deadline at a school before and then being told they're considering their application for a later date other than what was indicated.

I've spent a great deal of time on the OU website and I was actually able to talk to and e-mail with an advisor about the general ed requirements and as a result, think I have pretty good idea of what they require. I'm reasonably certain that I have all of the gen ed stuff covered in the 300 or so credits I've managed to accumulate. I have several stats courses, plus calc and computer sciences, so I should have the Quantitative Skills and Applied Science/Math requirements covered. I've taken a few anthro and religion courses plus a SE Asia history course so am pretty sure that these will cover the Cross Cultural Perspectives requirement. I have at least 8 English and journalism classes that should take of the English, Jr Composition and Humanities/Literature. Social Sciences should easily be covered by the 5 pysch and 3 sociology courses I've taken and my bio - including micro - and chem courses should satisfy the Natural Sciences and Micro requirement. My undergrad major was Communications and I have lots of film and theater courses so Fine Arts should not be problem.

I think (or at least hope) I have a realistic chance to not have to take any non-nursing courses.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

. . . Yes - order the book for Transitions, I found it on Amazon cheaper than in the book store. Order the next book too - for the July class if you are taking Management Issues - the same book is used in Sept if you take Strategic Planning. That ISBN # is 9781416059844. I found it used on Amazon for around $38 + shipping. The book I am having trouble finding used is for Health Assessment - new edition in 2011 and it is running around $80. . .

One strategy I've used is to buy the previous edition. If the Health Assessment book mentioned above is a new edition this year, you'll be able to get the previous edition for just a few dollars. Generally, the differences between editions are very small but the page numbering will not be the same. This makes it a bit more work if specific pages are assigned in the syllabus and you'll have to hunt a bit to find the right page.

The cost saving can be substantial though. I've often found new, unused copies of the previous edition for as little as $5 or $10. And in any case, it pays to look around a little bit. I bought a new copy of the book for Transitions for $5 from an on-line bookseller. I just hope that I have a need for the text soon . . .

[rninme]

That would be a good plan Chuckster ... but I am hoping to test out of 310 - Health Appraisal. That would free up most of Oct and Nov for me ... so I can do my SANE/SAFE classes. at least, that is my plan - but ya know how plans go!!

[hollierncrrn]

chuckster- I have only one transcript to be evaled... I have no idea how the admissions process works. In fact I still have not recieved any e-mail messages about the June 20th session. I did call yesterday and confirmed via phone that I have been bumped to the second summer session. Not that it does any good but I voiced my frustration that as recently as Monday afternoon I was told there would be no problem with starting classes on the 20th. The person I spoke with was surprised that I was told that (making me think that the person I initially talked to knew well enough that they were stopping admissions to the summer 1 session). I cannot wait to get past the admissions dept!

Thank you to all those who reminded me of all the positive attributes to the program. I really don't think there is another program that compares (or that would fit into my schedule right now). To look on the bright side I gained four weeks of my summer back and can enjoy the time with my family.

[BrookeeLou_RN]

I have been following your thread and I will say you all are the most patient people I have come across!! I really hope this program turns out to be worth the wait, aggravation, and all. I wonder if you will have similar admin problems when it comes time to graduate. At least the middle part sounds like it is worthwhile, if you ever get there. Best of luck to all of you. Please continue to post once you start classes as I am fascinated.