Grand Canyon University RN to BSN Reviews

Howdy all, I bit the bullet and after much research, I decided on Grand Canyon! Wow, I did not expect BSN schools to be like used car salesmen--hounding me by emails and phone calls. Rather impressed on how Grand Canyon sort of left me alone, but at the same time kept in touch.

Commence my first class Sept 30th, excited, yet very nervous, as I'm not a big fan of school, LOL! I did extremely well on my Associate degree, graduated back in 2009 from Northern Virginia Community College. We shall see.

Would love to hear from past and present Grand Canyon RN to BSN students.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Sent you a pm

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

tokmom, about those 5-week classes--normal semester classes are 16 weeks, and I've done the intensive online 8-weekers...which were hell. Are they really cramming 16 weeks into 5, or are these not "full semester" type courses? From what you've posted, it really looks like an insane amount of work in a short time. Maybe a 1-2 week break between classes could make that workable, get a life and some errands done before diving into the next Hazing!

Good to hear that maybe the kinks have been worked out of the program (online issues I was concerned about).

[Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

My understanding that yes it is a full regular semester crammed into a fun 5 weeks,lol If one is paying out of pocket, you can take as long as a break as you wish (within reason of course) but if you are receiving $$$ Assistance, then you require approval from the school to take a break longer than 2 weeks. Not sure if thats the same for other schools?

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Lawdy! I have done 8-week sessions that made me kinda wish I was dead (16 weeks crammed into 8) but to do it in FIVE? Yikes. A full paper due each week...you mean the kind I used to spend two or three on? Yikes again. I don't know what I'll end up with (if anything) in tuition assistance. Will see where I stand with that a bit down the road. Right now, just sorting through all the details of the half dozen schools in the running. This one is significantly cheaper than some others (by half, even). Probably means that if I wanted to go to a different school for a Masters, these credits might not be worth much. Not every school looks favorably on these kinds of "fast, cheap" arrangements. I didn't say easy....it's clearly not. Still, it's on my worry list!

Flames, do you know how many students are assigned to each class? How many TAs in each class, what the chatroom is like? You did the "how to" thing online, did it answer any of that for you?

Thanks :)

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Yes, it's like a semester crammed into 5 weeks. It is accelerated so it's very busy. I'm currently in research and my work looks like this

Week one: Starts on Monday. Get syllabus. I have a DQ due on Wed and Friday. I have to also respond a minimum of 6 times to my classmates. I have a paper due on Sunday. It is a literature search of a minimum of 3 research articles less than 5 yrs old. Three chapters of reading.

Week two: Two DQ due on Wed/Fri and the responses. Due that next Sunday is the next paper a research summary. Papers in this class are roughly 750-1000 words because the focus is on the writing mechanics of APA and research papers. Other classes are usually 1200-1500 ish.. This paper is a summary of a research article. They want short, sweet and concise. Three chapters of reading.

Week 3: Same DQ blah..blah..blah...Three chapters of reading. This paper is another 750-1000 paper that has you doing a qualitative analysis of a research paper, due on Sunday. Your group of people for your group project is now up and running. You must gather with the group and decide what topic to do, and who will do what..

Week 4: same ole...same ole..Three chapters of reading. This paper is quantitative research in nature and is 750-1000 words, due on Sunday

Week 5. This week I have my DQ's to do, my responses, a paper/wksheet on PICO due on Sunday, as well as the group powerpoint that will need to be edited and proofed with another group member, which is due on Sunday.

Monday is now going to Ethics, lol....here we go again!!!!

[Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

No, not sure how many students in each class. The "how to" freebie class that you don't have to do, was for everyone taking any online classes, so was a mixture of different students!

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

20 seems to be the stopping point. Stats started out with 18, I think...and we lost 2.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Holy Moly, looks like alot of work. I haven't written a paper since nursing school (graduated 7 years ago!) so this will be a challenge for me. I'll need a refresher on how to WRITE the format!

The counselor who's been answering questions for me via email says that these are not intensive courses, not a full semester (which she says is typically 4-8 credits per class) but rather 3 credits only, so...not as intense, not as involved. I don't know about that, as most of my courses were 3-4 credits in school; anything more than that involved a separate lab class and/or clinical assignment out of school. So....I think her idea of "intensive" and mine aren't the same, lol....your description seems intense enough to me! She also says that if I'm spending more than 12 hours a week, something is probably wrong and they'll help me figure it out...that I should plan on less than that most of the time. Honestly, I think I'll struggle with so much writing, at least at first. But my incentive is I have NO option, I MUST do this. Period.

Good to hear that class sizes are reasonable; they must have quite a number of instructors for every course in order to accommodate so many online students. I have always hated group projects, as there is invariably someone who doesn't show up, doesn't pull his/her own weight, etc. Really hate groups. Have you had one for every course you've done?

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

RNsRWe said:

Lawdy! I have done 8-week sessions that made me kinda wish I was dead (16 weeks crammed into ? but to do it in FIVE? Yikes. A full paper due each week...you mean the kind I used to spend two or three on? Yikes again. I don't know what I'll end up with (if anything) in tuition assistance. Will see where I stand with that a bit down the road. Right now, just sorting through all the details of the half dozen schools in the running. This one is significantly cheaper than some others (by half, even). Probably means that if I wanted to go to a different school for a Masters, these credits might not be worth much. Not every school looks favorably on these kinds of "fast, cheap" arrangements. I didn't say easy....it's clearly not. Still, it's on my worry list!

Flames, do you know how many students are assigned to each class? How many TAs in each class, what the chatroom is like? You did the "how to" thing online, did it answer any of that for you?

Thanks ?

Considering GCU has all the accreditations, I would say your credits would transfer just fine. This isn't some matchbook program.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

tokmom said:

Considering GCU has all the accreditations, I would say your credits would transfer just fine. This isn't some matchbook program.

There was a fleeting moment when I thought I'd like to find one of those matchbook programs ?

I do see the accreditations, so I'm probably concerned for nothing. I'm pretty sure at this point that I'll do this school's program when I get the rest of my ducks in order.

Thank you SO much for your insight, it's appreciated.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

RNsRWe said:

Holy Moly, looks like alot of work. I haven't written a paper since nursing school (graduated 7 years ago!) so this will be a challenge for me. I'll need a refresher on how to WRITE the format!

The counselor who's been answering questions for me via email says that these are not intensive courses, not a full semester (which she says is typically 4-8 credits per class) but rather 3 credits only, so...not as intense, not as involved. I don't know about that, as most of my courses were 3-4 credits in school; anything more than that involved a separate lab class and/or clinical assignment out of school. So....I think her idea of "intensive" and mine aren't the same, lol....your description seems intense enough to me! She also says that if I'm spending more than 12 hours a week, something is probably wrong and they'll help me figure it out...that I should plan on less than that most of the time. Honestly, I think I'll struggle with so much writing, at least at first. But my incentive is I have NO option, I MUST do this. Period.

Good to hear that class sizes are reasonable; they must have quite a number of instructors for every course in order to accommodate so many online students. I have always hated group projects, as there is invariably someone who doesn't show up, doesn't pull his/her own weight, etc. Really hate groups. Have you had one for every course you've done?

So far yes, a group for everything but stats.

Don't let them fool you on the amount of time you will spend on homework. They told me the same thing. I know of 3 of us taking this program and all of us spend more than 12 hours a week. One group project, Pandora (another AN member) spent 9 hours proofing group paper on a Sunday. So yeah, take what they say with a grain of salt when it comes to time spent on homework.

There are no TA's in the classroom and the program isn't set up in a live chat forum. It is a message forum much like this.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

bumping up