Online schooling vs. on campus schooling

notthereyet0 · Sep 9, 2008

I am not in an online degree program, attending a campus program. One of my friends is doing the online Excelsior program and while it is really flexible, she has struggled with testing sites, fees, lack of onhand experience and other inconveniences. Again, I am not an expert, but she already was an LPN and still found it difficult in many ways...good luck in whatever way you choose!!

benegesserit · Sep 10, 2008

One of the schools I am (possibly) applying to for Spring is an online program through a local community college (classroom portion online, with clinicals and lab practice in-person). I'm also taking two online nursing classes (pathophysiology and pharmacology) right now, and have taken several of my prerequisites online.

I'm having serious hesitations about applying for this school. I feel I learn better in a classroom environment, and find it too easy to slip into the habit of doing as little studying as possible for the online classes, and so far, they've made this easy, as all the tests are open-book. I also find I tend to have a much lower tolerance for my fellow classmates in online classes.

I also agree that there tend to be more course-related fees with online classes.

So, while the idea sounds very tempting in theory, I don't think it is for me (though I'll probably still apply and go there if I don't get in elsewhere, which is unlikely given their selection policies).

However, this school has excellent NCLEX pass rates, so it apparently works well for some people!

If you're talking about a totally online school like Excelsior, make sure it is accepted in any states you think you might want to work in. I've heard they aren't accepted in some states (Texas?).

ANGIERPR · Sep 10, 2008

I am applying to the local community college. I just thought i'd check into the Univ of Phoenix online program. Well, they don't even offer an R.N. program, they only offer advance degrees, like R.N. to BSN or MSN...so that solves that! I think I'll try to go to the community college and do most of my general courses online with them.

THanks!!