Online VS "Traditional"

Nursing Students NP Students

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  1. Would you pick ONLINE FNP or TRADITIONAL FNP?

    • 1
      Online FNP
    • 7
      Traditional FNP

8 members have participated

Fellow Nurses & Professionals,

I have recently been accepted into two very good universities for my Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)! Both schools have high reputations and I will receive excellent education and training from both. Here's the main difference: School A, is Traditional Format where I will go to school 1 or 2 days a week, school provides clinical sites but is about an 30-45 min drive from my home. School B, is a online MSN-FNP, I provide my own clinical sites but driving to class is a non-issue.

1) For those who have faced this decision/similar decision what did you choose? Why?

2) For those of you in Online MSN programs, how difficult was it for you to get clinical sites.

Thank you all for your time & help!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to student NP

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Although I do love online learning, for NP classes I chose to stay in a brick & mortar school. The support that classmates can offer is priceless. It also helps that the school provides clinical sites. That is great, considering that the number of NP students out there looking for sites is growing all the time! The drive isn't terrible. I would suggest getting a set of Barkley CDs for review and listening on your drive! It's amazing the stuff you will retain from them and be able to use in school! Also, for ME, having to travel to campus once a week keeps me on a very specific schedule which is helpful (for me).

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

Yes, bricks and mortar every time. Having that personal interaction, plus having your preceptors found for you, is priceless.

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Specializes in ER.

It depends. Our brick and mortar school kind of fudged clinical hours like someone's peds hours was assigned at an urgent care and she saw mostly adult patients. That's kind of cheating. I also see the students requesting preceptors online so I am not sure why.

How is your work? Are they flexible? How are the clinical locations? How far can the clinical placements be? Will the days of school change like one semester MW and then it switches to TR?

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Awesome advice and input! I'm leaning heavily toward the Brick and Mortar option. Also, thanks for the Barkley Disc advice.

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Applesxoranges: my work is going to be flexible with my schedule. We redo our work schedules every 6 weeks so I'll be able to adjust accordingly as I will be on campus 1-2 days a week based on my class load that semester. As far as clinical site locations they will probably range anywhere is Los Angeles or Orange counties but I'm presuming that clincial site locations will roughly be the same regardless of whether I take the online class or the Brick & Mortar option as I will go wherever I'm assigned or get a site.

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Specializes in ER.

My learning style is weird where I do very well learning on my own through reading so online works better for me. Plus I am usually up later. While I did average in nursing school and very well in paramedic school, I swear I had ADHD so I would listen to lectures while playing mindless games like Plants vs Zombies. I still managed to participate and answer questions appropriately (like in OB I was one of the few actively answering or participating).

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I completed an online program for my MS in Nursing Education, I enjoyed the program and found it to be organized and well run. The faculty from my program have been very supportive, and I very satisfied with my education overall. However, I had to find my own preceptors for clinicals, which was challenging and that was only for education in a classroom. The school offered to help with a list of previous preceptors, but it didn't work out for me. I'm in a campus-based post-graduate FNP program now, and they find your preceptors for you which I think is better especially when it comes to APRN clinicals practicums (versus education or nursing administration where it might be easier for you to find them).

I also think that some online programs are seen just as diploma mills, and this continues to perpetuate a stigma associated with online education even though there are some great online programs out there. To the OP, I would suggest you stick with the traditional, campus-based NP program even if it means some driving time because the hassle of trying to find your own preceptors isn't worth it (in my opinion). Lastly, if you graduate from an online NP program, you many find that some employers may be hesitant to hire you because the program you graduated from isn't one of the local programs with whom they are more familiar.

Best of luck!

!Chris :specs:

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Cjcsoon, thank you for your input. Your post especially has brought more clarity to my wife and myself. Brick & Motor is the place for me. Thank you everyone who took time out of your busy schedules to offer sound advice.

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