PART-TIME, WEEKEND, and HYBRID/Online students.. How was your experience? Where?

U.S.A. Arizona

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due to a busy schedule, i've been looking at colleges with weekend, part-time, and hybrid/online components for their nursing programs.

seen the threads on multiple colleges in az and figured since most of us are looking for the same thing, one thread might be helpful :) weekend/part-time/hybrid programs don't exactly fall into the distance learning/online niche so it's very hard to search for them. additionally, searches for gcc and "glendale community college" turn up ca colleges, traditional program threads, etc.

figured others looking for the same thing i was would like to have one thread with all the non-traditional and non-accelerated programs listed in one place :)

so far i've found these maricopa community colleges:

gateway cc

  • part-time option
    classes begin each august and are scheduled two days per week. classes extend past the traditional
    semester boundaries. clinical experiences may occur during the day or evening hours with occasional weekends and may include 12-hour shifts in selected specialties. once admitted, students may expect to complete the part-time option in 28months, one semester longer than the traditional program option.
  • hybrid / blended option
    hybrid or blended nursing courses combine face-to-face instruction with online, computer-based learning. in a blended course, a significant part of the course content is delivered online, and the quantity of classroom time is decreased. students will be required to attend class on designated days which will be noted on the course syllabus. required coursework and some testing will be completed
    online. all laboratory practice will be completed at the college; all clinical experiences will be conducted in local area facilities with a clinical instructor on site. all students are required to attend class the first day for orientation.

glendale cc

  • weekend day
  • hybrid

phoenix cc

rio salado cc

i think there may be a couple others.

but for those that did a non-traditional, and by that i mean not an accelerated course, would you mind chiming in on a few issues?

which college did you go to?

what kind of class was it? (hybrid, part-time, etc)

how many months was it?

what was your schedule like? (clinicals, class, etc)

how did you like it?

was there a wait time, and if so, how long did you last hear it was?

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Also, here is a link to the colleges and types of programs they offer from the MCCD Nursing page:

Program Options (http://nursing.maricopa.edu/pdfdocs/ProgramOptions.pdf)

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

Glendale Community College Part time program

No clue what the current wait is, I stopped caring once I got in.;)

I posted this to another member:

GCC Part time is what I did. You still finish in 2 years but you go year round. I absolutely 100% recommend it to anyone I encounter looking at schools/programs. The way it is set up it is so much easier. for the most part you only need to have Fri and Sat free for classes. Sometimes they test on Sundays so you do need to have some flexibility in your work schedule but almost all of my friends worked full time during school, or pretty dang close to it. I am not a huge studier so I found that with this program, you could have a life, say Mon-Wed, and not even think about nursing school. Some wouldn't agree but I did well and passed NCLEX in 75 q's so you can't beat that. I guess it depends on the individual. But when I was in school I would listen to the other students I know in accelerated or full time programs and boy! I would have shot myself if I had been them. Seemed like they never had a break. What is cool about the GCC part time is you do your academic work the first 8 weeks of the semester and only THEN do you move to clinicals for the next 8 weeks. In other programs they run concurrently, which means if you fail a class, you fail clinical too and you have to repeat it all!!:uhoh3: But, at GCC, you can focus 100% on bookwork/studying, pass your classes, then move to clinicals and focus 100% on pt care and careplans. I am telling you, that alone makes it 1000x easier. When you have to stay up the night before clinical till 2am drafting a huge careplan, go to clinicals all day Fri and Sat and then worry about a test on Sunday.......THAT SUCKS! and that also makes it less likely you will pass that test on Sunday, know what I mean? And if you fail, guess what?? You do that careplan ALL OVER AGAIN! The hybrid program runs concurrently too so even if clinical hours are less, you are still worrying about both at the same time.

Hope that helps all of you guys shopping for a school/program! Good Luck!

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Hey thrashej,

Thanks for all that info. Could you give an example on what the schedule is like? What time do the classes start if I work full time M-F 8-5pm?

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Specializes in cardiac/education.

Keep in mind I graduated May 2007 but back then classes were Fri and Sat, but you need to have all day free. Friday goes all day from like 8a-4p. And Thurs nights was when you picked pts/did careplans. Sundays was most often when you had to go to school to test in the testing center, but that was whenever you wanted as long as the testing center was open.

But you'll have to do something about your schedule. You have to have Fridays off and sometimes you will have to go down to school for other stuff Mon-Fri but it was rare. I guess that's what you'd use your sick or vacation time for!:icon_roll

Hope that helps. PM me if you want more info. Good Luck!:up:

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