paraRN

I'm federally employed in CA but hold a compact license. I was wondering if any Excelsior grads have had any luck recently with licensing in California?

Having the same crisis as OP and I wanted to say thanks for your post.

I passed the NCLEX last year and have been an RN for a year now. I also upgraded and got my BSN. I was also accepted to UTA for the MSN-FNP program.

I’m ready to come with you. I posted a similar thread tonight. I don’t want to wait 2 years for my FNP to leave though. My biggest issue is that I’m making $80/hr as a travel nurse and going back to staff at $40 isn’t worth it. It’s barely worth all the *** at 80. If there was anything else I could do I’d do it. I just can’t afford to quit.

I became an RN a year ago after being a paramedic for 10 years. Every day I struggle with knowing I’m not meant for bedside nursing. I’ve tried a few different facilities and assignments, but it doesn’t matter what I’m doing, 12 hours of *** from admin, other nurses, patients, their family, etc has made me miserable for a year. My problem is that I have no alternatives. A nursing degree is very limiting, obviously. I can’t be a paramedic anymore. The situation is akin to wanting to jump out of a plane and knowing I need a parachute to do it, not having said parachute, but contemplating jumping anyway and hoping for the best. I don’t know what to do. I have a wife and 2 toddlers and my prime function is stability for them. But my wife is okay with me making a change so long as we can pay the bills. She’s a stay at home mom and we want it to stay that way until my kids get into school (they’re 2.5 years old). I’ve tried looking everywhere online for answers and I can’t find anything.

Graduated from EC. I'll be writing my NCLEX in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know when I pass. Thanks for believing in me.

I should grad in the next month or so and am preparing to try to register in BC as an RN. I'll keep everyone in the loop on how it goes. I have a BA previously and an ASN for my RN. Do you think I need to upgrade to a BSN first? I am thinking WGU.

Cpne eligible. Thank you for the love and support. I'll be an RN soon.

I took a few all over. I don't remember which I took where, but I did Micro and A&P via uexcel, dev psych and math via EC online courses (8 week) and a couple with Straighterline I believe. I registered well ahead for the ECEs. You get a 16 week testing window (a trimester) which is a lot of time. Give yourself 4+ weeks for each to study and really know the material. Watch some videos by Sarah at RegisterednurseRN, they help brush you up on key information. If you join facebook groups there are a few students who are able to complete their 8 core classes in crazy amounts of time, sometimes 1 or 2 trimesters. Then they register for the FCCA, and await CPNE which is reducing in wait time. I guess theoretically you could get out and NCLEX tested in just over a year. As for study material everyone recommends SG101, which I did not enjoy. It's choppy, difficult to follow, and dry as pumice stone. But I'd suggest grabbing it anyway because it's not that expensive and may help you. What I DO suggest is downloading an app like NRSNG or NCLEX review to learn how to answer questions and think like a nurse. Don't go into it memorizing the question - you won't be successful. Instead break the question down piece by piece and answer based on what they're looking for. If you go for the ol' memorize question trick we as paramedics love so much, you will be disappointed and lost when you take the actual final or exam. They have a HUGE test bank and you'll never see them in it (if they are even there at all to begin with) This is NOT an easy program for most people. There are exceptions to the rule, but everyone has a difficult class or two somewhere. We all have strengths and weaknesses, so try to find some study buddies who fill in the gaps for you.

Calm down. That's what the program has taught me so far, and several others have expressed that as well. Go find something else to be outraged over and quit wasting my time.

Oh boy. I've connected with quite a few medics in the program, and we all typically have the same problems. Nursing is completely different than emergency medicine. While A&P and experience may help you understand concepts, it won't help you as a Nurse, for better or worse. Those of us who have connected have the same complaints: It's all self directed even with the online classes. Those of us who are visual learners suffer greatly.For the ECE exams you can cram and finish a lot of them quickly, but you don't really learn much of anything.The provided materials are not adequate for the online classes. Expecting us to sit down and read 1,000 pages per week along with a discussion post and reply (which is only worth 20% of the grade by the way) is ludicrous, but that's what they expect.The test questions are designed to trick you. Look for key words (like the NREMT) such as "first" or "priority." EC makes a fortune with their nursing ADN and the more times they can charge you for the classes or exams the better.Nursing seems sort of silly once you get to the point where everything clicks, as compared to being a paramedic. If you've ever worked a busy system and done 10+ IVs a day, and 1-2 critical interventions per shift, you'll know what I mean. Nursing is all about following Dr orders, providing supportive care, and educating the patient. There's very little independent thought that goes into being an RN to be honest.Hardly any of this is what you're used to doing. Stop thinking like a medic and pretend you aren't a medic at all if you can. It won't help you much at all. Your instructor, classmates, and exams don't care.If you can find a way to get through the classes or exams, it can lead you down a path to getting your RN. I've decided after getting through my 100 level classes not pursue nursing outside of informatics. I'm going to find a cushy office job away from patient care. Perhaps work a shift here and there in the ER and do some teaching. Feel free to ask any other questions or ask me to clarify something, I'm happy to help.

I lived in MV for many years. I know alumni of Saddleback who speak highly of it. Enjoy!

Dropping in because I'm interested as well. I won't be ready for about a year but it doesn't hurt to research ahead of time.

I was able to bring in 7 ACE and did 2 via CLEP that I couldn't transfer over (English Lit / Psych) and then did 2 ECE (micro/A&P) test-out. I didn't have math or lifespan development so I elected to take those via EC online and had no problems passing them. I would talk to an advisor and show them your plan and ask if the specific classes/test outs you've chosen will transfer before you commit to a plan. I wasted 4 months doing pre-reqs that I should have done a different way as part of my BA.

I am taking this test tomorrow. I have scored 65 and 68% on the practice tests. I got much lower in Micro/A&P and did well on the exam. NURx104 here we go!