gator dog

I absolutely agree. Do not use TCN for anything, likewise Rue Education. The practice Exams available for a fee,are a good resource within Excelsior. Yahoo groups Study group 101 is good,Flashcard Exchange is good. Distance Learning is a very different animal from brick and mortar--requires a great deal of self-motivation and discipline.You won't have 30 other people slapping you on the back saying "Atta boy,bomb it out there and go get 'em!" Be a consumer before you are a student--don't throw more money at opportunistic organizations than is necessary. You'll be lightening your wallet enough as is. I take the CPNE in August. Good luck.

Read Tim Dorsey's books--they take place in Tampa.I used to live in Lahaina,then Key West for 9 years--which is a lengthy tale unto itself that I'll spare you in the interest of brevity,now I'm in in freakin' Michigan (yuk,yuk--yeah I know...).In Tampa you'll likely find a couple of similarities to Maui,but it'll be a short list.Multi-racial issues really aren't an issue--although FL has no shortage of redneck enclaves.Be prepared to take a 2nd job (1 or both of you),be prepared for a service-sector economy(low paying),practice tolerance of other lifestyles,SEE THE HUMOUR where you might not normally see it.Good luck chica

Opportunities in west or southwest MI?

Care Bear, If you can in any way go to a brick&mortar RN program -do it. Do you have all the usual prereqs? You may be able to get into an LPN to RN Fast-track program that some community colleges offer, or even though they're getting harder and harder to find--a hospital program. I understand the whole relocation issue. That was one of the (albeit, complicated) reasons I chose to finish with EC. At my age it was a short list of choices.

The b&m school where I had my first year of RN program had a whopping 8 hours of clinical time per week,virtually no lab time (lab was where we made up for any short time in class), and teachers who often showed up for class unprepared, was not NLN accredited, and had serious-very public-upper level staff problems. And yet the state BON didn't seem to have any problems with them. And had I remained with that school, any state BON in the country would have approved my licensure.

Thanks Lunah, Akanini--Lisa, I was considering testing for PA (I love downtown Philly), or NJ (south), but I doubt my girlfriend would go for it. My son lives in FL (Vero area),so I really want to work in that direction. I'm in southwest Michigan,btw--Kalamazoo area. It's nice to get a little support--thanks again Steve

Thank you Lunah. No, I'm a 'medic from about a hundred years ago. All the gen eds are done--ad nauseam--from a b&m school. I test NC4 in Oct..Thanks for reading the rant.

To what degree if any would ISU accept an EC transfer? This is seems to be rapidly accelerating into "lame" territory. 16 states now have some form of stipulating issue with EC--and now TX? Is EC just going to continue it's denial of this increasingly serious problem, or conclude that this trend is irreversable and initiate a clinical program sufficient to keep the wolves at bay? We have spent a great deal of money, time,sacrifice and heartache for this to ignored. EC's apparantly vain attempts to educate and convince BON's and hospital Nursing Recruiters, are the proverbial shooting of blanks. I dislike pulling a "business-ism" here, but are we not ultimately EC's customers? I'm not diggin' the service...

I know this is an old thread,but I'm an EC student in KZOO.

A shut down at 75 means you passed. The test software is presumptive: it figures if you pass the 1st 75, you'll continue passing all the rest, so it's academic to continue--congratulations RN!

Nope, I used Flashcard Exchange extensively, Tina Logan's notes from Rue.edu and the EC practice exams (the ones you need to buy). I believe the EC materials alone are woefully inadequate. I've never understood what people see in those Content Guides. Minimal reading if you collate the combined sources--Flashcard Exchange,TCN practice exam (in the back of all TCN books),Logan's notes from Rue Education,EC practice exams.

Yeah,Aisha--I bought TCN NC3 thru 7 for $130 on Ebay...

I'll be 49 in May--sunny side of 50 by the time I graduate. Second career for me. Luckily, I'm still healthy and in reasonable condition, But I must admit agism has been a concern. Seeing it in other lines of work already. It does make me feel better seeing posts from other guys having good experiences.

Hey Erin---Steve here. Great to hear from you. I was waived NC1 and 2, so 3 will be my first real exam as well, sched for the 25th. I get all of my materials from Rue Education in Florida--where I moved here from---long story, they're pretty good: oodles of practice quizzes and exams. I've seen the EC stuff and at least for the way I tend to study, the Rue mats. are better (RueEd.com, 888.479.2797).The Rue mats are expensive at around $2,700--my monthly is $116, so that's a big one to consider. For me, the best way to study, at least at this point, is practice test practice test practice test--just like many NCLEX prep programs (eg. Kaplan).Just with book studying, my brain goes numb in short order. Try this one too, it was linked on the AllNurse site (ebay my world study group 101). Haven't been on it yet, but it seemed to be well spoken of--it is a fee for service thing. I'm not concerned about work yet--one disaster at a time!

Any out there? Just relocated to Western MI.