nbrody

bellin is a very good nursing school, no wait lists. a great way to get in and get your nursing degree without all the frustration of the tech school wait lists and their constant changing pre-reqs. however bellin is very expensive. i would live to do their 15 month accelerated program (i have a ba in business), but am not willing to go $60k in debt to do so. so i have resigned to the fact that i will have to remain on the wait list at nwtc until i finally get in, earn my adn and then go on to get my bsn.

Thanks for the info. I will take your advise and contact my local hospitals regarding internships.

i know this is several months after these posts were made but i have a couple of ?'s....you said that you just graduated from excelsior and you are teaching yourself how to be a nurse because you were not a nurse before. don't you have to be an lpn/lvn to go through the adn program at excelsior? maybe you were a paramedic before? just curious. secondly, has anyone that has graduated with their adn from excelsior and obtained their rn had a problem getting hired by wi hospitals? was anyone able to get an internship while doing the excelsior program, or do wi hospitals tend to cater to the wi nursing schools?

I currently have my BA in business. I have been struggling the CC to get my pre-reqs for their nursing program, they keep changing the requirements, so I feel like I have constant set backs. The LPN program is a lot simpler, they do not have as many requirements, so I have been thinking about just taking the LPN program and then finishing the RN at Exelsior. What worries me is I have read some posts that some states, CA in particular will not license an Exelsior grad. I live in WI. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated. Also I worry that if WI will license an Exelsior grad, if they change the licensing requirements later, can they revoke your license?

In the first year of the ADN program at FVTC about how much time is spent in clinicals? What time of day do the clinicals typically take place? I am just basically wondering if I would be able to work part time and ballance school. I know I can take a lot of the core classes on line, but I just wonder about the clinicals. I know NWTC has a lot of the clinicals starting in the afternoon. Thanks in advance for any input.

Thank you for your reply, that helps a lot! :)

That is really disappointing given the national average. I would not mind working for a staffing co. such as PRN though and I know they pay more, I assume I would need some experience of 1-2 years before they would hire me.

I knew about the 1-2 years of experience. I do plan on getting a nursing job at a local hospital and then start traveling from there. Thanks for the info. :)

The Wisconsin technical system offers almost all of the core nursing classes on line. Has anyone taken them online? What are your experiences, thoughts, etc.? I have taken many on line classes before and have always had wonderful experiences with them. I was just surprised that so many nursing classes are offered on line.

Thank you for the suggestions. I took many on line classes while getting my BA, so I think I will try A&P online. I think if I can pass this class I can pass it online. One question though....why does everyone say that A&P is so hard? Isn't it a lot of memorization? Is it hard like Gen. Chem.? Chemistry was hard for me concept wise, I just don't see A&P being a difficult class, time consuming yes, but not hard so to speak. Am I wrong?

I am just curious what the starting pay is for a new RN in the Appleton, Green Bay, and Oshkosh areas for Labor and Delivery. This would be nice to know so I don't get all the way throught the program, and then realize, I'm not making as much as I hoped. Thank you!

Thanks for the reply. So do you get to pretty much go where you want? What types of places have you been to so far? Are the accommodations that they put you in really nice? Do you know if there is a lot of job location options with American Mobile for a Labor and Delivery nurse?

I will keep you posted. I don't have my pearson vue exam scheduled yet, I have my final on Tuesday, we will get our registraton for the certification then. I am so looking forward to Aug. 1st, last day of Chem!!!

Thanks for the info. I will look into other companies as well. :nuke:

The time frame for the class you outlined is the norm. The CNA class is not at all difficult as long as you enjoy being very "hands on" with people, just very time consuming. The clinical portion is generally done in a nursing home environment so you are basically taking care of elderly people; bathing, changing, feeding, walking (ambulating), etc. In my nursing program at NWTC you do not need to get the state certification to become a CNA in order to get into the Nursing/RN program you just need to complete the Nursing Assistant course with a C or better. If you want to sit for the state exam you pay an extra $115 for that and take the exam when the class is over. The state exam is usually scheduled after you complete the course, you fill out a registration and make your payment. The company, Pearson Vue, that gives the exam will send you the date and time you are to come in and take the exam. At my school, NWTC, they do come to the school to give the exam. I assume it would be the same at your school. The state exam consists of a written and skills portion. If you fail, you can re-take it, I believe as many times as you want, you just have to pay each time.