lanoneus

Well I'm finished (with a 4.0, yaaaaa!) Do we really have to pay $150 to graduate? Ugh. Anyway, I think I was one of the last 5 week capstone people. They changed it some, and the instructors don't seem aware of the changes they made. They gave us a ridiculously low word count that would have resulted in a 6 page paper even though it was 30% of our class grade. The instructor finally just told us we could go over the word count if we needed to. They also seemed to have changed the format some, so the example papers no longer fit in as well. However, I just followed the rubric and everything was fine. It does help immensely to have the right topic. I saved research methods till the last class right before Capstone, so I would have plenty of time to decide before then what I wanted my topic to be on. It was still a bit too broad in the research class, but I had narrowed it down enough that when capstone came around, I was on a role. Keep in mind that capstone articles should for the most part be from the last 5 years, and look up your topic using those search parameters in the date field. That tells you if enough research is still being done on the topic to make it a viable one. Good luck everyone! And don't worry too much about "the list"; I had one of the teachers on the list, she did grade a little bit harder, but if you're a decent writer, you will be fine. Always look at the educational background of your instructor, that will give you an idea of what quality of writing they expect.

ACEN and CCNE refer to the program accreditation. You definitely want one of those. But national and regional accreditation refer to the college itself. You want regional accreditation, not national. National is kind of a made up thing by for-profit colleges to give themselves an air of legitimacy; however, credits from a nationally accredited school do not have to be accepted by any regionally accredited school. Here is an article from wikipedia on regional accreditation and the agencies that do it. Regional accreditation - Wikipedia And in answer to your question, it sounds like both are regionally accredited, the other one just paid extra for national accreditation. Make sure both programs are approved by ACEN or CCNE and you should be fine with either.

Hello again, asking one last questions for the "old-timers" that did the 5-week program. Our last assignment for the class is a 1500 word paper that includes all of the following: Students will develop a 1,250-1,500 word paper that includes the following information as it applies to the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need profiled in the capstone change proposal: Background Problem statement Purpose of the change proposal PICOT Literature search strategy employed Evaluation of the literature Applicable change or nursing theory utilized Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome Appendix section, if tables, graphs, surveys, educational materials, etc. are created So I asked the teacher basically if that was the capstone project. Her answer confused me and I've asked a follow up but she won't respond before tomorrow. This was her initial response: It is one paper for the final paper, which should include your prior works in the course in to a final culminating document. I do not monitor the word count unless it is grossly over or under. So my question is: if the final paper is 1500 words worth 300 points, where do the 20-40 page products that I've heard tale of and that they have samples posted of come in?

Ok, another stupid question related to PICOT/Capstone. Is our capstone project the final product of all the assignments in the Capstone class? That comes up to a minimum of 5,750 words. Aren't most people's papers longer than that? Also, does anyone know where on the GCU website they have previous Capstone papers posted? The librarians told me once but I didn't mark it and can't find it again.

5 Week Capstone/1st week question: Hi everyone, especially everyone that graduated under the old program. I will (hopefully) soon be an alumni, but I have a question about our first week's assignment for this class. Besides the lit review of 8 sources, we are supposed to turn in a 500-700 word description of the capstone project, including the problem, setting where it can be observed, description regarding the problem, impact of problem, significance of problem, and proposed solution. That's assignment 1. Assignment #2 is basically the PICOT statement in a 500-700 word paper that "clearly identifies the clinical problem and how it can result in a positive patient outcome." So, the PICOT statement should be part of assignment 1 right? The picot problem and the capstone project would be the same, and the proposed solution in assignment #1 would be the evidenced based solution? It seemed like an odd way to break down the assignment, just want to make sure I understand it correctly. Thank you for reading!

I start the Research class next week as the predecessor to my (5 week) capstone course. I remember reading that some said you could get most of the paper done during the research class, can anyone elaborate? TIA!

Tokmom, have you heard anything else about this? I'm trying not to flip out, since I've only got research and capstone left. I've been searching state website and looking for news about a new law but haven't come up with anything. I'll call GCU tomorrow, but I don't really trust them to know or give me the truth. :/

Hey 4mranch, we are in the same boat. 8 down, 3 to go. are you in the traditional PICO group or did they switch you over the the new group? I start research next month. Pink, I'm pushing 40, but I don't think your ever too old. I've been in some version of school on and off for 15 years (took me a while to settle into my forever desire for nursing cause we move a lot). I don't regret any of it. It keeps your brain active, keeps you young, and certainly doesn't hurt job prospects.

Fort Hayes University is all online, supposed to be one of the cheapest programs around, around $200 a credit hour. WGU is also cheap, but is priced by 6 month terms, I heard it was more like $6000 per term. Very few people complete it in one term, even 2 terms is pushing it but a lot of driven folks due it. 3-4 I think is their average. Fort Hayes is more traditional. WGU just does pass/fail, so your GPA for grad school is considered a 3.0 I believe. Both programs are regionally accredited and accredited by CCNE ACEN.

Hi guys! Sorry to ask more PICO questions, and I'm still under the old program (start the research class/literature review next month),so the veterans can answer best.... someone mentioned getting hours signed off working on the PICO? Do you need to do a lot of work at the facility? I thought it was mostly research? I ask because I'm in Hawaii, not licensed here, and not working. I can probably volunteer on the military base (they will take any state's licensure), but I don't really have any connections. How much work do you need to do "on-site?" ETA: I do want to work and get licensed here, but they have weird rules, and if I license before June, I'll have to pay $130 to license for 6 months, then $240 to license again in June. So obviously I'd like to just wait until June and pay the $240 then.

Yeah, no school is going to let you graduate with less than 30 hours of courses from their school, no matter how many degrees or hours you have from other schools. If you want to go fast, WGU's program is self-paced, and I have heard that a few people have done it in 3 months, but that is very rare. It costs the same if you do it in 3 or 6 months, after that I think it charges in 6 months increments.

Hey, can someone spell out capstone for me? I'll start on it in April, but I want to already have a plan when I do research in February/March. I'm on the old program. I don't have a job right now, so will I need to find a facility and a mentor to do something in? Or is the mentor through GCU?

That was me on the early doubling up. I did it for the first 2 classes. Wasn't unmanageable, but everything's due at the same time for each. I wrote everything for one class on a saturday before it was due and everything for the other the sunday it was due. It was a bit stressful and sucked up all of my weekends for 5 weeks, so I didn't do it again. They did act like it was a big deal, but I had a good GPA from some graduate level online classes I had taken, so I assured them I would not have a problem with it. They just want to know they can trust you; I assume the advisors are kind of responsible if you fall on your face and they let you take extra classes.

As a student at a for-profit, and a former human resources professional, hear are the pros and cons. It probably will not matter. I say probably, because I will tell you that as a manager, if 100% of all things being equal, I will take graduate of a more traditional school over a graduate from a for-profit if I had to hire without an interview, but they are both going to get the interview call. After the interview, the better experienced, less jerky candidate will get the job. There are some people that may not make that call, so you will always deal with that. However, once you're one year past your degree, successful work experience matters more to managers than school reputations. All of the schools' programs you listed are accredited by ACEN or CCNE. However, Aspen appears to only have national accreditation of the overall college: FAQ for Students. It's always better to go for regional accreditation vs. national. WGU is a great program from all accounts and can be a cheap option if you're highly motivated, but I believe it gives you the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA because all classes or pass/fail. I'm a GCU student. They do big discounts for veterans, and I needed flexibility with scheduling. Fort Hayes is a very inexpensive program and has a good reputation, but they do a more traditional school schedule, so you would need to be able to accommodate their schedule. Texas programs require a state history of texas class, but UTA and Texas Tech both have good reputation. When researching, be sure the college you pick has an interstate agreement in place with the state you live in. For example, I wanted to do the BSN program at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, but at the time (not sure if it's changed), they did not have an agreement in place that allowed them to offer the program to residents of Maryland. It's a weird interstate commerce rule, so just ask the question to the enrollment counselor early in the program and make sure you get the answer in writing.

Just a note in Perrla...... I ended up using Perrla complete this year, I think it was $30 a year, and it's been awesome. It's like the regular Perrla program, but I've found it easier to use, and it's online, so you can log into a computer anywhere and work on your paper there. I hate change, but this was actually easy to learn and I find it better. Here's the website: (not an affiliated link or whatever, I'm not schilling, just sharing.) :) Welcome That's weird, don't know why it did that. anyway, it's http://www.perrlacomplete . com