New Castle Ken

There are many, many, many online RN/BSN programs now available. When I did the research for my book I found over 15 and since then there has been many new editions. Many advertise in nursing journals. A few offhand are: Ball State University http://www.bsu.edu/web/nursing Brenau University http://online.brenau.edu Clarkson University http://www.clarksoncollege.edu Excelsior College http://www.excelsior.edu St. Joseph;s College http://www.sjcme.edu University of Delaware http://www.edel.edu/dsp Hope this helps. Good luck.

Accredited colleges will only accept official transcripts sent directly from the registrar. Sometimes a school will ask for a student copy with initial application but in all cases an official is required.

There are now many RN/BSN/MSN online programs. The best depends on your particular needs and goals. I am not sure what you mean about MN not accepting U of P. If you already have your RN from your state, getting a BSN on top of it will only add to your achievements. U of P is perfectly acceptable to the nursing community and business. It is regionally accredited and nursing accredited by NLN. That is all it needs. Good luck on your search.

You can take summer courses elsewhere online in classes that U of P will require, especially electives. You can also think about, sign up for, and study for proficiency exams like CLEP. Be sure to see if U of P accepts CLEP, how many, and what scores they accept. luck. I am not sure why you can't take some non-nursing courses from U of P while waiting for formal acceptance into the nursing program. Good luck.

Ask your union rep on the "QT" and ask them not to pursue anything untill you specifically ask them to. They should be able to give you an answer.

Congratulations Kimmer. When I answered your other post I wondered about the LPN thing. Again congratulations and good luck.

Kimmy, As for online RN/BSN there are many, many choices now. The important thing is to find the program that suite your individual needs. No program is best for everyone. For instance if your employer is paying for courses then tuition and books may not be a priority. If you are paying all the costs yourself then this becomes important. This may include things like the amount of credits they will transfer, the cost, the required courses, etc. You can start by making a list of criteria that is important for you then check each program and give points in each category until your list is narrowed down. Once you choose and start a program it still may not be what you want. In this case finish the course that you are enrolled in and go with another school, transferring in the course you just completed. Good luck.

Many students feel the study materials and suggestions given by Excelsior (which are free) are all they need. All the services like Rue are expensive and do not have any connection with Excelsior so they really don't know what is on the tests, except from the people they send in to take the tests and try to remember once they leave the tests. Most of these services are expensive and make you sign contracts that are difficult to get out of.

Correct, you do not do clinicals as is customary in on campus programs. You must pass the clinical exams though, which are in person. My personal opinion is that if you are interested in nursing that you go to a campus based programs. You should be able to get credits for your respiratory therapy program especially if a degree program. Good luck.

Check with your state's board of nursing. They will tell you if they will accept the degree for your basic RN to sit for license boards. Some states do not accept Excelsior College for the basic RN but there are only a couple. There have been many LPNs here with good things to say about the excelsior program. Good luck.

These are the only 2 that I know about that are by distance. Sometimes local colleges have special programs for LPNs or give a good amount of credit.

Congratulations. Just a followup about the legal ramifications. If a student has a problem during clinical and a patient sues; someone must be responsible. If a local college has student nurses there, the school itself takes the responsibility including the student and the instructor unless the hospital is culpable in some way. The instructors are also there to tell students what they can and can not do and to troubleshoot. If a single student is there without an instructor, who then becomes responsible? Someone must be and my thoughts are that the hospital would be more responsible accepting the student without the backup of an instructor. I am sure that DCN does not take responsibility for all students no matter where they are doing their clinical. Just my 2 cents worth.

You are a good candidate. A supervisor of mine got kicked out of the local community college due to a conflict with an instructor. He completed his AS and RN through Excelsior and turned out to be a great nurse and a great supervisor. Then pursued a BSN through Excelsior.

Some students like the materials published by outside sources but a lot of students feel that the information that Excelsior gives is all that is needed and comes free. These other companies do not know exactly what is on the exams as they are not associated with Excelsior at all. From what I understand they send people to take the exams then when they come out they try to remember what was on the exam.

I assume the hospital would be taking full responsibility for the student's actions, rather than the instructor and the school. Also students would have to rely on the hospital staff to teach them which would also be a problem. Many times new staff have enough trouble getting someone to help them let alone students (without instructors).