mrvlegov

I transferred from Maryville about a year ago. VERY disorganized, teachers were nonexistent and ridiculous amount of papers, group projects and presentations with very little direction and no clarification. The teachers didn't know what was expected or didn't respond when you asked them. I hope it gets better but the current students have told me not much has changed.

My response was to the hobbitrn who was disgruntled that walden doesn't help with preceptors. As I said previously, not even a prestigious school such as Vanderbilt arranges preceptors for their distance students. This is not specific to walden. On a side note, it's funny to me that you were comparing apples to oranges and claiming this means walden is inferior when, in fact the very school you are going to does the same thing for their distance students. Futureeastcoastnp specifically said distance programs and specifically stated Vanderbilt which is simply untrue. You stated all reputable schools will find preceptors for you, which is also false. If you're going to waste time on a thread about a school you know nothing about, maybe get your facts straight about your own school.

As a side note, I would hope the education from a prestigious university such as Yale or Vanderbilt would provide a better education and more assistance to their students. You will pay an average of 4 times more to go there, and you will get the exact same type of jobs. When you're done what matters is whether or not you get licensed. I am almost done at walden and I feel there's a lot lacking and wish we were given more resources and better educational opportunities. However, it's getting me where I need to be and I don't owe astronomical amounts on student loans when I'm finished. (Seeing that I'll only get a $4-6/hr raise as an NP in this area, that's a good thing!)

https://allnurses.com/advanced-practice-nursing/vanderbilt-msn-program-683630.html https://allnurses.com/nursing-online-distance/vanderbilt-msn-m-565533.html These threads have posts from Vanderbilt students which states they require their distance students to get their own preceptors. Perhaps more prestigious schools do help with this, but you will pay at least $100k for your degree so essentially you are paying a lot of money for that help. I live in the west, I looked into quite a few programs and most of the NPs in this area graduated from the state university, Frontier or Gonzaga university which all require you get your own preceptors. I'm not sure about all the universities you listed, but I do know OHSU does not have a distance program. Here is a link that discusses many of the schools and it does say which require you get your own preceptors. Vanderbilt is listed here as requiring you secure your own preceptors Top 10 Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Programs | Midlevel U i know you may like to bash walden or other for profit schools, but if you are using the fact that you must secure your own clinical sites to distinguish between an inferior or superior school you are putting down Gonzaga University and Vanderbilt also.

I also go to Walden and although I agree that they are not very helpful with practicum placement support (and never return calls/approve practicums etc) I have talked to a lot of other MSN students including those going to the local State University doctorate FNP program and they don't get assistance with setting up clinicals either. I also have talked to students from Gonzaga in Spokane WA and they ran into the same problems. I think, across the board, most places require you to get your own. I agree they should be more helpful but I definitely wouldn't say DON'T go to walden because of this. Just be aware you will be on your own when it comes to setting up your practicums and its harder than you think. However, you will most likely run into this with any school you attend, especially a distance program).

Mark do you know how many people have graduated so far and how many have passed/failed etc.? Two classes have graduated so far right?

I took Health assess and patho together this summer. I work part-time and have a new baby and teenagers. It pretty much ruined my summer. no life whatsoever but totally do-able. I got A's. I am taking pharm by itself right now. I I don't think you could do it and work and be a Mom. EBP is a pretty time consuming class but 6053 is pretty easy.

I'm also attending Walden and it seems like a good program (in my 3rd qtr). I echo what someone said earlier, the advisors don't always know what they are talking about. Just call the admin if you have real questions about clinicals, plan of study etc. However, the classes are set up well, the teachers have been awesome so far and very supportive. Assignments are difficult and a lot of work but not too bad, it is definitely do-able and seems like an appropriate level of work compared to other online classes I've taken. The important classes (like patho etc.) are higher workload and the other classes are less (like policy etc.) I learned a lot in all of the classes though and I thought policy would be an awful class, I actually enjoyed it and learned from it.

Also, both Maryville and Walden hiked up prices (from what I was originally quoted) after I started the program. However, Walden offered a 20% discount for current students so that was nice.

I started out at Maryville but after one semester I transferred to Walden. So, far I love Walden (for the most part, there's always going to be little glitches). The teachers have been great and its laid out really well. The advisors don't always know what they are doing but otherwise no complaints. THere was a large group of us that transferred from Maryville to Walden at the same time. There was also a handful of Maryville students that would have switched if Walden's program had been approved in their state. I'm not trying to sway you one way or another, just letting you know our experience. Maryville's program is a newly online program and hopefully the glitches we ran into will be smoothed out for the next classes.

I was enrolled there I went for one semester and then switched to another University. There was about 5 people who switched at the same time as me and there have been a lot of frustrations from students who stayed related to the disorganization of a new online program. I have no doubt they will all get a great education in the end but since its a new online program there has been a lot of glitches and frustrations. The workload/busywork is also very high, lots of busy work that is extremely time consuming. For example, they estimated that it would take 3 hours to write a 12 page research paper and gave us a week to do it. Not super realistic...lots of group work and papers. It sounds like there hasn't been a lot of changes or improvements with the many complaints and feedback...yet. Depending on when you start, maybe they'll work it out? You can message me if you want more details. :)

I switched to Walden and absolutely LOVE it. The education has been wonderful, teachers are awesome, advisors are awesome and the work is adequate but not overwhelming. The price is right too. I can't say enough good things. I have completed two classes towards the FNP program and am working on my second quarter.

I just started Dec 3rd too. Classes are well organized and I'm really enjoying it.

There's a huge amount of papers. No tests. Group papers every week, you work on one large project for the whole class throughout the class, little sections are due each week and usually a paper or something due in addition. Then discussion boards every week. There may be tests in Patho, I don't know. There's a lot of reading but I think most people just use it as a reference and don't actually read it all. Hope that helps.

Each teacher wants something different and those that are lucky can get a hold of their teacher or their teacher is more cear about their expectations, although the assignments aren't. My teacher is very unclear. The first class was also unclear and confusing but the teacher was good about clarifying and answering questions. This second class the teacher confuses us more and then says we didn't do what she wanted. There is no consistency with grading, she will tell us we did better but give us a worse grade. We have all contacted the supervising teacher and have gotten nowhere. All I can say is I hope my new program is better and Maryville works this out for the new classes.

To all those who were wondering about the program. It has so many glitches and the assignments are pretty unclear, teachers expect somethng different but its not specified, the first class was alright, second class terrible. I'm going to switch to another school at this point as I got accepted into a different school. The program hopefully will improve as time goes on, but at this time I think the general consensus is not very positive at this time from our class. Good luck and maybe it will have improved by the time you all start!

LandDRN2007 if you email me we can chat. :) [email protected]

I don't know if I already commented on this thread or not. But I'm currently in another FNP program and am thinking of switching to Walden's. Its cheaper and I'm not very happy with the level of education I am receiving at the other program. I can also complete Walden's program just a bit faster. I'm not sure if its worth it to switch though. How is the education so far in the FNP program for those that have already started? I would love to hear from people who are in the program. Please email me or comment here. Thanks! [email protected]

Hi I am looking into Walden's new FNP program. I am currently enrolled in another FNP program but it is a new online program. I know that Walden's FNP is a new program but I also know they have been doing distance learning in other areas for many years. I am dissatisfied with the set-up and interaction of the teachers at the school I am in now. I basically feel like I have no teacher and the work is very unclear. I am wondering if Walden's system may be better since they are more accustomed to online education? I know no one has completed the FNP program, but for those of you who have attended Walden's other programs, how is the set-up and teachers?

Walden just started an FNP program. I am currently in an FNP program at a different school and it is a new online program and the teachers are very indifferent and difficult to communicate with. I am worried that its because its a new online program. Even though Walden's FNP program is new, they have been doing online education for years and I wonder if they might have it together a little more? I'm wondering from those who have attended Walden, how the teachers and classes were and if they seemed to have a pretty good handle on teaching via distance learning. Thank you!

I also really like the 8 week format. It seems like in a class that's kind of boring (like the theory class) 8 weeks is pretty do-able and then you're onto something else.

We're just doing a theory class. Its time consuming and tedious but not hard and I like the format and the website etc. I have a good teacher though!

Me! Logging on now.

Yea I had to get special permission to take 7 classes. They told me I shouldn't do it, but I wanted to get it done so I could get into NP school this fall, I cut my hours back at work and only worked like 20-30 hrs per week and my kids are older now so they usually got their own dinners etc. So its wasn't too bad. I just spent every waking minute that I wasn't at work, writing papers and discussion boards and occasionally the teachers let me turn something in late. So you can see why I'm so relieved to only have one class!

Hi! I hadn't checked here for a few days. Is there 2 facebook pages? I requested to join the one. I wondered two things: a) can you make it private so no one can see our posts who isn't a member? and b) do you want to approve a few group administrators so more than one person can approve people or set up the settings? I would be willing to help and be an administrator! :) Thanks for all your advice and help everyone! I haven't had time to really look at anything yet, I did get an email from my advisor with the book we need but I haven't even looked (I worked 66 hrs last week and still haven't had a day off!) yikes! I guess I'm not as worried about everything so reading your posts makes me wonder if I SHOULD be!? lol I just finished my BSN online though and kind of do everything last minute anyway and it always seems to work out in the end. I'm just relieved we only have one class to start out! I took 7 classes at a time last semester and finished my BSN in one year so I feel like this will be nothing...at least to start! :) Can't wait to talk to everyone though. Its helpful talking to you all!