RN to BSN...can't decide

I'm contemplating WSU's online RN to BSN also...it looks solid and would be more flexible than UW's brick and mortar option. Thoughts?

I'm in the same boat as you. My husband is from canada and we may move back there and I'm concerned WGU won't look as credible as brick and mortar at UW. I was shadowing an RN the other day and she said from what she has seen, those at WGU have a lot less support and have to find their own preceptors. She has worked with many UW bothell RN-BSN students and said great things and that they don't have to do all the other stuff on their own (find preceptors) that they have a lot of support from the school. I didn't know WSU had an online program, will have to look into that.

A friend of mine just graduated from WSU online. It isn't all online though, so beware. She had 80 hours of community and 80 of her own choice, to precept, so she worked at those facilities on her days off. She also had to attend WSU campus a few times for different presentations, which took her to Vancouver.

She had to have stats and a lot of other classes before she was accepted into WSU. Since you are a new grad, you may be ok, other than stats.

OP, sounds like you have your heart set on U of W, so why not go?

As for BSN vs ADN, I think it's more important in the north sound than the south sound. Many hospitals around me, and mine as well, hire ADN nurses. Will that change in the future? Hard telling. According to the IOM, it will. It scared me enough, that I completed my BSN through a brick and mortar university. However, I needed more flexibility and did an online program. Just for the record. My WSU counterpart and I used the same books.

Good luck in your decision!

Thanks for the help, everyone! I think I'll apply a couple of places and see where I get in to start with. I can take statistics online fall quarter and have it completed before the application deadlines. I have all the other prerequisites. The main reason I'm not sure about UW is that I don't have a car and I live in Seattle, so that would mean bussing it to Tacoma or Bothell a couple times a week which might be a bit much to do. But we'll see.

Where are you planning on taking the stats online? I need it as well. Thanks!

Busing from Seattle to Tacoma would be painful, unless you could catch the sounder part way

I graduated from NSCC last June and just finished the RN to BSN program at UW Bothell a week ago. I went straight into the UW two weeks after I finished at NSCC, and took my NCLEX during my first quarter at the UW. It was a great program that I'd recommend highly. Meeting so many other nurses who are ADNs and discussing their career paths was invaluable. Through networking with them, I definitely had a leg-up in getting job offers - first as a substitute school nurse, and just recently getting a position as a postpartum nurse at Swedish, in the residency program.

Class was just one day a week, all day from 8:30-5:30-ish (class usually ended a bit earlier). It was four quarters long. Several classes were hybrid, so we only met every other week or less in-person. I think you can complete stats during the program, as long as it's completed by graduation. I know several people were taking prereqs during the program (foreign language, chemistry, math, etc).

I met so many amazing, brilliant nurses during the program, and already miss it (though I don't miss the homework!).

If you think you might want to go to grad school in the future, then you might want to go the brick and mortar route. As I understand it, WGU doesn't give grades, except for some kind of grade equivalency if requested (??)

Where are you planning on taking the stats online? I need it as well. Thanks!

I'm going to take it from my school (Seattle Central College) because they're offering it online in the fall and that's the only way it will work with my schedule.

Busing from Seattle to Tacoma would be painful, unless you could catch the sounder part way

Actually from downtown Seattle (I just live up the hill so I can walk to downtown pretty easily), it's almost the same amount of time on the bus to Bothell or Tacoma. Both about an hour each way. Which isn't too bad if it's one day a week, but gets to be a little much more often than that.

I graduated from NSCC last June and just finished the RN to BSN program at UW Bothell a week ago. I went straight into the UW two weeks after I finished at NSCC, and took my NCLEX during my first quarter at the UW. It was a great program that I'd recommend highly. Meeting so many other nurses who are ADNs and discussing their career paths was invaluable. Through networking with them, I definitely had a leg-up in getting job offers - first as a substitute school nurse, and just recently getting a position as a postpartum nurse at Swedish, in the residency program.

Class was just one day a week, all day from 8:30-5:30-ish (class usually ended a bit earlier). It was four quarters long. Several classes were hybrid, so we only met every other week or less in-person. I think you can complete stats during the program, as long as it's completed by graduation. I know several people were taking prereqs during the program (foreign language, chemistry, math, etc).

I met so many amazing, brilliant nurses during the program, and already miss it (though I don't miss the homework!).

If you think you might want to go to grad school in the future, then you might want to go the brick and mortar route. As I understand it, WGU doesn't give grades, except for some kind of grade equivalency if requested (??)

Thank you so much for your input!! I've pretty much decided to go with either UW Bothell or Washington State University's online program. Online is more convenient, obviously, but the networking piece is big for me. Can I ask how the university's electives (I understand there are three required) worked for you? When I've looked, it looks like I'd have to take them on different days from the core nursing classes so they wouldn't conflict and that would mean a lot of extra time commuting to Bothell. Were you able to work full-time while in the program/do you think that would be doable? Really my only concern is scheduling. I have a flexible CNA job now, but finding a nursing job is hard enough without having to work around school, it seems.

Thanks for your input!!