RN to BSN online

rajan2 · Jul 25, 2010

I second UTA even with those hx classes because I moving to texas next year so might as well......just applied 2 days ago so hopefully I will get in for sept (ish)........Texas a&m wanted me to finish all gEN ED classes before nursing classes but at UTA you can take them with nursing classes and the tuition is the same for in/out of state Except for the gEN ED classs. Wish there was an online school where i could take them much cheaper.................

fallinnstyle · Jul 26, 2010

Has anyone been able to change their enrollment adviser at chamberlain? Does anyone know if you can?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jul 26, 2010

Mine was fabulous, so I didn't want to! But there is no reason they should tell you no -- call and ask to speak to someone else.

mmm333, LVN · Jul 26, 2010

In California if you have a prior BS or BA degree from another field, then there are significant limitations on what they can force you to take at a state school's BSN program. Not sure about other states though, and pretty sure private schools can add requirements, commonly religion or history classes.

fallinnstyle · Jul 26, 2010

Mine was fabulous, so I didn't want to! But there is no reason they should tell you no -- call and ask to speak to someone else.

Thanks LunahRN. Mine is not very nice and she doesn't seem to care what I want, only meeting her quota. I faxed all my transcripts, she told me two weeks to review and get an answer as to what they would take, then she calls me two days later says I NEED to pay my first payment for the upcoming class so I can get enrolled.

When I told her I did not want enroll without knowing which credits if any they will take, she acted like I had offended her and then she tells me 'I guess you are not serious about enrolling in our program".

Then,,,,,she puts my application on 'hold' because I am not serious????

Sorry,,,,,ranting a bit.....

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jul 26, 2010

Thanks LunahRN. Mine is not very nice and she doesn't seem to care what I want, only meeting her quota. I faxed all my transcripts, she told me two weeks to review and get an answer as to what they would take, then she calls me two days later says I NEED to pay my first payment for the upcoming class so I can get enrolled.
When I told her I did not want enroll without knowing which credits if any they will take, she acted like I had offended her and then she tells me 'I guess you are not serious about enrolling in our program".
Then,,,,,she puts my application on 'hold' because I am not serious????
Sorry,,,,,ranting a bit.....

Yeah, I'd switch -- that is poor treatment. My advisor was fabulous, but unfortunately she's moved on from Chamberlain. I flat-out told her I was considering several schools, and that any strong-arm tactics would send me in the opposite direction. She respected that. She also advocated for me to get the max amount of credits for the math and English classes I'd taken. I'm sorry your advisor is behaving like that!

jostafford · Jul 26, 2010

I have been an RN for years, and have never had any interest in going back for my BSN. Unfortunately, it now appears that I need to do so for my job. So I have been dragged kicking and screaming back into the world of academia.

The biggest factor for me is speed. While obviously I would prefer not to spend more money than I have to, what I really want is the fastest possible accredited RN-to-BSN. I have always absolutely hated school, and the sooner I can get it over and done with the better.

Having gone through this thread, I see four schools that keep coming up:

University of Wyoming
Fort Hays State University
University of Texas at Arlington
Chamberlain College of Nursing

Does anyone have a sense of how long these programs take? And what are their policies on transfer credits? For example, do any of them grant credits for life experience or allow students to "test out" of required courses? I also have a lot of credits from my aborted college career prior to becoming a nurse that I would want to apply. Anything to hasten the process!

BrookeeLou_RN · Jul 26, 2010

Admissions counselors are paid commission on getting you in the door and keeping you in the program, changing is possible, but I doubt they will make it easy. Short of you threatening to withdrawl. Chamberlain is private FOR PROFIT... they only want your $$$$$$. So if you pay and make no waves, they will give you good experience in life, if not?????

BrookeeLou_RN · Jul 26, 2010

From what I have seen Chamberlain is fastest but minimum cost of $20,000..that's alot of money!

mmm333, LVN · Jul 26, 2010

I think you've done a very good job at being assertive and remembering that these private schools are businesses first and foremost. Yes you may have touched a nerve by revealing their hand, but you didn't do anything inappropriate or call anyone names. If your advisor wants to be hypersensitive and make arbitary decisions that affect your application, I would elevate the issue to someone of higher authority. You might want to say to them that you feel you are being treated unfairly and expected more from a school of their reputation- such as a patient advisor who addresses your concerns politely, evaluates your transcripts prior to admission, etc. I would be suspicious of any school that does not provide a quick eval of your transcripts- it's such a small investment on their part given that you are spending a huge amount of time and money on their program and they should quite easily understand that. If not, you can assume that they are betting on forcing an additional semester of credits on you. If that's OK with you, then do it. If not, seek out alternative schools with more ethical and honest business practices. In California there are clear articulation agreements between all community colleges and universities that you can search class by class at Welcome to ASSIST , see if your state has anything like that available. Good luck.

mmm333, LVN · Jul 27, 2010

U Wyoming looks like they force you to take "U.S. & Wyoming Constitution" and "Public Speaking" no matter what. They explicitly state on their website that regardless of one's prior level of education (BS, BA, MA, etc.), they WILL NOT EVALUATE YOUR TRANSCRIPTS until (long?) AFTER you are admitted into the program- and are pretty much commited.

Hey, at least they say this somewhat clearly on their website... I give them some credit for that.

mmm333, LVN · Jul 27, 2010

Imagine if they put this decision in PRINT in a formal letter.

Dear applicant, Your admission has been placed on hold due to your apparent lack of seriousness.

I would be tempted to threaten them with bad publicity, but I know that wouldn't help my case much.

What these schools seem to be capitalizing on is the fact that they have no legal duty in their states to evaluate your transcripts until you are a student there. So they can hold you hostage and make you take their silly grad reqs even if you have a Harvard PhD in State Government and Constitutional History (that did not cover the role of Toledo, OH local government). So you just have to take that stuff into account when choosing a school. For me it's an insult to have to take those silly classes. I have two BAs from a prestigious school which I worked very hard for.

In the end grad reqs will be weighed among many other factors and I may have to accept them.

Tuition is another story- many schools are secretive about tuition until you are plugged into their sales team. I will purposely overlook many schools because they don't post tuition on their websites.