Schools???

a lot of independent self study, so you need a lot of motivation to get through the program. you may have to find your own preceptor so find them fast.

Though online programs can be enticing, you need to really do your homework. Take a look through these threads and see how many people are "begging" for help trying to find preceptors. Online schools will sell you on their program, telling you that finding preceptors isn't a problem, etc, etc. The truth is that these "Admissions counselors" are just sales people trying to earn a buck by enrolling students. They will tell you anything and everything to get you to sign up for their program. I would advise you to do your research about any school you are looking at, and who owns the school. Then do a web search on that business to see what kind of history they have. For instance, you can do some research on South University, and their owner - Education Management Corporation. You will find that EMC has many local, state, and federal lawsuits against them for various things. It turns out that these online programs are more interested in getting your $$ than being a reputable school. Any program that is reputable should care enough about their students to arrange all their clinical experiences and find the preceptors for the students. You pay them a lot of $$ --- you should demand they provide you with this degree of professionalism. Do you think any medical schools would survive if they told their students, "go out and find your own clinical experiences"? No, med schools are too professional for this sort of thing. There are students that are very successful at NP For Profit programs. I know it can be done. But do your research on all the schools you are looking at. Look at who owns the schools, and do research on those owners. There are no programs out there that are perfect for everyone. Just do a lot of research before you pay anyone a lot of $$. Then go with whatever program you see as a best fit for you. I wish you the best of luck!

Not sure if you've made your decision yet but basically the distance ed programs for NP have online coursework & lectures. You are responsible for getting your clinical experiences. They will help but not really all that much. If I had to do it over again I would do two things: 1) Make sure the school is on a 10 point grading scale 2) Make sure I understand their clinical hours requirements and grading policy fully. All those schools have basically the same rehashed courses and testing material. You clinical experiences will vary and the good ones will teach you and sometimes you just want an easy preceptor to work with to just get it over with. I've met students from all 3 programs and are doing fine. You can never arrange clinicals too early and you can never count on one clinical site. Always have a backup.

WGU has an online NP program, or would you be taking a different track for WGU? I ask because I didn't see one when I looked.

Many online and B&M programs require some level of assistance from the student in identifying the preceptor. This can be a major issue for some. In addition they often have (hopefully have) requirements that your preceptor has to meet. My program is very picky, other programs are more or less picky. Make sure you are up to this task if you pick a program that puts this requirement on you, it is not trivial and as others have said, many have had issues with this requirement.

Personally I would look for programs that are picky about your preceptors, and spend alot of time early building a network within the provider community as your network will help you to identify preceptors that will give you a high quality clinical practicum. I would also look for programs that spend time personally visiting and remotely monitoring your clinical practicum. I would also assess how well the program's didactic environment is setup. There are programs (of all types) that do a very poor job of limiting cheating, etc. You want to avoid these programs.