Share Your Experience in Accelerated BSN program

piper_for_hire · Nov 21, 2006

I went to a 12 month program. Knew two people in our class that still worked occasionally. They both failed out. I needed a high GPA so I didn't dare work. Don't forget that nursing school is a little different than regular school. There is an insane amount of time consuming work and wheel spinning.

-S

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2006

Accellerated is double time. You're cramming 2 years of study in one year. 24 plus credit hours a semester. I work with a woman who works one 12 hour shift a week and is in an accellerated program and often has to beg the manager for even that off to study.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2006

I'm an accelerated BSN grad (over 20 years ago!). My program was 12 months. Scott...I feel your pain about credits! I had well over 250 grad and undergrad credits and was still taking pre-reqs, too! I kept looking at my transcripts thinking "gee, maybe it's hidden in here somewhere if I dig long enough".

I strongly advise anyone embarking on an accelerated program to not plan on working. Everyone in my program who had anything more than a 5 hour job a week dropped out. Accelerated programs are "no stumbles"....there is no room for crisis. No sick days....I had pneumonia, was told I could not miss time...so I went to class and clinicals in a mask. For most of my peers, any crisis meant dropping out or dropping back to the next year. That included unexpected pregnancies, illnesses and family crises.

Another poster made a point about nursing school being different. Oh, yes. Having had so much college experience, I thought it would be much easier than it was. The credit load isn't a fair reflection of the time required.

Knowing what I do now, I'd have still done it. Good luck!

Mission · Nov 21, 2006

I just finished an accelerated program and worked at the same time. My advice would be don't do it! It definately effected my grades and my studying. You'll have enough reason not to feel confident as a new nurse without knowing you could have and should have studied more.

AMR21, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2006

thanx for the info. i am starting one next year and i also feel your pain about prerequs. i am a senior anthropology major and trying to finish that degree and take all those extra classes is no fun.

Josh L.Ac. · Nov 25, 2006

I'm 3 months into my 12 month program and I'm going to start working 8hrs a week because I'm afraid I'll lose my acupuncture / CHM skills. The start of my program was supposed to be the highest volume, so now that the volume is down, I'm going to work. Once we switched from 4 lecture days a week to 2 lecture days + 2 clinic days, the volume of work has gone down.

I would not plan on working, start the program, then assess how much spare time you have. Some people need to work in order to better manage their study time...like me.

BTW I'm getting 92-97% in all my classes [A's and B's].

coopsc1 · Nov 25, 2006

Thanks everyone for the great info. I actually work in the healthcare field and I have a strong science background. I am thinking that it's not so much the material that is hard but the clinicals and time associated with that. I am curious if most programs have a set time for the clinicals (Like M-F 7-5, etc...)? Most programs here in Colorado do limit them to weekdays. Thanks again

Scott

decartes · Nov 25, 2006

Clinical is the easy part. It's the numerous care plans, papers and studying that takes up most of your time.

If you're planning to invest yourself into something as involved as an accelerated BSN program, I suggest you place at least 90% of your efforts there (10% reserved for ADL's and SHORT mental breaks). Depending on how forgiving your program is, you might have very little room to err. A strong science background helps but nursing is all new knowledge (coming from a bio major).

In a nutshell, it's serious stuff that can't be half-assed.

piper_for_hire · Nov 25, 2006

Agreed. The most frustrating thing you'll find in nursing school is that the exams to not match the material taught in lecture. It's really hard to understand this until you've been there and the teachers are all saying - "oh, we don't make up the test from the material, we get the questions from blah-blah-blah" To me, that was the most demoralizing part of nursing school. The clinicals were mostly fun and easy.

-S

coopsc1 · Nov 25, 2006

I had the same experience in pharmacy school with the testing situation. There was always stuff on exams that was never presented in lecture and we were still expected to know the stuff. Total BS! I am assuming that nursing school is also just a bunch of hoops to jump through to get to the next level?

Scott

Josh L.Ac. · Nov 25, 2006

So far, well, not really. The tests in my program tend to represent the covered material fairly well. My clinical instructor for my first session is great. The volume is high but managable.

No complaints really...other than the fact my reinbursement check from HCA [they pay for our school if we sign a two-year work contract] got lost in the mail and took almost three months to get.

Yup, that's my only complaint. So far, the material hasn't been very difficult and our ATI testing scores have been very high.