St. Paul's School of Nursing Fall 2016

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Is anyone here applying to St. Paul's or have any word on it? I've already taken their entrance exam and did well and I took the HESI a2 and also did well (managed a 95 cumulative). I'm wary because they lack NLN accreditation and I know that I definitively want to get a bacehlors degree before moving on to a higher degree. However, I hear that's hard to do if you go to a school that isn't accredited.

Also, the price tag is *very* hefty (48,000 for the whole program). I know that it won't be as expensive for me since I've taken all eng, psych, and soc classes, but it'll still be a considerable amount of debt to place myself in for just an associates degree.

-dressed2empress

I received my acceptance notification by phone. Ms. Lopez called me about 6 weeks after I had my interview with the school president. My documents were all submitted 2 weeks prior to my interview.

Okay, I got my documents in about a month or two after my interview, so I think I still have a couple more weeks before I hear anything. Thanks for the info!

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You're welcome. Good luck!

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I went to St. Paul's School of Nursing. Finished off my BSN at Adelphi University, which is NLN accredited (I don't really care) with zero, zilch, nada issues. Now, I'm working for a top private hospital at about $90K/year. What is your issue, exactly? Can't quite understand why one is making a big deal as long as you can take the N-CLEX at the end. Care about what you're learning and what kind of nurse you're going to be to our sickest of patients. Are you going to bring value to the nursing profession by protecting our patients utilizing evidence based practice? No idea about evidence based practice and can't make the connection between advancing nursing education and nursing professional power? Don't even bother becoming a nurse. This profession will challenge you to the core. You may not have the experience, but you'd better be ready to have a discourse with medical professionals and why your role is necessary to patient care while simultaneously understanding that we are providing a service that is subject to regulation organizational and statutory.

The concern is due to how saturated the job market is in NYC with regards to nursing schools constantly pumping out new grads. It's an employer's market and hospitals can now demand that their new hires must have a BSN already or a BSN in the works by a certain date. That obviously isn't a problem for anyone who is driven, but getting your ADN at a school that is not NLN accredited does not provide you with the safety net of a gaurantee that your credits will transfer to a BSN program and that you will consequently be able to finish the BSN in a timely manner. Add on to that the fact that this school is charging us almost $50,000 with only $21,000 maybe being covered by low interest cosigner-free federal loans and there's an obvious cause of concern. That's a lot of money to get yourself in debt for only a two year degree when the average graduate of a four year degree program has a debt less than that of $30,000.

Now wasn't that train of thought simple to follow?

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Your statements are very accurate. I can promise you one thing , if you do not have a BSN , you will not get hired by a NYC hospital . Even if you are enrolled in one , unless it's completed you will not even get an interview. That being said, when I passed the nclex after graduating st Paul's, I got 3 job offers that were not in a hospital but decent experience. One was detox, one was psych and one was a clinic. It's even hard getting a job at nursing homes believe it or not. My piece of advice - get a job as a PCA , while in nursing school. It goes a long way. In fact, the only Associates nurses who got jobs in hospitals are the ones who worked as PCAs and applied internally.

If that's not an option, I completed my BSN in 10 months . It was so easy as compared to nursing school. Once you get the BSN, you can work really anywhere even with limited or no experience.

Another piece of advice, after you pass boards, apply for NJ license. NJ hospitals hire associate degree nurses who are BSN enrolled so that would create more options as well.

But even with a BSN, getting a job in NYC is tough so be prepared to send out many , many applications. It's tough but definitely feasible.

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@nyc-BSN

A huge part of the issue is the fact that more often than not I see posts, articles, and blogs regarding non-accredited program as a complete waste of time and money as progression - both with further education and employment, is difficult or not possible at all. Things may have changed more recently, but I heard horror stories years ago about students who have attended non-accredited programs and have had no opportunity for progression and barely any for employment (based on their job market) - this is especially true outside of New York where a lot of non-accredited programs pop up and charge high tuition rates for degrees or diplomas that have little value.

School, no matter the intended program of study, is an investment. If an investor, prospective student, is not wary of factors such as accreditation, reputation, graduation and retention rates, and does not operate with caution - they are a fool. It's that simple. We are operating as wise investors and prospective students - none of us are fools. From what I can tell, each person who has the same concerns wants to progress in the field and requires a steady foundation, via a degree whose credits can be transferred for further education, to do so.

Nobody is bashing the school, we are all prospective students. After doing my due diligence and massive amounts of research I managed to find enough stories of graduates who successfully and seamlessly progressed in a similar fashion to how I intend to and I contacted schools that I am interested in pursuing my BSN at to make sure that there would not be an issue transferring credits. Please believe there are some schools that I contacted that still do not accept any of the credits from the program based off of accreditation and some that only accept the nursing and general education classed but require lab sciences be completed elsewhere, but a decent number that do accept all or most credits, the list is impressive and has increased a lot over the past few years.

Perhaps if successful alumni of the school had more of a presence than those that have had negative experiences, there wouldn't be as much anxiety in regards to the school's accreditation. I have to agree, the tuition is steep so I would be insane not to proceed with caution given the amount of warnings about non-accredited schools that I have come across. However, the proof is in the pudding... if other's have transferred credits to great schools and landed dream jobs, it can be done, so thank you for sharing your successes!

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That's basically what I was trying to say. This is a very large investment (for most of us), and I don't want to be taken for a ride and neither does anyone else. Part of being a nurse includes critical thinking skills and it wouldn't make sense that we don't do our due diligence.

I also wish that more St. Paul's alumni would post their success stories. I know several nurses who went to this school and have jobs in hospital, one of whom works in Bellevue's ER, and I think if more people spoke realistically about the school in forums such as these we would be able to get an accurate picture.

Another thing is that I feel like people think of this school as a "last resort" option. It's true that the CUNY's are more affordable, but the soonest I could get my degree would be in 2.5 years. I could transfer to QCC and take A&P and I can get it based off having A's in all my other pre reqs, but by the time I'm done it'll be 2019 and I'll only have an associates. At St. Paul's we can finish in a year and a half, a full year shorter, and enter the workforce while working on our BSN. There's a time value to money and what you earn today won't stretch as far tomorrow. That aspect of this program makes it so appealing to me.

In any case, I look forward to seeing anyone on here in the Fall if I get accepted to the school

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@dressed2empressed

Would you mind posting which of the schools you contacted informed you that they accept St. Paul's credits for an Rn-Bsn degree? I am content with finishing up online at Excelsior, or WGU but it would be nice to know what my other options are (besides Adelphi, and CUNY SpS.). Thanks.

nycstudent22

I definitely agree that more Saint Paul's alumni should post their success stories. It would go a long way towards repairing/bolstering the reputation of what seems to be a worthwhile program. Of all the threads on this site devoted to discussion of SPSON this is the only one that I've seen where multiple alumni share their experiences and paint the school in a generally positive light. When I finish in spring 2018 I will make sure to share my story as well.

I look forward to meeting you in person this fall. My name is Jason, what's yours?

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Hi Jason, my name is Mercedes.

I have found that Adelphi (with stipulations), Excelsior, Chamberlain, SUNY Delhi, Grand Canyon University, and Hunter College (with stipulations) accept either all or the majority of credits from St. Paul's.

I am currently waiting for responses from admissions at SUNY Downstate, Molloy and SUNY Farmingdale. I haven't really looked into any other RN-BSN programs.

So far, I have to say I'm mainly interested in Downstate, Hunter and Farmingdale (in that order) - as I would be able to pay out of pocket. Adelphi is a good school too, so if I can figure out a way to pay for it I plan on applying there too. Molloy is a more modest price than Adelphi and are known for their nursing program, so if they are willing to accept the credits I will be applying with them as well.

I did not realize that CUNY SPS even had a RN-BSN program, I will definitely check them out too. I am always on the lookout for any programs that peak my interest, so the list may grow, but for now I hope this helps paint a brighter picture of prospects.

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FYI Chamberlain gives a 15% discount for st Paul's alumni . When I graduated from Chamberlain I had an excellent GPA and got invited to a national nursing honor society. When I entered the workforce I was more prepared than a NYU nursing graduate , and this person said their program was horrible. No school is perfect , st Paul's is far from perfect. Cuny has a better nursing program but it's alot more competitive, smaller classes and longer waiting list

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What was the environment like in the school (Queen's Campus) when you went there? I used to go to lagcc and students in the nursing program there seemed to be more or less on their own; they didn't really get any support from the administraion in terms of tutoring or anything like that.

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Please see below

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FYI Chamberlain gives a 15% discount for st Paul's alumni . When I graduated from Chamberlain I had an excellent GPA and got invited to a national nursing honor society. When I entered the workforce I was more prepared than a NYU nursing graduate , and this person said their program was horrible. No school is perfect , st Paul's is far from perfect. Cuny has a better nursing program but it's alot more competitive, smaller classes and longer waiting list

I may have to spend a lot more time looking into online RN-BSN programs! I haven't given them much consideration because I automatically assumed they could not cost less than a SUNY/CUNY program. I was also a little worried that they weren't as recognized as the brick and mortar schools - I was mistaken give the things I have found in a quick google search since reading your post CPRNnyc.

I just took a quick look into Chamberlain and their program looks impressive. They also have an agreement with the hospital system that I currently work for for their nurses to further their education, which is amazing.

I have a lot more research to do lol

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