Truth about methodist college of nursing peoria il

[ajburge]

I've heard from many people not to go to mcon and was curious if anyone could chime in on specific details why or why not too?? Thank you

[livdream1]

You may want to check out Methodist's recent NCLEX scores. You can find them here:

State of Illinois, Illinois Center for Nursing - Education Opportunities

[darksky123]

Alright, I do attend Methodist so I'll try to shed some light. In short: I'm not a big fan. The school feels very disorganized and disjointed at times. Teachers have greatly different ways of how to write an APA paper, and we suffer. The paper work for clinical is very tedious (care plans, reflections, etc) yet the instructors never seem very happy with them. You only get feedback from about half, and only half of those instructors do it in a timely manner. The curriculum gets messed with every year or so. Good luck finishing in 2 years or whatever you had planned if you're transferring. They have it set up so you have at least 2.5 if not more with them. Especially since word is they're eliminating some summer classes.

There are classes that you take that honestly have no point to them whatsoever. I.e., they want your money. Speaking of which, they increased our tuition the beginning of last year. It used to be tiered with just below $400/credit hour for 100-200 level classes, and just below $600/credit hour for 300+ level classes; now they're all around $600/credit hour and there's rumors of it increasing again in the fall.

We have had pretty poor pass rates these past couple of times. 75% or so isn't all that great. They have been nailing us with ATI (which is used at a lot of schools). The problem is, the in class tests are based on our textbooks; while at the end of the year, we all have a big ATI test, which is based on the ATI books, which we were told were essentially a nice supplement, but with semi-frequent errors Yet if we did not get a...I believe a level 2 (regardless of %), we would fail the class. Well last semester we had a mass of us not passing the ATI tests because we learned facts that were just slightly different from ATI. It was a whole stink and the dean had to e-mail the entire school telling them not to worry and they would look into it. It turned out alright for most but that's still ridiculous.

The instructors credentials for the most part are pretty questionable imo. I've had numerous instructors who earned their masters at for-profit and online universities such as University of Phoenix, Liberty University, or Devry. It's hard to accept their credibility. Especially since many just rattle off whatever is on the powerpoints without giving much personal input.

I will not say that the school is hard per se, but it is very tedious and frustrating at times. Some faculty members seem not to care, the President comes off as psychotic. We had maybe 2 or 3 faculty members leave this year alone. I have also seen males picked on perhaps a bit more than the females if that matters to you.

The positives is that the clinical rotations aren't half bad, though it can depend on your instructor. A good number of the nurses who work at the hospital can sympathize with you because they graduated from there and will try to help, you as much as they can, especially if they don't like your instructor .

Your alternatives are OSF and Bradley (for BSN) and ICC (for ADN). For OSF you need to apply over a year I think in advanced in order to get in when you want. But people seem relatively satisfied with the school, it's still stressful, but of course. You also get to do most of your clinicals at OSF which is probably the best and most advanced hospital around.

Bradley, I have friends who graduated from there but I honestly don't know too much about it. I know their prereqs can be wonky. Most seemed satisfied with the program. The bonus of Bradley is that you can live close to campus and have more of a traditional college experience that is unavailable at any of the other programs in the area, if that's something you're interested in. The downside is that it's fairly expensive too. But they are much better with scholarships than OSF or Methodist.

ICC has decent financial aid, not that it's that much of an issue because it's far cheaper than any of your other options. The downside is that you'd only have your ADN and that'll slow you down if you ever want to get into the more advanced specialties. But I have heard pretty good things about the program in all. It, like Bradley goes to a number of different locations for clincals so you are exposed to a variety of things.

Sorry I made this so long but I hope this helps!

[Bullet49]

I love the above review about MCon. I was seriously looking at doing the accelerated program next Fall, but things at my old job changed quickly and switched my application to Traditional for Fall 2013. Nothing is final yet and I am so glad I found your post prior to my accepting their offer. I have heard from other nurses not to go to MMC, but nothing specific. I did see some subtle red flags in the last few weeks. Once they learned I was approved for some loan money for 2013, they were almost too accommodating to let me start in the Fall.They give priority to those who DON'T have all prerequisites completed, meaning you will take them at MCON which tells me that they know how to make more money off unassuming students. Yet, they are the same classes offered at ICC, for a fraction of the cost. ICC"s books are cheaper as well. I am already up to my eyeballs w/ loans from my 1st bachelor's in social work so with MCON's tuition now at $587/hr. plus $765 worth of fees extra every semester, I would be looking at copious amounts of money owed by the time I graduated. Plus the cost of books. OSF and MCON both preach the BSN, but i know a lot of nurses in all the hospitals in this area and a lot of them have an Assoc. One nurse in critical care has a diploma!! And if you go to work at OSF, they make you sign a contract to get your BSN through them and agree to work for so many years since they're paying for it. The bottom line is this. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A BSN TO BE AN RN. MCON and OSF have created themselves a nice little market in this area by making it look as if it's a requirement to get a job. Being around nurses so much in the last 5 years, I know that is bull. I know a Pekin ER nurse who is going for her BSN online at Purdue University just because she wants to. It isn't a necessity. If you search BSN jobs you get a lot of administrative/management results. Not required for any other area in nursing. I will be staying with ICC, completing my degree, with tuition currently at $115/hr. for a mere $6,834 + books, which you can get online rented fairly cheap. Might take me longer to get into the actual program but I will be about $50,000 ahead when I'm finished so I think it's worth the wait.

[Bullet49]

Wrong original post

[MethodistCollege]

I would strongly encourage you to visit with a recruiter at Methodist College and also meet with our student ambassadors in order to have a well-rounded view of the college at its current state. When you visit, we can also provide you time with a faculty member as well as an alumnus, which can help you view the college holistically.

Choosing a college is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life and Methodist College wants to help you take the next step in determining if we would be a good fit for you. Attend one of our open houses, information sessions or schedule a personal visit by calling [phone] or emailing [email protected].

Methodist College is a traditional higher learning institution, pairing general education courses along with the nursing/health sciences curriculum in order to expose students to their major sooner and incorporate nursing and health science concepts into the curriculum for a seamless experience. Methodist College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and continues to see a rise in its NCLEX scores over the last few quarters.

Methodist College is the oldest nursing program in the Peoria area. Affiliated with UnityPoint Health, our diploma program was established in 1900 and it transitioned to a bachelor's degree program in 2000. Methodist College focuses strictly on nursing and health sciences programs which create a learning environment with like-minded, goal-oriented students.

[Allie1064]

I have had some really amazing expeirences at Methodist College! Yes, there is tedious clinical paperwork - I agree with that, but just wait until you are working!! Talk about documentation - it takes longer to document something than it took to actually do it. The work that is put in during clinicals only helps you to learn how to do things practically and efficiently so that when you are working under pressure you can get it done. Because, paperwork is just one small part of it. If there wasn't tedious clinical paperwork, what would that mean? That would be scary!

The clinical expeirences in themselves have been awesome! We got a full range of experience from OBGYN to Peds and are at a great advantage because Methodist also has Proctor now!

The class sizes are really small - meaning, there are few students in each class - more face time with professors. ATI is used as a supplement, like in other schools, to help prepare for the NCLEX. you have to work, and study to pass the NCLEX. You can't just memorize. You have to be able to problem solve.

Methodist College has been around a long time and there is good reason for it. There are some excellent faculty, and tuition/fees are the same as any other school close by.

If you want to get your diploma and be an RN, that is fine, you can do that at a community college like ICC and work as an RN. But if you want to work at a Magnet Hospital (OSF, Methodist, many others) you will have to have your BSN.

[danggirl]

Wow. I just sort of stumble across this posting. I know it is a bit older but I'm going to comment anyway.

I graduated with my Diploma (no they really do exist...they aren't a mythical creature!) in 1995 and I have to say, at least for that, I got a super awesome education compared to the BSN/ADN students at the time. I have been seriously considering getting my BSN and/or MSN and of course MCON is on my list. It was interesting to read the comments. I wondered what type of changes the school would undergo when they transitioned over to a BSN program.

I have never had a problem getting a job with "just" a diploma; I've worked in the ED for the past 6 years, have always been put in a Charge position, and have done a few travel assignments. However I will say this: If you want any kind of advancement, you'll need your BSN. The job market is becoming very competitive for regular staff nurses too unless you have a ton of experience because there are more BSN's being graduated and many employers see that as a better investment.

Back to MCON. I don't really recall any problems other than I know certain sections were extremely difficult for many people. One section a majority of the class flunked though I had no problem with it. Most of the instructors seemed OK too though by example they taught me a very valuable lesson in nursing...it's OK if you don't know as long as you DO know where to find the answer.

My biggest negative experience came when a high ranking administrative person who shall remain nameless told me that I would never make it through school (had some personal issues going on). I ended up graduating 2nd in my class (though they told me after graduation I should have been #1 but there was some screw up with grading and g.p.a.'s in a year's past semester!!)...and we did everything the "old fashioned" way: paper books, journals, type writers or word processors...the card catalog in the library for goodness sakes!!!

[macksta233]

It's disorganized, but it's a nursing school.

[thomam64]

In general every nursing program will suck, point blank. You will never find a nursing program that is 100% fool proof. I have graduated from Methodist in the Fall of 14 and have just taken my boards and passed! Also, 4 of my relatives have graduated and have passed boards from Methodist, so I know the program works! Overall, I enjoyed my experience at MCON, but most importantly Methodist offers an internship program which truly helped me become confident on the floors, which many of the other local colleges do not offer. The internship consists of 4 weeks on the floor 4 weeks off with clinical MTW 7a-3 or 3-11p on a variety of floors which include ICU, CVICU, Cardiac step down, Respiratory, Surgical, Orthopedic, Oncology, and Rehab. Here you will learn how to take a full team of patients 3-5.

Dislikes I have towards Methodist, is their increasing tuition which will now be raised in the Fall of 15 to I believe 620/ credit. I personally believe tuition should stay the same once you get accepted. Also, their was much disorganization when I first started in the lower level nursing classes. However, as you get into the upper nursing classes it becomes very organized so if you can bear through it the first 2 years you will survive. As for Instructors I have had some awesome instructors OB, Internship, Medsurg, Mental Health...They are some of the best and they are your most important clinicals. Over the past four years I have definitely seen Methodist continually try to grow and change their curriculum in order to prepare us to work in the health care field. Once you get accepted to Methodist you can not take anymore gen eds at ICC. Which I feel is a rip off. Methodist offers all the gen ed classes but would you rather pay 150/credit at ICC or 620/credit at methodist? I highly recommend finishing all of you A and P and Micro before going to Methodist.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your nursing career!!