University of Oklahoma-Accelerated BSN Program

bash75 · Dec 4, 2009

A little extra info for you guys considering the OU ABSN in Glendale. The sites clinical instructor just resigned and is taking a position at a local hospital. We have had 4 different clinical instructors over a 4 month period and I don't see it getting any better with them phasing out the program.

SoCalNursingStudent · Dec 4, 2009

A little extra info for you guys considering the OU ABSN in Glendale. The sites clinical instructor just resigned and is taking a position at a local hospital. We have had 4 different clinical instructors over a 4 month period and I don't see it getting any better with them phasing out the program.

Bash,

Do they help you with your preparation for the nclex? ie: some sort of review course like Kaplan or is that all on your own too?

and when you have computer problems with blackboard/angel system, is there someone to help you? especially over the weekend or in the late evening? or do you have to wait for business hours?

how helpful are the instructors? or are they scrambling to get the curriculum figured out because they were just recently hired? (that was the problem I encountered at West Coast)

are you able to purchase your books from outside vendors or do they want you to purchase the books from them?

I heard from other posts that you must use their scrubs and not just any maroon scrubs, are they strict about the nursing gear (stethoscope, cuff etc?) too?

When you complained or commented, were they responsive or seemed not to care too much?

Sorry to send a barrage of questions your way but i really like your candid responses. I really hate the selling point speeches, I felt dupped by WCU and dont want that to happen again.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Socal

deemalt, BSN, RN · Dec 4, 2009

I took some pre-reqs at National. State of the art equipment with enough to go around and my professor (micro) was awesome. I have also heard that Azusa Pacifica (sp?) has an accerlerated BSN program.

KT#7 · Dec 4, 2009

St. Mary's was good, but I think you have to live on campus for a semester and take a religion course before you even start the nursing program. But I'm not positive. Cal State Northridge also has an accelerated program-15 months I believe, but the deadline was December 1st

reeki · Dec 4, 2009

I just finished the as the 1st cohort in Glendale. The program is awful. If you are planning to apply, I would urge that you reconsider and go somewhere cheaper that is more student oriented. First they boast it as a 14 month program but it isn't. You finish the curriculum in 14 months, but it takes an extra 2 months for them to post the transcripts and send them to the state board (what's the point of an accelerated program, if you still have to wait). Next they originally quoted $31,500, but after 1 year it was up to $35,000 which doesn't include books and other expenses. We had to do our pediatrics rotation 3 hours away in San Diego at our own expense (the school did not offer any re-imbursement for hotel/driving expenses even though they were at fault for not aquiring a local peds rotation in the largest metroplex in the country. They act as though they have a good relationship with the hospital, but the HR staff for the hospital is quick to let you know your resume will be added to the queu with all the other applications.
Currently it is hard to attain a job as a new grad (hospitals don't want to pay for the training), thus it would have been nice to have had jobs lined up after graduation. OU actually ****** off some in the hospital administration, because they wanted preceptor positions to run a certain way that was disadventagious to the hospital. Ultimately I spent $40k of my savings for an over-rated OU nursing education inferior to the local community college (which costs about 7k. Don't make the same mistake I made.

I am a graduate of the SD OU program and have a few things to add. While the program was very frustrating and unorganized, it is a good program academically. If you take it upon yourself to do the work and reading (you already know it's an online program so if this isn't for you then you are already guaranteed to have problems) you will learn what is necessary to be a good nurse. I have heard that the Glendale program is worse than SD and I think it is awful that they made you guys drive all the way to SD to do your peds with no compensation. I would be angry too. However, I have to correct you on a few things. Some hospitals don't pay ADN RN's differently than BSN RNs but others do. I was just hired by Sharp and when HR discussed my hourly rate they told me that my rate is higher than an ADN nurse since I have my BSN. Also, the wait to get into any of the ADN programs here in SD is about 3 years and I have seen multiple job posts where they state they prefer someone with a BSN over an ADN. So to me it seems it would be better to get the BSN in the long run, even if it does cost more. Another thing about being put on the queu with other non OU students at Glendale Adventist makes sense. I know, at least here in SD, they told us a similar thing about them liking OU students however, there is no written contract saying that the hospital has to take or consider OU applicants before others. I may be wrong, but I think it may not even be legal for the hospital to bump up your application just because you did clinicals at that hospital.

About the transcript and the program being longer than 14 months. It is 14 months and they told us the transcript and NCLEX elgibility would take anywhere from 4-6 weeks after we graduate before we even started the program (maybe it was different for Glendale?). It takes the BRN a while to process all of your stuff to make you elgible for the NCLEX and that is totally out of OU's hands. I also know that down here in SD, the other nursing schools don't line you up jobs prior to graduation either. That being said, the program definitely had it's issues and my main problem with the SD program was scheduling. They will constantly change your schedule at last minute, which makes it nearly impossible to have a life outside of school during those 14 months, and yes some of the staff was rude at times. But, overall, it was well worth the money and I got a new grad position on my unit of choice 4 months after graduation.

reeki · Dec 4, 2009

Bash,
Do they help you with your preparation for the nclex? ie: some sort of review course like Kaplan or is that all on your own too?
and when you have computer problems with blackboard/angel system, is there someone to help you? especially over the weekend or in the late evening? or do you have to wait for business hours?
how helpful are the instructors? or are they scrambling to get the curriculum figured out because they were just recently hired? (that was the problem I encountered at West Coast)
are you able to purchase your books from outside vendors or do they want you to purchase the books from them?
I heard from other posts that you must use their scrubs and not just any maroon scrubs, are they strict about the nursing gear (stethoscope, cuff etc?) too?
When you complained or commented, were they responsive or seemed not to care too much?
Sorry to send a barrage of questions your way but i really like your candid responses. I really hate the selling point speeches, I felt dupped by WCU and dont want that to happen again.
Thanks in advance for your response.
Socal

The OU SD program would hold a weeklong ATI review course at the school site or you could sign up for a virtual ATI review course, and we were given a discount for both. I did not take any review courses for the NCLEX so I really cannot tell you if they were helpful or not. I can also tell you that almost everyone in my cohort of over 60 has passed the NCLEX on the first try (I only know of one person for sure who didn't pass).

The only problem I had with the blackboard/angel thing was a password issue, and it was a pain in the butt to fix since I could only call during business hours and had to call actual Oklahoma. Some students had problems with quizzes or whatnot and the instructors were for the most part very understanding that technical problems do happen.

Most of your instructors live in Oklahoma and you will never meet them. I am a very independent learner so I rarely contacted any of them so I'm not sure how helpful they were. I know some people would email them all of the time and some professors would email back immediately and others would take forever. Just depends on who the professor is. You will have learning lab instructors and clinical instructors that are actually there with you. Once again, most of mine were excellent but there were some that were less than average at teaching.

About books, I spent the 1500 or however much it was for that evolve book package that lets you have copies of the books on your computer and I thought it was a huge waste of money. I found that I never used the online versions of the book since I was a) already sick of sitting in front of the computer doing stuff on angel and b) prefer to actually read and highlight in a real book. It is not required to buy that package and I would strongly recommend buying the books from Amazon or somewhere else that you can get them used and much cheaper.

They told us the same thing about the scrubs but I never had a clinical instructor who cared. As long as they aren't super wrinkled and your shoes aren't totally scuffed it's not a big deal. A few girls in my class bought different maroon scrubs that looked almost the same and put their OU patch on those. No one even noticed or if they did they never said anything. As for stethoscope, you can buy whatever you want.

The complaint part, well most of the time they really seem to not care and it was very frustrating. The usual response to a complaint about scheduling or clinical placements was "We told you this may happen before you started the program, yadda yadda." I would also advise you to speak up to whoever is making clinical placements for your senior preceptorship. They gave us a sheet to list the three places we would want to do a preceptorship and I would say 70% were placed on a unit that was not even on our list or remotely close to the type of nursing we wanted to do. Also, don't let them fool you by saying "it doesn't matter where you do your preceptorship as long as you do one." That is not at all true and screwed me out of being able to apply to the UCSD new grad program in anything other than med/surg. The UCSD recruiter told me that the hiring managers really only look at people who did a preceptorship or externship on the type of unit they are applying for. So, don't let them screw you over with your placement.

bash75 · Dec 5, 2009

I wouldn't worry to much about the NCLEX and study materials. ATI is included in the tuition, but you can always take a Kaplan course if you are unsure. Most of the local colleges including community colleges include ATI or some prep course. The schools NCLEX pass rates are an important part of every's school accreditation, thus most schools spend a fair amount of time to help study for it. The San Diego site was far more organized than the Glendale site. An example of this is with community hours. It is set up for you in San Diego. In Glendale it was supposed to be set up for you, but every semester some instructor quit or got sick and it was up to the student to acquire those hours in time. There is less of a shortage in San Diego, thus it seems hospitals attempt to hire more educated nurses. In L.A. most of the nurses in the hospitals are ADN nurses. The hospital we were at was 60-70% ADN nurses and the hospital had longstanding relationships with the local communtity colleges. Most hospitals don't want to pay the price to train new grad nurses, thus they would rather hire ADN nurses with experience over new grad BSN nurses. Times have changed in the last year and a half with the economic climate, hopefully BSN nurses will be given preference in the future.

Bababooey · Dec 5, 2009

About the transcript and the program being longer than 14 months. It is 14 months and they told us the transcript and NCLEX elgibility would take anywhere from 4-6 weeks after we graduate before we even started the program (maybe it was different for Glendale?). It takes the BRN a while to process all of your stuff to make you elgible for the NCLEX and that is totally out of OU's hands. I also know that down here in SD, the other nursing schools don't line you up jobs prior to graduation either. That being said, the program definitely had it's issues and my main problem with the SD program was scheduling. They will constantly change your schedule at last minute, which makes it nearly impossible to have a life outside of school during those 14 months, and yes some of the staff was rude at times. But, overall, it was well worth the money and I got a new grad position on my unit of choice 4 months after graduation.

I was asking my wife, who attended SDSU's BSN program a few years ago, how her transcripts were handled and if she had to wait to take the NCLEX. She said that she was able to sit for the NCLEX immediately upon graduating and that everything was processed so quickly that she didn't have to use the temporary intern permit that would have given her a three month period of time to work while waiting for her license to arrive. I wonder why OU takes much longer?

reeki · Dec 5, 2009

I was asking my wife, who attended SDSU's BSN program a few years ago, how her transcripts were handled and if she had to wait to take the NCLEX. She said that she was able to sit for the NCLEX immediately upon graduating and that everything was processed so quickly that she didn't have to use the temporary intern permit that would have given her a three month period of time to work while waiting for her license to arrive. I wonder why OU takes much longer?

Maybe things have changed in the past couple years? I don't know. I graduated August 3, got my test code to sit for the NCLEX in the beginning of September and actually took the test on September 25 (although I could have taken it as early as September 16 had I wanted to). To me, 7 weeks after graduation to take the test really isn't very long since realistically you are going to want some time to study after you graduate anyway. That's just my 2 cents.

bash75 · Dec 5, 2009

I talked with one of the reps from ATI. He said that the research showed that students do better taking the NCLEX as close to the end of school as possible. The longer you wait, the less successful students are. ATI has a predictor test that will extrapolate your chances of success on the NCLEX. Mine was like a 98% chance that I will pass when I took it 6 weeks ago. Unfortunately most of the material you are tested on in the NCLEX you learned in semesters 2 and 3. The 4th semester was a lot of leadership and community material exclusive to BSN nurses. Both ADN and BSN nurses take the NCLEX so it doesn't focus on leadership and community. A week of studying before the NCLEX should be suffice if you are a decent student and not too much time has transpired from the original curriculum.

reeki · Dec 5, 2009

I agree that it is best to take the NCLEX asap after graduation but a few weeks wait won't make or break you. My main point was that in the grand scheme of things a 6-7 week wait really isn't very long. Even if they changed the program to include this and say it was a 16 month program, that is still significantly shorter than many other programs (most are 2 years or more). And yes, it was expensive, but with the economy most universities are increasing their tuition costs so the tuition raise is something you have to account for if you go to a university. It's really unfortunate that the Glendale program, from what you are saying, is so terrible compared to the San Diego program. I found myself hating the school while in the program at times but, for me at least, it was well worth it.

Rolliepolee · Dec 6, 2009

First of all, thanks everyone for your input. It's good to know what to kind of expect on the way in. It's a bit scary b/c our start date is closing in, but the school doesn't really tell you much about what to expect.

When I first contacted a counselor from OU, I was told that we would have no breaks b/c the program is so accelerated. I was also told that clinicals continue 2 months after you finish the 14 month program (i.e. you won't really graduate until May if you finish in March). Could anyone confirm this? Did you guys really have no breaks at all? And did you still have clinicals after your last exam?