warning to all excelsior students- i want all potential and current students to know what happened to my girlfriend. take it for what its worth. my girlfriend was a california excelsior student for 6 long yrs (worked full time, supported and took care of her 3 kids) . she spent thousands & thousands of dollars for very expensive books, tests (about $200 per test). skills bags ($150), dvd ($130) , flashcards ($25), audio cd ($25), workshop ($700), and the outrageously expensive and outrageously easy to fail cpne (the 3 day clinical examination that must be passed to receive your rn degree). she failed the first cpne (as way more than half do). that meant another $1800 to retake that. of course, there were airline tickets (about $500 per trip x 2), hotels (about $450 per cpne) and car rentals ($250 per trip). all together she spent close to $20,000 to obtain what is essentially a worthless degree. not one of the 14 hospitals she contacted would hire her when she told them she was an excelsior graduate. are you hearing me? not one. so, when they tell you they're accredited, yada,yada,yada - remember it doesn't mean you can get a job. she tried to enroll in 3 regular, legit college programs. they all refused her because she already had her degree and rn license. so now, she can't even do that. excelsior knew years ago there was a problem. they had the opportunity to work with the ca board of registered nursing. they didn't. if you don't believe me - go to their site. type in 'excelsior' and see for yourself. also, go to georgia's nursing website. see the problems there. nurses are being denied jobs because they're excelsior graduates!!! don't let this happen to you. go to a respected and accepted college.
I graduated from EC in 2002 and can assure you it is not the easy way out. The tests were not easy and the CPNE was brutal. However, it is a great alternative especially if you work full time and can't navigate a regular classroom schedule. I finished up in about two years. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Hey stranger! I recognize that username! Didn't know you were on here!
Specializes in Case Management, Life Care Planning.
I don't know that anyone ever failed for not washing hands (I didn't see it) but there is a very specific way to do each and every task assigned in the module. I remember the stress was palpable during my CPNE. I had an advantage that I took it in Columbus and live near Columbus so I could sleep in my own bed at night. What I also explicitly remember is not sleeping at all two nights prior to the exam because I was so wound up. For my CPNE, we did the lab part on Friday night (not too difficult) and then did an orientation to the hospital (OSU Medical Center). On Saturday, we did our adult clinicals and the stress was incredible. I think what makes it brutal is that the whole process gets in your head. I passed the first one, failed the second one and passed the third one (need to pass 2/3). In my group of six, three went home that day which is about average. The next day, we did our pediatric clinical at Children's Hospital. We all passed the first one (need to pass 1/2) and were done. I think I slept for 14 hours that night.
The actual clinical skills themselves weren't that hard. It's all about duplicating the method Excelsior prescribes. The real issue is that the test and by extension its reputation get inside your head and stress you out; causing you to do dumb things that get you failed. My evaluators in Columbus were great. Even the one I failed they made sure to go over everything with me and encourage me for the next one. I remember being completely ecstatic to be done with the thing (and it was only $1250 when I took it).
Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I'm going to get coffee now and thank God that I am a case manager and don't have to sweat patient care anymore.
PS- Shout out to my cousin and fellow LPN->RN chaxanmom. What's shakin'
Agree with you TSQ. No one should call EC easy if they have had experience with it. Never heard of anyone having trouble getting hired in CA with an EC degree. Now, since CA doesn't accept the degree anymore, employers have an excuse they didn't have six years ago. Still, CA is allowing people to get licenses on a case by case basis. But it is still more likely that 14 hospitals turned someone down because 14 hospitals were not hiring a new grad, no matter where they got their degree. Employers don't look at education. They look at the license. New licenses don't always get jobs. That's just a fact. Particularly in CA.
Actually now in our area they ARE looking at your education and going as far as to ask for official transcripts. It has nothing to do with Excelsior graduates, unfortunately there was a group of foreigners who had passed the NCLEX with fake documents and got away with working as nurses for several years. Unfortunately they ruined it for others and that's why hospitals are now asking for sealed official transcripts. The RN license isn't enough anymore.
Not yelling here, DebFay, but as a paramedic I can clarify the difference to you. It is like comparing the difference in education between a CNA and an RN. No offense to CNA's... I love ya'll. But just to let you know that there is a huge difference.
In the field of nursing yes, that's very true. But I can tell you that right now I'm a CNA (currently waiting for NCLEX-PN results) and I have more education that most of the RN's on my floor. The difference is that they have the degree in nursing and I don't. I have a Bachelors degree, and have chosen nursing as my 2nd career. I can say I enjoy it and I can't wait to become the RN.
My take on Excelsior, I really wish more states would look at this program. I'm California resident and would jump at this program at a heartbeat. I know several Excelsior grads who got their BSN before 2003, and they are FANTASTIC NURSES! I don't understand why California doesn't accept Excelsior but they have no problem accepting foreign education coming from countries where some schools clinical rotations are questionable. I like a previous posters comment regarding how can California not accept an LVN/LPN going through Excelsior for their RN, when California accepts the fact that a CNA can CHALLENGE THE LVN board with 5 years experience as a CNA. No offense to CNA's because I am one, but honest to God, you really do need that med pass experience, you really need that wound care experience, you need that class on pharmacology (I know you need to take it) you really need to learn how to chart properly etc. You really need that clinical experience as a nurse before you should be allowed to sit for the NCLEX, but that's California for you.
i have been working as a floor rn in one of the top 4 hospitals in the us for the past year. i obtained this position as a new grad, fresh from passing the nclex. i just passed my ccrn exam.
i have nothing but praise for excelsior, which took me from midwestern state university grad-entry (i.e. no bsn degree) np program dropout to rn (all 7 nc exams plus cpne & nclex) in less than 10 months.
excelsior also contacted me regarding and have granted me a $990 scholarship to attend their masters in nursing program for the 2009-2010 school year.
to any naysayers, please pardon my enthusiasm for the opportunity this school has provided me. i just want to describe my honest and positive experiences at ec, and encourage anyone who's currently in the program or seriously considering it.
ps if you'd like my tips re
1. quickly preparing for and passing excelsior college nursing concepts exams without spending much money
2. setting up your skills lab to perfect cpne skills in order to pass all 4 on the first try
3. preparing for the cpne in order to pass it the first time through; or
Why would he log into here just to make things up?...I believe him...lots of schools ares shams....my bigger worry is someone who got their RN in 6 months???????
i believe it is the nurse behind the education. Life experiance is a greater teacher than book experiance. Id take an LPN with years of experiance and an EC earned RN over and RN with only 2 years of schooling and a short stint with clinicals. Just my 2 cents.
she spent thousands & thousands of dollars for very expensive books, tests (about $200 per test). skills bags ($150), dvd ($130) , flashcards ($25), audio cd ($25), workshop ($700),
take my word for it. education ain't cheap. it seems to me that your girlfriend got caught up in the circus side shows that charge fees for purporting to help, aid and do other things for distance students. none of these side organizations have nothing to do with excelsior college.
outrageously expensive and outrageously easy to fail cpne (the 3 day clinical examination that must be passed to receive your rn degree). she failed the first cpne (as way more than half do). that meant another $1800 to retake that. of course, there were airline tickets (about $500 per trip x 2), hotels (about $450 per cpne) and car rentals ($250 per trip).
just curious, how outrageously expensive would it have been if she actually passed? true, many fail the cpne, but then again, some pass. when i did my cpne, there were at least 4 or 5 of us out the 20 who passed.
all together she spent close to $20,000 to obtain what is essentially a worthless degree.
worthless? really? with my regents asn, i was able to get a my rn license (in california by the way), start a vocational college, design and implement over a dozen health care educational programs, form a health care registry corporation, obtain my commission as an officer in the reserve nursing corps, get into and obtain my bsn, fnp, gnp, msn certificates/degrees, get accepted at three top us doctor of nursing practice programs (johns hopkins, duke and university of colorado at denver), become the first police nurse in the united states and a bunch of other stuff--all with a regents college (now known as excelsior) asn degree.
not one of the 14 hospitals she contacted would hire her when she told them she was an excelsior graduate. are you hearing me? not one. so, when they tell you they're accredited, yada,yada,yada - remember it doesn't mean you can get a job.
really? could you provide a list, or at least one hospital that will go on record stating they will not hire an excelsior graduate? besides this behavior violating the antitrust provisions of the clayton and sherman acts, there are a few other minor ftc violations of this behavior that a few of us with worthless degrees could really capitilaize on.
she tried to enroll in 3 regular, legit college programs. they all refused her because she already had her degree and rn license. so now, she can't even do that.
so let me see if i understand. your girlfriend was succesfull in getting her excelsior degree, became licensed (purportedly in california where they don't license ec grads anymore without meeting the exception deadline) and now wants to get into a "legitimate" program that prepares individuals for rn licensure which is what your girlfriend already has. is that correct? hard to argue with logic like that.
excelsior knew years ago there was a problem. they had the opportunity to work with the ca board of registered nursing. they didn't. if you don't believe me - go to their site. type in 'excelsior' and see for yourself.
i think what you are refering to is the self-serving rhetoric and garbage spewed by the california brn under the former terry administration. just so you are aware the entire board of registered nursing here in california were fired because essentially they couldn't do their job. brn executive officer, ruth ann terry, my personal hero, was forced to resign because, the clueless bimbo that she is, failed to maintain any form of accountability for her failure to provide proper leadership to the brn.
also, go to georgia's nursing website. see the problems there. nurses are being denied jobs because they're excelsior graduates!!! don't let this happen to you. go to a respected and accepted college.
again, please provide a few names of these hospitals. baby needs a new pair of shoes.
I am an EC grad. Since graduating, I have tripled my income and I love the work I am doing. Maybe EC would be the wrong school for some people. But it definitely paid off for me. I was able to pay off my entire CPNE fee with my first RN check.
I wish CA would accept Excelsior. I've been in contact with CA BRN and finally received some answers as to why they don't accept their education. Which baffles me, because they accept foreign trained nurses who graduate from questionable schools. Let me clear things and say that not all foreign trained nurses graduate from questionable schools.
I've even heard of hospitals in the Bay Area that wont accept EC grads. I didn't get any names in particular, and I didn't hear it from higher ups themselves, but from people who've worked in such hospitals or who have relatives who work in such hospitals. IMO, it's stupid because most of these EC already had years experience as a LVN/LPN and they decided to go back in order to push narcotics through IV, draw from a PICC Line, do care plans, and assessment (which we already do as a LVN they just call it health data collection, and it's not the initial one). If there's more that I'm missing please fill me in.
CA used to accept EC. It is only since 2003 that the Board has closed its "mind". Lack of consistency when, as you say, they welcome foreign-trained personnel and will let an EC grad who has practiced in another state endorse their license.
Didn't know you were on here! 
Lunah, MSN, RN
14 Articles; 13,774 Posts
Yes, that is true -- to a point. You'd fail a part that you could repeat, once.