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.
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.
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.
again, please provide a few names of these hospitals. baby needs a new pair of shoes.
oh, lordy! that was some beautiful reading, tammy. awesome!
i didn't know that about the brn all losing their heads - poetic justice i say.
btw, what's a police nurse? that sounds like something i'd be interested in!
Yep, I'm also in Virginia, but I finished last year -- just as they were changing the rules. I found out during my CPNE weekend, actually. I had just passed the CPNE, then was sitting there desperately trying to figure out what that meant for me. Ha ha!
The VA and any Federal employer is always an option for EC grads. And there are very few states where an EC grad cannot endorse in with a certain amount of hours of RN practice.
Texas has no problems with EC. For Virginia, RNs can endorse in with 960 hours of time as an RN (about 6 months, basically) for grads who finish after 12/31/09 (I'm in Virginia, finished last year and had no problems). Georgia has allowed EC grads after a preceptorship (I believe our member nikpik is almost done with the preceptorship, for example). There are very few states that are completely off limits for EC grads. This link has good info:
The only state I know of that completely denies EC grads is Maryland, if a grad didn't finish before 12/31/2007.
Maryland is, of course, one of the states my wife would like to return to after having worked there as a traveling respiratory therapist a couple of years ago. I believe they are a compact state, however, so perhaps we can visit for a traveling assignment or two after finishing our nursing degrees and gaining some experience. I'm glad we're in Texas!
Thanks for all of the information you share on the forum, LunahRN. I wish I had done this years ago!
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
when it becomes your cpne time give months and months of dedicated time to this test. know that it is not clinicals but a evaluation of your skills and your ability to learn the way ec setsforth...do your homework and know what you are getting into ..this is not necessarily the easy way to the rn license...
txspadequeenrn, you said it just like it is, i, myself didn't think that just because it is an online program that allows you as much flexibility as you want means it is easy. i kept saying it that this is not an easy ride to heaven of becoming an rn, you still have to work really hard. i live in tx and i am planning on enrolling in ec very soon, do you have any idea about the cpne?, like how best to prepare for and pass it the first time?, please any advice is greatly appreciated.
Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.
i passed it the first time but had to repeat my wound ...what i did was take a year to prepare maybe a little under ...i took lynns workshop at the beginning of my studies to set everything straight...this is a big test with a lot of material covered and the last thing you want to do is retake it and pay for it twice... i needed this 500 page manual broke down into sections i could understand...i took the info that i got at the workshop went home and set up a lab ..complete with dummy , iv, foley , g tube ..everything ..this dummy had a name .."dummy mcgee" and had its own id number ,chart ...i bought robs cpne video and went through that getting the right idea for how the flow of the cpne works...i got on the epn (via ec) and searched through all the cpne stories to get a good insight then sifted through thousands of mnemonics comparing them with the assessment skills i was to be tested on ..then perfected that with my dummy....when i had all this down i began on my paper work which is about 95% of the whole test.....i made multiple blank copies to fill out ...assessed my dummy over and over..pulling assessments and skills out of a bag to do ..then charted them....every blank has to be filled...i did this for months....i assessed everyone in this house i practiced at work ...i care planned every patient i had...lol about 1 month before my test i took another workshop with lynn to wrap things up and make sure i had not missed anything....i was extremely prepared and when i walked in to that test...i had absolutely no fear or anxiety whatsoever.....i failed the wound the first time because i did not bring the saturated gauze up to the top of the wound like they like..there was to much red meat they said showing....never contaminated the darn thing...oh yeah i also bought a wound......seven tested that weekend and two passed....it can be done...good luck
txspadequeenrn, you said it just like it is, i, myself didn't think that just because it is an online program that allows you as much flexibility as you want means it is easy. i kept saying it that this is not an easy ride to heaven of becoming an rn, you still have to work really hard. i live in tx and i am planning on enrolling in ec very soon, do you have any idea about the cpne?, like how best to prepare for and pass it the first time?, please any advice is greatly appreciated.
i passed it the first time but had to repeat my wound ...what i did was take a year to prepare maybe a little under
i have now copied and paste to print this advise, thank you so much, can you please tell me how much all these cost you?, i would love to start preparing just like you did. expecially the workshop, how were the 7 exams, were they difficult?, did you have to pay those $65 for practice exams on each exam or did they just direct you to what exactly to study for each test?, i really appreciate all your info, i really do.
The practice exams for $65 are two actual exams with questions similar to those that are on each separate exam. Most people find them to be very helpful and worth the expense. The content study guides can be found and downloaded from the EC site for each exam. Go to the publications page and you will be able to find them. But be aware that you will not be able to download the study guide for the third exam and above until you are a registered student.
I passed the CPNE in Dec. 2006 on my first attempt with no repeats. I would not have passed if I haden't attended Tina's workshop in San Jose California in June 2006. After that I PRACTICED the lab stations and memorized the steps of each procedure until I knew them cold. I arrived at the test site a day early and PRACTICED lab stations in the hotel room. I practiced constructing a grid and used it to do documentation. The key is to learn the test and give them exactly what they want. Nothing more and nothing less. Couple that with a calm approach thart instills confidence in patients and you'll do well. The program isn't for everyone but it has been very successful for me. I'm a weekend option RN/CEN/EMTP in an ER making great money working part-time.
EquuszARNP
132 Posts
oh, lordy! that was some beautiful reading, tammy. awesome!
i didn't know that about the brn all losing their heads - poetic justice i say.
btw, what's a police nurse? that sounds like something i'd be interested in!
equusz