Warning - excelsior students

Nursing Students Online Learning

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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.

Thank you for posting this. I normally won't even read something this long but you have made some excellent points and hearing more sides to each story is why I love open forums. That said I'm standing by my post. As a grown woman, Mother and nursing professional I doubt she needs boyfriend to "take up for her" here. Just my two cents though. :D

I really do respect your opinion. I can understand someone who has had many doors slammed in their face becoming discouraged to the point of distancing themselves from an emotionally draining situation--and how that would provide the impetus for the boyfriend/significant other to "rage against the machine" and/or advocate for their wounded loved one. She probably doesn't ordinarily NEED to have others "take up for her", but boy howdy I sure am glad I have a husband who would do the same for me at my lowest points in life. I'm a grown woman and a soon to be nursing professional and can hold my own 99.9% of the time but we all fall down at times and need the emotional support of others. I can really relate to how stress and emotional pain can make a person distance themselves either temporarily or permanently from a situation. And this is just my two cents too lol. I really appreciate that you replied :typing (open forums are great!).

I am so sorry about what happened. There states that will not accept Excelsior for many reasons, one being that you do all of your clinicals during those few days for CPNE. You always should do extensive background checks on ANY school. After all ,this an investment in your future and career. It should by no means taken lightly. As a new grad, I and my former classmates are finding it harder to find jobs. The scary thing is that, there is a big hype to go into nursing. There will be a lot of people that will do this just for a paycheck.

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

there is no reason whatsoever that a associates degree from ec should cost that much money ...unless she chose the middle man a publishing company...then sue is right on target and she did not do her homework....its been almost 6 years since ca stopped accepting ec grads she must have just made the cut off or something....

ok as far as the cpne if you are not prepared for this test expect to fail it...you cant just walk in a take it regardless of your background.

excelsior is up front front about the issues with ca and other states that have limitations....another point that if she had done her homework then should would have been well aware of these as well...it is not up to ec to work with the ca board of nursing....the ca board of nursing makes the decisions what type of programs they will accept for initial licensure ec wont change their program to make ca happy...

to all students out there in ec land...make sure your state will accept ec for initial licensure that is the most important thing to do....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...

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.

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.

Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

Thread moved to Distance Learning forum, where all the EC students are.

Specializes in pediatric, geriatric.

It's tough when she goes through all that and then not finding a position she wants. Sometimes you may have to start out in an area/field just to get experience in your pocket before you move on to the things you really want. So try other avenues besides hospitals. Also, it may be her approach during the interview process.

I had interviewed someone at work and when I saw excelsior on his resume I comented "oh, I see you went through excelsior" I could see panic in his eyes and then he started to tell me with a red face all the good things about excelsior and on and on and started getting into a defensive mode. If I didn't know about excelsior and actually going through the program myself his actions may have been a red flag during the interview. I then told him I just said the name I didn't ask a question, I didn't say anything bad etc... that he needed to take a breath and calm down. I know interviews can be stressful so if they ask about EC be confident but not defensive.

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???????

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

there may be a lot of schools that are scams but excelsior is not one of them... if ya really want to know what i think about his situation...i think his wife was not prepared she failed and vented to her husband who has no idea about excelsior or the cpne....so in turn he comes to the nursing board to gather ideas and formulate what he thinks will be a general consensus of people in the same boat....but then gets dumped in the distance learning forum with ec students....imagine that....

it does not matter how much money you spend on this or that if you are not correctly prepared for this exam you will not make it out...no other way around it....

at this point it is not possible to get your degree from ec in 6 months due the wait for the cpne...several years ago people were knocking this program out in 4 months... i did the theory in 4 months...then waited 7 months for the clinical exam...

even if i completed the program in one week; i learned everything for the mountains of floor experience i have accumulated over the years...and that is one thing that ec does gives you credit for, life learning and the experience you obtain while working...

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 don't think Robert is listening anymore, but it's mighty rude of him to come here and flame our school in an attempt to get even. His girlfriend neglected to get the details, and that's her fault. Her degree is still valid in 48 states. I find it hard to believe that she didn't know about CA's problem with excelsior. EC blares those details on their website, and I've also gotten email notices about it. I'm here to tell you that if she spent $20k on her program, it's because she chose to. That’s not a necessary bill. I just paid for my clinical today, and I'm only in it $5,500.

Excelsior is an NLN accredited college. I work with lots of EC grads, one of which is an administrator at my hospital.

My local university isn't accredited by the NLN because they can't find enough master's prepared instructors. I had horrible experiences there, and that's one of the main reasons why I chose Excelsior College. EC has enabled me to work while I get my degree, and maintain a low-stress home life as I study. I think that's priceless, cuz I'm a "what if I died tomorrow" kind of guy. I like to get out on my mountain bike and not have deadlines ruining my recreation.

EC has been great to me so far. After a little over a year of NC exams, I just have my CPNE left. I think I could have done this much in 6 months or less if I really pushed it. As long as you are a proactive person and aren't looking for a scapegoat for your personal failures, EC is a great option I think. If you want someone to blame when things get crappy, go to a brick and mortar school. Distance learning isn't for everyone, but it is becoming a more prominent and accepted form of education.

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

can i get a a-men

i don't think robert is listening anymore, but it's mighty rude of him to come here and flame our school in an attempt to get even. his girlfriend neglected to get the details, and that's her fault. her degree is still valid in 48 states. i find it hard to believe that she didn't know about ca's problem with excelsior. ec blares those details on their website, and i've also gotten email notices about it. i'm here to tell you that if she spent $20k on her program, it's because she chose to. that's not a necessary bill. i just paid for my clinical today, and i'm only in it $5,500.

excelsior is an nln accredited college. i work with lots of ec grads, one of which is an administrator at my hospital.

my local university isn't accredited by the nln because they can't find enough master's prepared instructors. i had horrible experiences there, and that's one of the main reasons why i chose excelsior college. ec has enabled me to work while i get my degree, and maintain a low-stress home life as i study. i think that's priceless, cuz i'm a "what if i died tomorrow" kind of guy. i like to get out on my mountain bike and not have deadlines ruining my recreation.

ec has been great to me so far. after a little over a year of nc exams, i just have my cpne left. i think i could have done this much in 6 months or less if i really pushed it. as long as you are a proactive person and aren't looking for a scapegoat for your personal failures, ec is a great option i think. if you want someone to blame when things get crappy, go to a brick and mortar school. distance learning isn't for everyone, but it is becoming a more prominent and accepted form of education.

this robert guy and his malicious, insulting posts ought to be booted from the site. "Essentially a worthless degree?" I don't think other hard working nursing students would stand for that kind of talk about the degrees that they're working for.

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

i am very pro ec even before i started the program but especially since i have finished...you bet your sweet a** it makes me angry when people degrade my school....:smiley_abok now that i have said my peace ...ill go get my xanax

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