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.

I'm surprised that employers are looking at where she graduated from. In the long run what matters is the fact that she has her RN license. No matter how you get to the NCLEX, passing it makes you an RN just like everyone else.

something has to be up with this school when multiple states don't accept their degrees, california, georgia, florida..you don't ever see this with people who go through the state programs and many private standard universities, least not from what i have read.

not blasting, just asking if you have insight on why...i also went to their website, they need to be much more open about the limitations of getting a degree in this program and then finding out you have states you can't even work in. also how can you do theory only in 4 months, when the rest of us have to take theory and clinicals for 2 years? for example at my school we have to get 1300 hours of clinicals even for accelerated programs like at oklahoma state university which is all online it takes minimum of 15 months. again just asking, just doesnt make sense to me...

States that have placed restrictions on EC graduates have a vested interest in limiting tuition dollars to institutions within their own states.

Specializes in RNC in OB and experience in Peds.
something has to be up with this school when multiple states don't accept their degrees, california, georgia, florida..you don't ever see this with people who go through the state programs and many private standard universities, least not from what i have read.

this is untrue. you may get your rn license in the state of florida as long as you have your lpn license already.

unfortunately the main people who know nothing about the program are the ones spreading incorrect information about excelsior.

Specializes in pediatric, geriatric.

To PatMicNic I can try to answer a few of your questions. This program is done for people who already have a base in nursing such as LPNs, and Paramedics. For example as a LPN I already have a year of schooling done which includes pharm., clinicals etc... so people going through this programs have clinical hours already under our belts. We also have to take the prereqs. such as microbiology etc... so the time you see it takes to get through the program does not include all of the hours we already have put into this plus the experience we have accumulated over the years. For instance I have experience in pediatrics with babies with trachs, feeding tubes, dialysis, oxygen managment and in long term working on medicare unit where I have experience in IV's, wound care including wound vacs., giving meds. to 38 pt. in 8 hour shifts and managerial experience hiring/firing, troubleshooting, etc... So it isn't like we stroll into the program with nothing and then take a couple of tests. Each test are done at a private institution Pearson Vue where we are monitored to make sure of ethical test taking. Our clinical is then a test where you have to be 100% that is why such a high fail rate. It is not a check off to see our skills but an actual test.

It isn't multiple states but a few that have an issue with the program. It has been around for many years and not something new which I think is a big misconception out there but it is getting a lot of press lately due to the current issue with Georgia. If you read some of the things presented by Georgia their own reps. have been giving out many untrue statements which leads to many not even understand because they aren't doing their own homework.

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

this program is designed for people with significant clinical experience. i have put 50k+ clinical hours into nursing during my time as a nurse and have gained the clinical knowledge to go with it....why would i want to sit in a classroom for a year to hear all of that mess again when i have done it over and over ...we all know that the real learning starts on the floor. there are people that can knock out the theory exams that quick because we have been doing this forever...there are only 2 states that do not accept ec at this point that is ca and maryland (i believe) at the end of the year i think it is we can add virgina to the list..

something has to be up with this school when multiple states don't accept their degrees, california, georgia, florida..you don't ever see this with people who go through the state programs and many private standard universities, least not from what i have read.

not blasting, just asking if you have insight on why...i also went to their website, they need to be much more open about the limitations of getting a degree in this program and then finding out you have states you can't even work in. also how can you do theory only in 4 months, when the rest of us have to take theory and clinicals for 2 years? for example at my school we have to get 1300 hours of clinicals even for accelerated programs like at oklahoma state university which is all online it takes minimum of 15 months. again just asking, just doesnt make sense to me...

Why not go with the flow?

There are all kinds of distant learniing in many state schools in almost any state.

Why beat your head on a 2x4 and limit your educational time and worth?

That's the way it is, has been, and they have been telegraphing it for over a year now.

Spend a little more time studying, and keep from moving to states you really don't want to move.

This "ain't it awful" psychological game is getting kind of old, forgive me for saying if you really

did not see it coming and feel you cannot do anything else. Pay now or pay later, and

don't skimp on your prereqs; because you may be struggling your whole career catching up

to those who did not skimp over the prereqs.

I'd sure like to see more posts by other distant learning opportunities. Its an exciting subject!

Excelsior has chosen their fate

to die a greedy game, rather than explore opportunities with state schools (duh, it would just take one :banghead:).

So if they don't care about their students or future ones, please don't fall off the turnip truck around the

next corner!!

Excelsior IS a state school, NYS. NY does not accept ISU.

Not all states accept all schools.

FYI it is not only states with a vested interest in instate tuition dollars that don't accept EC. I am in Maryland and Indiana State is accepted but not EC.

Excelsior IS a state school, NYS. NY does not accept ISU.

Not all states accept all schools.

Excelsior is not a state school; it is a private college.

Specializes in Peds stepdown ICU.

I graduated in 2005 from Excelsior and had no problem getting on at a well respected university teaching hospital (here in SoCal). I had pediatric experience and references. I actually had no problems getting a job... I think things have become increasingly worse for Excelsior since I graduated. Several boards are refusing or looking down on the degree. I hate to say it but I agree with you to go elsewhere. If I had seen all these problems on the rise I would not have elected this route!

Excelsior is not a state school; it is a private college.

It started out as Regents, under the aegis of NYS. It isn't part of SUNY.

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