Western Governors and Excelsior

[BishopLPN, BSN]

I have been an LPN for 8 years. Part of the reason I have been an LPN so long was due to leisurely taking excelsior courses. I only needed my core nursing courses. I was averaging about 1 course a year though. I eventually gave up and decided I needed more structure and enrolled into an LPN to RN hybrid program at a community college. All lectures and testing are completed online. Clinical and practicum rotation are completed in person.

I am set to graduate this December and I have started looking for a BSN program. I've already been accepted to the local state college online RN to BSN program. I should be able to complete it in a year. It looks like it will be about 4-5K more a year than WGU. I am leaning more towards WGU because of the cost and flexibility.

Here's my question:

For those of you who that have experience with both colleges, do you think my past difficulties with Excelsior will be the same at WGU? Is WGU a little more structured than Excelsior? I felt like I was on my own with Excelsior. I never felt like I was ready for an exam. I did complete the majority of the nursing with only three courses remaining then the care plan and CPNE of course.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I have been an LPN for 8 years. Part of the reason I have been an LPN so long was due to leisurely taking excelsior courses. I only needed my core nursing courses. I was averaging about 1 course a year though. I eventually gave up and decided I needed more structure and enrolled into an LPN to RN hybrid program at a community college. All lectures and testing are completed online. Clinical and practicum rotation are completed in person.

I am set to graduate this December and I have started looking for a BSN program. I've already been accepted to the local state college online RN to BSN program. I should be able to complete it in a year. It looks like it will be about 4-5K more a year than WGU. I am leaning more towards WGU because of the cost and flexibility.

Here's my question:

For those of you who that have experience with both colleges, do you think my past difficulties with Excelsior will be the same at WGU? Is WGU a little more structured than Excelsior? I felt like I was on my own with Excelsior. I never felt like I was ready for an exam. I did complete the majority of the nursing with only three courses remaining then the care plan and CPNE of course.

WGU has a mentoring model- so every week you will have a call with your mentor who is kind of a GPS/ accountability partner/ program expert. When I enrolled, I was concerned about exactly what you describe- but boy howdy, that relationship with my mentor kept me focused and on track.