WGU Indiana HELP

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Hello everyone! I'm interested in the WGU Indiana pre licensure BSN program but I'm from Chicago il. I would have to travel every three months for clinical rotation and every two weeks for 2-3 days for labs as told by the advisor. I really would like to join this program but I'm afraid of the travel aspect and if it's really worth it. I don't know of anyone to stay with in Indiana, Indianapolis. For those who traveled to the clinical site how did you cope with the frequent travel especially to labs?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

I m a clinical instructor in the Indiana pre-licensure program. I have had students from Tennessee, Michigan and Pennsylvania complete the program. All of these folks either had family or friends in the area OR spent $$ on hotels. I cannot recall if any had jobs back home.

The requirements for lab and clinical are not very flexible. For clinical, you are assigned a Coach, and you work that coach's schedule for 2-4(in the case of capstone) weeks. Day or night. So, you might work three days in one week, with days off in between.

All of the above students were successful and did graduate. They were exceptionally dedicated- it is NOT an easy program to complete. But it is a good one- which prepares you well for your future career as an RN.

We ARE working to develop other clinical sites in the state- Elkhart and Vincennes are the next ones I believe.

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Thank you for the response! This is a hard decision I wish I lived closer.

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There is an Elkhart/South Bend cohort. (At least there was last I knew they had just started.) I would look into that cohort. Elkhart General is a really nice hospital and has some great nurses as preceptors. I was fortunate enough to do a rotation there. That'd be under 2 hours drive and make it much doable for you. I did commute and it is not as nicely wrapped up as every 3 months. Some rotations are closer together than that so you should be prepared for that. I got hotels for a lot of mine, but during the summer weather I could commute back and forth for some of the clinicals if I wanted to. Hotels were honestly not that much extra expense. When you figure out how much tuition is at other schools the difference for hotel costs is easier to swallow. It was still cheaper for me for hotels than tuition elsewhere. If you use sites like expedia, hotels.com, priceline, etc you can find some cheap rates.

I am currently working now as an RN, not the dream job I was hoping for, but as my paycheck came on Friday I was certainly smiling. It sure made my WGU decision seem like a good one. I do know a lot of people in Indiana that got great jobs. Me, not living locally has been somewhat of hindrance to finding jobs only because I couldn't make connections in the hospitals I had wanted to work.

I can tell you I was previously in an RN program years before WGU and did not complete it so I can kind of compare both programs - traditional program versus WGU. There are some definite advantages to a traditional program so I won't sell you butterflies and rainbows about WGU, but for people that need something a little more flexible WGU is the way to go! Look at WGU's schedule compared traditional program and then tell me which one will be more difficult to juggle with work and life. For me, hands down WGU was the winner! For the most part I rate WGU experience positive other than one poor preceptor that I had and a couple negative experiences I had with labs. It's funny though now that I am working as a nurse I wish they had more lab simulations than what they did and there a couple things I do wish they had stressed more in training, but all things considered I feel WGU was the BEST decision I ever made. So for me the answer is "totally worth it!"

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Oh wow thanks for the input! Elkhart seems like the cohort I will apply to. When you booked your hotel did you take a cab to the hospital? And during winter did you just take a bus/train to lab and clinicals?

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I work full time as well so this program is more appealing to me than a traditional program

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I think you shouldn't limit yourself to just Elkhart. Personally, if I were in your shoes I would still pick the cohort that coincides with my timeline and when I would like to start. Also, you want to give yourself the best possible chance of getting in the program because what if you do not get in the Elklhart cohort and will probably need to wait another year to apply.

I know the difference in driving I believe is roughly about 50-60 min extra. I think that if take that time to listen or watch (if you're taking the bus) lectures/class videos during your commute it shouldn't be so bad and you're using your time wisely.

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Thank you for the advice! I will ask the advisor about the deadlines/timeline to apply. She didn't give me a deadline or ask when I wanted to start í ½í¸•

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Oh wow thanks for the input! Elkhart seems like the cohort I will apply to. When you booked your hotel did you take a cab to the hospital? And during winter did you just take a bus/train to lab and clinicals?

No way would I have been able to rely on a bus for clinicals, maybe a cab, but I drove for everything. Besides I'm not really a big city girl, I felt safer driving. The winter can get complicated and if there was bad weather I always traveled the night before to assure I could get there on time. It was not horrible commuting, not ideal, but not horrible. I just signed up on a wing and a prayer and took things on one clinical rotation at a time.

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