What to expect from Walden's PMHNP program?

[PsychNurse24, BSN, RN]

Please don’t listen to the critics of Walden. My daughter graduated from Walden earlier this month and is studying for her boards.  The company where she has been working for seven years will hire her when she passes the boards.

 I have been going to Walden and have one year left for my PMHNP.  I spend 20-25 hours per week per class studying and completing assignments.  

You will have weekly reading assignments in your textbooks. You generally will have one assignment per week where you write a discussion post.  You then read the other students’ discussion posts and have to respond to 2 to 3, depending on the class.  You have to cite at least two journal articles in your post and for each response you do.  The instructor will also read your posts and ask questions and give feedback.  You generally also have one paper per week. Depending on the class, you will have quizzes, a midterm, and a final test.

Yes, the instructors provide very good, detailed syllabi.  First, I recommend you get very comfortable with the Walden site. Watch the videos on how to navigate around so you can access your assignments and videos you sometimes watch, how to check your grades, where to drop your posts and other assignments, etc.  Get very familiar with the Walden online library. You will spend a lot of hours there researching journal articles to support your posts and papers.  Other  suggestions are to not get behind, to organize and plan out exactly what you have to do each week, and to get the newest APA manual. 

The professors were generally very good and responsive to questions. The class I was most looking forward to was psycho-pharmacology. The professor was tough, asked extra questions, and expected a lot. The textbook for both my daughter’s and my class was Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology.  I can’t guarantee that it will be the textbook for you, but this is a great textbook to have and to start reading early, if you can afford it and have the time.  Regardless if that is your textbook or not, it is a great classic book to have in your library.
 

Walden is challenging and you will get a great education. Again, don’t listen to the naysayers.  Good Luck!!

[Guest1144461]

They are both rather low tier. The fact that a company gets 30% off tuition should ring alarm bells.

I am surprised Walden even bothers with admissions anymore, I have never heard of anyone NOT get accepted.

[MentalKlarity, BSN, NP]

14 hours ago, Kalibear17 said:

Just got accepted into Walden. I kept looking and comparing Walden and University of South Alabama since I have co workers in both programs on which one is better in terms of support and cheaper to go to. I have read good and bad news about both but they both did not seem that much different. The company is in contract with Walden so employees receive 30% off of tuition to go there and the company offers tuition reimbursement as well. Question that I have is is anyone who is currently going to Walden can tell me what to expect? How are the courses and teachers? Are the teacher's helpful and give out syllabus for their classes? 

My understanding is Walden is very much self guided. It's basically modules, discussion postings, and papers. Walden is currently under investigation by the Dept of Justice and the results are unknown at this time. I've seen postings elsewhere of clinical preceptors and employers who will no longer work with students/graduates if "diploma mill" programs such as Walden. They accept everyone who applies and graduate thousands of NPs each year. I would seriously think about going to a credible school instead. 

[MentalKlarity, BSN, NP]

There are top tier schools like Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Duke, etc. These on a resume will open doors but are expensive and hard to get into. They are quality programs and you don't have to worry about the quality control issue that plagues other programs.

Second are the state schools and private not for profits with brick and mortar programs.

Absolutely last place are the for profits: Phoenix, Chamberlain, Walden. These can be a red flag for some employers. 

[Mabel]

Hi all, I graduated from Walden PMHNP program and am posting this last minute advice for those who are about to graduate or waiting for ATT to take the ANCC PMHNP board exam.

What I used to study was the ANCC IQ question bank which resembled the pmhnp exam, pocket prep was a little off but great for content. Don’t waste your money on lantern review, I thought it was outdated to me, Fitzgerald was no good. I also used purple book and a review course by Yvonne PMHNP-BC. She is absolutely amazing. Her review was spot on and the truth. Her policy and Ethical review saved my life on the exam because my weakest area. She has all 5 domains plus a comprehensive PMHNP review. I did all her domains and the comprehensive review and I was fine. If you are struggling to pass definitely take her review. She also has a study plan she gives to all her students. Absolutely worth the money compared to lantern review and firtzgerd. I wasted my money on those and still failed first time but then I found Yvonne’s PMHNP review and I thank God I did. Try her out and also sign up real quick for it because the class gets full very fast. Her website is: www.pmhnpexamprepreview.com

[MentalKlarity, BSN, NP]

I suggest searching around on this site and others about Walden.

Quote

Do for-profit colleges provide students the same level of transparency that they give their shareholders? Unfortunately, the answer is no. This information imbalance is particularly perverse in situations when schools have come under investigation for potentially misleading students. While shareholders are often told when investigation of a for-profit school may result in a hit on their stocks’ value, the students who were misled are frequently kept in the dark—and additional prospective students may even be taken in by the same misleading claims as the investigation continues.

One case in point is Walden University, an online for-profit college with over 50,000 students. On September 14, 2020, Walden received some bad news: the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies were investigating the school’s online nursing program for misleading students about the program’s cost, its content, and the availability of clinical placements that students would need to graduate. Moreover, since students need clinical placements in order to graduate and work as nurses, the investigation also extended to looking at potential misrepresentations made by Walden in order to maintain accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Finally, because Walden had certified to the U.S. Department of Education, in order to maintain eligibility for federal financial aid programs, that it was upholding its fiduciary duties and not making any misrepresentation with a tendency to mislead students, accreditors, or the public, a false statement in these certifications could subject Walden to a loss of federal aid and triple damages (that is, paying the federal government back three times the money it received through these aid programs).

Walden has landed in hot water before. In 2016, class action lawsuits alleged that Walden lied about the cost and length of its graduate programs, falsely suggesting they were cheaper and faster to complete than they actually were. But this new Department of Justice investigation could not have come at a worse time for the school. When the investigation was announced, Walden’s parent company, Laureate Education, was in the process of selling Walden to a rival for-profit education provider, Adtalem Global Education Inc.

Read more:

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/students-left-dark-college-deceptions/?session=1

https://www.highereddive.com/news/justice-dept-investigates-walden-u-over-claims-of-misrepresentation/588521/

[Guest1144461]

3 hours ago, Kalibear17 said:

The company I work contracts with many colleges and some colleges not just Walden will give future students a discount to go there due to the company is in contract with them. Sorry I did not clarify that. I do want to go to a good school like Vanderbilt but I cannot afford to pay a lot in loans later in life. 

Many NP schools are dubious at best so I am not surprised. MTSU is an average state school, better than Walden however.

Vanderbilt is one of the few quality NP programs out there 

[buggargreen]

I had a hard time looking for clinical site specially after they changed the last two semesters to be half adults and peds, now you got to look for two preceptor's on each. Also some professors are pain in the neck in grading your paper. But the online flexibility is really good.

[Oscarvgomez, BSN, MSN, RN, NP]

As someone who actually went to Walden University, graduated and passed the boards on first try and currently studying for master pharmacology certification I can assure you that Walden is pretty solid program. If you can survive the last two course's midterms and finals than you should have no problem passing the boards. First of all everybody was complaining because Walden was an online program than what happened during covid? Most if not all the programs transitioned into online learning and people stop talking about it.. LOL.. 

[londonflo]

Kalibear17 said:

The company is in contract with Walden so employees receive 30% off of tuition 

 Why do you think Walden is being so generous ? Walden has canned programs. Adding a few at a discounted price means nothing to them but can mean a lot for your career. 

When I was young and apartment hunting, I looked at a less desirable area of my city where I could get a 2-3 bedroom for the price of a one bedroom in the best side of the city....a friend said "do you want to be ashamed of your address?" I took the one bedroom in a great neighborhood. Never regretted it. 

Since then I have always been proud where I rented and where I purchased my home(s). I have also been very proud of where I got my MSN. Schools do matter. despite Walden and the others trying to tell you you MSN preparation doesn't.

[blenderbottle]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:34 PM, MentalKlarity said:

 I've seen postings elsewhere of clinical preceptors and employers who will no longer work with students/graduates if "diploma mill" programs such as Walden. . 

I have seen this as well. Practices do not respect this school, so after graduation they would not even consider you for the job. 

[Oscarvgomez, BSN, MSN, RN, NP]

And where you got the information stating no walden students will be hired? I already have 4 job offers graduated from Walden. Please attach the name of the organizations stating no walden students will be hired or stop with slandering. Thank you