Which ABSN did you apply/attend?

[Tomato378]

I have BA in Psychology and my undergrad GPA was slightly above 3.0.

(I transferred once, and it was 3.6 for first 2 years, then 2.7 for the last 2 years)

I will be attending community college to take pre-reqs for one year, and I'm planning on applying to ABSN program afterwards. I've been searching for ABSN programs, but it's hard to choose which school is right for me, so I want to hear from you, how you found schools you applied/attended and what are some important factors when choosing school. (Location? Nearby hospitals? Job opportunities? Faculty? NCLEX pass rate?)

I live in Massachusetts, but I really don't mind going anywhere. (Though, I prefer West Coast and New England region) My budget for the tuition is about 50K. I want to meet and work with a lot of people, so I prefer a school that can provide good clinical experiences/opportunities and is strong in health science in general, even medicine. Would you have any recommendation? Is getting into ABSN just as hard as to get in traditional undergrad program?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Things that I appreciated in my ABSN program:

1. Faculty that treated us like adults with lives outside of school. We were adults with families and jobs.

2. The ABSN Med/Surg instructor was the ultimate instructor. He was the epitome of mentor and role model.

3. First semester (summer) disaster simulation with the National Guard Urban Search and Rescue.

4. Health Fair at a maximum security Federal penitentiary.

5. NCLEX class during the last semester that made NCLEX a breeze. 100% pass rate with 1/2 of cohort passing at 75 questions.

6. 135 hr Capstone in the specialty of your choice. Ten students were allowed to do their capstone outside of the local hospitals that allowed for placement at larger hospitals. One student got placed at a Level 1 Trauma Center and I was placed at a Level IV NICU (highest level).

7. State of the art simulation lab that included SimJunior, SimMan, SimBaby, SimMom. Patient Simulators

NCLEX pass rate is an important benchmark. You may need to call the school to have them differentiate between programs. The BON shows the BSN pass rate, but does not separate into the different programs (LPN-BSN, RN-BSN, Traditional BSN, ABSN). My school's BSN pass rate was 85%, but the ABSN pass rate was 100%.

Also look at this (still being complied by members). https://allnurses.com/allnurses-news-announcements/announcing-the-new-1098925.html