After researching Chamberlain College of Nursing on their website, it appears you only need 48 credits to graduate (plus the 80 they grant you for having the RN for a total of 128). Half of the 48 are nursing credits and half are general ed. The general ed classes consist of 1 writing, 2 math, 1 sociology, 1 economics, and 2 electives. Is that accurate? This is interesting because every other online college and my local schools require a good deal more classes including anatomy, psych, micro, chemistry, etc PLUS they require much more than just 24 credits in nursing. Furthermore, those 24 general ed classes may be even less if Chamberlain accepts transfer credits from previous classes. Maybe not the specific writing/math/soc/eco classes but at least the electives. How can you get away so so few classes at Chamberlain? I mean it sounds great to me, but it also seems a lot different than other schools. I realize that a lot of us have taken classes like anatomy/micro/psych in the course of our ADN or diploma nursing school experiences so chances are they would transfer to those other schools, but Chamberlain doesn't even list them as requirements. Do they just assume you have taken those classes if you have your RN and therefore don't need them. To be honest the classes at Chamerlain seem a lot more interesting and easier than some of the required courses at say Liberty University online or University of Wyoming online.
I guess that depends on you ... is it worth it to you get spend $20K to get your BSN? For me, yes ... it allowed me to commission into the Army Nurse Corps. It's kind of like ... "Degree? $20K. Commissioning? Priceless." With that being said ... my (now former) employer paid about $9K in tuition assistance over three calendar years, and I also got a small scholarship and paid a couple of classes out of pocket before resorting to student loans, which left me with very little student loan debt in the end. My total tuition was something around $18K, though.
I have not applied to an MSN, so I can't help you with that. However, I know that Chamberlain has CCNE, NLNAC, and regional accreditation, so that is a plus when it comes to continuing your education. Good luck!
With that being said ... my (now former) employer paid about $9K in tuition assistance over three calendar years, and I also got a small scholarship and paid a couple of classes out of pocket before resorting to student loans, which left me with very little student loan debt in the end. My total tuition was something around $18K, though.
veryblessednurse
19 Posts
Thanks for the information