Why did you choose that nursing program (current or past)?

I wanted a nursing program that would prepare me for the NCLEX. I got it. Massive class/lecture sizes. Mediocre clinical experience. I was mostly able to use my bicycle and public transportation for the clinical sites (decent sized city). I graduated and passed the NCLEX. No regrets.

2 hours ago, caliotter3 said:

I applied to the three closest programs near my home and attended the BSN program over the two ASN programs.

After graduating and working alongside nurses who graduated from the ASN programs do you feel like your hands on education was on par with theirs?

I ask because I went the ASN route and worked my way up and during our first semester of clinicals we were doing more than the local BSN program students in their last semester of clinicals. We all sat down at lunch one day during clinicals and exchanged info about our programs and found they were being trained to be supervisors vs floor nurses. Well they had a rude awakening when we graduated and they were on the floor working right along with us.

2 hours ago, llg said:

I chose a program because:

1. Accepted into the nursing program as a freshman. No having to go through a 2nd application after pre-req's to get into nursing.

2. Very, very few specific pre-req's. Lots of flexibility as to what courses to choose for the the freshman and sophomore year, allowing me to get a good, well-rounded education of my choosing. It also made it easy for people (like me) who weren't 100% sure we wanted nursing. We could take 2 years of liberal arts and prepare to switch majors at any time if we wanted.

So you took prereqs with the nursing classes? My gawd, I could never! Some of my classmates did that and complained all the time. I complained just doing the nursing work. I would have had a full meltdown adding extra classes. ?

I missed the application deadline for an ABSN program so went through an ADN program at Community college. So glad that I did! Got a good education and great clinical experience. I had no trouble getting a job and I was able to complete an online program for my BSN.

Next, my hospital is a teaching hospital within a university. Got huge tuition benefits for working there and got a MSN from a top tier university for the price it would have cost to go to a state school. Wouldn't change any of my nursing education.

I went through the local community college ADN program that was known in our area for producing graduates that were well prepared clinically for working in the field. I found the coursework and clinical experiences prepared me well. Additionally, I was able to work full-time throughout my schooling which was a key in our one income family.

I attended an on-line MSN program in management because I thought that's what I wanted to go into. Found out in classes 11 and 12 (of 12), that I did NOT ever want to work in management. Overall, I found that degree to be barely worth the paper it's printed on.

I'm now in another on-line program for my post-master's certificate for my APRN. Again, I find the coursework is lacking, but I have found preceptors that have made the clinical experiences to be worthwhile. I'm putting in my own work on the side to ensure that I'm prepared for what will be expected after graduation.

I think that people that can make the best of many situations, no one goes into a program intending to be incompetent after graduation, and no program is created with the intent of graduating incompetent people. There are many people that bash certain programs for many reasons, but I don't think that you can generalize all graduates of anywhere. There will be idiots with ivy league educations, and highly successful people from community schools and podunk colleges in all professions.

7 hours ago, JBMmom said:

I think that people that can make the best of many situations, no one goes into a program intending to be incompetent after graduation, and no program is created with the intent of graduating incompetent people. There are many people that bash certain programs for many reasons, but I don't think that you can generalize all graduates of anywhere. There will be idiots with ivy league educations, and highly successful people from community schools and podunk colleges in all professions.

Agreed.

I chose my program because I got instate rates, a BSN from the get go (I already had two other degrees), good pass rates, a good reputation, and they didn't require applicants to have their CNA like many of the other programs.

15 hours ago, NurseBlaq said:

After graduating and working alongside nurses who graduated from the ASN programs do you feel like your hands on education was on par with theirs?

I ask because I went the ASN route and worked my way up and during our first semester of clinicals we were doing more than the local BSN program students in their last semester of clinicals. We all sat down at lunch one day during clinicals and exchanged info about our programs and found they were being trained to be supervisors vs floor nurses. Well they had a rude awakening when we graduated and they were on the floor working right along with us.

Not a reply to my post but I thought it would be relevant.

My program only had acute care clinicals other than psych and community health. I knew that I wanted to work in the ED out of school, and the university program set me up better for that.

The ASN program at the community college had a lot more home health, nursing home, and LTAC rotations.

I can't say that one program was better overall, but the university option was better for where I wanted to be after graduation. Had I been accepted to the ASN program and not the BSN I still think I would have received a good education, but it would have been more difficult for me to get an ED job right away.

1 minute ago, PeakRN said:

Not a reply but I thought it would be relevant.

My program only had acute care clinicals other than psych and community health. I knew that I wanted to work in the ED out of school, and the university program set me up better for that.

The ASN program at the community college had a lot more home health, nursing home, and LTAC rotations.

I can't say that one program was better overall, but the university option was better for where I wanted to be after graduation. Had I been accepted to the ASN program and not the BSN I still think I would have received a good education, but it would have been more difficult for me to get an ED job right away.

I guess clinical rotations depend on the area. I did clinicals in an area with major health systems and most of my class were at different level 1 centers around the area. I think we did LTC/nursing homes the very first semester where you're mainly learning the basics. Our clinicals were reflective of what we were learning in class, like psych facilities for psych, OB/GYN units at hospitals for that, and so forth and so on. For critical care we did cardiac, oncology, etc. They let us choose different units based on our interests after graduation. At the time the school had a great reputation so none of us had problems getting jobs afterwards. We also had 100% pass rate on NCLEX. But then again, we had professors who pushed us to our limits.

Nevertheless, glad you were able to get into the ED. It was good to choose a program that gave you the best clinical experience for your future goals. More schools should do that.