will jobs accept bachelor degrees from online schools?

SweettartRN · Mar 18, 2011

i was looking into attending an online school for my rn-bsn. i am not having any luck finding jobs so i decided to further my education. now the school i was looking at is american sentinel university. now im scared that a future employer might not see this as a "real" bachelor degree. does anyone know about this? plus i did want to go to school to become a family nurse practioner in the future and just read because this school is not regionally accredited that i would have a difficult time transferring these credits. any thoughts?? thank you :)

If the school is accredited by the CCNE, or the NLN, you should have no trouble.

My own employer is encouraging online schooling because a.) it means less time that I have to take off for class and b.) ASU, where I will be attending, is CCNE accredited and they recognize it completely.

Good luck.

And anyone who wants to snort at an online education, can come over and I'll poke them in the eyeballs! :)

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 18, 2011

As long as the school is accredited, you should not have a problem. I would however look for both nursing accreditation (e. g., CCNE) and regional scholastic accreditation (e. g., Middle States Assn). You can find a list of CCNE accredited schools here: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/accreditation/

You can find out about the regional accreditation on any college's website.

It's not clear from your question if you are asking about a BSN or RN-BSN on-line programs. If it's the former, I would pay very close attention to the required clinicals (not usually required for RN-BSN or very minimal if they are). Many on-line schools often leave students to fend for themselves in terms of setting up rotations. My understanding is that while some of the on-line schools have relationships with hospitals and provide a great deal of support for clinical rotations, many others provide only limited assistance. I've heard of students simply being given just a list of names and contacts, leaving them completely on their own to set everything up. Clinicals are a very important aspect of nursing education and frankly, I would not want to be responsible for determining mine.

Another route you could consider would be a associates degree nursing program at your local CC. Once you have passed the NCLEX and become an RN, you could get your BSN on-line from any number of highly regarded colleges. As noted above, you will already have done your clinical rotations and your remaining BSN classes are a bit easier to handle on-line.

JM RN · Mar 18, 2011

I'm sorry I was not clear about that. I do have my rn that I received through an associate degree program. And now looking for rn-bsn program. I'm just scared to pay money and then have an employer not accept it. Sweettart rn, does asu require clinicals?? Thank you both! :)

caliotter3 · Mar 18, 2011

For the most part employers are only interested in your clear license and your nursing work experience. They may tangentally be concerned with the fact that you were truthful when reporting that you graduated from a school of nursing.

UGADawgs · Mar 18, 2011

i was looking into attending an online school for my rn-bsn. i am not having any luck finding jobs so i decided to further my education. now the school i was looking at is american sentinel university. now im scared that a future employer might not see this as a "real" bachelor degree. does anyone know about this? plus i did want to go to school to become a family nurse practioner in the future and just read because this school is not regionally accredited that i would have a difficult time transferring these credits. any thoughts?? thank you :)

Unaccredited degrees are not worth the paper that they're printed on. If you already have your RN license from an associate degree program and are looking to upgrade to a BSN through online classes, the degree program that you choose should be BOTH regionally accredited AND have nursing accreditation in particular. CCNE and NLNAC are the two major nursing accrediation bodies (I do not know if the CCNE or NLNAC will, in fact, accedit BSN programs at schools that are not also regionally accredited. If they will that speaks pretty low of them, in my opinion), but if a program is only accredited by one, CCNE is the more important of the two at the bachelors level. I say that CCNE is more important than NLNAC at the bachelors level because at least one major employer, the Navy, does not recognize NLNAC degrees as qualifying for their nursing officer jobs. The bachelors must be CCNE accredited. On the other hand, I have never heard of an employer, in any sector, prefering NLNAC over CCNE. Outside the military, it probably doesn't matter.

So bascially what you're looking for is a program with regional accreditation and CCNE accrediation.

Yes, you would have a hard time transfering credits from an unaccredited school to an accredited school if you decided to ever go back to school for something else. More importantly, no graduate program that requires the BSN for admission will recognize an unaccredited BSN, so it will do you no good if you want to go for your NP or CRNA one day.

Accreditation is your friend. :)

JM RN · Mar 18, 2011

They are CCNE accredited but not regionally accredited. So now I'm not sure what to do. Weather to start with them or not I did want to start with them just to finish faster but now I am not sure if that's the best thing for me.

JM RN · Mar 18, 2011

At this point, I am also desperate for a job. All the new grad programs want a bachelor degree. That is the only reason I wanted it done faster.

UGADawgs · Mar 18, 2011

Definitely stay away if they are not regionally accredited. You want a program with regional and CCNE, not just CCNE by itself.

How many college credits do you have already? Was the associate RN degree your first college degree, so you only have the minimum that were required to get that, or do you have a stockpile of college credits from a previous life?

The program that is best for you and will enable you to finish the fastest will be determined by what you already have in the tank.

MICHRNTOB · Mar 18, 2011

Hi,

Check out Thomas Edison State College (http://tesc.edu/nursing/1640.php). They meet all the requirements and are fully online.

Good Luck.

Jonathank · Mar 18, 2011

I'm glad I clicked on this thread. I hadn't thought about the regional accreditation issue (I'm a little over a year from getting an ADN RN).

As far as the clinical hours- I'd heard that if you're employed, some online programs will count your work as clinical hours. Is there any truth to that?

Jonathank · Mar 18, 2011

Oh, and for the OP: One of our clinical instructors got her BSN from Phoenix or Kaplan.