Accepted to RN bridge!

I highly recommend the youtube channel RegisteredNurseRN....she really does some amazing videos and explanations. If you can get past her accent, she was a tremendous help through nursing school, especially with prepping for exams and NCLEX.

And as always, Kahn Academy for back up.
 
akflightmedic said:
I highly recommend the youtube channel RegisteredNurseRN....she really does some amazing videos and explanations. If you can get past her accent, she was a tremendous help through nursing school, especially with prepping for exams and NCLEX.

And as always, Kahn Academy for back up.
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She is one of my go to for references on YouTube
 
Has anyone currently enrolled in the Excelsior program gotten the low down on their new clinical education component?

I see that they are adding some clinical education, but will also be voluntarily pulling out of ACEN, but retaining accreditation through Middle States and NYS Board of Regents
 
OceanBossMan263 said:
Has anyone currently enrolled in the Excelsior program gotten the low down on their new clinical education component?

I see that they are adding some clinical education, but will also be voluntarily pulling out of ACEN, but retaining accreditation through Middle States and NYS Board of Regents
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Be careful. ACEN is the gold standard of accreditation.
 
That is definitely going to hurt them.

What else will hurt is the realization after the last 2 semesters by the mainstream programs that there is a lot of learning that can be accomplished remotely. It's not out of the question for most if not all didactic material to be delivered remotely with only in-person attendance at labs and clinical. In theory, schools could even branch out on their clinical affiliations and enlist facilities farther from the physical university.

My funeral director program worked the same way... all didactic material online over 2 years followed by a 2-week capstone of clinical embalming labs and board review.
 
Excelsior has initial practice limitations in a lot of states. This may cause them to have those restrictions in states where they don't, or lose ability to gain licensure period as some states required you graduate from an ACEN or CCNE accredited school to get licensure. Excelsior grads already cannot license in CA last I looked.
 
Summit said:
Excelsior has initial practice limitations in a lot of states. This may cause them to have those restrictions in states where they don't, or lose ability to gain licensure period as some states required you graduate from an ACEN or CCNE accredited school to get licensure. Excelsior grads already cannot license in CA last I looked.
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This has been the case for quite a long time. If you're an Excelsior grad from the VERY early 2000's or prior (there's a specific cut-off date), then you might be able to get licensed in California. I just don't recall if the cut-off involved completing Excelsior's program by that particular date or if a California RN license had to be obtained by an Excelsior grad by that date.

In any event, the limiting factor by California is ensuring that didactic material and clinical experiences of the same subject are done concurrently. This is what bit Excelsior and also bit (and continues to bite) grads from non-California schools (especially the Philippines).
 
Akulahawk said:
This has been the case for quite a long time. If you're an Excelsior grad from the VERY early 2000's or prior (there's a specific cut-off date), then you might be able to get licensed in California. I just don't recall if the cut-off involved completing Excelsior's program by that particular date or if a California RN license had to be obtained by an Excelsior grad by that date.

In any event, the limiting factor by California is ensuring that didactic material and clinical experiences of the same subject are done concurrently. This is what bit Excelsior and also bit (and continues to bite) grads from non-California schools (especially the Philippines).
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Yes and it also continues to bite them in other states that impose requirements that they find some other state to go work in for a while before they can be allowed to license in the restrictive states. Many of these states (eg Co) also hold the requirement that you have to graduate from a accredited school as I mentioned. The accreditation issue may permanently block licensure in many states.
 
Akulahawk said:
This has been the case for quite a long time. If you're an Excelsior grad from the VERY early 2000's or prior (there's a specific cut-off date), then you might be able to get licensed in California. I just don't recall if the cut-off involved completing Excelsior's program by that particular date or if a California RN license had to be obtained by an Excelsior grad by that date.
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Akulahawk said:
This has been the case for quite a long time. If you're an Excelsior grad from the VERY early 2000's or prior (there's a specific cut-off date), then you might be able to get licensed in California. I just don't recall if the cut-off involved completing Excelsior's program by that particular date or if a California RN license had to be obtained by an Excelsior grad by that date.
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I’m pretty sure that as long as you enrolled in the Excelsior program by December 2003 then it doesn’t matter when you graduated; you are good.

For a while they were allowing people who enrolled after that to still be licensed as long as they jumped through hoops, but at some point they stopped that and now my understanding is that there is no way that an excelsior grad can ever be licensed in CA unless you were enrolled before 12/2003. Which is too bad, because the program actually attracted a lot of very strong candidates.
 
Carlos Danger said:
I’m pretty sure that as long as you enrolled in the Excelsior program by December 2003 then it doesn’t matter when you graduated; you are good.

For a while they were allowing people who enrolled after that to still be licensed as long as they jumped through hoops, but at some point they stopped that and now my understanding is that there is no way that an excelsior grad can ever be licensed in CA unless you were enrolled before 12/2003. Which is too bad, because the program actually attracted a lot of very strong candidates.
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The underlying regulations that California applied to Excelsior have actually been on the books for quite a long time prior to being applied/enforced against Excelsior students. About 5-ish years after they enforced the rules against Excelsior, they had a kind of "epiphany" moment and realized that they'd better enforce those rules generally (lest they give Excelsior an opening for appeal) and that's when it became a LOT more difficult for BSNs from the Philippines (in particular) to get licensed as an RN here. Do recall that it's not the depth or completeness of education that the California BRN is concerned about, it's the "concurrency" requirement of clinical and didactic subjects. If Excelsior were to be able to change things around enough to satisfy the concurrency requirements, their students might be able to get licensed in California. Unfortunately, given what Excelsior's model seems to be, I think that's going to be extremely difficult of an undertaking.
 
The ONLY place you can work in CA as an Excelsior grad is at the VA hospitals. I am happy I decided to never complete the program, I started two different times in the past 20 + years...LOL.

And just a few years ago Hutchinson CC was one of the best kept secrets for online Medic to RN. But now everyone knows and that wait list is very deep. I am sure there are other CC who have a similar program, just need to dig hard to find it.
 
akflightmedic said:
The ONLY place you can work in CA as an Excelsior grad is at the VA hospitals. I am happy I decided to never complete the program, I started two different times in the past 20 + years...LOL.

And just a few years ago Hutchinson CC was one of the best kept secrets for online Medic to RN. But now everyone knows and that wait list is very deep. I am sure there are other CC who have a similar program, just need to dig hard to find it.
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If you had finished it after starting it 20+ years ago, you'd be able to work in CA as an Excelsior grad. In fact after a year of nursing experience there is no state in the US that you wouldn't be able to work.
 
True story...but there are far more Excelsior attempts or failures than there are grads....LOL. Self study and motivation is freaking hard, especially when I was younger! LOL

I did the traditional route at a very affordable local CC, I quit looking for shortcuts or bridges because none of them seemed all that much faster or easier and amazingly enough, I got the program done. Yep, as I said before, nursing school in general sucks, especially when experienced, however its all over now and the two years flew by.
 
Carlos Danger said:
If you had finished it after starting it 20+ years ago, you'd be able to work in CA as an Excelsior grad. In fact after a year of nursing experience there is no state in the US that you wouldn't be able to work.
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I was going to ask about this... so (hypothetically speaking), if I am a medic in NC, and do the excelsior program to become a nurse in NC, pass the NCLEX and any other exam that is needed, and work for 2 years as a nurse at a hospital, I wouldn't be able to move to Ca and become an RN in a hospital in Los Angelas?
 
No you would not and it actually details all that on the Excelsior website itself. They have links and had to disclose it to all of its students. CA is one of states which requires your original school records, not just a license and experience from another state.

Excelsior College

www.rn.ca.gov www.rn.ca.gov




I assume you are trying to mention the "Apply for license by endorsement"...and here is the link, and when you complete these two steps, you will be denied approval.

Licensure by Endorsement

www.rn.ca.gov www.rn.ca.gov

  • Completed "Verification of License" form or Nursys® Verification Application if your board of nursing participates in Nursys®. International graduates must also submit a "Verification of License" form from the board of nursing where the examination was taken (Page 12)
    NOTE: Nursys® verifications expire 90 days from the date of request. Please do not request your Nursys® verification prior to submission of your endorsement application or it may expire before your file can be fully evaluated.
  • "Request for Transcript" form(s) completed and forwarded directly from your nursing school(s) with certified transcripts (Page 13)
And other states who do NOT accept Excelsior...

California, Virginia, Georgia and Maryland do not accept graduates from Excelsior Nursing School. According to Excelsior, California's Board of Nursing, prior to 2003, did accept Excelsior College graduates; but since that time, the state only accepts graduates from traditional nursing programs.

And even those who completed Excelsior prior to 2003 are a Case by Case evaluation


The Board of Nursing in Alabama indicates that graduates with significant hours of RN experience may apply for endorsement by the Alabama State Board, but each candidate will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

California stipulates that Excelsior ADN graduates who enrolled on or after December 6, 2003, may apply for endorsement, but they will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

There are internet rumors of "I have a friend who..." or "a colleague did..." attesting that they were Excelsior grads and gained endorsement, however both of these rumors were on forum boards, had no facts or names or first hand experience....and both stated they accomplished this with help of a lawyer, threats of a lawsuit, and one individual doing a rapid BSN online to aid his case.

So can licensure happen by endorsement after getting experience in another state as an excelsior grad...?? Maybe...but the CA BON seems to indicate not.
 
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Even more detailed hurdles to include extra clinical hours, etc to gain State licensure if Excelsior grad....exists in many states aside from the ones already mentioned above.

classroom.synonym.com

States That Exclude the Excelsior Nursing School Degree | Synonym

Excelsior College School of Nursing, a New York based, accredited online nursing school, is an aggressive program for adult learners who have significant clinical health care experience. Recipient of the 2008 through 2011 National League for Nursing Center of Excellence in Nursing Education...
classroom.synonym.com classroom.synonym.com
 
Years ago before hybrid/blended online courses became so popular, excelsior was probably the only real option for medics.

Now, pretty much every RN program has a blended track which only requires 1-2 days per week in person. Anyone with a flexible schedule should be able to commit to that without any problem. Even if you have a more rigid work schedule, you should be able to get it done using vacation time and trades.

In short, there is literally no reason to choose excelsior anymore. We’ve all heard the horror stories of the difficulty of the program, high failure rare, and states that refuse to license you, so why take the chance?
 
Well stated Fireman...even the "full time" community college program I attended which had no bridge, no hybrid schedule, was VERY manageable.

Freshman year I had lectures on Mon and Wed from either 0800-1200 or 0900-1300 and then a 12 hour clinical on Friday.

Senior year I had lectures on Tues and Thursdays similar times as above with a 12 hour clinical which was assigned and it would be on Monday, Wed, Fri or Saturday...you knew which day was yours well in advance. The only really busy time was when we did our 6 weeks of Psych rotation because those were 6 hour days, so you had clinical 2 x a week instead of the usual one.

*And the lectures were not mandatory, only the clinicals were!

I completed this traditional brick and mortar program all while working through depression, the sale of my large company, significant financial life changes, sale of marital home, sale of second LLC tied to ex, a divorce, lawyer proceedings every week either tied to divorce or the prior main company I owned, working full time and part time jobs in both EMS and hospital, and still found it very manageable.

Just saying...if you only have half of those stressors or less, and already have some healthcare experience, you will do just fine. Do not wait for the short cut, do not take on higher than needed expenses. By going to CC, you can also get federal loans if needed. Couple shift trades here or odd adjustments of your work schedule temporarily, you can get it done.

My entire nursing program start to finish cost me LESS than 15K !!
I am now in my BSN program. Again, I chose a small CC option and the program is online. This BSN will cost me less than 10K.

I took a full time ER staff position as a new grad RN. My base wage is $35/hour. Once you add my night shift differential, my weekend differentials, I am now close to $40. And I often pick up call back shifts and contract shifts, sometimes both combined. And if I plan it just right, I can be on overtime and then pick up CB/CP combined and easily put myself in the $110/hour range.
*Contract pay is $8 more an hour. Call Back is time and half. So if I am on OT and pick up the CB/CP shift I am making MORE than triple time per hour.

My whole point of sharing money is to motivate those on the fence. The long term return for nursing school is significant!! Short term discomfort for amazing gain. And do NOT overpay for your education. There are very affordable options and very flexible schedules. You will make a lot of money, you will have many job options and tons of career pathways. And you do NOT have to give up EMS.
 
Ramping up for next semester, tuition due tomorrow and class starts next week. I have two 7 week blocks of peds then psych, and my last pharm class runs through the whole semester..
 
FiremanMike said:
Ramping up for next semester, tuition due tomorrow and class starts next week. I have two 7 week blocks of peds then psych, and my last pharm class runs through the whole semester..
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Peds is usually both awesome/fun and heartbreaking. Psych can be an eye-opener, especially in terms of learning "therapeutic" conversation. You'll learn to remember details of a conversation with a patient (client?) because you'll have to chart on such details.
 
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