WGU MBA-HM first impressions and ongoing comments

[dmjacobsen]

Can you share your experience at Excelsior for the Nursing program and the BSN at WGU?

It's been several years and the curriculum has probably changed several times since I graduated, but I liked the Excelsior program. It worked well with my schedule -- I started out at a local community college, but they changed the clinical dates with almost no notice, which wasn't conducive to full-time employment. I'd guess probably 80% of the coursework was a review of what I'd already learned in my LPN program, which seems pretty consistent with what a few of my peers have experienced in LPN-to-RN programs. I had several undergrad credits from earlier in life that I'd never wrapped together into a degree, so most of my GenEd was already done -- I only took a couple of CLEPs/DSSTs (I think Psych CLEP, Lifespan Dev DSST, and Technical Writing DSST?) and the 7 or so required Excelsior exams. All of the Excelsior exams were proctored by Pearson Vue, so I felt that the degree was well-validated by that. The final clinical experience -- the CPNE -- is a 2 1/2 day ordeal that is pass or fail -- you either know what you're doing, or you don't. No coaching/teaching during the experience. Excelsior sends you a PDF study guide, which is about 500 pages. It was one hell of a stressful experience. But, in hindsight, it wasn't actually that bad -- you just have to do everything in the way that Excelsior wants you to, and don't take shortcuts. I passed all lab stations and my three patient scenarios on the first try with no repeats. I highly recommend Lynn Frederick's CPNE workshop for this.

The BSN at WGU was just a stepping stone to a Master's. It got the job done. I didn't have any enlightening moments that changed the way I practiced nursing, and -- as with my LPN-to-RN experience -- I found that to be pretty consistent with my peers' experience who went the RN-to-BSN route at other universities. I chose WGU because it was cheaper than my local university and because I could finish it much faster. My local university wanted me to repeat Microbiology and A&P I, because they were older than 5 years. I was not willing to do this just to get a stepping-stone credential.