[TanSter]

Ok, I need some suggestions. I have been in nursing for about 17 yrs. I am in that mid career funk. Have a good job work as an ICU Nurse, good pay and good co-workers. My questions are related to completing a BSN. I originally was trained in the 80's as a 91C in the Army, from there I completed a 2 yr RN program via Regents College. I would now like to complete a BSN so I could consider CRNA? or something, but most of the local programs in the Minneapolis area (where I live) are only networked with local community colleges thus not all my credits are adequate, I really don't want to repeat much and feel somewhat belittled as I work every day in the field, in a nutshell I want to complete a BSN from a a reputable college in as short a time frame as possible, is there any such program in the midwest or online? Any suggestions? Any programs work better or worse with a degree from Regents?
I would also consider a Science degree in related area but I think that would put me even farther behind in degree completion.
Thanks in advance

[Jesse]

As with anything of value, it's best to do thorough research. You'll find that online nursing programs vary greatly from school to school, primarily in costs, but most importantly, in how much support and guidance you can expect to receive during your program. Most take at least a year and a half to two years, depending on how much of a workload you expect to complete each semester...and this of course, depends on you and the number of hours you may have to work at gainful employment!

A couple of good sites to start your search are:

www.directoryofschools.com/Nursing.htm

www.directoryofschools.com/Nursing.htm

I can recommend the following two colleges, because I have several friends who have completed their BSN's on line through them, and have been very satisfied.

Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences
Kristlyn Macon
Enrollment Advisor
FHCHS Online RN-BS Completion Program
Wk: 866-642-6350 ext. 319
Fx. 407-573-2015
kmacon-admissions@onlinenursing.fhchs.edu

St. Joseph's College Graduate & Professional Studies
David McCall
Admissions Counselor
1-(800)-752-4723
dmccall@sjcme.edu

An online search under "nursing education on line" or some such descriptive phrase will get you a lot of information as well.

Good luck and personal best wishes to you! If you plan to continue in nursing, especially in a specialized area, you'd do well to continue for your BNS.

[mercynurse]

TanSter,

I was a diploma grad and had gone back to school for my BSN, then I moved....3 times before I could get finished. Every school had different requirements and all of my credits were NOT accepted.
I finally chose an online program @ Graceland University. They accepted almost everything I had in the way of credits.It's accredited, and they also offer a masters and masters/NP program.

Online schooling is NOT for everyone. I love it. But you must be self diciplined. I am currently in the masters/NP porgram and have less than a year before I'm finished.

There are disadvantages as well as advantages to these programs. You need to do the research to see what will work for you. Regents, in NY, Graceland in Iowa (although the nursing campus is in Missouri), and Dominic Hills in CA all offer RN-BSN programs. And that was when I was checking about 10 years ago. I'm SURE there are many more programs avaliable now.

Hope some of this helps. Be sure to let us know what you decide to do.

Bonnie