Listen up,
everyone. There is a buzz in the nursing
community right now about Excelsior’s Nursing Program…and for good reason,
Excelsior’s Nursing Program is the largest nursing program in the US. In years past, their program has been
criticized due to the fact that it is mainly a distance learning program…however,
the Excelsior School of Nursing has developed quite a reputation in the nursing
community in the past decade...for excellence.
In fact, Excelsior’s Nursing program is one of less than twenty nursing
schools in the United States to earn the title from the NLN a Center of
Excellence.
There are
tons of questions about Excelsior’s Nursing program, and I’m going to answer as
many of them as possible in this article.
First of all,
to be eligible for Excelsior’s Nursing Program, you must either be a LPN, paramedic,
respiratory therapist, or physician’s assistant. In a few states, corpsmen who meet certain
specifications can qualify as well. This
all varies by state, and more specific information (state-by-state) can be
found here.
Now,
Excelsior takes a little different approach to awarding credit hours towards a
degree. This is one of the main reasons
why people choose to go to Excelsior.
With their program, you can earn your degree without even stepping foot
in a classroom. No hocus pocus, they use
a pretty standard approach to awarding college credits…you’ve probably heard of
it…ever heard anyone say they ‘clepped’ out of a class?
Excelsior
uses this same principle. There, you can
take a series of tests, some CLEP, some DANTES, and some ECE (Excelsior) and
once you pass, they award you that class’ credit hours toward your degree.
This makes it
possible for many of Excelsior’s students to earn their RN without attending
class, on their own time and schedule.
Once you earn the necessary credits, they award you your degree. You can earn your degree (with no previous
college) by taking approximately 16 tests.
Many of Excelsior’s students have earned their RN degree in LESS THAN
SIX MONTHS.
Now,
Excelsior does offer ‘prep’ courses that you can take to prepare for these
exams, but you can find the same study materials online here for a fraction of
the price. By the time the average student
completes their degree at Excelsior, they have saved a tremendous amount of time
and money. Considering the average
nursing school costs $17 per year (for at least two years), the average
Excelsior student spends less than half of this amount.
Once you take
the tests and earn your degree, you must apply to take your state nursing
boards just as you would if you graduated from any other nursing school.
In our
opinion, Excelsior’s program is great.
It allows many LPNs the opportunity to go back to school and earn their
degree when otherwise, they would not be able to afford it or have time to
attend traditional classes.