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| *Ostroff, Fair and Company>>>Health Care |
Anybody know about University of Pheonex Nursing Program? |
I'm familiar w/ the school, and I'm sure their nursing program is "certified". What do people think of their program? Does it have a good rep? Is it as good as any other? I have all my general ed stuff from junior college, but certainly not the science req. for nursing. Can I take those through Pheonix? Or do I have to go back to JC? I'm sure it's very expensive, is it worth the time I will save? I'm 36, not really looking for a 4 or 5 year program. Thanks! UOP is NOT strictly an online program. UOP has physical, ground campuses all over the United States and has been around since the late 70's (way before Al Gore invented the internet even! lol ) Most traditional schools frown on UOP because they actually took a "business model" approach to running a university program and they did it super-successfully. The "online campus" is only one of many "campuses" and they save money by not having big sprawling acreages, football teams, and research facilities... It's different, so people think it's no good... we all know how this works! People who think it's a diploma mill haven't researched the program and tend to assume (i.e. group think) that because someone told them so, or because it's not a prestigous ivy league program and/or doesn't have a football team! But why do you think sooooooo many "traditional" universities offer adult learning, fast track programs now? I can tell you that before UOP came to our state - the night programs were exactly what you mentioned - they took 4 or 5 years. But with UOP coming to town, the other schools had to pull their heads out and almost all (if not all) now offer fast track MBA's, fast track Bachelor's degrees, flexible scheduling, partial online/ground classes, etc... & they didn't come up with this on their own people! UOP has helped advance the way traditional universities do business! So even if you don't go to UOP - you should still be giving them a thumbs up because they are the reason the other schools offer you flexible programs! And yes, as to certification - UOP is also "accredited" through NCA as are all of the other major state schools and universities in their regional area. Am I biased? You bet I am! =) Not only are both of my degrees from UOP, but I also worked there and personally hired most of the faculty for the campuses when they opened in my state... and personally I pissed off a lot of "career faculty" from the state and private schools who COULD NOT TEACH FOR ME because they didn't have practical, real-life experience! The teaching requirements are so much more strict at UOP for the simple fact that they will not jeopordize their standing with NCA and they go over and above in providing the best curriculum possible. There is no "tenure" so you aren't getting textbooks (that you can't understand) written by other professors trying to one-up each other - their curriculum is carefully designed and selected by senior faculty from all of the country who are "practicioners" in their field. My Finance course was taught by a CFO, my stats course by a CFO, my ethics course was taught be a PRACTICING attorney! =) My business and employment law courses were both taught by practicing attorneys - one of which was at one of the most prominent firms in the state. And being as my career is in HR... the best part is that the person who taught my HR Management course in my undergrad and one of them in my MBA was the VP of HR for Sonic Industries and is currently one of the most successful and well respected HR consultants in my state... and because of my relationship with her through school - 10 years after I hired her to teach... she and I are working on consulting projects together! The networking through their program has been priceless and that just increases the value of the prorgam in my opinion! As for the Nursing program - the previous poster is correct in the requirements for their program. Again, as part of their business model - they do not have labs, so the lab requirements cannot be satisfied there... this is one of the few undergrad programs they have in which you can't start from scratch. However - you might check into maybe satisfying some of your requirements through a junior college in conjunction with UOP? But if not - I wouldn't just presume a junior college is your only option... there may be some other similar programs out there which will allow you the lab piece. Also - I was a single mom, working FT, while pursuing both of my degrees, but to me - it was worth it. Using the adult learning model - the real life experience you get from your faculty (as well as from your peers) is invaluable and beats anything you will get from a textbook and a 20 year career professor with no recent work experience. And did I mention networking? =) (As to the level of instructor... funny story: a "real" instructor from one of our other universities was teaching a finance course for us and he stated that in "the real world" if you have a customer who doesn't pay their bill in net 10 or 30 (or whatever your terms are) that you just no longer accept them as a customer. (He's obviously never had the government for a customer! lol) If you have ANY business/sales sense at all - you don't invest time and money hand over fist to get customers just to write them off because they don't meet a net 30 payment term. This was just one example of the lack of "practical" knowledge from someone who "teaches" from a text and has no real experience "doing the job" FINAL NOTE: I'm in HR and so when I have interviewed - I actually bring up my education if I get the chance and I clarify that it is a ground campus, qualify what a good experience it was, and simply & succinctly state why I feel so strongly... and I can tell you from my experience with most people I've interviewed with - I've had few people question the validity of my degree or experience and have had several people thank me for going into the explanation... because of the fact that they don't know much about it - hearing it from the horse's mouth is pretty good validation. So that's all I have to say about that! Good luck! I've heard that employers generally don't find 'online schools' reputable. And regarding a nursing degree, I am thinking that one should really be in a classroom setting to get hands-on experience at least in a simulated 'nursing' environment. U of Phoenix is one of those 'for profit' schools and is considered to be a 'diploma mill' in which anyone can basically enroll if they have the funds and/or loans. I would stick with well-known major colleges or universities. Wishing you the best of luck! For US colleges and universities: www.utexas.edu/world/univ And for more info on U of Phoenix: www.wikipedia.org and type into search 'university of phoenix' and there is a section on controversy surrounding with references. Former students and staff post on a website with its url provided at the site about the school as well. It's just one more avenue to make an important decision when investing so much money in an education. The UOP online nursing program, as I understand it, is really for RNs who got a diploma or associate's degree and want to get a BSN. So, if you're not already a nurse, the UOP online program is not for you. Actually, UOP does not have an on-campus program for students who do no already hold a nursing certification of some kind (RN, LPN, vocational nurse). To become a nurse, you will have to actually go to a school that is accredited by your state. You cannot and should not be able to become a nurse through an online program. There are a lot of hands-on clinicals and dummy simulations you must complete in order to become an effective nurse. If your junior college or another school in your area has a nursing program, complete the nursing program there. An online program that caters to people all over the country would not be able to pull off the hands-on components because it would require cooperation with so many hospitals and clinics all over (we're talking hundreds, if not more), which already have enough difficulty trying to provide resources for the clinicals for their local college classes. Dealing with an entity like UOP that might have too small of a student group in its area to even bother with would make it even harder. www.phoenix.edu ---> Online & Campus Programs ---->Filter by selection "Online" for location, Undergraduate for Degree, and Health Care for program area. |
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