LPN to RN Schools and Programs Sample Comparison

You’ve found a number of LPN to RN Programs. You determined which ones are accredited both nationally and through your state Board of Nursing. You may still have a large number of colleges or only a few. Which one is the right one? How do you know which schools to apply for?

First, start by looking at the college you are currently enrolled in, if you have started college, or the one you graduated from. Often they will have a working partnership with other colleges that involve the most transferable credits and classes. The process of applying and transferring credits will be streamlined.

When I started to look into going back to school, I looked first at the colleges located in my own state and then expanded my search outwards. This is not a quick process, plan on spending a few months looking into all your options.

My original search turned up so many nursing schools I became overwhelmed and almost quit. I then scaled back my research. Starting with the colleges in my state I looked through their websites looking for certain information: length of program, tuition, fees, clinical hours, minimum credits needed to graduate, nurses classes need and general education classes. The information is often spread out over their whole website, so you will have to search for it or contact them with questions. To keep them straight I actually made an Excel spread sheet to keep them all straight. (See below for an example)

Once I narrowed down the colleges in state, I started to look at online colleges out of state. After going through the same process with out of state colleges, I combined the two finalist list together. Using Excel I was able to rank the schools based on my preferences. Starting from the top, I sent in applications. Please note, most colleges have an application fee. The fee often is not very much, but enough to say you are serious about attending.

Send out as many applications as you want or can afford. The more you send you the more likely you will be accepted and you’ll discover which college will accept the more of your prior credits. I personally found that applying for another degree was easier than the first time I went to college. I’m not sure if that is because I’ve been tried and tested or if it has something do with how much cheaper it is to educate a student online.

I hope the table below will give you a starting point. While the search takes time, it is well worth it to find the best fit for you.

• † Does not include application or any other preadmission fees
• †† Number of credits needed from institution to receive their degree
• ‡ Note that there are testing fees for different courses, up to $2,035 per test
• * Includes preadmission testing fee, clinical fees, and technology fee per term
• ** Required to attend all clinicals in FL
• *** No actual clinical time, but required to pass their clinical competencies tests
• *** Will depend on how many classes transfer in
• *** Subject to change depending on how many credits have been transferred in