Excelsior University

The good: Excelsior College accepts more transfer credits that almost any other school. They accept over 100 credits of transfer, so you can get a degree with <15 credits from them. That's unheard of. The bad: Their financial aid office is worthless. They promise you huge aid packages, just to cancel it after the disbursement date/final drop deadline passes. Then you're stuck footing the bill for a lot of the money yourself. And no, my external aid sources (fed gov't/Pell) cannot be blamed. Excelsior... Read More miscalculated my aid themselves and promised me double of what they ended up really giving me. Now I owe debt. Classes are painfully boring and a waste of time. The capstone and cornerstone classes are high school busy work, at best. The assignments are petty, pointless non-sense. I suffered taking these mind-numbing, completely useless classes. It's a college degree-- an expensive degree that I suffered through completely pointless classes to get. I learned nothing. No one respects the degree, it's an open-enrollment, zero standards for admission college. You pay, they let you in. But it's a check-the-box-on-a-form degree.

It is what it is. I started at Excelsior to become a Nurse. College misinformation and errors on my part meant I ran out of time. Not entirely Excelsior's fault. Excelsior does a great job when you are salvaging your abandon credits from other traditional colleges into something. Some classes I was able to use were almost thirty years old. (Obviously science and technical courses, not so much.) Some online courses with over 5-year-old textbooks that you can buy on EBAY for 5 bucks makes the course... Read More costs reasonable. Some undergrad courses and fees with books are under 250 dollars as of 2021. My Bachelors of Science Liberal Arts beat the dreaded "some college" on a job application. Just to drive myself crazy. I added up all my cost out of pocket. Then I assumed I worked overtime instead of studying. Then I took the identical percentage of that unrealized money and mirrored exactly what I invested in my current retirement fund. Compounding interest and market growth over 32 years came to $ 237,327.15 of potential 403b/1k money. Almost a quarter of million. Now to be fair. Excelsior expenses and time only represent 12,500,01 of that aforementioned expense. Considering I usually did my work while working and Excelsior's classes are priced reasonably. Excelsior is a great choice. (I should have listened to my Stepfather and became a plumber.) If you are stuck with a bunch of dead credits like I was. Excelsior is a great option. If you are young and do not have a lot of sunk cost into college odyssey. You should become a plumber too! That is where the real money is at. But the good news. I have my degree. The only real advice I have. Excelsior has a nasty habit of moving the academic goal posts when you are nearing the end of your degree. The only thing that saved me from additional classes. I communicated strictly via Yahoo E mail instead of campus intranet. I was able to show the Dean of Students what the advisor said what when and why. Excelsior intranet E mail get purged every 60 days. Excelsior yielded and I was able use my Capstone to cover a suddenly required humanities courses.

I graduated from Excelsior College years ago with an associated science in nursing. Yes, it required lots of studying time. One of the reasons many LPN doesn't do good because they fail to think on rn level, they want to continue lpn mentality. Yes at first it was difficult for me, I soon realized I had to move out of the practical nurse mode to thinking as registered nurse. I will always remember this school because it was where I started in the 90s. It open many doors for me. However, I pursued... Read More my dreams and obtained my BSN years before I retired. I am still in nursing as a teacher and enjoying every moment of it.

I see a lot of negative reviews on this school for the nursing program, but I on the other hand loved it. Because I travel a lot, it was great to be able to access my classes on my own time from my own computer. The key to this school (especially the nursing curriculum) is to definitely learn how to take the initiative to study and learn the lessons on your own. This is not to say you are literally on your own, as the classes provide you with all needed materials and information, you just have to... Read More know how to manage your time, prioritize, and discipline yourself to study. If you can do this, you will be successful in the program. I recommend this program to all my colleagues as I hear horror stories of people flunking out of the overpriced schools that demand so much time and money. You are provided a teacher you can communicate with and it always seemed that in every situation I faced someone at the school tried to help in some way. The only thing I would say is to check up on the requirements that you need for your state, as not all (but most) will accept a degree from excelsior. The CPNE was a challenge but since I took mine during Covid, there was no wait and I got to do a zoom test. It was one of the things that made me hesitant for this program, but it is possible and it should not deter you in deciding on this school as it really is no different or harder than any other nursing exam. I was also afraid I would not be successful as I am not the best with technology, but the courses are straightforward and simple to navigate. As healthcare looks toward the future, I am surprised there are not more online schools like this one. I have to say all in all excelsior was a fulfilling experience for me and helped me reach my career goals and I have no regrets whatsoever. Some may be afraid of a job not wanting to hire you because of graduating from an online school, but that is not true at all, as lots of people are impressed and realize that you have what it takes to be a hard worker. Maybe online school is not for everyone but those that are willing should give it a shot!!!

Incompetent college. I've attended a variety of top tier, private, public, and other types of colleges over the years, but Excelsior has been the worst. Professors claim to use some arbitrary rubric, but grading is all over the map. Assignments are a complete waste of time. Though unqualified, professors are often arrogant. The capstone and cornerstone courses are pointless busy work, at best. Financial aid is a joke. They claim you'll get all sorts of aid, but undo that aid halfway through the semester,... Read More leaving you owing thousands. It's an online college with no real campus, no real academics, and inept financial aid. Most people have never heard of Excelsior, which is the only thing this college has going for it.

Overall I have had wonderful experience with Excelsior. I have been enrolled for a few years and it has been very flexible with my military career. Others have stated that they have had issues with Military TA but I have not had any issues personally. Additionally, instructors and advisors have always been easy for me to get in contact with. I did notice in this last class that the instructor seemed like a robot because he would respond to discussion questions with unrelated topics that didn't apply.... Read More Overall, if you have lots of credits from multiple schools and are looking to get your degree knocked out, Excelsior is the place to go.

I graduated with an associates degree in nursing in 1984. Then we had to come to Albany and do a 2 day test for clinical competency. I passed in the 2nd attempt and took my boards in New York. Scored high no problems. For me this program gave me the opportunity I could not get in Ohio. I decided on a well known college for my BSN and double Master's because at the time on-line school were not well thought of... I currently work as the ADON for a traditional college. I would recommend this school... Read More to those who have extensive clinical, experience in hospitals, not nursing home or if you a medic. My son is a Director he graduated from this college. It can be done again if you are clinically experienced. By the way the first fail was I forgot to wash my hands before inspecting a site to put the IV in.

The "teachers" at Excelsior "College" (and now they're calling themselves "University") are sometimes bots and people in the administration office cutting and pasting "feedback". I guess a lot of Excelsior students get their degrees paid for by someone else, so they don't care how low the quality of the "education" they're getting is but if you want to actually have an intelligent conversation with anyone, look elsewhere. You might have to do what I did and enroll at a brick and mortar campus with... Read More a hybrid program for working adults, but you'll be so glad you did. :)

I graduated with my Associates Degree in Nursing in 2010. Excelsior allowed me the opportunity to bridge from Paramedic to RN and move forward with my career as at the time I was a single mother with 2 children working full time as a Paramedic. Since that time I worked as an ER nurse, travel nurse across the U.S. and have been a successful flight nurse for the last 10 years. I have obtained my CEN, CFRN and BSN which I received from University of Texas at Arlington. I would not have been able to... Read More do without Excelsior. Yes, it was difficult and stressful, but very doable. It required strict time managment and a true commitment. I am very grateful for the opportunity it gave me and would recommend this program if you are self-disciplined and willing to work hard.