Brandy Brown
Baton Rouge, LA
Excelsior College®, Associate of Science in Nursing
“To be honest with you, when I first decided, ‘Hey, I want to go to college’. I really didn’t know I wanted to be a nurse. I always wanted to be a pharmacist. But, I guess God had other plans for me.
"Me and my high school sweetheart were both in college at the same time, and I ended up getting pregnant. We were like ‘Ok, we are going to work through it. We’ll be getting married.’ You know; the lovers' story. When I went to get my ultrasound, it was twins! My first time ever being pregnant, and it was twins. With the whole situation, I was not going to be able to go six years for pharmacy school.
"If you’re the type of person that has kids, you have to go for something that is convenient. I still had to work, but I wanted to go to school, and I wanted to make more money. I went to LPN school because it was a short amount of time. You have to look at the market and decide whether you should go for it. I know there is always going to be somebody sick, no matter what. You can’t stop that.
"I finished in a year and half, and I’ve been a nurse for about five years now. During that entire time I thought, ‘I could be doing what these RN’s are doing.' I want to make the money they are making, so of course I picked up another job.
"Time passed, and I ended up having four children. So, when we got up to the marker of four kids, I thought about daycare and all these bills we have. Just going to the grocery is like $300. This felt like highway robbery because I was doing all the work, and the RNs are getting paid all the money. I had to work two jobs to make what they make. I thought, ‘What’s the point of that?’
"I had a friend who told me she signed up for a program with The College Network®. I was skeptical. I didn’t want to do a program online. She told me that The College Network is a different program. I would still go through Excelsior College®, but The College Network was going to help me pay for testing fees and be fixed with one monthly payment. Instead of having to buy nine or ten books for each course, I was going to have one book. I would also have a coach, or academic advisor, that I could go to. Everything is there for you. That’s the kind of program I like. I have all these children at home, my husband, and my jobs. It’s just too much going on to worry about what materials I need.
"I decided to start the program, so I called about it. I met with a Program Advisor and things just took off from there. She encouraged me and told me I was going to be able to do well, so I decided to sign up.
"My first course was Anatomy and Physiology. I think the thing about starting a program like this is people are really scared because they don’t know what is on the first test. It took me 4 months just to go and start that first test because I was so nervous. Once you take that first test, you will really see that it’s not hard. I took the first test and I made a ‘B’ on Anatomy and Physiology. The lady printed the grade out and I couldn’t believe it. I thought she had the wrong person.
"I took my first test in January. In February, I took two tests. In March, I took two tests. In April, I took one test, but the reason was that my little girl had to have surgery on her finger. That just kind of pushed me off from doing the studying. The only thing it takes is you really have to want it. If you want it and you are going to motivate yourself to do this, nothing is going to stop you.
"Make a little time when you are at home cooking. When the food is on the stove, why not take the book out and read a few chapters. You have to designate some time just for your study time. You don’t have to go to class. You don’t have to worry about gas money to get to class. You don’t have to worry about time taking off from work to get to class. It’s just about being at home with your rollers in your hair, the food on the stove, and you with your materials out going through them.
"I promise you that if I can do it with four children and two jobs (a part-time job and a full-time job where I work 50 hours a week on one and about 10 hours a week on the other one), anyone can do it. It’s just all about whether or not you want it. Do you want to make that salary that you are making or do you really want to get started on something more?
"I can’t speak for anyone else, but the reason I chose The College Network was for convenience. It is just so much better to have someone help you to get what you need. You don’t want to go back to the classroom, you don’t have time to go back to the classroom as a nurse, but hey, there’s help. There is someone who wants to help you get to where you need to be.
"I’ve been with The College Network for about nine or ten months now. I love it! It’s an experience. It’s really something to sign up with a company that’s not about what you can do but about what they can help you do. “
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