Brandy McKibbin
Beaumont, TX
Excelsior College®, Associate of Science in Nursing
Brandy McKibbin didn’t always know she wanted to be a nurse. “I started out going to school thinking I was going to be a teacher. I went through three years of that and decided it wasn’t for me. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do until I started working as a dialysis technician. From there I knew that nursing was what I wanted to do because of the fulfillment it had given me to help the people in the dialysis clinic,” she explains.
“I did my LVN through the clinical based school setting which was okay, but it’s really time consuming. I couldn’t work full time. I couldn’t be there with my stepson and my husband all the time like I wanted to,” Brandy says.
When Brandy decided to further her education and become an RN, she decided an online nursing degree program would better suit her life. “With The College Network®, it’s given me a lot of freedom to study when I want to, take my exams when I want to. I can still work full time and never have to miss out because I’m in class.”
Brandy says she really enjoys the support within The College Network’s online Resource Center. “The resource center, for me, has really been my lifeline because I’m not one to sit and flip through a book. I like to click through the pages. It’s more interactive. For me, it makes me pay attention more. I love the quizzes at the end. Taking the quizzes has helped me understand the concepts better and be more prepared for the exams when I get there.”
“The modules themselves have been very helpful for me. I read the learning objectives at the beginning of the modules, and then once I’ve finished that module I go back through and read through those again to make sure I understand those concepts. Doing that has prepared me for my exams, because the core thing about the subject at hand is covered in all of the modules,” says Brandy.
What is Brandy’s advice for staying motivated to study? “You just have to pick up your modules and start doing it. Schedule your exams so you have a date set in your mind saying, ‘this is when I need to be finished.’ I schedule my exams five weeks in advance, that way I know I have time to study and when I’m ready, I’m ready. If something comes up, the beauty of it is, it can be changed. As long as you give them 24 hours notice, you can change with no penalty.”
Brandy is excited to be advancing her education and plans to keep on going. “Right now, I’ve really got my eyes set on my RN. Directly after I finish my ADN I’d like to roll on into the BSN program, and then possibly get into a nurse practitioner program or maybe an advanced practice nurse.”
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