Michelle Rohl
Nesconset, NY
Excelsior College®, Associate of Science in Nursing

Michelle started out as a volunteer EMT for a volunteer fire department. She quickly found that she really enjoyed the hands-on care and the time she had with the patients while transporting them to the hospital. She would always find herself wondering what happened to those patients. “Once I brought the patients to the hospital, I never knew what happened to them,” Michelle says. “I saw the emergency room nurses running around taking care of the patients and then I would have to leave. I wanted to be in the room with the patients and continue with their care. It was then that I realized that I wanted to go into nursing.”

While Michelle was in LPN school, she was already looking ahead to becoming an RN. “I know that there are more jobs for registered nurses in hospitals. I always wanted to be an emergency room nurse so that I could work with patients,” she says.

When she began looking at options for her associate’s degree in nursing, she realized that she would have two options: She could go on campus in her local community or look at online options. It was then she realized that she didn’t have any prerequisites for her ASN. “The College Network® happened to be at my school one day and I was able to learn more about the online ASN program. I realized that it would be faster if I worked through them. And, I thought it would meet my goals and needs.”

Michelle loved the flexibility of setting her own schedule. “They provide you with all the books and you do your programs at your own pace. That’s what I loved about it,” says Michelle about The College Network (TCN). “You can open your book when you want to and close it when you want to—I love the freedom of that. Had I chosen to go to a campus program, I would have had to do at least a year for prerequisites alone. With TCN, I was able to start that night. I was able to achieve my goals faster, which is what I was looking for.”

Michelle studied at her own pace and worked through her program chapter by chapter. “I would take it into work with me or I would have it with me while I was waiting in the car to pick up my sister. I took a chapter at a time. You have that liberty and freedom to do that. That’s basically how I did it. I just set a goal and I did it.”

She also credits her family with helping her succeed by giving her support when she needed it the most. “When you have that support team around you, you can accomplish anything.”

Michelle is finished with her ASN program and is even thinking of moving forward to obtain her bachelor’s degree in nursing. “I finished the associate program and I loved it so much that I am going to continue on. I can’t say enough good things about it. I am very elated. And now I am on the next one, I am on to the next degree.”

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