Barbara Hartley
Ocala, FL
Excelsior College®, Associate of Science in Nursing

Barbara Hartley learned she enjoyed helping others at a young age. “I started out in high school being a teacher’s aid to mentally handicapped children and loved it. They have quite an impact on you when you see what they are able to progress to when they have somebody that will work with them,” she said.

“I originally thought about teaching, but then I decided maybe nursing would be better. Then I could be in all different fields of nursing. That’s why I went into nursing, and my love is pediatrics. I worked pediatrics for eight years and worked with all kinds of children and their families,” Barbara recalled.

Like many others, Barbara did not feel like she could afford to quit work in these tough economic times. “I felt that I was disciplined enough that I could do this on my own without sitting in a classroom and also maintaining my work. In these times there was no way I felt like I could just stop working to attend school,” she said.

With the flexibility of a self-paced online program, Barbara chose to pursue her education with help from The College Network®. “I like the modules because they give me a basic understanding of the different areas that are going to be covered. It gives me the vocabulary. It kind of follows the courses that are actually taking place if you compare them to the college that you’re going to be attending for their criteria,” she explained.

Barbara studied two days out of every week for eight hours each day and felt the Comprehensive Learning Modules™ prepared her for exams. “They also give you the practice exams, and now they even have the chapter reviews, which I really like, because if I have a chapter I’m having trouble with I can go to that and take those tests however many times I need until I can make it sink in. I have taken seven exams. I have passed all of them,” she said.

“If this is something you know you want to do, don’t keep putting it off. If you have your mind set on doing it, you need to just go ahead and get it done, start working on it and hopefully stay committed to it. You have to be self-disciplined to stay on task,” Barbara advised.

> Return to Associate Degree in Nursing Success Stories