Background: Recent trends in healthcare and an ever- increasing nursing shortage provide clear rationale for examining issues related to educational methods associated with professional nursing. Inquiry is necessary in order to determine why students select such programs over traditional options, factors they deem critical to their success, key descriptors of the learning experience, and the core construct of meaning.

Methodology/Participants: Interpretive phenomenology was used. Purposive sampling yielded fourteen alumni participants, from three sites. Data were collected using tape recorded interviews. These were transcribed verbatim.  Analysis was accomplished using the Cohen et al. framework, which includes interviews, data immersion, data reduction, writing and rewriting.  

Findings: In regards to the primary life circumstances that influenced the decision to select an alternative MSN program over that of a traditional program, three key themes emerged from the participant interviews: Long commute, competing family commitments, and moving on. Three themes were revealed in regard to factors that students deemed critical to their success: professional connections, open channels of communication, and intrinsic desire and motivation. Four themes emerged in regard to a description of the overall learning experience: new and alternative opportunities for learning, formalized and focused discussion, frustration, and not for everyone.  In regard to why students did not choose a traditional program three themes emerged: reviewability, focused delivery, and extreme distance. The core construct of meaning was uplifting. Exemplars demonstrated new opportunities for employment, increased self confidence, and new direction in life.

Implications/Recommendations: Potential implications include guidance to reduce learner frustrations, as well as identification of specific best practices that student’s deem critical to their academic success.  It is essential that additional research be conducted in regards to the students’ experience in advanced clinical practice programs that incorporate this type of instruction, as well as doctoral programs that use the same or similar techniques.