Marissa Torres shares her experience as a Baylor online DNP-FNP student. View her testimonial below.

Read full testimonial transcript below.

My name is Marissa Torres and I go to Baylor University and I am in the DNP FNP track.

With my DNP degree, I'm hoping to serve my community in a way that is holistic and mindful of the patient as a whole and considering the different parts that can present in a patient's overall health status.

As a student in the online DNP program, I will say that I've been pleasantly surprised. I didn't know what to expect going into it, being that I've always had in-person curriculum. However, I do feel that I have the resources and support that I need to be successful in my DNP degree at Baylor.

The quality of the program has exceeded my expectations. I have had faculty that is easy to reach and quick to respond. I have found a network within other students and my colleagues, where we've been able to still find that avenue and pocket within online learning where we can support each other while still serving as nurses out in the community.

I believe that my DNP degree will serve my nursing career in a number of ways. I feel that the DNP degree gives me a much broader perspective as not only the healthcare system, but the nursing profession as a whole and the way that we're able to serve as advocates and participate in things such as healthcare policy, give back to our students through education down the road, all while also serving patients within clinics or hospitals.

Spirituality has played a huge role in my growth as a nurse. As nurses, I feel that we're kind of journeymen through suffering and we help people through, whether it's injustices, heartache, pain, we serve as that middle ground for them. We are able to bring that art into nursing that views a patient more than just a sum of its parts, can appreciate the spirit and the soul of a person and appreciate that in ourselves as well so that we can continue to act in a way that is of service.

Potential advice I would give someone who is exploring this program, would be just start. If you're feeling a call to it and that sense of readiness, the same way you kind of have that nurse gut out serving patients, this kind of pulls to you in education and expanding knowledge as well.