ASU Post-Baccalaureate BSN 2017 - Welcome

U.S.A. Arizona

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Hey everyone,

I am a current post-bacc student at ASU. I wanted to start a thread for all of you who are applying for the 2017 class. Last year we had amazing support from the 2015 class, so we wanted to carry on that tradition and provide you all with the same support system. Feel free to use this thread to ask questions and seek advice. Many of my classmates will be on here answering your questions as well!

Good luck to you all!

horsegirl7575

40 Posts

Hi!

Can you tell me what your schedule was like most weeks? Did you guys have to work many weekends? How late were you usually at the hospital? What were the hardest courses in the program? What type of time off do you get? Also do you know what the average scores were for people who got into the program and how many people applied last year?

Thank you

Maycation

181 Posts

Hi,

So the schedule has been different each semester. For the Spring Semester, we only had med-surg Monday and Friday for a couple of hours. Tuesday and Thursday was either lab or clinical with varying times for lab. Usually clinical went from around 6:30 am to 4 pm. Wednesday was Pharmacology and a leadership/theory course that was sometimes "out of seat" or online. Summer was a bit different as we had 4 weeks of each Psych, OB, and Peds. We always had class Monday and Tuesday for 4 hours and then the rest of the week was either clinical or lab. Some classes had more clinical days than others, and sometimes you got one or two days off over the course of the class, which was nice. I can't speak about the Fall yet because we don't start until next week, but I have heard from the previous class that it is pretty much all down hill from here. Our schedule seems pretty packed, but a lot of our classes are online, and I think we are pretty used to the workload. The only thing that may be different is that we have to be at the hospital for 12 hour shifts now.

The hardest courses in the program were different for everyone. While I didn't find any of the courses "hard", I have to say that I studied A LOT. Most everyone I know has done really well in this program, but we have definitely earned it. We have sacrificed a lot for good grades. With that being said, I think people found Med-Surg, Psych, and Peds to be the most difficult so far. For me, that just meant more time studying for those courses.

We are actually off right now. We get all of the university holidays and breaks off in addition we get about 10 days off between Spring and Summer and then another 10 days off between Summer and Fall. The breaks have been very nice!

Last year we had somewhere around 70 applicants, but it varies every year and since you have to have a pretty high GPA to even apply, the application pool has pretty high stats. I may survey the class to get some better numbers for our class; but I think the average score was 1.85 for the year before us and with the lowest score getting in being a 1.76. But like I said, I think it varies every year.

While I have emphasized that this program is difficult, it is totally worth it. I have learned so much and made some of the greatest friends.

I hope that answers some of your questions. Let me know if you have more!

tennisoopss

6 Posts

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I was wondering where clinicals are located? Do people in the prorgan live closer to downtown or are people commuting from all over the valley? I currently live in Scottsdale and it would be about a 30 minute drive.

Jlg830

26 Posts

Thank you so much for starting this thread! You said in spring you had clinicals on tue and or thur. Was it a consistent schedule time-wise, like every Tuesday started at 630 or did it vary? I'm just trying to start figuring out childcare options :dead:

Jlg830

26 Posts

One more question- the class before you talked about the program being unorganized and that causing some frustration. Has your class found that to be the case still or has that gotten somewhat better?

horsegirl7575

40 Posts

What was the total cost of the program each semester? Did most of you take loans?

Maycation

181 Posts

tennisoopss- Clinicals are located all over the valley. I've had a clinical site 35 minutes from my house, and I've had them 5 minutes from my house. If it the same for you guys as it was for us, first semester we kind of got randomly placed, but somehow people were able to switch around. Then all the other rotations we were able to choose our sites off a list. You kind of have to be fast with it though as some sites are more desirable and fill up fast. With that being said, the distance of the clinical site wasn't a huge deal for me as we have to be there early enough to beat traffic. I also carpooled with friends and got breakfast along the way. I live near Scottsdale. Most everyone commutes (most further than me). I only know of one person who moved downtown in the whole class.

Jlg830- The schedule varied, but usually lab started around 7:30 am, and then clinical days started before 7 am (most shifts start at 7 am and you need to be there before change of shift). Whether you have lab/clinical on Tuesday or Thursday depends on the group. They split us up. Also in the beginning we had lab both days. I think some level of disorganization is a common theme among EVERY nursing program. They are dealing with outside factors that they can't control like multiple clinical sites and untenured faculty. We have had some e lows, but I can tell you that we have had always had clinical sites and faculty there for us, which I have heard has not been the case with some other programs. I think that this program is the best in the state and that is why people travel from other states to attend.

horsegirl7575- It was around $11,000 per semester, so about $34,000 for the whole thing. That includes all the fees and such, but not your books or uniforms (which I got used, so it wasn't a big expense for me anyway).

eharness

8 Posts

Hi there,

Below is a breakdown of cost per semester. As Maycation stated, it's approximately 11k per semester. My husband and I borrowed from his deferred compensation bank which covered the tuition. I hope this helps!

Spring: $11,039.00

Summer: $11,773.00

Fall: $11,358.00

Sundevil2015

90 Posts

What is the dress code for the in class portion of the program? And how much are the scrubs and where can you order them from?

BslateRN

61 Posts

To lecture, you can wear your normal cloths. You only have to wear scrubs to clinicals and lab. Below is a link to the company that sold us the scrubs

ASU Tops And Jackets - Apparel Pro Health Care Wear

jshirleyjasper

10 Posts

Hello,

@eharness broke down her cost per semester above. I thought I would share my tuition because I paid out of state tuition.

Spring: $18,532.60

Summer: $16,328.00

Fall: $19,273.00

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