Anyone applied to UF's accelerated BSN?

frogger15 · Mar 5, 2009

Marge, I feel for you! I would be freaking out to if I was going out of town next week. I am heading out of town for a long weekend, so if it comes on Saturday, I won't get it until Monday. I am worried about that one day, so I can understand how you are worried about being gone for the whole week. If we don't get a reply before you leave, do you have a friend who could stop by and check your mail? Maybe that would make you feel better! Again, hopefully we will hear back before then, so you won't even have to worry about it!

Do you guys think the possible budget cut will affect the accelerated program for this year? I would think since the application deadline passed before this discussion of budget cuts started, that the BSN (regular and accelerated) is safe for this upcoming year, but who knows? They can't cut a program after people have applied for it and been accepted...right?

The CON website if the UF college of nursing website (nursing.ufl.edu). On the homepage, there is an update on the possible budget cuts.

marge444 · Mar 5, 2009

Thanks for your concern frogger, yeah it really sucks I was sure that we would have the letters by now, and I wouldn't have to worry about it. I might have my mom come and check my mail, but I dont really want her to open it and then have to tell me over the phone you know, so I might just suck it up and wait till I get back, but that might be torture, I am just praying for today. Anyways...oh I didn't realize she was talking about the UF website, Yeah I read that the other day, that actually made me feel a little better, but who knows. I don't think they can cut the program back after they have accepted people, but cuts could def have been made since last year's class, and maybe they just aren't accepting as many students. If the class size has gone down from say 50 to 25 or something then I feel like we are screwed. I don't know, I dont want to be negative but in the last few days I feel more and more like it is a huge possiblity that I might not get in, hopefully it is just the stress of the wait. we'll see...

naominurse0 · Mar 5, 2009

I wonder what it means to the program that they are making cuts, and that they are changing all the MSNs, getting rid of the BSNs... ? I haven't heard from anyone yet. Going stirr crazy...

gatorgirl111 · Mar 6, 2009

Naomi,

It is by your upper GPA (60 credit hours)

My letter came right before Spring Break last year, so hopefully you get one soon..

If it helps.. mine was a big packet and in an orange envelope last year. I don't know

about working at Shands or VA, but I do know we have clinicals there. Shands is

a fantastic hospital and is a Level I trauma center, and I know there are some students

in the class that work there.

Good luck!

gatorgirl111 · Mar 6, 2009

By the way, our dean sent out a big message about the Gainesville Sun article, and they were supposed to print a retraction. She said that the BSN program is NOT being cut, it was just one of MANY alternatives and nothing serious has been done, so the program looks to be safe!

naominurse0 · Mar 7, 2009

gator girl, thanks for the reply! Yes, Kenneth Foote said he doesnt know how anyone works while in the program, but that some do. I bet shands is a great place to work and I just have a good feeling about UF nursing school. Do you know anything about UNF ABSN? Can you compare the 2 programs?

gatorgirl111 · Mar 7, 2009

Yes, I really like Shands. It has been my favorite spot for clinicals so far. I think it is possible to work and go to school.. you just have to know how to have some time management. At our orientation in May, they had students from the previous class come in and one girl worked full time at nights and went to school full time and still ended up with a high GPA so it' doable!

I actually applied and interviewed at UNF and got accepted. I have only heard "hearsay" but I have heard that UNF requires ALOT of extra community hours... which did not really interest me as much. Also, I didn't really like the campus very much (more of a smaller college feel vs. the big college feel). I have heard it's a great program though!

Sorry, I couldn't be more help with that.

naominurse0 · Mar 7, 2009

Sounds really good. I could at least work part time, which would be a big help. I am already 50K in debt from my first BA which got me nowhere. So any help will be good. I plan to get as much as I can in stafford loans etc, then do a Sallie Mae loan to live on and pay my existing bills. How did you finance?

I have a couple of places lined up to live in Gainesville, but they are getting antsy because I can't commit till I get that letter! So gosh I hope it comes next week.

So you are done with the program right? That's really great. Congratulations. Maybe we'll meet if I get there.

I saw others ask you about their stats, so Im gonna ask you your opinion too.

My GPA last 60 units is probably close to 3.8 or 3.9. My prerequ gpa is 4.0. My lowest GRE was 1180, highest was 1210. I told them I was going to get volunteer experience in the summer, after I sent in my application, which I did follow thru on (I shadowed a PA, NP and Dr in a family practice). I have 1 year of research experience from UCLA graduate psychology dept, where I learned asceptic surgical techniques and did rodent surgery. My BA is in film/tv and psychology. I have a lot of volunteer experience, and some teaching experience, and professionally I worked mostly in banking, I've travelled and worked as a teacher in Japan and Indonesia. I think I have a pretty good chance to get in, but it seems to have gotten much more competitive since I spoke to Kenneth Foote about it.

I am so excited to go there, I just hope it all works out. I heard about some extra 'paper work' at UNF that people had to do, but I don't know what they were referring to. What exactly is community hours?

Thanks for being such a great listener, I can see that we are all so anxious and it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off of! : )

:)

gatorgirl111 · Mar 7, 2009

I actually did Stafford loans. I'm hoping it will last me until the end of the year! If you get in and go look at some places here in Gainesville.. I can gladly tell you if I have lived/heard of any of the places your looking at. The good thing about Gainesville is that there are a million apartents/houses to rent. I saw that someone got their letter this morning.. so hopefully yours came! We get done June 18th. We're done with our class time in May, then we are just doing clinicals for the last semester of the program with 1 online class. Honestly, your stats sound good to me, but I have no idea how they decide who gets in and who doesn't. Good luck!!! At UNF, I think you have to do alot of work out in the community like extra busy work on top of your regular clinical rotations and school work (again, I'm not positive but this is what a former student mentioned to me last year and this is how I interpreted it).

marge444 · Mar 8, 2009

hi just wanted to let everyone know I got my letter today and I got in!!! I feel so much relief! Can't wait to hear from everyone else

ProudBF · Mar 8, 2009

My girlfriend also received her letter yesterday and got into the program. I hope everyone on the forum gets into the program as well. Best of luck to everyone. I came here daily to check on any news. Thanks for posting.

naominurse0 · Mar 9, 2009

UH OH!!! I didn't get any mail yesterday....

First of all, congratulations to all of you who did.

Second.... AHHHH!!! I hope I get a letter tomorrow!

I'll let you know.