anyone starting RN at MDC this august?

U.S.A. Florida

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i am starting the accelerated RN this august at MDC, and i have some questions for anyone else who's been in the program, is in the program, or in the generic.... lots of questions.....:confused:

do you wear those white tunics only to clinicals? what do you have to wear to the skills lab and health assessment class? scrubs or street clothes?

my insurance won't cover ANY of the labs/physical/TB test/immunizations....where did you go to get yours done?

have you heard anything about the instructors for the accelerated? are they the type to fail you if you breathe before opening your alcohol wipe instead of after, or are they out to help you succeed?

does MDC really not distribute the stafford loans until after school starts??? tuition is due july 22, but the financial aid office lady told me that stafford loans won't come out until the second week of september....eek! that means i'll have to come up with A LOT of money up front that i don't have.....

soooo many questions, i know!!! thanks in advance.

dazed and confused....

Just a quick correction. Someone wrote that generic requires Micro Lab. It doesn't. It only requires Micro lecture.

Oh yeah, you're right, sorry about that.

hey, no prob.

I would recommend for anyone considering either the generic or the accelerated to do the generic. I can just imagine how some people feel in the acclerated program. At the very least for me it would just be way way to much! Good luck to everyone.

Specializes in New Graduate Nurse.

The time difference between the accelerated and Generic programs is just ONE semester. As arduous as the generic program can be...I can only imagine how hard the accelerated program must be.

I personally know a handful of people that are or were in the accelerated program. A few have transferred over to the generic program...but since you cannot simple swap over to the generic program...those that switch usually ADD a semester or two to their time at the nursing school.

Plus...you still only end up with an AS in Nursing. Even if you have a Masters Degree from something previous...your still an ADN nurse in the Health care Industry. Advancing your career means competing with others (GPA) to get into an RN-BSN program. What are the chances you are going to have a GPA to get you into an advanced nursing program after a year in an accelerated program.

All the while....your only saving 4 months.

akspudus

PS...Now that I think of it...I can't think of anybody that is graduating from the accelerated program with their class...every one of them has been held back for at least one semester.

Specializes in Tele.
The time difference between the accelerated and Generic programs is just ONE semester. As arduous as the generic program can be...I can only imagine how hard the accelerated program must be.

I personally know a handful of people that are or were in the accelerated program. A few have transferred over to the generic program...but since you cannot simple swap over to the generic program...those that switch usually ADD a semester or two to their time at the nursing school.

Plus...you still only end up with an AS in Nursing. Even if you have a Masters Degree from something previous...your still an ADN nurse in the Health care Industry. Advancing your career means competing with others (GPA) to get into an RN-BSN program. What are the chances you are going to have a GPA to get you into an advanced nursing program after a year in an accelerated program.

All the while....your only saving 4 months.

akspudus

PS...Now that I think of it...I can't think of anybody that is graduating from the accelerated program with their class...every one of them has been held back for at least one semester.

as an RN-BSN student myself, just wanted to add a little something to your post.

It's not competetive to get into the RN-BSN program, there are tons and tons of private and state colleges that actually want you to be in their program. Once you have your RN license in hand, your transcripts from ASN program and you pre-reqs which is usually an AA from the community college, you are set.

THat is how it was for me at FIU.

and it's awesome by the way.

well, kids i've been through week one of the accelerated program, and lemme tell you, it's a mixed bag so far.

we've had three of our four classes so far (haven't done math/pharm yet because it's on mondays and it's labor day), and we are "behind schedule" in every single one of them, if you're going by the syllabus for each course. This is because they assign five or six chapters per class meeting period to read, and four or five topics to cover in class, but then spent two plus hours reading the syllabus to us (i hate it when profs do that!) and fielding administrative/paperwork issues. Of the ten or so skills we were supposed to learn this week in our Clinical Skills Lab, we learned i think about two of them so far, and not completely.

What worries me about the program is that i'm sure that even if we don't get to it in class, we are certain to have to know the skill for the test. The professors seem a little flighty and easily-distracted, but i'm sure will be quite detail-oriented and focused when it comes to test time.....a worrisome mixture, to be certain.

The only reason i might have a chance in hell is because 1) i've been a CNA for a looooong time in various healthcare settings, so i at least have assisted with inserting NG tubes and foleys, etc., and have proficiency with many direct care skills like bathing already; and 2) i have no expectation of any sort of life and pretty much read/study/take notes on my nursing books whenever i'm not sleeping (and when i'm asleep i'm usually dreaming about school/clinical/floor nursing stuff hahahahahaha! bad dreams, usually).

so there it is.

everyone in my class seems nice, but i'm quite sure there are people who won't make it....people who think that nursing school will be like college was (we all have bachelors degrees)....people who have way too much on their plates outside of school.....and then, of course, the people that thought they'd like nursing but are horrified with the actual tasks of it once they get out on the floor and see all the realities....

i'm actually looking forward to a smaller class size, although i wish all my classmates well. they all seem quite nice and lively....we haven't had our hopes squashed yet, so hahahahaha! we're still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

well, i've spent enough time procrastinating. i probably won't read this much anymore....too much negativity regarding the AO. I'm kind of tired reading about how anyone in AO is going to fail fail fail fail fail fail.....even if that's true, i may as well keep up my positive attitude and try my hardest.

if you let your heart get discouraged, then you lose all ability to function well in this world, i think :-)

so chin up! and back to the books!

Specializes in OR.

I graduated from the AO program in December 2006. It is true the first semester was hard, 20 students failed and most of them failed critical thinking. But once pharmacology was over at the beginning of the second semester, nobody else failed any other class.

At least 25 of us made it to the end, so stop scaring people by saying "I can't think of anybody that is graduating from the accelerated program with their class...every one of them has been held back for at least one semester".

I am so glad that the RN to BSN is not hard to get into. Thank the lord. Hey Bumblebee how are things going in FIU? Do you have classes online? Is it hard? Let me in.

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