R.N. BSN Programs in GA

britt0088 · Mar 18, 2009

I would suggest that you switch to a 4 year school when you finish your degree at GPC. I am a student at Kennesaw State and I am about to interview for their program. I think what helped me get this far is the fact that I have been a student here for the prerequisites. They know the standard the professors set here and they know that these classes aren't easy. I just have an average GPA and an average TEAS score, but still ended up with an interview which I think is because I am a KSU student. I have heard of other people not getting an interview with similar scores to mine that aren't current KSU students.

RNDreams · Mar 18, 2009

Congrats and good luck on your interview! Thank you sooo much for the info becasue they are my first choice as you saw and I am making some HUGE sacrafices to go to nursing school. I will be either selling my house for a loss or unfortunately like so many others right now just letting it go. It is sad becasue I have worked since I was 18 2 jobs, be amse a licensed esthetician and successfuk (and burnt out) soa manager since I moved here from Hawaii where there were no options for Nirsing school (at least on the islad we lived on so I didnt want to move to honolulu becasue it is not like Hawii at all, at least the Hawaii i know and love and someday will return to live NO MATTER WHAT)

Since I will be making the switch to Kennesaw and have the HOPE I will continue to go part time to do all of my Nuring prereqs in Spring 2010. That ius only 2 semesters but it sounds like forever but I will take my time with my prereqs becasue since I am sacraficing and possibly jeopardizing my house to be able to go to school full time I want to have every prereq out of the way possibe b/c I srtart the NP. I knwo for sure I am getting into kennesaw b/c I signed what GOC has which is known as the TAG transfer admission gaurantee whuch means no gaurantee for their NS but that I will be accepted into Kennesaw Sate for my prereqs. Right now my GPA is good enough to do a TAG for GA State but I really dont want to go to school intown even though they do have a better reputation for their nursing school via word of mouth but when I went to the Sec., of State website KSU had a higher rate 92% of students passing the NCLEX.

Can you giuve me the link (if there is one to the KSU nursing website page that has the sopecifics on the classes and requirements fo rthe program and dealines etc) I think they have a new nursing site and I am hav ing trouble finding that information oin the web and have yet to get any correspondence in the mail or via email as I requested both about 2 weeks ago.

I woud glady appreciate if you could give me that link or just provide me with that information and if you dont mind ( yiu can Om me if you want to) relling me what you got your interview with. your Gps on Science Classes, Overall GPA, NET or TES Score and if you have any proor medical esperience with letter of reccommendation from md's for example as I saw other student sharing this information about other schools or I wouldnt be asking you that personal information but I have seen other sharing that info so it would be nice to know the scecifics that secured your interview.

So I will n ot be able to go there full time until NS so hopefully they will consider the year or 2 that I need to rake in nursing prereqs (mainly science b/c i previously did business) I will still go to scholl part time as I figure out what we are doing with our house and make as much money as possible so i can just go to school full time and not work because I dont thing IU can do both even though I have done nursing duties before, even injection, as an esthetician,ssshhhh but I left spa management a fe wmonths ago and I will now do what all of my employees did to me and that is get a job with a plastic surgeon or even spa even though my backround is medical grade skin care, so plastics and I just need to capture a hanful of clients to offer to do at my home at a signifigantl;y decreased price for them but i will get to keep all of the $ instread of making 30-40% commission or hourly 9straight) as I will at either a PS office or a spa. Then I keep 100% of the $ and product charge for a facial is no more then $10 and I can charge them at least 60 which is better then 100 and keep the full $60. so I will make $120. an hour since a peel is 30 min and facial 1 hour. I will just do that while I can while in nursing school becasue there is a big debate in the spa industry that a client is the businesses or the estheticians, so when I was a manager it was def. the businesses and I had to let people go for taking clients home but since I left my well paying spa management job becasuse the hours were unbelieveable 9I am sure you know how management is) and I was always the enemy of my employees even though I was always just passing down word from our corperate office but as the economy worsened so did my credability becasue I was always the bearer of bad new in my employees news which I hated becasue I had been in their shoes before and know exactly how they felt.

Sound like a good plan? I guess I am lucky and I am sorry to have rambeled on about that nuy I just got the idea now so I need to start getting clients so I can work from school while in NS that will help tremendoiusly.

OK so longer story even longer can you tell me what specifically go you you interview, since you said TEAS I assume KSU uses Teas and not NET, Can you tel me when I should start studying for that? Also can you tell me what the prereqs are. I know I havbe to take basic Chem since I have been out of HS over 10 years so my Chem grade doesnt count which is good b/c I think I got a c, A&P I AND II, and that is all I know of that can be taken outside of the nursing program. Can you please tell me what the others are that can be taken outside of NS and go towards you weighted GPA for sciences that they base their addmintance decision on? Like I said I want to go into the program with every class possible taken that can e taken outside of NS.

I know I am asking a lot, sorry see what you got yourself into by answering my post :) no seriously I thank you very much and let me know the date of you interview so I can send you dome positive thought, vibes, prayers whater you prefer on your big day, and of course I can wait to hear the outcome.

Foes KSU do a waitlist or just a total readmission, it is things like that I can not finf on their new Nursing webpages.

A milion good lucks to you on your interview, wear a suit and smile. ( I used to be in HR too :)

I cant wait to hear how it goes, and of course I would love details and I am rooting for you. If you need any other tips, although I dont know what tey are looking for in the interview but me previously being in HR I can do my best to at least giv eyou pointers of how to nail a regular job interview and of course as much support as you need whenever you need it, I am rooting for you!!!!

Cant wait to hear back from you and let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!

Best,

Christine

p.s. sorry for any mispellings as this entire time my 2 and 1/2 yr old has been wiggling aroung on my lap as I try to type this and I am too tired to go back and spell check as I need to get to bed as I myself have an interview tomorrow with a plastic surgeons office for a full time esthetician position which I desperately need yesterday.

Thank you again!

Christine

JenRN30, BSN · Apr 1, 2009

Holy cow Christine!!

You have a lot to say! Ha ha. Anyways, Britt is right. You should probably just pick a school, and go there to finish prereqs. The problem is that all the schools have a few different prereqs, and they don't really transfer well (like the developmental psych, etc). I go to GSU and love it. It's a great school, and actually we have a 92% pass rate from 2004 to 2007, and Kennesaw's was 91% (GA BON website - http://sos.georgia.gov/plb/rn/NCLEXRN20042007.pdf). But, KSU did have a lot more students take the NCLEX than GSU did. It really doesn't matter because they're both great schools. It would make more sense for you to go to KSU because it's so close. We have someone in our accelerated program who applied to KSU and didn't get in, but did get in to GSU. He also lives in Marietta and doesn't like the commute very much. Good luck with your decision, let me know if you have any questions about GSU.

RNDreams · Apr 1, 2009

I appreciate you writing me back, yes I do have a lot to say...I am just naturally either a very detailed writer(which I like) or just long winded (which is probably the case.) I ould consider GSU I have heard great things and I dont think that the drive is far at all b/c I worked at the Four Seasons hotel for 6 years (me and my husband) so that is why we bought our house here. He may live in West Coob which can be an hour from atl when I literally live 2 minutes from I-75 and we bought our house for that very reason so I can be to GPC in about 15 min from my house (0 traffic that is and 30 with)

I have just heard people that go there complaining about the fact that your classes can be really far away and parking can be bad down there and then of course there are the bums alwys begging which they told me gets annoying becasue there they are in NS and these guys are probably making more $ then they make in a month just beggin off the students. I would imagine though if you are in the nursing program that the majority of the classes are all within the same few blocks? Is that correct? Can you also tell me your thoughts about the parking comments I hear as well, the bums I dont care much about (That sounded mean, I car about them but not about the fact that they may ask me for a few cents everyday) I honestly dont have it to dive to them right now anyway.

Your post got me pretty interested in GSU which I hadnt really considered before, anything you can think would be helpful to me, do they use the NET or the TEAS and anything else you can tell me to break the obviously wrong info. I think I may have gotten from students who porbably dropped out anyway :)

Thank you Very Much!

Christine:redbeathe See short and sweet, not too long i hope

JenRN30, BSN · Apr 1, 2009

Hey Christine,

Hope I didn't offend you. Didn't mean to be rude, I just thought it was funny. Anyways, GSU. Honestly, I love the program. I think it's great. The teachers are wonderful, and I really like the school. The bums in the park can be a pain. Most of the time, they'll leave you alone, but not always. You come across them when you have to walk across the park over to the aderhold building. Only Nursing policy is in that building, so we only have to go over there for one class throughout the nursing program. There's also the GSU police department right across the street from the park, so if you feel scared you can go there. But, having to deal with it is one of the drawbacks of going to a downtown school. All of our classes, except for nursing policy, are in two buildings that are right next to each other, so it's not bad walking to classes. And the buildings are really close to the library.

The parking is pretty bad, and there is no free parking on campus. You either have to pay $3.50 per day to park, or you can park at Turner field for free and they have a shuttle. I usually take the shuttle unless I'm late. The parking decks are right on campus, so the walk to your classes isn't bad. The shuttle drops you off right in front of the main buildings, so that's really nice too. We're only on campus 2 days per week, so if you pay for parking it's $7 a week or $112 per semester. Or, at Turner field, it's free.

The thing that I like best about GSU is that you don't have to have a previous bachelor's degree to get into their accelerated program. You need good grades, but you can still get into the ACE program without one. That's why I'm here. If you're going to do traditional, I'd definitely pick Kennesaw. I believe it's only 5 continuous semesters, right? At GSU, it's 6 semesters, and they take summers off, so it takes 3 years to complete. Accelerated is 4 continuous semesters.

GSU requires the NET, 2 letters of recommendation, and a short essay. No interview. They also only look at your program GPA, which I think is what Kennesaw looks at as well.

Here's the link for their prereqs: http://chhs.gsu.edu/nursing/1880.html.

See, now my message is getting really long, ha ha!

Let me know if you have any more questions!!

Jennie

RNDreams · Apr 2, 2009

Jennie,

Ill write more later, dont you think youll get off that easy, but I have to run now but wanted to say thank you very much for the great answer about GSU, that was exactly what i was looking for. NO... I am in no way offended by anything you said at all, it would take a whole heck of a lot more to offend me.

I do have a couple more questions but like I said gotta run for a while, or at least rip myself away from my love for this somewhat newly found message board becasue long story as super short as possible. I have wanted to be a nurse my entire life and come sfrom several generations of RN's, but I didnt have the oppertunity to go to college right out of HS and I am now finishing my Associates in Business becasue I am married, have a mortgage a daughter and have always been the "bread winner" or main income and thought there was no way I could ever take the time it takes to get through NS successfully. Recently things have just changed and my brother in law wants to move here from Fl and rent a room from us for at least a few years. So all of the sudden if half of my mortgae is paid I may now have the oppertunity to follow my dream and go to NS while he lives here and he and my husband stress about the bills for 4 short semesters in the span of a very long lifetime.

So that is why I have just been blabbing everything to anyone who will listen to me on here because I never thought I would be able to go to NS and now there is a very good chance!

What type of nursing are you interested in? I am nterested in L&D and psych but since I am also an esthetician and have worked for plastic surgeons for several years becomming an Rn and a seasoned licensed esthetician will really open a lot of new doors for m in the industry I know for sure that I absolutely love.

I'll write more later....dont you worry...just kidding :)

Christine :redbeathe

JenRN30, BSN · Apr 2, 2009

You're hilarious Christine. I'm so happy that you're getting this opportunity to accomplish your dream. You deserve it. Honestly, it is going so fast for me. I just started this past August and now I only have 8 months to go. I think I want to do pediatric right out of school. We'll see, because it's really hard to get a handle on the "real world of nursing" just from your clinical experiences. L&D and psych are both really interesting, so those are good choices. And if you already do love the world of plastics, go for that!! The good thing is that we have so many choices.

Anyways, I'm more than happy to answer any questions about GSU. Just let me know, I'll be lurking around here....

Jennie

RNDreams · Apr 2, 2009

Jennie,

Good Morning! I did just have a few more questions for you and you have beenn wonderful because I know how busy you are but since I will be obtaining on degree and then starting my nursing pre reqs :banghead: which I could have been done and gone with a long time ago but as I mentioned I was the main source of income in our family and whenever I mentioned nursing to anyone especially my husband he looked aghast becasue he didnt know what would happen to us if I didnt work for that long. We sometimes bad things happen that turn out good for us which here you go as short as possible: I was working in soa maangement and did 2 grand openings in a very short time and after the first one and during the second my pack started to hurt relly bad and my husband had to literally rip me off of med in the AM b/c if I landed sleeping on my back then I was stuck. Since I worked so many long hours at my job I and was offered a comprable position for a large company for 10K more a year so I figured I woudl take it wait 6 months and then have the back surgery I knew I needed. The new company said they were fine with that, they werent exactly ready to be up and renning with the spa part of the project so have my surgery, best of luck, talk to you as soon as you feel better. So I was a sidk replaced in my back that was degenerated and slipping out when I slept on it and finally landed on the main nerver in my back and I worke up one morning and my husband could not rip me off the bed (our nornal routine) but now I was basically paralyzed from the waist down and there was no more putting off the surgery I knew I needed. If anyone is interested in the tech side I had a TLIF (Trans Lumbar Infermary Fusion) to my L5-S1 I gould go into a lot more detail on that but the sirgery was a success I could walk the very next day and flt great about a moth later. Things are still not perfect and it is a much longer road to recover than I thought but I am def. well enought to work, tried to call my new employer and they never not HR, not the regional manager, not the Dr. Involved, not anyone would aknowledge me. They would never return my calls. I was left unemployed since the first time since I was 17 anf this hads been now for 8 months and I look 6-7 hours a day 6 days a week and rarely even get a call because I no longer want to be in spa managememnt, I would rather go back to hands on esthetics and an told I am overqualified for that Basically people think I will try to take their job. SO for the last 8 months we have gotten by somehow, I have found work here or there, my husband got a second income and now mt brother in law is moving in and going to be payng us rent to it just proves that I dont have to work full time or more than full time like I was and that everyone is having hard times right now and it was all bad timing on the part of my back but good timing to prove to my husband that we can get by (barely) wiout me working so we can do it for NS. That is why I am a little out of the look and will finish up my A.S. in business this Spring, I only have 3 more classes to my degree so I cant stop there and then I would have to start all nursing pre-reqs, but you are saying that the pre-reqs differ from school to school so I need to pick the school I hope to get into so KSU for example and do all of my pre-reqs there becasue they take into consideration how long a student has been with them if they ge into the nursing program? RIght?

So I do my best at all of the pre-reqs and really try for a 4.0 on all of them because that is considered as well.

Then there is the Teas or Net which Do I only take the 1 that my school wants or can you take both to apply to as many school as you want, the more the better right?

What else do I need to be doing now to ensure I et into the school of my choice, or honestly for me any BSN program in GA. I obviously want it to be accredited and I dont really care too much about a little of a commute b/c I have been doing it for years working over by northside hosp and trying to get off the connecter at 8:30 AM is about 30 minutes in itself so I dont mind the drive but I knew the less the better in NS b/c the more time for studying.

I guess I should also go to KSU's & GSU's websites and see when they are having information sessions so that I can get the real info on the programs and do it now before I get a job.

Anything esle you can think of I need to do. I am obviously a planner and I will hae with finishing my AS Business and Nursing Prereqs It is going to take me about a fulle year to do that at least. I also have been on a semester system and know that KSU and GSU use quarter systems so I need to find out exactly what that means and how it differs from what I do now.

Anything else you would suggest?

You have been such a help and I am sorry this got long again but let me know of a career that needs someone to be this detailed becasue that is how my brain works and I think that is why I will be good at nursing and cant think of anything else I would rather do.

Have a great day!

Christine:redbeathe