Northern Kentucky University

[Dauntless]

Hi,

I have been an attorney for eighteen years. However, being an attorney is not very nice in the current economic climate. There are simply too many. It's bad enough that some people are willing to work full time for free (really - there are many advertised jobs now that say "serves without compensation" at the top of the job posting - and not just scumbag jobs either - I'm talking about full time jobs with the Department of Justice, at which they want you to work for $0.00 per year, and people are actually accepting these "jobs"). Also, I'm recently divorced, my wife was also an attorney, so I just don't have the motivation to do this anymore.

So, I took all the prereqs, and started applying for nursing schools. NKU looks the best right now. I applied for both the accelerated and traditional programs.

If you would, please allow me to ask a few questions. Please excuse me if they sound completely stupid or if I'm being too open. Also, please excuse me if it's a little long.

First, my cumulative GPA (my undergrad was in physics and math - then I went to law school and picked up another BS in history along the way. The physics/math BS was completed in 1987, and law/history was completed in 1994) is 3.0 something, but my prereq GPA is 43 hours of 3.8 GPA. I know that the traditional program considers your last 60 hours, which would either make me 3.2 or 3.5, depending on whether you took the other 17 out of 43 hours out of my undergrad or law school classes.

As I said, I applied for both the traditional and accelerated programs. I applied to the traditional program because I'm really, really sick of living in my little hick KY town with nothing to do, spinning my wheels at my present job, and being generally depressed and miserable most of the time, and so I'd very much like to be able to kiss it all goodbye in January 2013. Also, I'm not so sure the stress of the accelerated program would be good for me now (I know the traditional program is probably stressful as well, but it's difficult to see how it could be as stressful as the accelerated program - there's also the incentive to start in January.).

Actually, I'm so motivated to start in January, that if GOD FORBID, I'm not accepted into the traditional program, I'll just go to NKU anyway in January, start taking computer classes, and hope I get into the accelerated program. Is this a stupid idea?

So - do you think I have a chance of getting in to either program? Do you think they'd give me any sort of break at all regarding the lower grades I made twenty years ago?

Now - this might sound crazy and dumb, but I was thinking the other day that, since I already have some computer science hours, I might take a computer science class here and there while in the traditional program, knowing that I probably won't get enough classes to get an extra degree, but hopefully to have enough that, by the time I graduate with a BSN, a computer science degree might only be a semester or two away. Is this completely stupid? It might be, but I just never, never want to be stuck in a profession with crappy employment prospects again.

My ultimate goal is to get an MSN or a CRNA. I know there's a lot to be found on the web about employment prospects, but how does everyone here see prospects for BSNs, MSNs, and CRNAs in Northern KY/Cincinnati? Does anyone still give signing bonuses or loan repayment to nurses or are those days long gone? Speaking about the web, when they report that the average salary for a nurse with a BSN is $X.XX, are they taking overtime into account?

How will healthcare reform affect the market for BSNs, MSNs, and CRNAs?

I've seen some negative posts here about NKU's NCLEX pass rate and possibly some accreditation problems. Is this true?

I have the chance to take a phlebotomy or pharmacy tech (or maybe even both) course at my local community college. What's the market like for those things in Northern KY/Cincinnati? Could I do one or the other part-time while in school?

Do you think it's possible to do something sort of quasi-legal with a BSN? I see online that there are some people calling themselves "Attorney/Nurse consultants". Does anyone know anything about that?

I've been looking for apartments online. This complex called Highland Ridge and Campus View looks nice and it says that it's only half a mile or so away from the NKU campus. Does anyone know anything about this place?

How's dating in the area? I know, I know - there's lots of stuff on this forum about not dating in your class and devoting your time to studying. I'll spend plenty of time studying. However, I'm pretty damn lonely, and I would dearly love to just be able to see someone on a casual basis and have some friends. That's not really possible where I live now, as the dating pool is very, very shallow. There's just not enough people here to go around. Everyone's already married. Are there things to do in Cincinnati that are more amusing than sitting around watching paint dry (which is about the most amusing thing available to do here)?

What's the local cable TV like? Is the local internet reliable? Is it a hilly area? Does it snow very much? What are the options for public transportation? Are there any good restaurants/malls/bookstores/theaters? How about grocery stores? Are the public libraries nice?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

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