Hello,
I am new to this forum so first I will introduce myself. I am a mom to 3 kids and live in Columbia, MD. I decided to go back to school after taking a long time off from working to raise my kids. My kids are 7, 5 and 3. I am taking classes at night at Howard Community College and I am hoping to start a BSN program or possibly the accelerated RN program at Howard next year. I have a BS in Dietetics from UMCP and all of the prerequisites were satisfied from that, but I had to repeat the sciences since it had been over 10 years. I am finding that school this time around is much easier. I don't know if it is the school or just that I am more focused and determined! I applied to Stevenson University for the BSN second degree option and was accepted for this fall. I am confused about what to do. I went on Monday and talked to the nursing department and saw the campus and the nursing lab, etc and I did like it. It is a small private school (formerly Villa Julie College) and is expensive. I am planning on applying for scholarships and if I can get any/enough I will most likely go. Howard Community College is very close to me (5 miles away) so that program is very appealing. I just don't like that I will have to wait until next May to start and won't get the BSN. I am applying to UM BSN program for Spring 2010 as well (unless I end up getting scholarship $ and go to Stevenson). If I was able to apply to UM for fall I would have, and if I had been accepted I would have chosen UM for sure. I am nervous to turn Stevenson down, with the chance that I don't get in to UM. I am leaning toward a BSN program because I want to eventually apply to the nurse anesthesia program at UMAB.
I'm sorry if this is so confusing! I am just trying to sort through the options and figure out what is best. I know only I can figure that out, but any input would be helpful! I have heard rumors about Stevenson not being strong in the past (lower NCLEX passing rate) but I am confident I will do fine if I do go there. I like that UM is a top nursing school and I am a terp, so I am partial If anyone here is going to Stevenson or is considering it, please let me know so we can chat about it. I don't want to make a decision I will regret later.
Thanks for any advice!!