Any St Kates nursing student want to give me the heads up on what to expect. - Page 2

Thanks Dinah. I'm going to attend an information session next month so hopefully that'll help. I only have a 3.3 gpa but the advisor made it seem like I have good chances. I also have a B.A degree. I don't need to work during the program... but since I have pre-reqs etc. completed, I may only be nursing classes for a little over a year? Does that sound right? Thanks again for your response.

DO NOT worry about your GPA- St Kate's has a an open enrollment policy- what does this mean?
It means on a day ( usually in October) they have application day- you stand in line and if you have a spot in line before the cutoff ( around 90 I think )with all of your completed paperwork, app, and transcripts in hand you have a spot in the program

Once in there, it's up to the student to keep their grades up and not get kicked out- th eprogram is HARD- my cohort started out with 90 people, and of those 90, only 50 or so made it straight through without failing and having to re-take classes

If you fail a course ( and failing is anything below a 78% average of your test scores) you can retake it, but your name goes on a waiting list to retake the class- this is bad bad bad, because you could potentially be on the list for a year just to pick up where you left off- suddenly a two year program turns into a three or four year program

You can fail classes two times total (two total, not two times for each course) before you are permanently kicked out

so in short, make sure to pass all of your classes the first time around,

To my knowledge this is the way they do it still, but you will know more once you go to the session.

Your nursing classes will take two years , four semesters- unfortunately there is no way to speed this up due to constraints of faculty availability and clinical site availability- each class is only available once a semester, and the semester is split into two classes, each lasting seven weeks

There are 8 nursing classes- does this make sense?

You can start in Day, which only starts every September, or night, which only starts every January

So, say you are starting the program in Winter semester- this is what your schedule looks like

2011
February- mid march= Nursing 1000

End march- mid may= Nursing

September- mid october= Nursing 2100

End October- mid December= Nursing 2200

2012

February- mid march= Nursing 2400

End march- mid may= Nursing 2450

The last semester is two, semester long courses that you take concurrently

September-December= Nursing 2800 & 2810


Feel free to ask more questions, I enjoy mentoring people in regards to St Kate's program!

Hey dinah, I noticed you enjoy mentoring so was curious if you could answer some questions I have about starting this Sept.?? What are clinicals like, where are they located, good/bad instructors, things to bring the first day....As you can see I have LOTS of questions, any advice you have is greatly appreciated!!!!

Clinicals for your first two classes ( 1st semester) are very easy. They are in LTC and focused on becoming comfortable with oral med pass and head to toe assessments. The duties are largely CNA-like ( getting the resident up, ready for the day, grooming, etc)

Some of the locations were Catholic Elder Care, one place in New Hope name I can't remember, and Lyngblomsten which is in St Paul and is a very nice facility.

You will have different ones for all semesters, but some will carry over for different semesters.

As far as what to bring the first day? DO NOT BOTHER TO BRING YOUR BOOKS!!! You will rarely ( and for some of the books, never) need to bring them to class- and your instructors will tell you ahead of time what days you will need to bring certain books to class. They are purely resources for your studying and learning outside of class

Bring your giant syllabus/lab packet from the bookstore the first day, and consider breaking it up into two binders right away- one just for the lecture syllabus half, one for the lab half.

Bring a snack ( it's gonna be a long day) a water bottle or whatever you normally do for hydration, a pen and a highlighter. That should be all you need for the first day! Also, dress in layers, comfy clothes, as the auditorium can be cold or sweltering depending.

Keep the stuff with you at a bare minimum the first day- you will probably be hopping back and forth between the lab to be oriented to it and the classroom, so don't have superfluous things with you to lug around.

Have you already bought your books? hopefully not all, as several you can either \
1. Get by without entirely or
2. Hold off on to buy for a while to spread the financial pain out a bit

Thank you!!!! All of your advice is SUPER helpful!!!! I'm beginning to feel less nervous and more excitement, can't wait to get started!! I did buy the books already, but only the required ones. (I wanted to avoid the rush at the bookstore) Do you know off hand what books you didn't end up needing???

Happy to be of help!

You can get by without the pharm book, the mental health book and the medical dictionary.


Everyone I know who bought those, including myself, barely ever opened them


The one exception may be the mental health book, but not until last semester for 2800- I got by without it, by others liked having it. Can't predict what it will be like for you as the proff who taught most of the mental health stuff just retired, but I found her lectures alone perfectly adequate for studying.

The handful of times I needed them, I always went to the library and checked out their copies on reserve and photocopied the few pages I needed.

Keep that in mind, the library has every single nursing book on hold.

Good way to get by and save $$, as several books will only ever have a few pages assigned reading from them, and depending on your comfort with the subject matter related to it, you may not need to read them- lots of times I got by without it.

So in short, it's your call, but it is not too late to return some of your books

Don't hesitate to ask more ?'s, now and in the months to come!

You are a god send dinah77! It is so nice to talk to someone who has been through the program and get a heads up.

Yes Dinah, you are awesome. It's hard to find someone who's been through the program and is willing to talk about it! Thanks for all the info on the different start dates. Do you have an opinion on which (day or evening cohort) is a better option? Also, Do you get to chose which one you want to be placed in?

I'm thinking the evening cohort might be for me. I want to work during the day. What are the schedules like for both? For example, would the evening schedule be just a couple nights a week and then additional clinicals? I'm sure I will find more of this info out at the session.

Thanks so so much for your help!
Cari

Cari, sorry for the delay in answering, my internet has been all wonky

You do get to choose which cohort you want, but if there is a waiting list you may end up choosing the opposite if there are openings in that one vs the other- generally, night has more openings

Both night and day have their pros and cons, but I am biased towards day- I think a lot of the better instructors teach then

you will have anywhere from 12-16 hours of lab and lecture a week spread out over 3-4 days in both night and day- Night clinicals are weekends only, Sat and Sunday 8am-4pm while in the day cohort clinical times will replace lab meeting hours- they may just cancel the lab days on clincal weeks in night, I'm not sure

So I think overall, day has a more regular schedule- the biggest pro I have heard about night is that they often got out earlier than us day people, where as it seemed in the day program we were always gonna stay the full class time, even if that meant spending time on dumb activities

does that help?

Yes that helps tremendously! Thank you. I can see both have their pros and cons. I'm thinking the evening option might be for me so I can work during the day as well.

I'm sure I"ll have further questions after I get deeper in the application process. Thanks again for all your help!