nhctc in Manchester Fall 2006

U.S.A. New Hampshire

Published

Hi all.

Looking to hear from anyone who has been accepted to NHCTC in the Fall 2006 to get aquainted.

Hope to hear from you soon

Nursewannabee

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Good Luck. :smiley_aa

I am not attending NHCTC-Manchester but I wanted to congratulate you.

Congratulations and best wishes for your education and your future!

I will be starting in Laconia this fall and am very excited.

Lots of luck and congratulations! I am going to NHCTC-Stratham but still wanted to send wishes!

Thank you all,

Congrats back!!!! It has been a lot of work for all of us to just get accepted. We should all try to keep in touch for support.

Peace and grace

Nursewannabee

It's funny you mentioned this. I was asked by our director to reach out to all NH nursing schools so we may get together at the yearly SNA conference. Next year it is in Anaheim, CA. I was wondering what other schools thought of this. We did meet up this year with St. A's and St. Joseph's programs for a pizza night. What do you guys think? Looking forward to hearing from you.

P.S. No need for niceness on this guys...Honest answers only:innerconf

I am trying to start a SNA chapter in our school this year (Laconia)!! So.... It is a HUGE YES to getting together with the other schools!! The VP of Concord SNA is in my A & P II Class and I will mention this to her as well.

Anyone have any tips and advice for starting a chapter and getting involvement please please let me know!!

Hi

I think this is a great idea. I would love to at least be able to get together at some point with other schools. It would be like one great big family of brother and sister nurses.

I am finishing up my micro class right now and I know of only one student who has been accepted to St. Joe's in Nashua. I can talk to her about this also. Mostly everyone else is still trying to get into nursing school at this point.

Keep in touch

Peace and grace

Nurse wannabee

Hi nursewannabe,

I have just fininshed test 4 and I have 2 more clinical sessions and a final and I am done for the spring and will be returing to NHCTC-MANCHESTER for my second year. I hope all your prereqs are done and that you aren't working more than 20 hrs a week because it will cause a lot of hardship. I have been through the fire, so to speak, so feel free to ask any questions and I will be more than happy to answer them...heck maybe I can even be your senior buddy if you so desire. Enjoy your summer, have the time of your life, because your in for a rough ride.

Hi,

I heard nursing school was really tough. I am just finishing up Micro now and that should be my last pre-req. How are the instructors there?

Is it the clinical portion or the didactic (hope I got that word right) portion that is tough? How much study time do you usually put in in a week? have a lot of students dropped? Sorry for all the questions Just want to know what I am in for.

Peace and grace

Nurse wannabee

Hi nursewannabe,

I have just fininshed test 4 and I have 2 more clinical sessions and a final and I am done for the spring and will be returing to NHCTC-MANCHESTER for my second year. I hope all your prereqs are done and that you aren't working more than 20 hrs a week because it will cause a lot of hardship. I have been through the fire, so to speak, so feel free to ask any questions and I will be more than happy to answer them...heck maybe I can even be your senior buddy if you so desire. Enjoy your summer, have the time of your life, because your in for a rough ride.

Nursewannabe,

Never apologize for asking too many questions. Consider a gift because if you don't ask people, such as your instructors, will assume you may already know and that is a recipe for disaster. Always ask as many questions that are pertinent to the situation. My favorite thing is to ask...the book states that in this scenario the nurse must to A,B, & C, but does there exist a slighlty different cluster of interventions that are more appropriate for this particular patient. Instructors respect, above all else, that you are passionate about what you are doing and that your actions are congruent, such as showing up on time, doing well on the tests, meeting with them during their posted office hours to discuss the quality and mistakes of your paperwork and the recent clinical experience, and being prepared for clinical. In a word, the instructors are tough. They expect nothing less than excellence. Think about it, from over 300 applicants the entire staff has chosen only the top 56. Their expectations are sometimes staggering but not impossible.

As soon as you come in, the second week of school, you must take a pharmocoly exam and if you don't score at least a 90, yes a 90, you will have to spend 3 hours on a horrid computer simulation if you are proficient on computers...longer if you aren't...I passed it on my second try (I got 3 wrong out of 20 got an 85 and failed the first try), thankfully. As far as the didactic/clinical aspect of the course and which is worse...they can both be living nightmares. As a freshman you will also be doing labs, simulated procedures on test dummies, that are almost as long as the total amount of lecture time and take up valuable study time. You will spend 4-5 hrs a week in lecture, 16 hrs a week in clinical, another 4-5 hrs a week in lab, (We're already at 24-26 hrs). Now factor in the hundres of pages...(You will read over 2000 double sided pages of text in small print in huge nursing books over the fall semester). Oh yeah! I almost forgot the need to study nearly each and everyday to absorb all the facts to make the proper Assessments, Diagnoses, Plans, Interventions, and Evaluations (Which you will come to know and love as ADPIE). Besides that, proficieny in lab values and medications (contraindications, side effects, and therapuetic serum levels for psych meds) will save you on tests. Many of your classmates won't make it to the spring semester and you must continue on because if you slack you will be next.

On your post you stated that Micro "should be" your last prereq...it is in your best interest to make real sure that it truly is. I took two online courses with nursing in the Fall of 2005 and worked 35 hrs a week. I almost lost my sanity. My 4.0 was ruined from the two A- for the online courses and an 84 in nursing. I was never happier for I entertained the thought of actually having to fail a course for the 1st time in my life. This spring semester I was overwhelmed, even when I worked 15 -20 hr per week and had no other classes I got an 80 and a 71.2 to show for it. The demands grow insidiously and before I knew it I had to take vacation time from work to keep up and not fall behind. I passed the psych rotation and found myself in med/surg. The 71.2 was disgraceful and gave me the motivation I needed to study the torturous way I used to and got an 85 on the third test and a 94.2 on the fourth. All I need is to get a 45.5 on the final and I pass . I am planning to get a 90 so that I can get an 84 again.

By reading your posts I can tell you have a positive optimistic attitude and that alone might be the only thing that help aid you in the final hours before a test, it was the only thing that helped me. I, and my classmates, only wish that someone told us what to expect so that a month later we didn't look like this...

:monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance:

...Now you know and now you can prepare. Looking back I would have done it all over again but very differently. I would have worked much less, had all my prereqs done, and enjoyed my summer vacation much more than I did. Best of luck. Sorry I wrote so much but there was alot to cover.

Nursewannabe,

Never apologize for asking too many questions. Consider a gift because if you don't ask people, such as your instructors, will assume you may already know and that is a recipe for disaster. Always ask as many questions that are pertinent to the situation. My favorite thing is to ask...the book states that in this scenario the nurse must to A,B, & C, but does there exist a slighlty different cluster of interventions that are more appropriate for this particular patient. Instructors respect, above all else, that you are passionate about what you are doing and that your actions are congruent, such as showing up on time, doing well on the tests, meeting with them during their posted office hours to discuss the quality and mistakes of your paperwork and the recent clinical experience, and being prepared for clinical. In a word, the instructors are tough. They expect nothing less than excellence. Think about it, from over 300 applicants the entire staff has chosen only the top 56. Their expectations are sometimes staggering but not impossible.

As soon as you come in, the second week of school, you must take a pharmocoly exam and if you don't score at least a 90, yes a 90, you will have to spend 3 hours on a horrid computer simulation if you are proficient on computers...longer if you aren't...I passed it on my second try (I got 3 wrong out of 20 got an 85 and failed the first try), thankfully. As far as the didactic/clinical aspect of the course and which is worse...they can both be living nightmares. As a freshman you will also be doing labs, simulated procedures on test dummies, that are almost as long as the total amount of lecture time and take up valuable study time. You will spend 4-5 hrs a week in lecture, 16 hrs a week in clinical, another 4-5 hrs a week in lab, (We're already at 24-26 hrs). Now factor in the hundres of pages...(You will read over 2000 double sided pages of text in small print in huge nursing books over the fall semester). Oh yeah! I almost forgot the need to study nearly each and everyday to absorb all the facts to make the proper Assessments, Diagnoses, Plans, Interventions, and Evaluations (Which you will come to know and love as ADPIE). Besides that, proficieny in lab values and medications (contraindications, side effects, and therapuetic serum levels for psych meds) will save you on tests. Many of your classmates won't make it to the spring semester and you must continue on because if you slack you will be next.

On your post you stated that Micro "should be" your last prereq...it is in your best interest to make real sure that it truly is. I took two online courses with nursing in the Fall of 2005 and worked 35 hrs a week. I almost lost my sanity. My 4.0 was ruined from the two A- for the online courses and an 84 in nursing. I was never happier for I entertained the thought of actually having to fail a course for the 1st time in my life. This spring semester I was overwhelmed, even when I worked 15 -20 hr per week and had no other classes I got an 80 and a 71.2 to show for it. The demands grow insidiously and before I knew it I had to take vacation time from work to keep up and not fall behind. I passed the psych rotation and found myself in med/surg. The 71.2 was disgraceful and gave me the motivation I needed to study the torturous way I used to and got an 85 on the third test and a 94.2 on the fourth. All I need is to get a 45.5 on the final and I pass . I am planning to get a 90 so that I can get an 84 again.

By reading your posts I can tell you have a positive optimistic attitude and that alone might be the only thing that help aid you in the final hours before a test, it was the only thing that helped me. I, and my classmates, only wish that someone told us what to expect so that a month later we didn't look like this...

:monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance:

...Now you know and now you can prepare. Looking back I would have done it all over again but very differently. I would have worked much less, had all my prereqs done, and enjoyed my summer vacation much more than I did. Best of luck. Sorry I wrote so much but there was alot to cover.

RNIZER3000 - Although your post was to Nursewannabe I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your experience. I have been accepted to Stratham for the fall and I believe the program is very similar to that of Manchester - please correct me if I am wrong. I think I will print your post and give it to my husband! I don't think many people understand the work involved to succeed in nursing school; I personally am looking forward to the challenges. Any other advice, tips and information would certainly be appreciated! Good luck in your second year.

+ Add a Comment