Taking the 1st step! NHCTC-Berlin!

liljsmom02 · Jan 3, 2006

congrats and glad to hear that you decided to do it here. chemistry is not that bad but be prepared. A&P with ribner is tough, but you will be glad you took it with her once you get into nursing. one semester left and i can't wait!!!! good luck!!! if ever any questions feel free to ask by either an email or in person. can't miss me i am the only pregnant nursing student.

moosemummer · Jan 16, 2006

Yeah, liljsmom02 and I were in microbiology together, and we both had Dr. Ribner, too, for A & P (different classes though!). Take it with her---you'll really learn your stuff! Sorry we won't be in chemistry with you but good luck! And don't worry about the $$---it will be all worth it---and at least you can peck away at your courses and tuition rather than coughing up $20+ grand at a time at another college!

moosemummer · Jan 16, 2006

Yeah, liljsmom02 and I were in microbiology together, and we both had Dr. Ribner, too, for A & P (different classes though!). Take it with her---you'll really learn your stuff! Sorry we won't be in chemistry with you but good luck! And don't worry about the $$---it will be all worth it---and at least you can peck away at your courses and tuition rahter than coughing up $20+ grand at a time!

RNWannaBe724 · Dec 4, 2007

Ok so I posted this a long while ago, and I dropped the Chemistry course because it just wasn't working with my work schedule and I think I probably got scared. I am such a loser :angryfire

I go back and forth on going back to school. I have a hard time because I already have a TON.. more than $20k in student loans as it is, but I can't afford to live off of $12 an hr for the rest of my life. It's ok for now, but not for too much longer. I want a rewarding career, not getting yelled at by tourists, because I am a supervisor at a resort-and that happens a lot.

I just need to suck it up but I am too scared, between the $ and the course load, I am afraid because I was never the most focused student.

I was also worried NHCTC-Berlin wasn't accredited but I called them and they said it was, though it isn't listed as an accredited school on the NLN website. Ugh. If Berlin wasn't accredited I'd be traveling to Concord, almost 2 hrs each way. With gas prices, and tuition prices that would be impossible.

Another reason I keep changing my mind is I keep contemplating moving to North Carolina, and if I do I'd prefer to take a nursing program there because it would be MUCH more affordable, like, $10k less.

I can't seem to get over the cost. If I didn't already have these existing loans, I'd have NO problem just going.

liljsmom02 · Dec 5, 2007

FIrst of all I just have to say that Berlin is accredited and not only that they had the highest pass rate, I believe, for the past 3 years. I could not of asked for a better education. One year as an RN now, and I am already working in the ICU (I work in a small hospital and it is hard to get off of med/surg although I still work there to and love it!). It was a tough road, but it was totally worth it.

As far as being an on again off again student, it's OK to be scared. As a nurse it is actually a good trait. The day you are too confident is the day you set yourself up for a big mistake. Trust me I was on again off again student for a while too, once you get into nursing, it is so exciting and rewarding that you endure the two years of being pushed further than you ever thought you could. And when it is all done, you will miss it.

RNWannaBe724 · Dec 5, 2007

I am pretty sure now that they are because I just called them today to make sure because I keep hearing they are, they aren't, they are, they aren't.

I know the school itself is fully accredited but I wasn't sure how it works for the certain programs, such as nursing when it is a national board accrediting it. But she assured me that the NLN has accredited it, but I still don't see it on the nhctc-berlin site or the nln site. That's what gives me doubts, when I am sure it's just paranoia. haha

I have found a way to justify the cost... I will make way more than $10k more than I do now when I finished and got a job as RN, and if I moved to NC to do schooling because it's less expensive, there is a massive state income tax, and in approximately 3 years the amount of income tax they'd take out of me would have paid for what the program cost is in NH.. and I won't have the hassle of moving.

liljsmom02-may I ask what hospital you work at? I assume you went to berlin tech for your RN. I grew up in berlin, so it isn't strange to me to go there. I have taken classes there while in High School and I took one there to fulfill my current associate's because NHTI where I attended didn't offer it for another year, and my advisor 'missed' that I hadn't taken the course when it was a core class... ugh.

I am mostly scared now because I am not, or wasn't, very studious and was constantly, easily distracted. I failed a few courses and didn't get the best grades for a while, then my last 1.5 yrs I got nothing lower than a 3.12 gpa, but the courses were travel and tourism related and geography, supervision, ethics.. nothing too difficult like I will be facing for my RN.. but my overall stunk because of my previous 2 semesters. I stink at math and science. I am distracted easily. (perhaps that has changed, I have been out of school for a while, I am older and I WANT a career and understand how important it is now having to be on my OWN). All through High School was the same.. I didn't really excel. Just kind of snuck by. That's what scares me. I may start by taking a psychology course, just one at a time for now.. and see how it goes. Psych, then Chemistry, then Micro or A&P... so on and so forth.

Thank you!