Stony Brook Accelerated BSN Class of 2014

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2013

1. how hard is it to find off-campus housing (and what locations are most convenient/best for off-campus housing?) 2. how much is on-campus housing, and do we have the option of living in singles? are meal plans included in on-campus housing costs? 3. what are some differences between the clinical sites (in terms of friendliness of staff, support, convenience, etc..?

Congrats on your acceptance, greeneggs! As for your questions:

(1) I don't think off-campus housing is hard to find at all. There is plenty out there once the spring semester ends and graduation is over (occupancy for June 1) ... that was my experience when I went to look for housing. This is probably the best move-in date considering the ABSN orientation starts at the end of June. But if you're in a bind, a move date of July 1 will still get you a good selection of places (just be prepared to start classes a few days thereafter, which is why moving in June 1 gives you time to unpack and settle in before it all starts). Get a map and start looking around Stony Brook for the closest towns to see what you're willing to commute. I lived in South Setauket during the program, my commute was a nice 10 minutes door to door. Unfortunately, I had to move out from there a year later and had to take a place further away. Commuting to work at the hospital is now 30 minutes for me ... no traffic, but I can't get used to the distance. For starters, any of the Setauket towns, Port Jefferson, Centereach, Lake Grove, Smithtown and obviously the village of Stony Brook are probably your best commutes to campus.

(2) I never lived on campus, but a few of my classmates did, and I can tell you it was VERY expensive from what I hear. Most of them lived on campus because they had no car, and when you live on campus your ONLY option is the West Apartments, which are clear across the campus from the Health Sciences Center and hospital (i.e, quite far), even with the campus bus. Rooms were singles from what I recall, in suite-style accommodations (4-5 singles share a suite with 2 bathrooms and living/kitchen). There is no guarantee you will live with other nursing students, so you take a chance in living with first-time undergrad teeny-boppers that care more about hanging out than studying (and I know ABSNs are been-there-done-that). Since these are apartments, I would assume meal plans are optional, though not sure. Whether or not you have a car, it would be like commuting from off-campus so you're better off opting for off-campus housing, in my opinion, guaranteed to be cheaper. Also, if you don't have car and opt to live on-campus, keep in mind that your clinicals start @ 7am, and campus bus does not run that early on weekends even. You will likely have to carpool with someone for your clinicals at Stony Brook and other hospitals in the area.

(3) Clinical sites can vary widely. Stony Brook Univ Hospital is hit or miss depending on the unit you are assigned (and the instructor) but in general I had a great experience there (granted, I would not have chosen to stay and work there if not). Most other clinical sites used on Long Island are very good too ... the only exception being St. Catherine of Siena Med Ctr for OB clinical, which I hear has consistently bad reviews from students as a learning environment. All ABSN students do clinicals @ Stony Brook in the summer, and in the fall it can vary for Peds, OB, and psych. In the spring, it will also vary for Med-Surg, Capstone, and Community Health.

1. I see one of the requirements is STUDENT MALPRACTICE INSURANCE. I have nooo idea what is that all about. Should we start looking into providers prior to starting classes or will someone go over with us when we get to SBU? And is so approximately when will it take place? (P.S. I heard from some of my friends from other schools that the professors usually take care of all that. They told me that their coverage was under the educators...)
2. I see that one of the required courses in the program is NUTRITION, I took nutrition as a prereq for another school.
Is there I way I don't have to go through repeating an additional class.
Thank you so much

Congrats cupandcake as well! Here are your answers:

(1) You are required to carry student Liability Insurance while you're in clinicals, and ideally this needs to be purchased before you begin your clinicals in July. You have to purchase it in the increments suggested by the school (I think it's 1MIL/3MIL, not sure). One year's coverage is not that expensive at all, it's about $35 or so. You can sign up online at most providers and get coverage documentation right away as a PDF. At least, that was my experience. I got mine through a company called Marsh, while others used NSO. You can't get the coverage until at most 30 days prior to the date that it should be effective, so don't worry about this until end of May.

(2) I tried waiving nutrition as well being that I took it as a prereq for another school I applied to. Stony Brook's policy on waiving this course is only if the nutrition course was a 300-level or higher. Mine was the equivalent of a 100-level they determined, so I was stuck taking the course over. But if you do, no worries, it's not that hard a course and it's online.

cupandcake · Jan 14, 2013

Thank u Paco, for being so thorough. I read in the old thread someone said that during orientation they will bring up the subject of malpractice insurance and make their suggestions but do u think its better if I should just go ahead a look for a provider in late may?

And you had mention the clinical to greeneggs that some of the clinicals might not be at the SBU hospital. I don't have a car, so I'm assuming I might have to cab it there on the days I have clinicals. And Yikes I know that will def. add up$$. How many times a week would you say we would have clinicals? So I approximate, how I'll be spending on cab fees.

Lastly, I will be living on campus. I was hoping to live in Roth, it cheaper and I like the format. Is living in west a MUST for ABSN students? Thanks Paco your the best!

lb88 · Jan 14, 2013

Thanks actually I plan too but what advice can you to someone with a low GPA like 2.9. I really want to stand out next year and I know letters of recommendation and personal essays are huge factors. In that being said, every applicant is going to write the same thing in essay like "love to help people" or "find great pleasure in assisting people". Do you have some ideas on standing out in essay? Stony brook is my top choice, and I plan to volunteer at hospitals and finish up my prereqs.

Like most everyone here, I have no idea what Stony Brook looks for in persoal essays. All I can think to tell you is to speak from your heart. Yes, everyone writes "I want to help people." While this is ok to write, I would elaborate on what qualities you posses that would make you a great nurse, what you plan on using your education for in the future, and how YOU can be an asset to SBU's program. I'm just throwing out ideas because I dont know your current situation. If your undergraqd GPA is on the lower side but your prereq GPA is higher, I would talk about how sciences come more natutally for you than your undergrad classes thus giving you more confidence to succeed or that since you're older youve gained more maturity and are more serious about your studies...etc.

There is no one formula for a perfect essay but I feel that if your passionate about something and pour your heart out it will show through your writing.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2013

Thank u Paco, for being so thorough. I read in the old thread someone said that during orientation they will bring up the subject of malpractice insurance and make their suggestions but do u think its better if I should just go ahead a look for a provider in late may?
And you had mention the clinical to greeneggs that some of the clinicals might not be at the SBU hospital. I don't have a car, so I'm assuming I might have to cab it there on the days I have clinicals. And Yikes I know that will def. add up$$. How many times a week would you say we would have clinicals? So I approximate, how I'll be spending on cab fees.
Lastly, I will be living on campus. I was hoping to live in Roth, it cheaper and I like the format. Is living in west a MUST for ABSN students? Thanks Paco your the best!

You have to have student Liability Insurance in place even before orientation, so your best bet is to look into it in late May, for an effective date of say July 1 is fine. This insurance is part of the paperwork you need to submit before you begin the program, along with titres, physical, PPD, etc. Like I said, your best bet for insurance is Marsh or NSO.

Clinicals are only once a week, but in the fall you will have 2 clinicals a week because you will be doing either OB or Peds AND psych at the same time. I am sure you will be able to work out carpooling for clinicals with classmates if you don't get placed @ Stony Brook (the summer clinical IS at Stony Brook no matter what, so no worries there). Most hospitals used that are not Stony Brook are far in the sense that cab rides don't make it worth it. If you are a Suffolk County resident, you can always sign up for the Stony Brook 24 program, which places 24 students in a position to have all their clinicals @ Stony Brook. This might help.

As a nursing student, you don't have an option to live anywhere else but the West Apartments, believe me, it has been attempted. Even living at Chapin Apartments is not allowed, which are the closest apartments to the hospital and HSC, and I think that's kind of messed up. You might want to consider living somewhere in the periphery of Stony Brook University, still cheaper than living right on campus.

cupandcake · Jan 15, 2013

Ok that's good to know. It saves me the trouble of pleading with housing for a dorm in roth. lol

Since there would be approx 64 students in the program I'm sure everyone would want to sign up for that. Is the stony brook 24, first come first serve?

And I current live in the city but will be a on campus resident at stony for a yr once in the program. So I don't know I will be considered as a "Suffolk county resident", (would you figure that I will still be eligible?).

Thanks Paco!

huangmichellem · Jan 15, 2013

Paco-

How has the job search been for you and the rest of you classmates??

Would anyone in this forum want to find a place off campus together? I am from California so this is going to be a tough move! :)

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2013

Since there would be approx 64 students in the program I'm sure everyone would want to sign up for that. Is the stony brook 24, first come first serve?
And I current live in the city but will be a on campus resident at stony for a yr once in the program. So I don't know I will be considered as a "Suffolk county resident", (would you figure that I will still be eligible?).

Well, my class had 26 people sign up for the Stony Brook 24, so 2 people ended up getting bumped even though they lived in Suffolk County. The way they did it my year: the professor passed around a sheet to see who was interested and you just signed up. The 2 that got bumped were randomly chosen. Not sure how it was done with the class of 2013, although I did hear more people signed up and thus more got bumped. You have to have a permanent address in Suffolk to qualify, so living on campus alone won't get you in.

Paco - How has the job search been for you and the rest of you classmates??

I feel my class has been fortunate in the job market I am happy to report, despite the tight job market in the NY area. This information I have is through word of mouth or from personal knowledge.

Out of 64 of us that started the program in my year, 58 graduated 12 months later (what happened to the other 6? Four of them decelerated and are graduating this May and the other 2 left the program altogether). So out of the 58 of us that graduated last year, at least 38 of us have jobs 6 months after graduation. That's about 66% ... there may be more of course because I may not be up-to-date with everyone in the class. And I know for various life reasons, some people chose not to take a job right away. Most of us got jobs @ Stony Brook or North Shore LIJ. A few in the class relocated out of Long Island and are working in their respective states (a couple are in NYC). Not sure how the class of 2013 will fare this year, but having seen the fluidity of nursing jobs so far, believe me, there will still be nursing jobs to be had.

cupandcake · Jan 15, 2013

Wow Paco you r excellent with the statistics, its great you kept in touch with your class mates. We're the clinicals and the classes usually a class population of 64 (those in the prog) in your yr? If not usually what's the population of the clinics assigned and classes. Thanks

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2013

Wow Paco you r excellent with the statistics, its great you kept in touch with your class mates. We're the clinicals and the classes usually a class population of 64 (those in the prog) in your yr? If not usually what's the population of the clinics assigned and classes. Thanks

The class was divided initially into 8 clinical groups with 8 students each (makes sense why the magic number is 64). Three of those 8 groups were "Stony Brook 24" students. Your clinical groups in the nursing courses stay intact within each course for purposes of doing presentations that are assigned in class. You attend lecture with just ABSN students during the summer and in the fall you get split with the 2-year senior BSN for OB and Peds (~80 students). For some courses in the fall and courses in the spring, you will take courses with the 2-year senior BSN as one (so we're talking about 125 students). As for the non-nursing classes, pharmacology is a huge class, over 200 students, and all nursing students (juniors and seniors) along with respiratory therapist students take it at the same time. Pathology consists of the accelerated class and the junior BSN class along with occupational therapy students (this class is also 200+ students).

There is a new clinical instruction concept that started with my class called the DEU (Dedicated Education Unit) which some students participate in, which I think still includes 24 students in the clinical group but students work in pairs with one preceptor (this is different from the "Stony Brook 24" I mentioned above ... they still have traditional 8:1 clinical groups). This allows for more individual attention. I will be happy to talk more about the DEU later on when I have more time, as I think it is something great that Stony Brook started.

wickedblue · Jan 16, 2013

Hi all!!!! Sooo I've been accepted to the Acclerated program!!! Very excited. By any chance, can anyone outline how the year looks - with all the classes and clinicals. Thx so much.

MrsKBV · Jan 16, 2013

For anyone interested I started a FB group for the students accepted into the accelerated program. Looking forward to meeting everyone this summer!

stony brook university accelerated nursing class of 2014

marmaduke · Jan 16, 2013

to wickedblue, here is a really informative post from Paco from last-year's thread giving a basic overview of the schedule:

https://allnurses.com/new-york-state/stony-brook-accelerated-554207-page40.html