Total newbie, any help would be greatly appreciated!

pro_student_2010 · Nov 15, 2009

Hello and welcome,

Sounds like you are off to a great start! There's a huge need for mental health service providers right now and having the prescriptive ability that comes along with the NP would be a huge asset. Many schools are now offering direct entry MSN and all of those you listed are respectable programs. Personally, I'm partial to UCSF, Yale, and UPenn but there are many other excellent schools. UCSF has more of an emphasis on underserved populations especially with mental health. Substance issues and homeless mental health are among their strong suits. They emphasize psychotherapy too which seems like it's something you would desire training in (some programs are more exclusive to either medication management or psychotherapy but a few are balanced). UPenn is also a top-notch program with a similar urban emphasis. While there is plenty of support for underserved populations, there is also more diversity at UPenn with an abundance of practice types and styles in which you can do your clinical work. The faculty are excellent and there is a lot of collaboration with the Psychiatry department from the school of medicine. Yale is another top-notch program. I particularly love their RN year (heavy on the sciences if that's something you're into). A very balanced psych program with plenty of pharmaco- and psychotherapy involved. One of the faculty members (Sandra Talley) is one of the pioneers for the ability of PMHNPs to prescribe. There's a lot of theoretical psych integrated into the curriculum which I think you'd enjoy considering you were looking into a PhD in clinical psych. All these schools have very good research opportunities from students (Yale I know requires a scholarly project and UPenn really loves to get student in with faculty on research).

Your experience will really help land you a spot at the program of your choice, especially the research experience, presentations, and TA. The clinical experience you gained from being involved in research will also make a big impression for admissions. Having a strong GPA with honors, tons or wonderful experience, and assuming you can pull off a competitive GRE score (I wouldn't worry about taking the subject test, just the general) and you should have your choice of any of the schools you listed. Prereqs. are a tricky issue because some school don't require any (Yale), some require very few (UPenn has two admissions options depending on what you have), and some require everything. In terms of volunteering/getting "clinical" experience, I wouldn't worry about it with you previous experience. If it's something you want to do, then go for it! But if it's just to look good, I would say you don't need it. For example, I worked in an inpatient psychiatric facility after getting my BS and I spent more time educating other staff than learning from them. It was good to see things from the inside so to speak and I did get in good with the DON who was a Yale alum but other than that, didn't boost my changes for admission. Coming from psych into nursing and moving through to PMHNP there will be a much of med/surg type nursing that you will learn and probably never use (and more you will use rarely). Some of the better programs realize this and streamline the RN portion with the understanding that you're going to be leaving the program as an APRN and likely never do bedside nursing. Something I would look into when evaluating potential grad programs. Best of luck!

myelin · Nov 15, 2009

Thank you so much for that reply pro_student! I feel much better now, I'm glad that my research experience will be seen as useful and important. I'm very excited about the prospect of changing gears and pursuing this career. I have a few questions if you don't mind:

Do you have any other programs in mind that you recommend (any I didn't list?)

I would like to eventually practice in WA state (which is why I included Seattle U), although I'm open to going to school in another state (and even practicing in another state for a while). I am not going to apply to UW nursing (I did my undergrad at UW) because I have heard about some negative experiences from friends and they don't offer an accelerated BSN that feeds directly into a masters degree. Since UW is the number one program do you think it would be hard to find work in the Seattle area if my degree is from somewhere else?

Thank you so much for your help, it has boosted my confidence.

allnurses Guide · Nov 15, 2009

Hi,

I think you have a great background that would translate well into a direct entry program. Volunteering at a hospital is a great idea-it shows that you're serious about the career switch and will help give you some insight into the health care world.

I am a May 2009 grad of Boston College's Masters Entry program. I only looked at programs in Boston and BC impressed me the most. It's one of the shortest programs in the country, which makes it very intense. I didn't have much free time during my 2 years there. However, it's important to know that BC does not give you a BSN and MSN. You get your RN, and then go directly into the MSN past of the program. I was a little uncomfortable with that at first, and almost went to another program because of it. I'm glad I didn't though, and it didn't seem to make a difference to any potential employers. I have to qualify that by saying that I went directly into a NP position. It might have made a difference if I chose to work as an RN first, as some places do want you to have a BSN.

I was in the family NP track, so I can't speak directly to the Psych NP program at BC. Those that were in the program loved it, and all the 2009 grads found jobs pretty quickly. The need is huge. Boston is a great city (ok..I'm biased, being a native!), but is quite expensive to live in.

Best of luck to you!!

myelin · Nov 17, 2009

Thanks so much! I will definitely be applying to BC :)

Does anyone else have any recommendations for programs?

maziemoo22 · Nov 17, 2009

Yale!!!

myelin · Nov 18, 2009

I'm planning on applying to Yale... are you in the program or did you graduate from there; can you tell me what it's like? :)

maziemoo22 · Nov 18, 2009

oh no, I just applied there. We hear in about a month if we have interviews or not. I have heard nothing but great things about it though! I can tell you that Yale has a great psych dept and I believe US news rated them 4 in the country for psych CNS. What's also great is the fact that you don't need any pre-reqs if that's an issue for ya.

koperwbi · Mar 11, 2013

I doubt you're still checking this site, but I feel like I'm in a very similar place that you were in back in 2009. I've been working in a psych research lab, planning to apply for my PhD, but have decided to go into nursing. My bachelor's is in Psychology...

Seeing as this is 4 years after the fact, what wisdom do you have to impart!?

myelin · Mar 12, 2013

Oh wow, I forgot that I started this thread. Actually, I ended up waiting another year after I made this post (had one last moment of "oh maybe I should do clinical psychology"), then solidified my choice to do nursing. I'm now in the RN portion of my direct entry psych NP program. :) Feel free to pm me if you have questions.

reeya · Mar 12, 2013

OHSU has a pretty good program (both MD and NP). My precepting MD for my internal medicine rotation was OHSU med school grad. He was great and taught me so much during my clinicals. I love PNW and its culture.

reeya · Mar 12, 2013

Oh well, didn't see your previous comment. Good luck with your program since you've already started it.