Georgetown Accelerated BSN Fall 2010 - Page 17

Any recent college grads applying to GU's ABSN program? It seems most accepted applicants are from a more experienced age group, which is a little intimidating! If accepted, I will have just graduated with a bachelor's in history -- with little to no medical experience. Someone please tell me I'll still be able to survive, haha.

I will be applying very soon. Just graduated with nutrition degree and will turn 22 in August.

Good to know! Best of luck to us both. ;-)

I'm in the second semester of my ABSN program now at GU (started in January '10). I can tell you that there are several students in my cohort who were just out of college. And you don't necessarily have to have a healthcare background... though if you're going into the ABSN program straight out of college, you probably had some of the pre-reqs satisfied in your undergrad degree program.

Good luck!

"go GIRL?" Uh, not so much.

Men in nursing DO rock -- sorry about that!

How do you feel about the program now that you're taking on semester #2? Are the faculty supportive? How would you describe your cohort? Do you have any time for a social life?

Go GUY! ;-)

VERY good questions!

#1: Semester #1 is hard because you may be unsure whether you're "good enough" to hack the program. By the end of semester #1 you'll have confidence that you can do it, and you'll be done with Pathophysiology, a course that builds on your Anatomy & Physiology pre-reqs. Hard class, but the instructor is awesome and the school provides free tutors.
In semester #2, you take Adult Med/Surg (learning the nuts and bolts of caring for hospital patients: injections, wound care, ostomies, catheters, etc.), and Pharmacology (all about drugs). Both these classes are hard. There is some discussion about having tutoring sessions for Med/Surg in the future.

I'm not a WHC scholar, so I had to think hard about committing a large chunk of my savings (plus loans) to pay for this program. I chose GU because I believed I'd get an excellent nursing education, and there is a definite first-job advantage to having a degree from a "name" school. That might be important in a suck-y economy where jobs for new nurses are scarce in some markets. I still think I made the right decision for me.


#2. Most of the faculty are very supportive, for a couple reasons. First, the school wants everyone to succeed - very few get in, so they want everyone who starts to finish successfully. Second, instructors who are not supportive of students get bad reviews from their students at the end of the semester - and instructor evaluations are partly based on their students' reviews.

#3 My cohort is a very interesting mix. A few are right out of college, but most have worked at some other career for awhile before starting the ABSN program. I'd guess the average age is late twenties. Though the oldest student in the cohort is 58.

#4. The program is not 24x7 unending drudgery. Most people reserve some time for exercise and/or hanging out with homies, or spouses. There is a LOT of cheap/free stuff to do in DC. Fast/efficient learners will have more spare time, slow learners will need more time to study. Grades are not curved - so you're not competing for "A"'s. Learning the material so you don't end up killing someone :-) is more important than just GPA.


I hope that helps!

I'm curious about how males are in the program. Also, do you mind sharing your undergrad GPA and major?

My undergrad majors were in Computer Science and Business Admin. Before this program, I worked in IT management and IT software sales. In my case, I don't think they looked much at my undergrad GPA, as it was too many years ago to be relevant. They did look at my pre-reqs, which I crammed in full-time last summer and fall - and I probably had about a 3.7 GPA in those, with A's in A&P I and II and Microbio. But they don't just look at GPA. They look at what career you've had, if any. They look at any background you have in healthcare (employment or volunteer), and I'm sure they look at your essay, and your in-person interview. Bottom line: there are about 8 applicants or so for every slot in the program. They're really looking (I think) for people with a fire in their belly to become a nurse.

I can only speak for my own cohort of 57 students who started in 1/2010. There are 9 guys in the cohort, including me.

Pokytrokyt,

Can't thank you enough for your response -- you really went above & beyond!

#1: If accepted, I think I'll definitely be in the boat of students who questions whether or not they're good enough to survive the program. GU comes off as cutthroat, so it's comforting to hear that you felt supported enough to approach semester #2 w/newfound confidence. Did you and your cohort work together on study guides and such? Or, did everyone pretty much work independently?

#2: Agreed; graduating from a school as prestigious as Georgetown definitely carries significance in today's economy.

#3: I read a few posts that described the university professors as "too busy" and "unavailable" for quality time w/students, which was a huge concern for me. Nice to know you feel differently.

#3: Do you hangout with your cohort at all? It sounds like it's a pretty diverse group.

#4: "Learning the material so you don't end up killing someone :-) is more important than just GPA." haha - I definitely try to approach my prereqs with this same mentality!

New question #1: Where do they typically send you for clinicals?
New question #2: My mom's paranoid about the crime in DC. Do you feel safe?