University of South Alabama Psychiatric NP program

Nursing Students School Programs

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Hello,

I have applied to USA's online Psychiatric NP program for Spring 2015. I just wanted to hear from anyone else who has and what their GPA/experience/ ect they have. My GPA is low, but I feel like I have a lot of experience. Any current or former students have any insight as to how many they accept with a lower GPA if any? Does experience really count for anything? Also, has anyone who applied for the Spring 2015 semester heard from USA about their application being complete? Any info would be great, and just to hear from people who are also waiting to hear back.

Thanks

Hi All--

I applied for admission to the Spring 2015 MSN Psych NP program too! According to CAS, my undergrad GPA is 3.29, Nursing 3.55 and Graduate 3.77 (I have graduate degrees in education/counseling). My biggest concern is lack of psych nursing experience. Although my professional background prior to nursing is counseling--my only psych nursing experience is PRN at my current job where I'm cross trained to our inpatient mental health unit for PRN shifts.

A colleague recently started in the DNP Psych program and he has NO psych nursing experience though--he said that he just has to take an additional course prior to clinicals to prepare him for psych. When I asked faculty advisors about this, I received conflicting answers...

Hoping to hear soon--but it sounds like we'll be waiting for a while :)

I also applied for Psych NP in Spring 2015. I am working as psych nurse for 2.7 years, and overall gpa is 3.31 and nursing gpa is 3.66. I hope that I can get in.

Specializes in Psych & Women's Health.

Very excited to find this thread!!! I have also applied to USA's MSN Psych NP program for Springt 2015. Somewhat concerned about the fact that I won't have 2 years of psych experience by that time. However, I am anxiously waiting to hear from the school. Nice to meet all of you!

Did you hear that your application was completed? After I got email about supplement application which was received, I did not hear anything? Did you?

Specializes in Psych & Women's Health.

I haven't heard anything either. I thought they might at least acknowledge that my application was complete, but nothing. I was also wondering about others...

I haven't received an email either and my nursing cas check still hasn't gone through!! I got an email from nursing cas saying I was verified. I am super worried.

As far as the experience, I was going by what the admissions requirements said on the USA website. However, I guess they do make some exceptions for those that don't have enough or the right type of experiences. First of all, I think I said before, but they will likely take into consideration the amount of experience you will have when you start your clinicals. And that won't be at the start of the program, or at least it's not for me. But also, when we had our online webinar orientation this week some students were asking about this extra course they have on their schedule. I guess in certain circumstances you may be accepted with less than the 2 years, but may have to take the extra course that includes clinical hours. I don't know many specifics because we each get an individualized curriculum schedule that may be a little different than the one you see online, and I'm not scheduled to take that course. But anyway, they said you would arrange for a preceptor to do these clinical hours. And they mentioned something about some students having this course in the spring semester which would be the 2nd semester since we just started in fall. So that would give you time to set that up if you were required to take that. You do those clinicals with an RN (I think they said had to be BSN) and not a NP or physician like you will do the rest of your clinicals with.

If you are having any issues with NursingCAS I would email them or call. I had to email them a couple times and I found they always replied in less than 24 hrs and answered all my questions.

As far as getting an email notification from USA that your application has been received and is complete, I wouldn't stress too much if you haven't received one. From what I read on the boards when I was applying and waiting to be accepted, some received them and some didn't. I didn't receive one and so I emailed the school and got an email back several days later saying my application is complete and being reviewed by the admissions committee. Some sent emails and never got responses. Some received the email without ever having to email and ask. But from what I read, this didn't seem to be any indication of whether or not someone was or would be accepted. But if you are concerned I would email them and wait a few days for a response. If you don't hear anything back, you can try again. It's unfortunate that you may have to deal with the uneasiness of not knowing for sure that your application was complete... But they do have one academic advisor that oversees the admission stuff. And he was the same person that put together and sent out our individual curriculum schedules as well (for several hundred students). So you might not get a response right away... Especially since this past week was the first week of classes... But hopefully things will settle down for a bit and he will be able to respond.

Anyway, I wish all of you good luck and I hope you will be getting a nice letter in your mailbox in this next month or 2.

Hello,

I applied for the Acute Care NP track for Spring 2015. I have 6 years of experience in Surgical/Trauma ICU but my GPA is horrible.....overall 2.95 and Nursing 3.0. I have experience in Med Surg, CCU, and PCU with charge nurse background in these units so I really hope that will come in handy to overlook my GPA. I do know if a current student with a GPA of 2.75 that was accepted conditionally into the program and is doing well with only 4 years of experience in ICU. I am a nervous wreck waiting for the acceptance or denial. This is the only school in which I applied. Good luck to you all!

Specializes in Wound Care, Emergency.

I applied to the Spring 2015 cohort for FNP. I received confirmation that they received all of my application materials. I sure hope that we get our acceptance/denial decision letters soon. The suspense is killing me!

I have 8 years of experience as a nurse. I spent six years in the ER, and the past two I have been in an outpatient wound care clinic.

I am so anxious to hear! I never got an email confirming my supplemental application material, but I did get an email through Nursing CAS saying something about that application having been verified after I submitted it. Should I email USA? I have been in touch with them via email since I submitted my application to tell them about my new address and they didn't mention anything was missing, but it could be that they didn't look. Just wondering what you all think!

Specializes in Wound Care, Emergency.

To murph 27, It wouldn't hurt to send an email, just to verify that they received everything they need. I did. From what I have read, you may or may not get a response. I received a response that verified that my application was complete, but that was back in July, which was before the deadline and before the start of the Fall semester.

If I get any correspondence from them regarding Spring admission, I will definitely post it! I am really getting anxious!

Does anyone know when they start sending out letters of acceptance? I'm not anticipating hearing anything before mid-November, but it sure would be nice to know sooner!

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