Accepted in Drexels ACE Program Spring 2009

j450n,
I am close... oly vicinity
Are you looking at the ACE program as well?

My roommate is originally from Oly

I'm looking at the ACE program as well. I just graduated from UW and moved back up north to Everett to take some prereqs at the community college up here. It would be ideal to be going to Drexel since my mother's side of the family lives in Philly. I figure I could use that to my advantage since it will be pretty much free living accommodations, plus home-cooked meals.

Good luck to you I wish we were in the same class, it would have been nice to have a fellow Washingtonian as a classmate.

just cause, i got my fin. aid packet about a week or so after i applied to fafsa. I did that about a week after I got accepted. I got the same deal as loner, exact numbers, haha. now, nursin09student, question for you. Did you apply for loans and or fafsa twice?? I made a ton of phone calls this morning but still feel confused. thank god my mom understands this stuff, and thank god for you guys! this is what I think is correct, but really don't know: we apply to fafsa twice, and when we initially apply for a private loan, we apply for only what we need now??? or the whole thing all at once?? can you please help me?!
thanks

maryalice-
in january we will all be able to apply for the next school calendar fafsa...
the fafsa year is only 1 year at a time... so early jan we will do the same process..but for the following year...

Hi everyone!

Sorry to break it to you all...and keeping my fingers crossed that I'm wrong, but although the paperwork that comes in your financial aid packet states approx $32,000 for the program, it actually ends up being around $36,000. At least that's what happened to my class. I just graduated from ACE this past September. Most of us were forced to purchase the schools health insurance (through Aetna) because the school would not accept ours (mind you my insurance was already through Aetna and they still denied it!), which was just added to the tuition bill.

You only have to complete the FAFSA once. You will then be informed of which federal loans, if any, you qualify for. From there you can apply for private loans to cover what the federal loans do not. Many of us did not finalize our private loans until a few weeks before school began. Others actually ended up increasing theirs drastically less than halfway through the program because they realized they hadn't borrowed nearly enough to cover living expenses. Don't panic if you don't have it all figured out at the moment.

I didn't read this entire thread, just the last page. So, let me know if there's any other info I might be able to provide.

Good luck!

~Cathy

Cathy --

Did you like the program? How highly/mildly would you recommend it??
Did you have to purchase insurance through Drexel's provider after school started or was it something you had to arrange prior to the first quarter..?
Thanks!!!

Just_cause,

I personally enjoyed the program and would highly recommend it. I'm sure some of my classmates wouldn't agree, but you can't please everyone. Of course we had some excellent profs and some not so great ones, but that's everywhere. The program was extremely tough at times & definitely somewhat disorganized, but I think that's just the nature of an accelerated program. When a school is cramming all the information and experience necessary to become a graduate nurse and sit for the NCLEX into 4 ten week quarters, things aren't always going to go off without a hitch. The best thing you can do for yourself is to be aware that a wrench may be thrown in the works here and there, and be on top of all your other assignments so you can be sure that you won't be thrown completely off your game if something does arise that you weren't prepared for.

We had weeks where the tests, skills checkoffs and assignments never seemed to let up. We were expected to complete simulated patient labs with less than 1-2 weeks to prepare because info was promised ahead of time but not provided until last minute, but guess what...almost every single one of us passed the lab. More importantly, now that school's over, every one of my classmates that I know has taken the NCLEX to date has passed. I take mine on 11/5, so hopefully I can keep up the trend.

As far as the insurance issue goes, this was all handled prior to the beginning of 1st quarter classes. Students were not permitted to attend clinicals without insurance.

Hope this helps.

~Cathy

Really? That would make this just about the cheapest accelerated program in the area.

Now I know that's not the case!

There must be a slight misunderstanding. That figure doesn't include room and board or transportation. The left hand column on the page is your tuition for the program. The $32,000 is only tuition and fees. The right hand column lists possible additional expenses. Drexel estimates room, board, transportation, books, supplies, etc to be an additional approx $26,000 for the year.

~ Cathy