Columbia University-ETP

Wow, Charmed, thanks so much for that research. I actually hold dual citizenship and was hoping that I could work abroad. The recognition of the RN license abroad was one of the reasons why I wanted to be an NP instead of a PA but I guess it is interesting tha tthey require a certain number of hours to work as an RN in some cases.

Thank you! I am now motivated to learn more about the options and requirements abroad!

To those who could go, for those of us who couldn't - please share any important or useful new information shared at the visiting day today! I'm sure you're all still living it up in NY for the day (or booking it to Boston, it seems), but once things are settled again, I'd love to hear any more insights. Especially anything about these supplies and uniforms, and housing.

Thanks!

I will post more later about what we learned at visiting day. But as someone who forgot to RSVP but went anyway. They were very accomidating to the 26 of us that there were and then let us join the main group after only 2 hours of isolation which did nothing but let us bond in our own way as the "rebel group" could.

The information was sound but nothing that couldn't have been figured out from before, the only truly new info was the actual schedule of the course load over the semesters and find points on the specialities.

Write more later,

Matt

hey guys,
for those of you who weren't at visiting day today, i just thought i'd share a little tidbit of info that 3 current students all gave me, which was that for the first year at least, you definitely don't need more than the basic stethoscope package (package #4), and usually you wont need anything fancier for the masters portion unless you are going into cardiology.
just thought i'd share that before lots of people spring for that $184 package.

other than that, the info was pretty standard as matt said, although the schedule specifics are interesting and its great to know that we have the month of august off!

As far as uniforms go- the student ambassador at my table said the uniforms run large but that at orientation we can try on our order and switch if they dont fit. She said most ppl buy the navy.
Other useful info she shared was that the faculty is extremely involved and interested in the students, we won't really need to buy all the books, and she is very statisfied with columbia or as the student who led our tour said: for every negative there are 10 positives so it's been a great experience.
If you didnt come on Friday and would like to email a current student who is doing your specialty I can provide email addresses that they gave us.

Thanks for the updates Tempest621, Sam1985 and caffreak... for those of us who were not able to be there. You mentioned they gave you a copy of our proposed schedules. How many days/hours per day will we actually be in classroom?

Every day is different. Only cuz you asked i'll list the whole summer schedule.
Monday: 8 AM till 12 P.M-Phys assessment-all students take this together.
1 P.M.-4 P.M.-Issues-all students take this together.
Tuesday: 9 A.M.- 12 P.M.- Science of Nursing Practice- Everyone together
1- 3- Topics in nursing practice- Everyone together
4-8- Advanced physiology-everyone together
Wednesday: 7:30 A.M.- 3:30- Clinical site- groups 5,6,7,8
From 8 A.M. throughout the day the other groups have PA lab and skills lab
Thursday: 7:30 A.M.- 3:30- Clinical site- groups 1,2,3,4
From 8 A.M. throughout the day the other groups have PA lab and skills lab
Friday: 8 A.M.- 12 Pharmacology- Everyone together

whew!

All times are subject to change

To add to this information, here's the schedule for the first year:
Orientation: May 27
Summer Semester: June 1-July 31
AUGUST BREAK
Fall semester: August 31-December 18
WINTER BREAK
Winter semester: Jan 4-March 13
SPRING BREAK
Integration: March 22-May 14
White Coat Ceremony: May 19

I second Matt and Sam that the info wasn't anything to startling or new, but I thought it was interesting that if you wanted to you could transition seamlessly into a DNP (so 3 years post-BSN instead of 1.5). I'd also say the Bard Hall dorm in my opinion was pretty dingy and apparently gets brutally hot, but the roof was really nice, just sit up there and stare out at the river...

Let me think, other than that... apparently that first 9 weeks is like boot camp and then it's easier from there out, even though there's more credits in the fall. Basically the fall and winter seem to work on 5 week concentrations (3 in fall, 2 in winter) of Med/Surg/Psychiatric/Peds/etc along with taking pathophysiology, assessing clinical evidence, evidence-based practice, case management, and topics in nursing practice. Concentrations I believe are 3 8-hour clinicals a week for 5 weeks. Total credits: 60, total clinical hours: not sure exactly, they said somewhere in the 800's, by my calculations it works out to between 816-888 depending on how many weeks actually have full clinical hours.

Anyhow, I'm sold. The flexibility they offer is really unparalleled and I like the idea of being able to start working a year from now. Plus visiting was a good reminder of how much I like NYC. So, those of you who also decide on Columbia, I'll see you there!

hey guys. I'm being wimbly! I'm worried i let the stuff on the chat threads influence my decisions too much! I am really worried about the cost! I already have 30k in loans....so that's a big chunk of change. Even if i extend it to 30 years, i'm looking at $1000/month!!! That scares the crap outta me. But still... worried about all the opportunities, the subspecialties, living in NYC. Am i passing up too much! BAH!

I don't know if this helps, but I heard from several people that many of the hospitals in NYC, after you've worked FT for two years, will pay a good chunk if not all of your masters tuition (my tour guide had a friend who worked at Mt. Sinai I believe who got 100% taken care of, and they mentioned at orientation or the FNP head did that hospitals often pay 18 credits a year). That would be really nice because you'd be getting paid for working plus getting the masters portion paid for in part or in full. My plan is to do the first year then take a year off, find a job and after a year start going back to school PT to maximize the amount the cost is defrayed. So here's hoping the job market out there improves in the next year (although, the people I talked to at Columbia didn't seem too worried, the FNP head said 90% of current students were employed and the ones that weren't it was their choice)...
Good luck with your decision!