Direct Entry MSN Programs 2013

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Alicat1451

108 Posts

Specializes in Medicine.

phnurse, I almost applied to Columbia last year as well, I'm glad you're liking it! I'm in Northeastern's program, if anyone has any questions. Good luck!

PHNursestudent, thanks for all the info! Quick question, are you doing pediatrics primary care or pediatrics oncology? Do you know much about the pediatric oncology specialty at Columbia?

hopefulnurse24

502 Posts

Thanks for the input, phnursestudent. I'm applying to programs that have a pediatric acute care specialty (like Northeastern, along with some other programs) so I found the information that you shared very interesting! The size of Northeastern's program seems strange to me too. I was told that everyone in the program really likes the small size, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.

morganw1

177 Posts

Hey guys,

So,for those of you who are applying to Vanderbilt and found that you have to find your own clinical placements. I was reading the application and found this. Distributed Course Delivery and Flexible Formats | Master of Science in Nursing | Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Here, it says that you can do your placements anywhere in the U.S if it's approved and obviously there are restrictions. But, I got the feeling they help you find one because they mention a clinical placement office. Does anyone know more detail?

bbcc

72 Posts

Here's the information I got on Vanderbilt from an Admissions Counselor:

The pre-specialty (BSN-ish) year is 3 semesters, August to July. Most specialty years are also 3 semesters, although dual-focus ones are generally 5 and Nurse Midwifery is 4.

Second-degree nurses are in the same program as BSN-prepared nurses and not all specialties are offered to take the graduate-entry route. (Vanderbilt calls their BSN program 'Direct Entry' which is confusing for this thread!) The graduate entry specialties are:

Acute Care, Adult-Gerontological Primary Care, Family, Nurse-Midwifery, FNP/NMW dual focus, Pediatric Primary Care, Psychiatric & Mental Health Family Focus, Women's Health, Women's Health/Adult-Gerontology dual focus

All masters-level classes are in the "block" format, where you are mostly working / doing online classes and you come to Nashville approximately once per month for 5 days for in person classes. The block format allows for students to do their clinicals outside of the Nashville area - see my note at the end of the post for more information on that. The following specialties can NOT do distance clinicals: Nurse Midwifery, Psychiatric Mental Health, Acute Care. For all others, though, there are more spots available for NON LOCAL students than local. The only caveat: you cannot do clinicals in New York or Georgia. "Local" is defined for most programs as within 2 hours of Nashville; for NMW, it's within 3 hours.

There are 150 spots for non-nurses each year, distributed across programs, but she didn't give specifics on distribution, other than mentioning that Family is their most popular. The two details she gave were that Pediatric Primary Care generally gets 60 applications for 30 spots, and Family is 120 / 40.

For the GRE, they are looking for scores above the 50th percentile on Verbal and Quant, Writing above 4.5, but if you have high VQ and a 4.0 on Writing, apply anyway.

Last years average: Verbal: 69th %, Quant: 53rd %, Writing: 4.5

For prerequisites, they encourage the natural sciences (A&P and Micro) to be taken at a 4-year university; if not, taken at a CC with a strong nursing program and to take the courses the nursing students take, if there are multiple levels.

Everybody gets an internal scholarship, averaging around $3300, which usually covers books. Otherwise aid comes through loans and external scholarships; there is ONE full scholarship available each year, based on GRE and GPA (for all college courses, not just pre-reqs) that you write an essay if you are chosen to qualify.

The only specialties that do interviews are Psych, FNP, NMW, and the Dual programs. It's always a phone interview. There's not really a normal date for acceptance, it depends on each specialty, but probably not before February.

If you have any other questions please let me know and I'll see if I remember! Overall it seemed like a great program, it's graduate only, they have about 900 students across all the programs. You can seamlessly continue into DNP or Ph.D. if you are interested. Priority deadline is December 1st and they do rolling admissions after that; I'll be applying so I hope others do too!

@morganw1: It depends on your specialty and background, but be willing to do your clinicals elsewhere can actually improve your chances of getting a spot. The example they gave was Pediatric Primary Care; they'll take about 30 students, 10 who need Nashville placements and 20 who can do non-local placements. They don't set up clinicals directly for you because they believe we're all adults who can communicate with each other, and be willing and able to call and start relationships with clinical placements is important for professional development. They have a list of clinical placements in the past that students have used, and different programs have different preferences - for instance, the head of Nurse Midwifery has her 'favorite' clinical sites so it doesn't sound like it will be hard to find. The admissions officer noted that they have NEVER had a student fail to graduate because of being unable to find clinical placements.

morganw1

177 Posts

Thanks bbcc!,

good information to know. Do you know anything else about GRE scores? my math is not in the 50th. Wondering if I should still take the time to apply?? I've heard that people get rejected based on them but I read on their website there's some leeway.

bbcc

72 Posts

She seemed to emphasize that GRE are not the be-all and end all - if you think the rest of your application is strong, you'll probably be ok. If you just have an average GPA or you don't have any experience (including volunteering) in your field, then you might want to retake them, or just apply and cross your fingers. But knowing that the average was 53 last year - that means that for every 60 there was a 40, every 70 there was a 30, etc. so if you're in the high 30s or 40s it seems like you have a good chance. Plus I think the fee is only 50 - that's cheaper than the GRE!

kdiem

235 Posts

Specializes in Midwifery/Women's Health.

When I emailed a couple months ago regarding the GRE scores, it does sound like they weigh it heavily. I didn't meet the suggested score for the verbal section, and the admissions counselor actually told me I should retake the test.... unfortunately it wasn't ideal for me to do so, but I applied anyway... hoping for the best! It does seem like a bummer that students have to find their own clinicals.

kdiem

235 Posts

Specializes in Midwifery/Women's Health.

Anyone attending the Marquette chat tomorrow at 11:30am CST?

bbcc

72 Posts

I get the distinct impression it's different finding your own clinicals through than, say, Walden or many of the other programs who frequently have students posting desperately on these boards because they're in danger of not completing the program. I like the idea that I can choose to do clinicals at a hospital that might more closely meet my wants or needs - I'm much more interested in being at a public hospital in an underserved area than a fancy hospital which attracts the rich and famous - but we'll see! The counselor I met with definitely told our group that it was okay to apply with a writing GRE that wasn't 4.5 - I might be extrapolating that the others aren't as important as well, so who knows. I know she mentioned they regularly accept BSN students with percentiles in the 30s but I think their admission standards are probably much different, since they're coming in with nursing experience / formal education.

meep05

137 Posts

Is anyone out there applying to Case Western?? I know the deadline is not until July but does anyone know if its rolling admissions, or know anything about the program???

RVLy

36 Posts

Hey Everyone!

I just found out I got an interview at Johns Hopkins. I'm really excited because it is one of my top choices. hopefulnurse, I remember you saying that the admissions process is rolling, and I didn't really think much of it until I finally gave in and just sent in my application. I sent in my application a week ago and heard back today. Anyone who is applying there, I think getting the application in earlier is in your best interest!

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