OHSU Acc Bacc to Masters 2012

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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I wanted to start a thread for anyone applying to OHSU's Accelerated Bacc to Master's for the 2012 cohort. This way we can keep each other informed when we hear anything. I have applied to the Acc Bacc for Nurse Midwifery. Go Team 2012 Applicants!

For those of us dealing with decisions regarding waitlisting, I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been hearing from others:

I recently talked to one of my friends who was accepted last year to UCSF’s nurse midwifery program. Her top choice was OHSU, so she decided to place herself on the waitlist even though she was pretty sure she would attend UCSF. She ended up hearing from OHSU and was accepted off the waitlist. However, she had already committed to UCSF and had started through the housing process, loans, etc. Her advice was that if you are pretty certain of a school you are accepted to then go with it and don’t put yourself on other waitlists. She said it was hard to know that she was accepted to OHSU and couldn’t take the offer at that point.

Another friend of mine was accepted to Vanderbilt last year and waitlisted at OHSU. She never got in off of the waitlist and said that the experience of waiting to hear something was unbearable. She felt that she wasn’t really able to focus all her energy on figuring out financial aid, housing, etc. at Vanderbilt because she was worrying whether she would get off the waitlist at OHSU.

I told one of my former college professors that I had been waitlisted at OHSU and she gave me this advice. She said that if OHSU was the only place I applied to and I was certain that I want to go there then I should put myself on the waitlist. If I was waitlisted at several schools then I should just add OHSU to the list. If I applied to other schools and was accepted then I should consider making a decision between those that I genuinely want attend even if they aren’t my top choice. She said overall, in this case it’s not worth the stress of dealing with a waitlist where chances of getting in are relatively low.

Another friend of mine was accepted off of the waitlist last year at OHSU. She took the offer but had already been accepted at another school. She lost her deposit that she had put down at the other school. She paid out of pocket so I don’t know what would have happened if she had accessed financial aid. She said it was hard at the last minute figuring out housing, affording the cost of moving across the country, and just mentally being prepared for such a sudden big change. She says it was well worth it though.

In the end, each of us has personal situations that will guide our final decisions, but I think Ms. Bastet said it best, “The nurse midwife I will become in the future is decided by who I am rather than where I am.” I think that you will become the midwife you want to be regardless of where you are and I wish you all the best in making these tough decisions.

Midwife 22, THANK YOU!! That was really really helpful! thank you so much for posting all that.

I've been accepted to John's Hopkins and Columbia. I really am not sure I can bare being wait listed at OHSU and I am relying heavily on financial aid so...I'm not sure what I would do if I got in last minute. I'm going to meditate on it for another day or so :) and than make a final decisions.

And I agree, what Ms.Bastet said is very true.

navette

I am convinced that grades are not what matters to OHSU. My undergrad GPA is similar to yours and I don't even want to post my GRE scores.

My pre-reqs are 4.0, but that only added about a point to my overall GPA.

So yeah... I'm pretty certain that while grades are important, they are not the primary deciding component.

Midwife22, you rock! Thank you so much for posting that! I am so excited about going to , but at the same time, I can't help but be disappointed that I'm not going to OHSU. It was very refreshing to read your insight and friends' experiences, though!

lalala100,

Thank you so much for your post. And congratulations on getting in!

I have never faced such indecision in my life-- I can either finish my CPM (just a few catches away) or go full-board ahead towards CNM (and not finish my CPM any time soon).... and face the prospect of not getting in at OHSU (the only place I will apply)! Did you apply anywhere else? What kind of professional/job experience did you have since your undergrad degree?

To everyone who interviewed, what kind of questions did they ask in the interview? Oh lordy....

They asked us not to share the interview questions. But I can tell you that I have no birth experience, in fact I was a high school teacher for 5 years after my undergrad. I only applied to OHSU. I literally tailored my life around getting in, including moving my family and leaving my career.

I would say focus on an excellent essay, impressive letters of recommendation, and solid reasons why you want to be a midwife.

When I was applying, I employed the advice I'd given my seniors so many times to myself.

If your grades aren't what you feel they should be, think long and hard about why they should want you as their student. They are a brand, their name is at stake when they enlist you as a student, you have to sell yourself to them and make sure they take your life choices as seriously as you take their program. Explain your academic shortcomings with no excuses, and ensure them that they can trust you with their reputation.

I made sure I let them know exactly where I was going with the knowledge they would be giving me too. and I discussed some of the projects I was hoping to work on in the DNP portion of the program. In fact it was really cool in the interview because we spent a lot of time discussing how I would shape my research and some of the local resources I could use.

Really that's all you can do. You'll never be able to change your undergrad GPA. You can always do well on the GRE... (I took it twice and did better the second time around.) but other than that, it's all you... which in my opinion leaves you feeling much more vulnerable... But hey, it worked for me :)

Hey lalala,

Excellent post. Your ex-students must've been sent off on the right track! :)

Could you tell me about how long it was between the interview and receiving your packet? I am in post-interview purgatory... haha.

As for the other posters wanting stats... are you applying to midwifery or psych? I can share my stats that got me at least to the interview stage. Send me a PM if interested!

Hey lalala, do you speak more than one language?

Nope, but I am a first generation American and my family (everyone other than me) is bi-lingual.

Thanks lalala. In case you're curious, I was asking because I know that they select their students through a point based system and speaking a language other than English equals more points than speaking English alone. :-)

Interesting. I wonder if they count languages differently whether you are fluent vs. conversational with it. I speak English, Spanish, and Swahili. On my application I put Spanish and Swahili as conversational. I've been able to communicate in a clinical setting with Spanish. Haven't had a chance to use the Swahili yet.

Midwife22, why do you speak Swahili? That is so specific and interesting!

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