Making a choice of Schools

[Mr. Beef]

Hi everybody,

I just want some feedback about the various Nursing Schools in North Texas, like UT Arlington, Baylor (Downtown Dallas), Brookhaven and El Centro.

I've done some research into the four of them and the main differences I can find are:

* Brookhaven and El Centro are Associates of Nursing; while UT Arlington and Baylor are BSN minimum. I don't want to start a whole ADN vs BSN flame war, but I'm leaning twards the BSN.

* Brookhaven, Baylor and El Centro are an easy DART Ride from my house while UT Arlington is at least a 30-45 minute commute depending on the time of day.

* It seems like the ADN schools take fewer students than the bigger schools. I know UT Arlington takes 100 students each Spring and Fall Semester while Brookhaven and EL Centro take between 30 & 50 students once a year [Generally the Fall of the year].

* Some of the Colleges, like Brookhaven and El Centro, prerequisite classes fill up so fast during enrollment that the person who has to go down to the college and enroll in person end up not getting in the classes at all. I guess that's one of the advantages of going to a larger school. You get in the classes you need instead of having to take some class like Art instead of A&P.

* I'm wondering how schools like Baylor and UT Arlington handle transfer students like myself. I've got 60 transfer hours from a Community College (Brookhaven College) and would like to transfer to a school that allow me the best chance to get in a Nursing program.

THose of you on the boards who have any sort of experience with any of the four schools that I mentioned above give me some feedback. I'm willing to listen to both the good and the bad and will give you a slice of Chocolate cake with Chocolate frosting just for giving feedback. I figure you might enjoy that with Coffee.

Thank you,

Mr. Beef

[Mr. Beef]

Oh yeah, I graduated with $20,000 in student debt, but I deferred the interest... A lot of hospitals will contract with you and pay for your education if you promise to work for them for a few years. I wish I would've done that... Well, not really b/c I had a baby a week after graduation, but aside from that, it's a good deal.

I know about the whole hospitals paying for your education thing because I have a friend in Houston who did that same thing many years ago. I'm expecting to either go into debt for a BSN or minimize my debt with an ADN. With the ADN I can go RN to BSN in the future once I have a few years under my belt, but with the BSN I can do anything I want, and right now I'm thinking of going into the Air Force, Navy or Army Nurse Corps.

Thanks,

Mr. Beef

[momto2beauties]

I don't know if they still require the NET exam, but they did when I applied. They also changed the curriculum up quite a bit to make it easier on the students, which I'm happy about. When I was in my first semester, they had us take Patho, Pharm, and Concepts along with Foundations and ?? (I forgot the course- lol!) They also now require the HESI exam in order to graduate (we were the first class to test), which is a good indicator of NCLEX rates...

Luckily, they do not require the NET any longer. We are required to take the HESI in December and if you don't pass all sections than you are required to take a "Nursing Learning" class - i don't remember exactly what it's called.

Congrats on making it all the way through!! Just a side question - I'm finding patho really difficult for some reason. I feel like I know all the info but I'm just not doing well on the tests. Any words of wisdom?? Thanks a million!!

[momto2beauties]

What kind of writing sample, creative or technical?

The writing sample was basically a 5 paragraph essay that you had 20 minutes to complete. They basically sit you down in a room with a topic and tell you to go. It wasn't too bad though, and i really enjoyed the interview.

Just another note - most schools in this area wont accept any AP or Micro classes that are over 5 years old so keep that in mind when you are "mapping things out".

[TXNurseBSN]

I noticed TWU was not on your list. Why not?

[Heather, R.N.]

Congradualtions on your passing the NCLEX, and doing something that I can only dream about.

Geez, if I'm competing with at least 799 other people I guess I really need to make myself stand out. I know a 3.14 GPA is not the best in the world, but that's about the best I'm going to do without taking most of my classes over again.

Well, I think the application rate was just crazy that semester. And they look at your science GPA more than anything...

I have to look at the Mapquest to get to UT Arlington. I'm thinking it's I-30, and as long as I don't get too caught up in rush hour traffic then I should be okay. Also If they don't close I-30 between Dallas and Arlington for too long than I should be good.

Thank God I live in Denton now!! (Oh by the way, I was driving from north of Denton to Arlington everyday, so it's doable if you're looking at schools up here. Boring, but doable.)

Looks like I'm not going to avoid the HESI A2 so I might as well take it and see what I get on it. I'm going to need to take the Math and Anatomy or Chemistry and Anatomy (depending where I go) and then go from there.

I don't know what the HESI A2 is, but the HESI we took was a cumulative exam over EVERYTHING- every subject- we learned during school. It was difficult, but I passed it the first time and I was pregnant and brain-dead. So, you can do it.

[Heather, R.N.]

Luckily, they do not require the NET any longer. We are required to take the HESI in December and if you don't pass all sections than you are required to take a "Nursing Learning" class - i don't remember exactly what it's called.

Congrats on making it all the way through!! Just a side question - I'm finding patho really difficult for some reason. I feel like I know all the info but I'm just not doing well on the tests. Any words of wisdom?? Thanks a million!!

The NET was pretty easy if I remember right. That was 3 years ago, though, so... Who knows?!! :)

I guess they changed up the HESI a bit? We had to take a specialized HESI as a "second" final for every class and then after the senior II semester we had to take a comprehensive HESI to graduate. We got two chances in order to graduate on time. All but one person passed and graduated on time from our class, but that girl passed it on her 3rd try.

Ah, patho... PM me the name of your instructor if it's not Dr. Handy. She had these great books that she wrote and at the end of each book was a list of review questions that were pretty much identical to the exams. That's pretty much how I passed. Patho was hard. I think the one thing that helped make it click for me was to break everything down into body systems and learn it that way, rather than trying to incorporate everything all at once. I barely remember that class, though... lol... But I do remember that it doesn't matter much about the info. It's just hard. Luckily the rest of your education relies more heavily on pharm rather than patho!

[Mr. Beef]

The writing sample was basically a 5 paragraph essay that you had 20 minutes to complete. They basically sit you down in a room with a topic and tell you to go. It wasn't too bad though, and i really enjoyed the interview.

Sounds like generic writing. I can do that in my sleep. I scored a 5 (out of a possible 5) on the TASP writing portion and I know that was not my best work. In twenty minutes I could write on just about anything, and edit it.

Just another note - most schools in this area wont accept any AP or Micro classes that are over 5 years old so keep that in mind when you are "mapping things out".

I did not take any AP classes in High School and I have not taken Micro at all so I don't have to worry about either of those.

Thanks momto2beauties,

Mr. Beef

[Mr. Beef]

I noticed TWU was not on your list. Why not?

It never crossed my mind to go to TWU. I guess that something to look into.

Thanks,

Mr. Beef.

[lexcourben]

I don't know what the HESI A2 is, but the HESI we took was a cumulative exam over EVERYTHING- every subject- we learned during school.

FYI...there are 2 different HESI tests. The A2 is an entrance exam that more and more schools are requiring. It covers reading comprehension, vocabulary, math, and A&P and a couple of other sections. The other HESI is a test taken while in nursing school that is supposed to be an indicator of how well a student will do on the NCLEX.

Hope that helps.

[Heather, R.N.]

FYI...there are 2 different HESI tests. The A2 is an entrance exam that more and more schools are requiring. It covers reading comprehension, vocabulary, math, and A&P and a couple of other sections. The other HESI is a test taken while in nursing school that is supposed to be an indicator of how well a student will do on the NCLEX.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! I figured there was a difference, but wasn't sure what it was!

[LKG6]

North Lake has just opened a new parking lot. I have never had problems parking there.

ECC admits 100 students each semester, 50 goes to NLC. Other than the change for Hesi they may add an extra skills prereq. in the future, too.

Good luck finding your nursing program.

Katie

If I had to put them in any kind of order: Brookhaven (Farmers Branch, Closest to me, and an easy bus ride to and from there), El Centro (Downtown Dallas, about an hour DART bus ride from my house still an easy place to get to), North Lake (Irving, I'd have to learn a new campus, plus parking is a nightmare out there), and Mountain View (Does not start until Fall 2007, but might be worth the bus ride)

[kalmeira]

I know this thread is kind of old, but I thought I'd mention that if you what somewhere that is easier to get into I would look into Brookhaven or Mountainview. I've applied for the summer of '07 class at Brookhaven, but I won't find out if I got in until the 4th. However, while about 300 aplied for the fall program, and 40 got in, only about 70 applied this time around, I've heard. It's crazy because last time I had 23 points and I didn't get an interview. This time I had 31, so I was sure I'd get an interview, but there were people with 18 and 19 points getting interviews this time! I don't know if people gave up trying to apply, but it is a good school. So far it has a 100% passing rate on the NCLEX. If not alot apply to Brookhaven, I bet fewer will apply to Mountainview since not many know about it. Just a thought.