Accepted Columbia ETP applicants (and current students: some advice). get-together?

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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:welcome: Hi everyone! I thought it might be a good idea to get our own separate thread for those accepted to Columbia ETP! Sure we have a lot to discuss!

I would also like to invite current students to this topic to share your experiences and answer some questions.:idea:

Here is one question that is really bothering me.

I have been working and studying simultaneously for the past 4 years, and to tell the truth I am really tired. Will financial help from Columbia (both scholarship and loans) allow me to only study? In particular, how much money do they give every month for living expenses? If you feel uncomfortable writing about it in public, personal messages are welcome too

Aside from this, - congrats to all those accepted and really looking forward to meeting you! :balloons:

Oh, by the way, I am Women's Health! What about you?;)

Congrats to everyone!!

I am a current ETPer, so I can answer some questions as you have them. I live right by the school in a non-school apartment. I got the landlord's name from Adele, the off-campus housing person, so I didn't have to pay a broker's fee or anything. I really like my apartment and the area has never felt unsafe to me. It is about a 20 minute subway ride to times square from here on the A train, so to me it's worth the savings and space to live up here. Also, the summer was REALLY busy, so it was nice to be close to the school. Just my opinion, though.

As for the comment about the teachers. I have had a great experience here and yes, some of the professors are better than others, but I do think that the accelerated format is hard to teach within. Everything is so quick! It is definitely something that you have to be sure about before coming here. If you are sure you want to become an RN/NP then I think it is a good program - expensive, but good.

Congrats again and I hope to meet some of you in March!

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Allnurses virgin here. But I also got accepted for Peds. I went to the info day in January and I have to say, I had the fortune or misfortune of sitting next to a current student in the lounge. She asked me where else I applied and when I answered, she told me "If any of those other programs accept you, take it, the teachers here are terrible." :uhoh21:

I hate to run with only one woman's opinion and me not knowing her from adam, but if some other current nursing students could comment, that would be appreciated.

I got waitlisted at Upenn, which is my first choice. Waiting to hear from some other schools, and planning to attend the visitors day. :D

Hi there, another current etp'er here. I wouldn't take one opinion too much to heart. It's just that, an opinion. My opinion? There are some students here who love to complain. I think they would find something to complain about no matter where they were (Disneyworld, a Caribbean cruise, etc.). Personally, I think we've had some excellent instructors, and some who were just okay. There are a couple that are fairly new and not fantastic, but they are getting better as we go along and they get more comfortable with teaching. Most are available to students outside of class if you have questions. They really do want you to succeed.

Now that we're almost through the year (!!) a lot of us have come to appreciate some the profs that we complained about over the summer. I think a lot of that complaining was just a function of stress anyway. The summer is a kick in the butt, especially if you've been out of school for a while.

Bottom line, this is nursing school, and an accelerated program at that, not every class is going to be the most interesting and entertaining experience you've ever had. There is a ton of info that the profs have to fit into a short period of time. There are a lot of tests to take, group projects to do, and papers to write. Deal with it, get through it, and learn as much as possible, especially in clinical.

I'm happy that I came here, and I could have gone somewhere else. I've actually had a lot of fun so far and met some really great people. Oh yeah, and I've learned a lot too ;-).

Also, try not to obsess about what you read on these boards. I've noticed that people tend to show up on allnurses when they are unhappy and want to vent. Most of us are doing just fine.

Oh, and if you do decide on Columbia and want student housing, I second what Fluffhead said, turn in your application NOW, especially if you are coming from out of state. There aren't enough spots for everyone who requests housing.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

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Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.

wow, congrats to y'all

Just like my classmates above has stated (it was just yesterday we were on the other side of the screen asking a million questions... WOW, where did the time go), you're going to hear a lot of opinions, just don't take them to heart. We're all on the tail end of the "phase 1 - BSN" portion of the ETP, and even though completely beat up, feel very glad to be here.

Now for the advice:

1) Sleep. You can kiss that goodbye. There are some gifted people out there (like yogagal) who can get the needed 6-8 hours of sleep a night. Myself, on the other hand, acclimated myself to 4-5 hours (less on exam nights.

2) HOUSING! Summer is the MOST fun you will have. The School of Nursing is pretty much the only ones at the dorm during the summer, so you'll meet all sorts of people going through exactly what you're going through. Turn your forms in NOW.

If you are planning on staying in the dorms for the 1st year (like myself), pick out a nice room, it's not much more, and getting on the wait-list once you decide you hate your room takes forever. (if your a guy, stay away from the men-only floor- 7th floor).

3) Review A&P. Things will go easier that way.

4) Keep your mind open to other specialties. At Columbia, we are blessed to be able to change what specialty we want before entering it. You'll "find yourself" during your rotations.

5) Be prepared to get some thick skin. Hey, it's New York.

6) For the guys out there. Keep contact with "your boys." You'll make a LOT of awesome female friends, but you'll sometimes need a break and just have some testosterone time.

If you have any more questions, keep them coming. We got a lot of help from this forum last year, and we're just returning the favor...

-Art

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I've read a lot on the message board here, reading almost every thread that even mentioned Columbia, and the majority of what I've read is negative. That the professors are new or that they don't know how to teach, etc. It's not what I would expect to hear from an Ivy school and doesn't speak kindly on the program. So I'm left with quite a bitter taste in my mouth, and it has be second (and third) guessing my choices. I'm thrilled to have been admitted to Columbia, but I'm not so sure about accepting the offer because of what I've heard. If I'm going to invest $100K in something, I want it to be exceptional and worth every penny. If I can't get what I'm paying for, I might as well go elsewhere for half the money. If I can't get a phenomenal education, why should I invest that much money? I'd love to go to Columbia for the namesake alone, but from what I've heard, I really can't justify it, and don't want to regret my decision. This is one of the biggest decisions I've had to make in my entire life, and I don't want to decide on namesake alone. I want a quality education that will adequately prepare me for my future as a nurse practitioner. If Columbia is just as good as the less expensive schools, I might as well go there. I've been accepted to other really good schools, and I don't want to make the wrong decision and be paying it off for the next 20 years.

So, given all the negative feedback I've received about Columbia, what do the current ETPers have to say? Was it worth it? Do you ever regret your decision? If you had to pay an extra $50K to go to Columbia, would you do it?

I'm so conflicted, and I wish I'd only heard positive things about the program. If there weren't so many negative things on this board (which is really my only source for opinions), I'd be at Columbia in a heartbeat. But at this point, I can't justify it. :(

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Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.

I'm so conflicted, and I wish I'd only heard positive things about the program. If there weren't so many negative things on this board (which is really my only source for opinions), I'd be at Columbia in a heartbeat. But at this point, I can't justify it. :(

Well, it's kind of like what Mah...--i mean Yogagal said. People usually don't post here if everything is awesome. It's like a restaurant. If you enjoyed the food and service, you usually won't go out of your way to post about it (well, most people). But if your food was cold and full of roaches, and the wait staff was rude, blah blah blah... you're going to immediately tell every single person to NEVER eat there.

Here you have 4 (rather content) current ETPers who know that there ARE negative posts out there. We are here because we experienced exactly what you are now, just last year. The program IS tough, there WILL be times when you hate it, and there ARE moments when you wonder if you made the right choice...

But then there are times when your preceptor pulls you aside and comforts you as you watch your patient dying, and times when a professor goes over every single question on a 100 question exam, just to help you know what questions you got wrong, and WHY you got them wrong.

People are different. There are different expectations, different standards, and simply different personalities. My suggestion is for you to attend visiting day and ask every question you ever had about the school and program. PM any of us if you want to keep it private.

-Art

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Well, it's kind of like what Mah...--i mean Yogagal said. People usually don't post here if everything is awesome. It's like a restaurant. If you enjoyed the food and service, you usually won't go out of your way to post about it (well, most people). But if your food was cold and full of roaches, and the wait staff was rude, blah blah blah... you're going to immediately tell every single person to NEVER eat there.

Here you have 4 (rather content) current ETPers who know that there ARE negative posts out there. We are here because we experienced exactly what you are now, just last year. The program IS tough, there WILL be times when you hate it, and there ARE moments when you wonder if you made the right choice...

But then there are times when your preceptor pulls you aside and comforts you as you watch your patient dying, and times when a professor goes over every single question on a 100 question exam, just to help you know what questions you got wrong, and WHY you got them wrong.

People are different. There are different expectations, different standards, and simply different personalities. My suggestion is for you to attend visiting day and ask every question you ever had about the school and program. PM any of us if you want to keep it private.

-Art

Yup, I agree with Art. Step away from your computer. Do not make your decision based on an internet message board. Keep in mind, there are all only a handful of the hundreds and hundreds of students who have gone through this program who post here. If I had taken to heart everything I read last year, I wouldn't be here, and I am so glad that I am.

Do your research on all the schools you're considering and make the decision that feels right to you.

Good luck, take some deep breaths, you'll be okay.

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Hi, I'm a newly accepted Columbia ETP student on the FNP track. I'm trying to estimate how much tuition would cost for the prelicensure part, and then for the specialty part. I realize it's $991/unit for regular courses, and $1258/unit for clinical courses. For full-time students, it's 12 units/semester without clinical courses, and 9 units/semester with clinical courses. But how many clinical courses do we take during the prelicensure portion? and for the specialty portion?

I tend to look at things in details. The problem is, I can't find a sample course schedule for ETP students on the Columbia website. It's hard to figure out how many units we take per semester, and what type of courses we'll be taking. Anyone know where I can find a sample schedule? anyone willing to share theirs?

Thanks!

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Specializes in Diabetes, Primary care.

Joining Sherlee's question. One more thing: can you give us a time schedule, in terms of when did you start and end classes, especially during summer. I'd really appreciate that! And repeating my question: do accepted people need to be CPR-certified this year?

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For everyone who will probably be entering the ETP program in May or who are current ETPers....

Are most of you coming straight out of undergraduate school, or have most of you worked for a significant period of time? It seems like I am the only one entering right out of undergrad. In undergrad, did you all major in science-related fields or something completely unrelated, and what type of school did you attend? Also, when you say that the nursing program is difficult, is that in relation to all other nursing programs, top nursing programs...? Are the courses more difficult than undergraduate pre-medical (not pre-nursing) ones? And do you think that going to Columbia over, say, SUNY (not saying that the Columbia nursing program is better..it's just a more recognizable name overall) gives someone a competitive advantage when finding a job? Sorry, it's a lot of questions...I'm just trying to understand it all more

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for everyone who will probably be entering the etp program in may or who are current etpers....

are most of you coming straight out of undergraduate school, or have most of you worked for a significant period of time? it seems like i am the only one entering right out of undergrad. in undergrad, did you all major in science-related fields or something completely unrelated, and what type of school did you attend? also, when you say that the nursing program is difficult, is that in relation to all other nursing programs, top nursing programs...? are the courses more difficult than undergraduate pre-medical (not pre-nursing) ones? and do you think that going to columbia over, say, suny (not saying that the columbia nursing program is better..it's just a more recognizable name overall) gives someone a competitive advantage when finding a job? sorry, it's a lot of questions...i'm just trying to understand it all more

for myself:

i graduated in 2003 and have been working as a training coordinator for an hmo and taking pre-reqs at night.

graduated from uc berkeley in english (no science minor either)

i think i am expecting that any accelerated program is going to be more difficult than any previous course load i might have had in general. i think the hours you should expect to be studying to be much higher than it might have been in your undergrad.

bear in mind, i worked all through school too. i still think that this program will be harder than a full time job + full time school of the standard variety. but that is just me.

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Wow where to start. Here is what I can remember and address:

CPR - yes. Get it done.

Hours - many, especially in summer. Tons of lectures. 8 hours daily, and clinical from 7am til after 3pm. Studying hard, lots of exams - physiology, community health, nursing lab, physical assessment, nursing practice...pharmacology - lots of sciences. (But I'm an English/Rhetoric major and I did fine.)

I believe the 2nd bachelor's is 60 units - 20 in summer, fall and spring. What more schedule do you want? Like a breakdown? I can do it if you want...you will know more soon.

As to negativity - show me the better cheaper option. None of us went anywhere but here, so there is no point of reference. I can say that plenty of friends in GEPN at Yale are fed up with issues around placements and other red tape, same for Pace or NYU...but if you believe you can get it cheaper, and better, then hell yeah - why would you come into an investment like this with an attitude problem or riddled with doubt???

Accelerated programs have built-in stress, for students and for administration/faculty. What is more valuable? Time? Student/teacher ratio? Clinical placements? Patient population? Location? Pedigree?

You have to look at your goals. You will get work. Nurses are in demand. Ivy League may not be your thing - but since you got into a great school, you have to be ready embrace all that comes with it. There are fabulous aspects and less fabulous ones. If it is a bang for your buck bottom line kind of question, only you can answer that. :lol2:

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Specializes in Emergency.

Fluffhead and all the other current-ETPers,

All this information is really appreciated!

Regarding the CPR requirement, was there a specific organization that you had to go through? I remember seeing a thread somewhere in a forum regarding CPR certification and that only a specific org was valid - someone had gone through Red Cross, but was not able to use it... I just don't want that to happen to me! :)

For any prospective applicants, including ndnutmeg: I graduated in 2005 with a Media Studies major and a Classical Studies minor - did not work at all in healthcare, but did have some volunteering experience in the past. When I was at an open house last year, there were people there who had been out of college for 20 years and some who were getting ready to finish up their undergrad curriculum in areas like anthropology and psychology... it's a very diverse applicant pool.

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