Thought I would start a Columbia thread for all of us who were eagerly waiting for that acceptance letter in the mail last week. Guess you can call this the meet-n-greet and maybe wear like a sticker with our screen names so we can recognize each other during the Visiting Day (ok, might look a bit goofy) but hey, what a way to start off our nursing careers together at Columbia.
I was estactic when i opened that letter, seemed like a thin envelope and was prepared for the worst, and then read the first line! I can't wait and indeed it was a life changing letter for both me and my wife, who also got accepted!! I also got into my first choice of specialty, Nurse Anesthesia, and getting into that program without ICU experience (besides being a nursing assistant in the ER and neurosurg unit as an undergrad) is just simply overwhelming. It took the whole weekend to sink in, and now, I'm psyched! I look forward to meeting all of you and enduring the next 12 months of craziness starting in June together.
Columbia is pricey and you do have to take out a large chunk in private loans... in NYC the only 'reasonable' (accelerated) program is downstate, but it is not a direct to ms(n) program. You have to do the accelerated BS and then work/reapply for the ms, which is not necessarily a bad thing... it depends on what you want.
There is other scholarship available as well. On top of the $28k, I got a $5k alumni assoc scholarship towards the masters program plus a TA-ship that will earn me credits towards my fall tuition. When you continue into the masters program there is also a $1k advanced study grant awarded. Not much, but it is something. Since you want to be a CNM, there is the NHSC, if you are interested and there are lots of loan repayment opportunities out there for CNMs. Ivys in general are pretty notorious for their endowment-scholarships being need-based and not at all based on academics.
The ETP program has changed a lot in the last 2 1/2 years since the current director took over and is continually evolving and becoming better (IMHO). The school did have some problems a while back, but I think the fact that most of my friends have easily gotten jobs at Cornell (mostly in ICUs and more specialized areas) before finishing or immediately following ETP, before they've taken the NCLEX speaks well for the program. If they turned out crappy new grads, their new grads wouldn't be so heavily recruited before getting licensed.
The Midwifery faculty is awesome and I am totally psyched to learn from them. The head of the program was recently given the excellence in teaching award by the ACNM, a student-nominated award, which I think is very telling of her abilities and teaching style. The current midwifery students I've spoken with are very happy.
Whatever you decide, you need to do what is going to be best for you. Going to a private school is pricey... and if you want a 'name brand' you are going to pay for it. Maybe go to a city/state school for the RN portion and then apply to a masters program like Yale or Downstate where you can go part time and work full-time as an RN. Many hospitals will give you tuition reimbursement towards your masters.
I have a question about summer classes--how big of a deal is it to miss a class day (not a clinical day)? My sister just had a baby today (yea!!!!) and I really want to go out and meet him sometime in June or July, but she lives in Boulder so I would need to take at least one day off from school in order to do it. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance. See the rest of you next week!
Take a long weekend and enjoy your new nephew! Have someone tape the lecture(s) you miss for you and listen to them when you get back. I did this for the Jewish holidays all year and still did quite well. Congrats!
They gave me a 28K scholarship, stafford loans, and private loans which completely covered my costs for tuition and living expenses.
Of course it costs a fortune, it's not only a private school but an ivy league. If you want a cheap school you definitely don't want to go here. I have about 60K in loans from this past year alone. Public schools are the way to go if you want a good deal.
Yikes. Perhaps there are some expenses that I'm not foreseeing. As far as I can tell, the entire program at Columbia is around $70K. Why would one need $60K for the first year alone? Are there some hidden costs I'm not factoring in?
Any reply would be very helpful! I'm still trying to figure out what I should expect to spend for this education, so I can determine if it's at all feasible/worth it. THANKS!!
Yikes. Perhaps there are some expenses that I'm not foreseeing. As far as I can tell, the entire program at Columbia is around $70K. Why would one need $60K for the first year alone? Are there some hidden costs I'm not factoring in?
Any reply would be very helpful! I'm still trying to figure out what I should expect to spend for this education, so I can determine if it's at all feasible/worth it. THANKS!!
My total expenditures for this year, including tuition, were about 85K. I think around 60ish of that was in loans. Tuition is around 56K, and then you have books, rent, food, transportation, clothes, etc. I got a 25K ish scholarship. Keep in mind that one of the loans (perkins, maybe?) is forgiven by the gov't if you work as a nurse. Then most hospitals will pay back part of your private loan (varies by hospital and length of contract).
My total expenditures for this year, including tuition, were about 85K. I think around 60ish of that was in loans. Tuition is around 56K, and then you have books, rent, food, transportation, clothes, etc. I got a 25K ish scholarship. Keep in mind that one of the loans (perkins, maybe?) is forgiven by the gov't if you work as a nurse. Then most hospitals will pay back part of your private loan (varies by hospital and length of contract).
Yup. Don't forget that the first year at Columbia is 60 credits and tuition is $933/credit. The first year involves 10-12 credits towards the masters portion as well. Perkins is the one that is forgiven.
Elizabells, you've taken the NCLEX already? Wow! You go! I'm taking it at the end of June and am totally nerve-wracked about it. :chair:
wow that's unbelievable? for a nursing degree? heck, i think maybe i spent 16k to become both a paramedic and an rn. i could get a bsn for maybe another few thousand, though i don't see that it's worth it. nursing is the one degree that i don't think the prestige of the school matters. i can't fathom that an msn would be worth anything near this kind of money.
by comparison, my entire mba program at univ of florida (my beloved alma mater) is only 32k :). go gators!
heh. this makes me feel a lot better about the money i've spent!
wow that's unbelievable? for a nursing degree? heck, i think maybe i spent 16k to become both a paramedic and an rn. i could get a bsn for maybe another few thousand, though i don't see that it's worth it. nursing is the one degree that i don't think the prestige of the school matters. i can't fathom that an msn would be worth anything near this kind of money.
by comparison, my entire mba program at univ of florida (my beloved alma mater) is only 32k :). go gators!
heh. this makes me feel a lot better about the money i've spent!
It all depends on what you want. I've heard too many stories about ADN programs with near 50% attrition rates and a 60-70% first time NCLEX pass rates (not only from students, but programs trying to get you to go there!). I'm the first to admit that I am an education snob, but going to a school with ~5% attrition rate (started with 160 students last June and 152 of us graduated this May- + 2 babies!) and a 98% first time pass rate in the past 2 years (IIRC, the 1st time pass rate was around 95% before this) put my mind at ease that I was going to get the education I needed. I have no debt left from undergrad also, and plan to work with underserved women as a CNM, so there are many opportunities for loan repayment available to me.
Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.
wow that's unbelievable? for a nursing degree? heck, i think maybe i spent 16k to become both a paramedic and an rn. i could get a bsn for maybe another few thousand, though i don't see that it's worth it.nursing is the one degree that i don't think the prestige of the school matters. i can't fathom that an msn would be worth anything near this kind of money.
by comparison, my entire mba program at univ of florida (my beloved alma mater) is only 32k :). go gators!
heh. this makes me feel a lot better about the money i've spent!
It all depends on what you want. I've heard too many stories about ADN programs with near 50% attrition rates and a 60-70% first time NCLEX pass rates (not only from students, but programs trying to get you to go there!). I'm the first to admit that I am an education snob, but going to a school with ~5% attrition rate (started with 160 students last June and 152 of us graduated this May- + 2 babies!) and a 98% first time pass rate in the past 2 years (IIRC, the 1st time pass rate was around 95% before this) put my mind at ease that I was going to get the education I needed. I have no debt left from undergrad also, and plan to work with underserved women as a CNM, so there are many opportunities for loan repayment available to me.
LB
there's lots of ways to do it. i went to paramedic school and then did excelsior's program. i could never have made it through a traditional nursing program since i tend to infuriate authoritarian personality types, what with my entrepreneurial background and outlook. excelsior was a total of 8 exams, no classes, for an asn.
if your path worked for you, that's great :). we're all different.
as far as an advanced degree, it's possible that i might pick up excelsior's master's level certificate in health care informatics. i'm picking up a cpa license (had it once, got bored with it, let it lapse) along with the mba, and i figure that's enough for me to aspire to ceo of a healthcare company. "rn" is a set of credentials i want after my last name.
as far as schools and prestige, if someone told me in a snobby way that they went to xyz nursing school, as though it implied that they were somehow more qualified, i'd have to laugh. we all take the same licensing exam, which levels the playing field. it's certainly not like getting an mba from harvard business school, nor is it like being a brain surgeon from a top medical school.
of course, in this business, you might end up with a top school where some of the professors are experts in therapuetic touch and have magical powers in their hands :). unfortunately, there's just a lot of sheer nonsense in the nursing profession at the highest academic levels.
that said, if you've got the money, and you want to spend it, by all means, go for it. if i wanted a master's in nursing, i'd go to any nln accredited program, and i'd be trying to save $$. as far as i'm concerned, they're sort of like cats.. any one is just as good as another :).
I think that going to Columbia will help for my first job as a new grad NP. After I get experience it probably won't do much but I will still have an alumni network. Ivy's tend to take care of their alumni so they can earn enough money to donate back to the school.
LizzyBennet
36 Posts
Columbia is pricey and you do have to take out a large chunk in private loans... in NYC the only 'reasonable' (accelerated) program is downstate, but it is not a direct to ms(n) program. You have to do the accelerated BS and then work/reapply for the ms, which is not necessarily a bad thing... it depends on what you want.
There is other scholarship available as well. On top of the $28k, I got a $5k alumni assoc scholarship towards the masters program plus a TA-ship that will earn me credits towards my fall tuition. When you continue into the masters program there is also a $1k advanced study grant awarded. Not much, but it is something. Since you want to be a CNM, there is the NHSC, if you are interested and there are lots of loan repayment opportunities out there for CNMs. Ivys in general are pretty notorious for their endowment-scholarships being need-based and not at all based on academics.
The ETP program has changed a lot in the last 2 1/2 years since the current director took over and is continually evolving and becoming better (IMHO). The school did have some problems a while back, but I think the fact that most of my friends have easily gotten jobs at Cornell (mostly in ICUs and more specialized areas) before finishing or immediately following ETP, before they've taken the NCLEX speaks well for the program. If they turned out crappy new grads, their new grads wouldn't be so heavily recruited before getting licensed.
The Midwifery faculty is awesome and I am totally psyched to learn from them. The head of the program was recently given the excellence in teaching award by the ACNM, a student-nominated award, which I think is very telling of her abilities and teaching style. The current midwifery students I've spoken with are very happy.
Whatever you decide, you need to do what is going to be best for you. Going to a private school is pricey... and if you want a 'name brand' you are going to pay for it. Maybe go to a city/state school for the RN portion and then apply to a masters program like Yale or Downstate where you can go part time and work full-time as an RN. Many hospitals will give you tuition reimbursement towards your masters.
Good luck,
LB