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.
Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.
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.
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:).
[banana]thank you for even more awesome input!!![/banana]
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.
there's certainly an element of truth to this. i don't want to rain on anyone's parade. if it was a goal to get into columbia, and you made it, by all means, congratulations! i'm sure columbia graduates a lot of great nurses. :pumpiron: :caduceus:
I took it at the Lower Manhattan site down by Wall St. It, um, SUCKED. I was totally convinced that I failed. Shut off at 75 (of course) and I refused to believe I did that well. Almost all the questions were either prioritizing (so no definite right answer) or drug/patho questions on things I'd never heard of. Honestly, I'd study strategy more than actual patho. Except for electrolytes and ABG stuff (which I'm glad I took a moment to re-learn), I'd rest on the knowledge base you have, and try to learn how to out-think the test. Think about it: all the patho and drug stuff, in the real world, you'll be able to LOOK UP when you need it.
Thanks for the update! I'm taking it at Wall St too. There were no dates at 34th St. Oh well. I'm a nut when it comes to tests. I'm just going to study and try not to stress too much.
[color=gray]"i can't fathom that an msn would be worth anything near this kind of money. "
hmmm.
rn (with or without bsn) = at least $40,000 in my area.
msn (cnm or similar) = at least $75,000 in my area.
i see the difference. i don't condone the price of these programs at all, but i 100% believe that an msn is worth the price one pays for it. if you use an educational loan/debt calculator, the debt one accumulates from the program does not exceed the recommended amount of school debt for the starting salary. (ie; you make enough to pay it back without strain)
as far as ivy vs. nonivy, i agree that good nurses come from all kinds of schools, from community colleges through ivy! however, if one is interested in research and getting into a doctoral program, i highly suggest schools with the best resources, and i can honestly say that you can tell the difference between an ivy and a traditional public institution when it comes to resources.
[color=gray]"i can't fathom that an msn would be worth anything near this kind of money. "
hmmm.
rn (with or without bsn) = at least $40,000 in my area.
msn (cnm or similar) = at least $75,000 in my area.
i see the difference. i don't condone the price of these programs at all, but i 100% believe that an msn is worth the price one pays for it. if you use an educational loan/debt calculator, the debt one accumulates from the program does not exceed the recommended amount of school debt for the starting salary. (ie; you make enough to pay it back without strain)
as far as ivy vs. nonivy, i agree that good nurses come from all kinds of schools, from community colleges through ivy! however, if one is interested in research and getting into a doctoral program, i highly suggest schools with the best resources, and i can honestly say that you can tell the difference between an ivy and a traditional public institution when it comes to resources.
if it fits your value curve, by all means, you should do it. consider me to be cheap in this regard. 16k for both paramedic and rn licenses seemed about right to me :), and excelsior college would cost you the same no matter where you did it. however, it isn't for the faint of heart. there is no spoonfeeding, and it's sink or swim all on your own.
i'll agree that the one area where prestige of an institution may help you is in pursuing an academic career in nursing. but if you can demolish the gre with a very high score, then that's even better than an ivy league institution. you could go whereever you want.
for example, i scored in the top 1% on gmat. that has opened so many doors for me, it's simply amazing. i've got my choice of where to go. however, i'm going to univ of florida (still a top 50 program, and where i got my undergrad).
some things are more important than individual prestige... such as winning a national championship in basketball! :). not to mention that we've got a great chance of winning this year's national championship in football. some things, an ivy league college can't touch.
go gators!
well, i'm going to drop out of this thread, lest i sidetrack it. to those at ivy league colleges, good for you! make the best of any and all opportunities that come your way. the profession is so much larger than any or us as individuals. i am hoping to make a difference where i can, to the best of my abilities. i'm sure you're trying to do the same.
Specializes in Perioperative Orthopaedics - scrub/circ.
first day wasnt bad. second day beat me up. 11 hours of lecture.... thats something that requires getting used to. We didnt have clinicals the first week, so most people went out to explore the city. Me? I'm spending my day figuring out a new way to study (I formally had to re-write things several times for stuff to marinate in my brain...VERY time consuming).
Everyone has been really cool. I can count the number of people from Texas on one hand (it seems everyone is from east/west coast), but I enjoy learning of the massive cultural differences btw the regions of our country... even if i do get a lot of assumptions about being from Texas (It's HOUSTON people... you know? 4th largest city?). It's crazy cause from what I've seen, there are no slackers here. You dont have that one person in class that wants to bum notes off you cause they slept... people here are really driven, and that's extremely refreshing.
The dorms arent bad (for dorms). You can wake up a little later and ur right next to class. I was nervous about dorms being loud (from my previous undergrad experience at Texas Tech), but because everyone on the med center campus is older, focused, and spending a LOT of money... it's been cool (or as my California classmates would say... "hella" cool).
The dorms arent bad (for dorms). You can wake up a little later and ur right next to class. I was nervous about dorms being loud (from my previous undergrad experience at Texas Tech), but because everyone on the med center campus is older, focused, and spending a LOT of money... it's been cool.
Aw. Wait a couple weeks until the undergrad summer kids come. I think there was a party every night, at least on the roof.
HYPEractiveTTU
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[banana]thank you for even more awesome input!!![/banana]