Advice about Vanderbilt ANP program

[king_nurse]

hey there, im doin my senior year at king college in bristol tn for my BSN and a classmate & i are thinking hard about Vandy's ANP route...we understand there is a week/month on site in nashville and clinicals able to do in your home area...hoped someone could shed some light on the following...

-how is the gre? is there any prep work for this?

-how is the staff? (king is a small private college & we are used to warm & caring instructors-tough-but caring)

-we would come straight from graduation, with the changes in 2015 we don't have a choice...would that hurt us? like being behind on the experience/learning curve?

-do they offer any assistance/counseling with job placements/loan reimbursement with potential employers?

-r we going to meet any resistance in the workforce going thru a 1 yr program? im only a senior and i feel like i dont know anything really...is that normal? all nurses say you really start learning once u start working

-are u able to work while u do this program? could i do 3/12 hr shifts 3 outa the 4 weeks?

-how many clinical hrs per wk are there? or do you just meet a certain number per semester and work them on your own pace?

thanks for any input...we really want this, but its a huge decision....any help and advice is much appreciated!

-amanda

[blackbird singing]

Hi Amanda! I know this is less than a month away, and I don't know if you could even make it, but I went to this info session Vandy put on last fall and I found it VERY helpful!

I am in the process of applying but I can answer a few questions.

-Some people do not prep for the GRE. I would recommend prepping! Just a Kaplan book from Amazon will do the trick. As long as you study at least a month in advance, familiarize yourself with each section and take a few practice tests, you will be fine. I don't know how you are testing-wise, but this is just the studying time I put in.

-On the open house day I went to, the staff all seemed very welcoming. The heads of each department were there to give presentations about their respective specialties and answer questions. I thought this was fantastic and very helpful!

-I don't know about post-graduation assistance, but I do know that if you choose to go to school part time, and you work at least 30 hours (I think) at vandy med center, they reimburse you for a significant amount of your tuition. (maybe all of it? i can't be certain..)

Here's the website! They had one in the spring as well..

http://www.nursing.vanderbilt.edu/openhouse/index.html