I'm new to the allnurses.com site and am so impressed at the wealth of information available on here. Kudos to everyone who participates and posts- sharing your knowledge is so valuable, especially to newbies like me! So, I wanted to start a roll call for Jan 2010 UIC GEP applicants on here.
Yes, it may be a little early considering applications aren't due until March 2009, but I'm super excited (and terrified). I'd love the opportunity to commiserate with some fellow students over the intimidating application process. I just started studying for the GRE and am feeling like I need to go back to the second grade to re-learn basic math!! Did anyone else have this same experience?
I'm 26, work full time in a completely non-health care field, graduated with a degree in Philosophy and pre-med emphasis (don't worry, I came to my senses right out of college and decided med school is not the most effective way (for me) to make a difference!). Most of my pre-reqs are done, except for A&P II and the Research Methods course. I'm having trouble getting letters of reccommendation, shadowing a NP, and studying the GRE (test anxiety...yuck!). Hope to hear from you guys!
So, who on here right now is at work and can't seem to concentrate? I think I must have checked my email 12 times in the last hour! Patience is not my strong suit. :)
Well, um, I got rejected. Yup! Got the email Tuesday night I think. So if you all still haven't heard from them, I think it's a good sign, cause they've already filtered out some of us baddies. (I applied for ACNP.)
I have to admit I was kind of surprised not to even get an interview, cause my academic record and GRE scores are really good. But I don't have any health experience and I think perhaps they sensed that it was sort of arbitrary for me to have chosen ACNP, and it was-- since applying to UIC, I've been leaning more towards doing an accelerated bachelor's and getting some experience before deciding if I want to take another step in the field and what that step might be. So I'm not too bummed out about not getting in, but it makes me more nervous, obviously, about getting into the other schools I'm interested in (which I haven't even applied to yet, they have different timelines).
Sorry to hear about that Lui. If you weren't sure about what specialty, then UIC would definitely not be right for you. With a good GPA and GRE scores - you are sure to get into a Bachelor's program. Or - had you thought about any other Direct Entry programs like Rush's or DePaul's?
With those programs, you graduate with a Masters and you are a generalist nurse. You don't have the actual NP designation. But once you've graduated, it's very easy to do a bridge program to get your NP in a specialty you really are interested in. At least, that's my understanding of how it all works. I'm planning on applying to those programs as well. I've also heard it's easier to get loans/scholarships/grants for grad school as opposed to a second bachelor's degree. But, bachelors or masters, they each have their perks! Good luck to you!
I have thought a bit about both of those schools, but for various reasons they don't seem too great to me. For Rush, I got the impression that they just switched the degree title to "Master's" cause it seemed like more people would be interested-- but I sort of don't buy that you can do six quarters of school and really be educated at the master's level. Also both of them have a ton of prereqs, which is a little annoying. Anyway basically the way I feel now is that, I came to the whole idea of nursing really recently and got excited about it, and when I first started checking it out it seemed like these direct-entry programs were made for people like me and I just assumed I'd do that. But the more I thought about it I realized that the things that I like about the nursing career actually are more a part of the direct-care RN experience, I think, than the NP experience. I hope I like being a nurse and maybe if I do, I would eventually want to become an NP, but I also think I might use experience in nursing as a bridge into other things I'm interested in, like public health, policy, health journalism, etc. Basically I think that it would be a little premature for me to jump right into being an NP (and maybe that came across to the folks at UIC).
Lately I've gotten really into JOhns Hopkins and am visiting this weekend, they have a 14 month Accelerated BSN program and I think (based on their website and student blogs and stuff) that I really like their attitude about the field of nursing. So right now I have my hopes set on that.
What on earth? I've been away from my computer all day and can't believe that we didn't hear something final today. Weezbug, asta8, KrindyK did any of you get emails from UIC?
I applied for ACNP and haven't heard anything either...im kind of going nuts but hearing everyone else hasnt heard makes me feel better. Also called Chris Ocampo today and got the VM...how odd. lol
I've heard nothing. I just called Chris Ocampo but there was no answer. If anybody gets any information, please post it so we can stay informed - I'll do the same.
I called Chris also and got nothing. I did speak with a woman from that same department who said that she could not give me any specific information but that every specialty makes their decisions different days. She said just to keep hoping for a phone call, otherwise I should receive an official rejection letter in the mail. She seemed surprised that we were all told that we would have a response via email last week. Basically I got no answers and no new info, so I guess we just keep waiting...
I know - I start to get pessimistic too when I think about it. But, lets keep in mind, there have been a few people that applied and already received rejection emails last week. So, I guess we aren't totally out of the running yet, right?
weezbug123
39 Posts
So, who on here right now is at work and can't seem to concentrate? I think I must have checked my email 12 times in the last hour! Patience is not my strong suit. :)