Any St Kates nursing student want to give me the heads up on what to expect.

Published

please tell all. starting st. kates in the fall. very courious as what to expect as far as cost of books 1st sem., instructors, class size, work load, and any thing else that would soften the blow or you think would be useful to me. general info/advice would be helpful as well.

thanks so much for ur input and advice in advance

Hey dinah, I noticed you enjoy mentoring :) so was curious if you could answer some questions I have about starting this Sept.?? What are clinicals like, where are they located, good/bad instructors, things to bring the first day....As you can see I have LOTS of questions, any advice you have is greatly appreciated!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.
Hey dinah, I noticed you enjoy mentoring :) so was curious if you could answer some questions I have about starting this Sept.?? What are clinicals like, where are they located, good/bad instructors, things to bring the first day....As you can see I have LOTS of questions, any advice you have is greatly appreciated!!!!

Clinicals for your first two classes ( 1st semester) are very easy. They are in LTC and focused on becoming comfortable with oral med pass and head to toe assessments. The duties are largely CNA-like ( getting the resident up, ready for the day, grooming, etc)

Some of the locations were Catholic Elder Care, one place in New Hope name I can't remember, and Lyngblomsten which is in St Paul and is a very nice facility.

You will have different ones for all semesters, but some will carry over for different semesters.

As far as what to bring the first day? DO NOT BOTHER TO BRING YOUR BOOKS!!! You will rarely ( and for some of the books, never) need to bring them to class- and your instructors will tell you ahead of time what days you will need to bring certain books to class. They are purely resources for your studying and learning outside of class

Bring your giant syllabus/lab packet from the bookstore the first day, and consider breaking it up into two binders right away- one just for the lecture syllabus half, one for the lab half.

Bring a snack ( it's gonna be a long day) a water bottle or whatever you normally do for hydration, a pen and a highlighter. That should be all you need for the first day! Also, dress in layers, comfy clothes, as the auditorium can be cold or sweltering depending.

Keep the stuff with you at a bare minimum the first day- you will probably be hopping back and forth between the lab to be oriented to it and the classroom, so don't have superfluous things with you to lug around.

Have you already bought your books? hopefully not all, as several you can either \

1. Get by without entirely or

2. Hold off on to buy for a while to spread the financial pain out a bit

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you!!!! All of your advice is SUPER helpful!!!! I'm beginning to feel less nervous and more excitement, can't wait to get started!! I did buy the books already, but only the required ones. (I wanted to avoid the rush at the bookstore) Do you know off hand what books you didn't end up needing???

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

Happy to be of help!

You can get by without the pharm book, the mental health book and the medical dictionary.

Everyone I know who bought those, including myself, barely ever opened them

The one exception may be the mental health book, but not until last semester for 2800- I got by without it, by others liked having it. Can't predict what it will be like for you as the proff who taught most of the mental health stuff just retired, but I found her lectures alone perfectly adequate for studying.

The handful of times I needed them, I always went to the library and checked out their copies on reserve and photocopied the few pages I needed.

Keep that in mind, the library has every single nursing book on hold.

Good way to get by and save $$, as several books will only ever have a few pages assigned reading from them, and depending on your comfort with the subject matter related to it, you may not need to read them- lots of times I got by without it.

So in short, it's your call, but it is not too late to return some of your books ;)

Don't hesitate to ask more ?'s, now and in the months to come!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You are a god send dinah77! :) It is so nice to talk to someone who has been through the program and get a heads up.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yes Dinah, you are awesome. It's hard to find someone who's been through the program and is willing to talk about it! Thanks for all the info on the different start dates. Do you have an opinion on which (day or evening cohort) is a better option? Also, Do you get to chose which one you want to be placed in?

I'm thinking the evening cohort might be for me. I want to work during the day. What are the schedules like for both? For example, would the evening schedule be just a couple nights a week and then additional clinicals? I'm sure I will find more of this info out at the session.

Thanks so so much for your help!

Cari

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.
Yes Dinah, you are awesome. It's hard to find someone who's been through the program and is willing to talk about it! Thanks for all the info on the different start dates. Do you have an opinion on which (day or evening cohort) is a better option? Also, Do you get to chose which one you want to be placed in?

I'm thinking the evening cohort might be for me. I want to work during the day. What are the schedules like for both? For example, would the evening schedule be just a couple nights a week and then additional clinicals? I'm sure I will find more of this info out at the session.

Thanks so so much for your help!

Cari

Cari, sorry for the delay in answering, my internet has been all wonky

You do get to choose which cohort you want, but if there is a waiting list you may end up choosing the opposite if there are openings in that one vs the other- generally, night has more openings

Both night and day have their pros and cons, but I am biased towards day- I think a lot of the better instructors teach then

you will have anywhere from 12-16 hours of lab and lecture a week spread out over 3-4 days in both night and day- Night clinicals are weekends only, Sat and Sunday 8am-4pm while in the day cohort clinical times will replace lab meeting hours- they may just cancel the lab days on clincal weeks in night, I'm not sure

So I think overall, day has a more regular schedule- the biggest pro I have heard about night is that they often got out earlier than us day people, where as it seemed in the day program we were always gonna stay the full class time, even if that meant spending time on dumb activities

does that help?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yes that helps tremendously! Thank you. I can see both have their pros and cons. I'm thinking the evening option might be for me so I can work during the day as well.

I'm sure I"ll have further questions after I get deeper in the application process. Thanks again for all your help!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in adult ICU.

I am a long-ago St. Kate's grad and I thought the school sucked. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I have since finished my BSN and am working on my MSN now, both at different schools, and the quality of those programs was far superior to anything I experienced at St. Kates.

When I went there, I don't think it was open enrollment as another poster stated. (I'm not sure -- it was the only program I applied to.) I had to send in my packet of stuff and I got a decision in about a month, if I recall. There was no waiting in line business. The pass rates for tests/classes hasn't changed, I see (78%.) If they truly do have open enrollment now, it only makes sense that they kick you out of you keep failing classes because it probably lowers their NCLEX pass rate (because they multiple class failers would probably fail that one too.)

The instructors sucked, both the clinical and the didactic ones. They were far from experts in what they were teaching. I thought the classes were too general and didn't really teach me what I needed to know. Clinicals were rotten. I spent my entire first year in LTC and subacute rehab (not enough IVs, patient's weren't very sick, etc.) I was working in a hospital as a tech at the time and I don't think if I hadn't had that experience, I would have passed. I learned a ton from my work and it was reinforced in nursing school -- it's unfortunate that it wasn't the other way around.

Wish I had something good to say about it, but I really don't.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Wow reading through all this freaked me out just a smidge. I've been "pre-nursing" this year and have to submit my final nursing application by the 15th of February. It sounds like I don't necessarily have a spot in the program if I didn't get my application in on the first day? I don't understand, I thought as long as I was pre-nursing and kept my grades up and had all my requirements that I would continue onto the 2 yr. nursing program....is that wrong? If so I'm majorly bummed. I know we all have long courses to our nursing degree but I'm going on 4 years and haven't even started the PROGRAM yet, I don't think I can wait another year if I don't get in now. Please tell me that's not the case!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Tele, OB, public health.

no no, don't worry! Are you "pre-professional?" if so, don't worry- you have a definite spot- if not, you still most likely have a spot- under what circumastances were you admitted? Did you have to do A&P and all of that at St kates? if so you are "pre-professional".

Up Vote Up Vote ×

dinah77-

I have a question about St Kate's Dosage and Calculation class. Is it worth studying ahead? After joining allnurses.com and reading other posts I am nearly curled up in the fetal position about to cry, worried how hard his is going to be. I chose St Kate's because how the program is structured, I like only worrying about one nursing class at a time, even if it is a heavy load. I read your previous posts and I am going to look back on my old psychology course work to freshen up. Anything else I can do to prepare?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion