Anyone Applying to Samuel Merritt ABSN April, May, June 2009?

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Is anyone else applying to ABSN at Merritt for Spring 2009. Let's post our experience the next 6 months here. I'm just getting started on my application due nov 1. Good luck. :up:

hbrown83, i just found out a week ago i got accepted into the sf campus as well! i live in the East Bay as well.. i was a little hesitant to accept just because it is so expensive.. but i dont have many other alternatives and if i can find enough financial aid to help me out, i think it should be ok.. good luck to the rest of you still waiting! keep us posted.. i actually still have to do the patho class before the april 30th start date.. gonna do it at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.. has anyone done it there? ok well good luck to you all!

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Hi everyone! Just wondering if anyone who had sf as their 2nd choice or if anyone else who's applied to the other campuses received acceptance? I'm still waiting as well. I had san mateo as my 1st with sf as my 2nd choice and oakland as my 3rd. Also congratulations to those with acceptance letters!!!

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Hi everyone! Just wondering if anyone who had sf as their 2nd choice or if anyone else who's applied to the other campuses received acceptance? I'm still waiting as well. I had san mateo as my 1st with sf as my 2nd choice and oakland as my 3rd. Also congratulations to those with acceptance letters!!!

NuRsesRocK08, I had the same priority for my campus selections. Haven't gotten any notifications yet. :( Checking the mail has been such a scary process during the last two weeks. I hope the letters (or packets, I hope) come soon!

Update: Nevermind, after reading that email from Lizzie, I guess we won't know until early March. *sigh*

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First week of March! I don't know if I can wait- the three day weekend was torturous enough. Maybe I can go down there and offer my services stuffing envelopes or affixing stamps??

Here I'd been obsessively reading Lizzie's old emails today, reassuring myself with her comment that the admissions office makes "a great effort" to send out all the letters at once. Knowing that some people had already received their letters, I assumed that meant mine was on its way.

And now March?!:bugeyes:

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Hi everyone,

Jumping in here because I wanted to see if anyone had received acceptance letters for the Oakland ABSN program yet.

How do we know it's early March? When I spoke with an admissions counselor in November, she had told me we would be notified by the end of February. I know that may only be a week's difference, but that's huge! I can't wait until MARCH!

I applied to Oakland and only Oakland. Took a gamble (big time!), I know, but I just can't do the commute. I live 1.5 miles from the Oakland campus and have a toddler I want to see as much as possible. With the intensive accelerated nature of the program, I just didn't want to have to spend 2 hours a day commuting when I could be spending those 2 hours with my son. I will re-apply for next year if I don't get in this year.

Good luck to everyone!

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we got an email today saying early march

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Never mind, I just got the email from Lizzie.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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While we are waiting anxiously to follow in the footsteps of former/current SMU ABSN students, are we fully aware of what's in store for us? This is from a current Oakland ABSN student:

Some friends of mine just returned from four months of sailing their boat to the Caribbean. One of them recently shared the following words of wisdom with me, in response to my litany of complaints about my very expensive nursing school.

When sailing, one chooses a destination, and then charts a course. If the winds or currents change, the navigator must chart a new course. You don't have to change your destination, but if you don't adapt to the changing winds and currents, you will not get there. And you just might sink.

I've been staying away from the keyboard because the only thing I had to write about was how frustrated and disappointed I've been this past month. Just about everything that could have gone wrong with my pediatric rotation indeed did, and I've been committed to being angry and unhappy about this situation. It's interfered with my friendships, dating, my sleep, and most unfortunately, my experience of pediatrics.So while a small part of me would still like to rant and rave about how this has not lived up to my expectations, I am DONE complaining about this school. Really!

My patients have been amazing. They are suffering; their young lives have been forever impacted by the chronic diseases that inflict their growing bodies. My six-year-old patient has a kidney disease, and may need a transplant. My two teenage patients, young women with amazing resilience, have chronic diseases, one of the intestine, the other of the blood. These massive health challenges have been piled atop their adventures of adolescence. I could tell they were sad, maybe depressed. And still they laughed with me.

While only in my life for a day or two, these children have forever transformed me, and unknowingly cheered me as I traverse the path of becoming a pediatric nurse. I wish I had written about these miracles as I experienced them, but I was too wrapped up in my own anger, self-pity, and victimization.

This past weekend was our last of the rotation, and I was determined to learn as much as I could. I told my nurse I would like to take three patients instead of two. She was incredibly supportive, telling me she was going to show me how to do everything my instructor had neglected to teach me. I left the nurses' station filled with confidence and enthusiasm.

I stopped by each room to introduce myself to my patients and their families. The kids were just waking up, so I mostly spoke with their parents. I then returned to my first patient, a four-year-old girl, to take her vital signs and do an assessment. She was incredibly shy and withdrawn, but after a few minutes of talking and playing, she started to open up to me. Just as I was putting the blood pressure cuff on her arm, another student walked in and said, "Rob, we have to leave the hospital. Our instructor is still not here."

I was in shock. I said goodbye to the family and walked to the nurses' station. The other nursing students were waiting for the elevator, and the nurses were just staring at us. For the entire rotation, our instructor had been lazy and negligent to us, and annoying to most of the nurses. Her not showing up this morning was the last straw, and our entire group now had to leave the hospital. We were told we could return for the rest of our weekend, but only with another instructor. My school did absolutely nothing to remedy the situation, so we lost yet another weekend of clinical time. Our first weekend (our of five) had been canceled because this same instructor calling in sick. Needless to say, she is history, and so is my pediatric rotation.

I share this because the sadness I felt at having to leave the hospital was profound. And while I first responded to this incident (and how my school ignored it) was with anger, I now see the ironic gift in it all. Being ripped away from those children hurt so deeply because I was so incredibly happy being their (student) nurse. I've been angry at my instructors and my school because it's seemed like their incompetence and negligence were endangering my chances of becoming a pediatric nurse. That was just my fear talking, and I'm done listening. I am going to be a pediatric nurse, and no bungling school or instructor is going to get in my way. And I'm done being resentful, and am focusing instead of being of service, which is where this all began.

I'm keeping my eye on the prize and letting passion fill my sails.

Note: The above quote does not include the entire original post.

What a super inflation! $55,000 sure doesn't buy much.

How hard is it to swap out the lazy pediatric instructor for a competent one, especially with experienced nurses not finding job now (Please, good nurses out there, go get a master degree if you're done with bedside nursing)?

I read somewhere that SMU pays some clinical nurses $80/hr to just show up and sit around until the hours are over.

Letting a couple of rotten clinical instructors get away with no-show & nonchalance is demoralizing to the few good & dedicated ones.

With instructor no-show and cancellation of rotation, how does SMU claim that they fulfill the mandatory clinical hours??

Are good prospective students, after reading negative SMU posts on allnurses.com, being discouraged from attending SMU?

Does SMU care about protecting its reputation?

Finally, are we paying a French Laundry* price for a McDonald's level education???

* The French Laundry is the only SF restarant awarded Michelin three-star.

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Hi Everyone, I'm new to this conversation - been lurking for a while...

Anyway, I too, applied to the Oakland ABSN program for Summer 2009 at SMU and listed Oak as my first and SF as my second choice. Haven't heard just like everyone else, but here's my question. How can they admit the SF cohort, send them letters (as early as the first week in Feb.) AND give all the Oakland people a fair shot at it as a second choice? Somehow the logistics of the process at SMU doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The admissions person at Merritt told me that Oakland was the most competitive location with something like 166 applicants for 48 for spots compared to 78 each for SM and SF with 48 available spots at each of those locations. I'd think they'd have to sort out the Oakland location first in order to honor their promise that we'd be automatically considered for our 2nd choice if we didn't make our first.

And for all the money they are going to charge me in tuition, I'm wondering if school could not have done a better job of being considerate with the admissions notices. Why not let everyone know at the same time. If delayed, then delay everyone. I can't help but think there is some kind of shell game going on... with a goal of maximizing the benefit to the school at the expense of the applicants. It also seems kind of disorganized and half-baked. I'm starting not to be so impressed. :(

Am I just grumpy and tired of waiting? Maybe..Anyone else have some insights?

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How can they admit the SF cohort, send them letters (as early as the first week in Feb.) AND give all the Oakland people a fair shot at it as a second choice?

My GUESS is not the entire SF cohort has been notified. SMU admitted some candidates based on early acceptance, which is for those who were waitlisted (probably for Oakland) for the previous semester. I may well be wrong.

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Well, My cousin got accepted to the SF cohort for Summer 2009 and it was her 1st time applying... she wasn't a waitlist person from last year. I know for a fact because I was the one who told her about the ABSN program at SMU in the first place. I don't understand why she was chosen for an early acceptance. It kills me that she got in and I haven't gotten anything but emails from Lizzie saying that we have to wait longer and that notices havent been set out yet... when in fact they HAVE!

I don't understand their addmissions process. But what can we do? I feel so helpless.

Those of you who got acceptance letters, do you mind sharing your stats with us? GPA? NET Scores? Experience? I'm just curious what it takes to get accepted early.

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hey everyone.. so i got my letter of acceptance for the sf cohort the first week of february.. they gave us until the 20th (today) to turn in our letter of intent checking whether or not we accepted their offer along with a non-refundable tuition deposit of $350.. i don't know why they have sent out some letters and not others.. the only reason i can think of is that the sf cohort is the first to start classes this summer and maybe they need to get the ball rolling for them already.. as far as it being unfair for those who listed sf as their second choice, i agree it doesnt make too much sense.. but the way i see it is.. they maybe go through the applications for the people that listed sf as their first choice first.. they send out letters to those that qualify, however many that may be.. and if there are still spots left after they've picked and chosen from that batch, then maybe they look at the ones who didn't get into their first choice but had listed san francisco as their second choice.. does this make sense? i know it seems a little messed up.. but at the same time, it makes a little sense.. because if you set your priorities then they will try their best to honor that.. it does kinda suck though because youre kinda taking a gamble either way you go.. especially if you listed oakland as your first choice since there are so many people going for that campus.. by the time they realize theres no more room for that one, the other campuses might already be filled up with people who had made them their first choices.. i dont know.. thats just my take on it i guess.. could be wrong but thats the only explanation i can think of..

im really sorry you are all stressing out so much.. but the first week of march is just around the corner.. good luck to you all!

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