i am planning on doing the early application for fall of 2011. i was hoping you guys could fill me in on some things.
Does anyone know how essential it is to have experience volunteering or working at a hospital to get into UIC because i am having a lot of difficulty volunteering at any hospital. they have waiting lists and i am not a CNA or anything. has anyone been accepted without that experience?
i do have a 3.8 GPA, finished with most prereqs at one of the city colleges, and can write some good essays but is that enough?
are there any transfer students here who got accepted into the program or who are going to apply?
also, has anyone here tried applying for early admissions and got pushed to regular admissions? and if so, were you accepted in regular admissions?
Is anyone else applying for early admissions?
thanks!
Good luck to everyone who has applied for fall 2010
Yeah they are random. Basically during orientation you do a "lottery" were you pick your preference for your Fall rotation. However, not everyone get their first pick. During Spring we filled out a survey to see which site we were most interested in but not everyone get their first choice.
The end of Fall semester you will meet with your counselor who will give you your degree plan and tell you in what order you will do your clinical. For example my order is Spring 2011 Mental Health and Med/Surg
Fall 2011 Pediatrics and OB/GYN and Spring 2012 I have Community and Leadership.
Other students have their clinical in different orders and you do not get to choose your order.
I worked full time nights fall semester and it was VERY difficult. You will have a lot of studying and projects to focus on for school so working more than 20 hrs a week is not a good idea. I had to change my work schedule to weekends only.
I have to thank you bullielover. All this information is really helpful. I now at least have an idea of what I have to prepare for. I appreciate the time you've taken to reply. I might bug you later again if I have another question, if that's cool with you.
Hey uicbsnprospect and bullielover! I am getting a little nervous about orientation too. It's coming up soon so I think we'll be gettin some info on what time to be there and other important info. I'm thinking by email. Bullielover, thank you for all this great info. It really helps a lot because now I know a little more of what to expect. Did you have any sort of medical experience before the program? Do you think it helps if you do?
Hey browneyes. I checked online and it said that it starts at 9 and goes to 4pm. If you go to the UIC website and look for school of nursing. Theres an orientation page that tells alot of what is going to b discussed and expected. If you can't find it I'll try and post a link later.
Wow! Bullielover, you are truly sensational. To live quite far and work at nights, how did you do all that? So did you commute even from the start of the program, from the NW suburbs all the way to UIC? How did you manage everything? Can I give you a round of applause? But really, you're amazing. Thank you for giving us the gist for the program. My first clinical will also be in NMH and I'm very excited. Did you carpool or commute to UIC for your afternoon class? How was your experience over all?
Thank you! I needed to do all that because I didn't receive financial aid so I decided to work full time to help pay most of it. Luckily I won't have to do that this year. First semester was brutal! But you just have to stay positive and realize this situation is only temporary and I had my family and bf who were very supportive. Second semester is very different...you are usually in the classroom only once or twice a week vs. first semester where it is every day. That helped with the commute and my work schedule. I had clinical Th/Fr and would just go straight to class afterward from northwestern so afternoon classes weren't a big deal. I never car pooled except when going back to school from a clinical site because we were all going to the same place. Otherwise from Rosemont I would take a bus right to my work, so that was nice!
If you can survive the first 2 hectic weeks then you will do just fine! :) But make sure you don't make changes to your work availability until after those 2 weeks, because that's when you will find out what time you have to come for labs and mandatory lab practice. Labs would take 4 hrs at times. So bring coffee.
The only experience I had was my CNA class I took senior year, but I never worked as a CNA. It helps make you comfortable communicating with patients and handling different situations-but you will learn to do that as you progress week to week. So don't worry if you don't have experience!
Thanks bullielover and good luck in your senior year. It's very exciting as we get closer and closer to the first day of class. lol. A lot of preparing to do this summer until then. Did the pharmacology book help you for your first dosage calc test? On another note I'll be at NWM for clinicals w/ Reese. How were your clinicals there? Any info on the instructor?
Kim's great! She wants you to be assertive and productive and is very patient. The medication cal test is VERY easy, maybe some basic algebra but nothing crazy. You can take a practice test as many times as you want before the real test-it's online. They tell you the formulas for some of the stuff during lab. I didn't get the summer package materials if that's what you are talking about. The regular pharmacology book for patho/pharm didn't have equations I don't think-just medication information.
Yeah I meant the summer package. I bought it at orientation because they made it seem mandatory. Oh well, I need a refresher anyways. :tku: as always for the helpful info I really appreciate it.
At bullielover :tku: for all the replies to the original post posted! I have applied for admissions to UIC and am waiting for reply. TGhank you for all those tips. I work full time as a CMA at Rush hospital but might have a quit because my boss won'twork with me. Thanx again!
But really, you're amazing. Thank you for giving us the gist for the program. My first clinical will also be in NMH and I'm very excited. Did you carpool or commute to UIC for your afternoon class? How was your experience over all?
uic-bsn-prospect
9 Posts
so are the clinicals assigned at random every semester? im just worried about being able to get to the locations on time as i work nights.