Augusta Univ-MSN/CNL- Fall 2019 Entry

FutureCRNAye, MSN · Sep 17, 2018

Hey everybody! I'm currently in the CNL Class of 2019 as well and will be more than happy to answer questions for y'all! Don't stress too much about anything just yet; you're all ahead of everybody else in terms of planning, which looks excellent in the eyes of the nursing school. They told us day 1 of classes that in the nursing world "If you're not early, you're late"!

Here are some stats from our class:

Class Size: 131

Augusta Cohort Size: 84

Athens Cohort Size: 47

M/F Ratio - 25% Male, 75% Female

Median Age: 28

To address the question pertaining to previous healthcare experience: I would not say it is completely necessary, as I know people in the program who haven't had any experiences! I personally made it a point to gain some experience doing observations in my old pediatric office as well as with a plastic surgeon. Those were incredibly valuable experiences and taught me a lot about nursing, and I think any experiences add to your application.

For the GPA question: I am not sure about other applicant's GPA, but the best advice I can give is to remember that entry into the program is competitive, so better GPA's might fair better. That being said, they also examine factors such as courseload (12 credits vs 18+credits/semester), difficulty of classes, and most importantly improvement (How much increase have you had in your overall undergrad GPA, is there an upward trend, etc..) Keep in mind that if your GPA is under a 3.25, then you must submit either GRE or MAT scores.

ruffj · Sep 18, 2018

Hey everybody! I'm currently in the CNL Class of 2019 as well and will be more than happy to answer questions for y'all! Don't stress too much about anything just yet; you're all ahead of everybody else in terms of planning, which looks excellent in the eyes of the nursing school. They told us day 1 of classes that in the nursing world "If you're not early, you're late"!
Here are some stats from our class:
Class Size: 131
Augusta Cohort Size: 84
Athens Cohort Size: 47
M/F Ratio - 25% Male, 75% Female
Median Age: 28
To address the question pertaining to previous healthcare experience: I would not say it is completely necessary, as I know people in the program who haven't had any experiences! I personally made it a point to gain some experience doing observations in my old pediatric office as well as with a plastic surgeon. Those were incredibly valuable experiences and taught me a lot about nursing, and I think any experiences add to your application.
For the GPA question: I am not sure about other applicant's GPA, but the best advice I can give is to remember that entry into the program is competitive, so better GPA's might fair better. That being said, they also examine factors such as courseload (12 credits vs 18+credits/semester), difficulty of classes, and most importantly improvement (How much increase have you had in your overall undergrad GPA, is there an upward trend, etc..) Keep in mind that if your GPA is under a 3.25, then you must submit either GRE or MAT scores.

Are you attending the Augusta or Athens campus?

FutureCRNAye, MSN · Sep 19, 2018

I am at the Augusta campus!

ruffj · Sep 19, 2018

Good, talk to me about parking! How bad is it and where do y'all park?

aniretake, MSN, RN · Sep 19, 2018

I am giving them one more week. I work with 2 of them, but dont want to be a pest.

FutureCRNAye, MSN · Sep 20, 2018

Im assuming you heard the rumors, and I'm afraid they're true! Parking is really at a premium. Trying to find a spot on-campus is borderline impossible unless you arrive at 6am. Most of us end up parking in the Laney Walker stadium lot and walk across the street to campus. The lot fills up around 8:15am, and then they have a few overflow lots available in the surrounding area. I've definitely had to find some parking on the street before, and it wasn't the worst experience!

ruffj · Sep 20, 2018

Ugh! Just what I expected. I was thinking of just parking anywhere the bus route accesses. I'll figure it out.

I know you've got to be busy. But, is there anyway you can describe a typical week you're experiencing? Lab days vs class days vs clinic hours. Number of peeps per class. Anything meaningful.

And, how you budgeting your time off campus for reading/studying? I know everyone's different, but I'm just taking a broad look.

Thanks, your input is cherished!

Medlife2023 · Sep 21, 2018

When I attended 2009/2011, I paid for reserved parking because I drove an hour to get there. It really helped me to just have that designated park waiting on me in front of my building. Just letting everyone know, you do have parking options if you're willing to pay extra.

ruffj · Sep 21, 2018

Yeah, I was looking into that. Like you said, it costs $$$. Like, $88 a month now, I think.

Unfortunately, last time I checked out the website, reserved spots were unavailable.

Ugh! Not to mention, reserved spots look like they are everywhere.

I guess these "scrubs" were made for walk'in! Lol.

Moscrows, MSN · Sep 22, 2018

Class of 2019 here too. The walk isn't bad from any of the lots. It only takes about 10 mins to walk from Laney. The overflow lots have always had spots, but I was warned by the shuttle driver not to walk from the lot on Wrightsboro because it's not a good part of town and the police don't patrol the area like they should. (There aren't a lot of people who park over there so it's not easy to find someone to walk with).

Moscrows, MSN · Sep 22, 2018

First semester we have lab M/F mornings and open lab in the afternoons (Athens has it all on one day and open lab the other day). We are in class all day Thurs and we start clinical 1 day a week in Oct. Two courses are on-line so you'll have to figure out how to work them into your schedule. I've heard this is the "easiest" semester and I always feel like I'm behind and don't have a chance to catch my breath (I have a bunch of kids so it's like I have a full time job on the side and it would probably help if I wasn't on here haha). I would recommend getting an NCLEX study book before you start the program to learn strategies to answer the questions before you start because I haven't had extra time to do it in the program. We've only had one exam, but from what I can tell, all of the exams have NCLEX like questions on them.

ruffj · Sep 22, 2018

Wow! Thanks.

Now get back to it, don't let me hold you up. Lol.