Azusa ABSN program

U.S.A. California

Published

hi everyone,

i'm hoping to get into Azusa's accelerated bsn program for the Jan2010 cohort. for those of you who have applied and got accepted-what factor do you think got you in? after my initial interview w/Azusa i know that getting all A's in the core prereq's is key. but do you think your essay and 3 recommendation letters weighed pretty heavily?

just trying to get an idea...i was pondering going into an LVN program this fall-but then i couldn't do the Azusa thing next Jan. so many options....

jollygirl098,

Thank you so much for all your valuable information and insight. I went through and read your postings and it has helped me so much. I am starting at Azusa EENAP in January but in the San Diego campus.

I will definitely keep in mind all of your advice.

Right now I am finishing up my last prereq, ochem/biochem. I am so eager and excited to get started already; January can't come soon enough.

Do you mind if I ask you how your job search went? Were you able to find your current job pretty smoothly and quickly? You are in med surge now? Do you know much about the San Diego campus?

Theresa

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hi theresa,

Wow ! i had no idea there would be so many apu students here. First of all I would say enjoy all your time with friends and family till you start in Jan bcoz after that even IF you want, you will not be able to spend enough time as your class and clinical schedule will be very tight.

I don't know whether it is true or not these days that there is nursing shortage. Job market is very tight as I have experienced in this economy.

As a New Grad, I started applying for jobs three mos before graduation, attended 3-4 nursing career fairs and finally got a call from one of them. When I went to apply for my current job position there were already 52 applications on the nurse recruiters desk for the postion I had applied for. I was scared to death when I saw those on her desk but I gave my best. I was earlier rejected by 5 well known hospitals and my new grad position was nothing as compared to experienced nurses. I got disheartened for a while that after spending private school fees and getting BSN degree, i was still the last in the line.

There are not many but some hospitals who hire new grads as compared to experienced nurses bcoz they know experienced nurses are over qualified and they might leave job fast if offered more money somehere else. New Grads are stiil reliable as compared to them.

Try to get good GPA in school, make your connections in school or floor and start job hunting few mos before graduation and leave the rest to GOD.

these two sites are good for new grad positions job hunt www.versant.org and www.indeed.com

Hope this helps.

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Wow jollygirl098 - you are a wonderful WELL of information! Thank you so much for your advice and input!

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jollygirl098 or other EENAP students,

Did you use the eVolve CD's that come attached to the textbooks? If yes, how often and in what ways?

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no, I didn't use them much. My only Bible for nursing school from first semester was Saunder's NCLEX book !

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Thanks again Jollygirl! I love how you are so descriptive and informative, please keep it coming!

That is what I hear, that we pretty much have to say goodbye to our personal lives. What was your schedule like? Was it Monday-Friday lecture/class time then clinicals in the weekends or evenigs? When did you study or rest? Did you ever have a set day of the week that was your day off? I guess it will be a personal challenge for my family but well worth it.

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There were not a single senior student during my time who would go out of his/her way to answer our questions and I felt the same kind of fear of unknown when I started.

No, you don't hv to say goodbye to your personal life bcoz you need your near and dear ones. At times, you would be studying the whole week and after getting your grades in med-surg or pharmacology, you'll discover your grades welll below your expectations. And you'll then need somebody close to you to discuss.

first semester had busy class and clinical schedule and top of it quizzes every other week. A student each, from my and junior cohort left the programm voluntarily after 1st sem bcoz they could not keep up with fast paced intensive course but at the same time we had married students with little kids who completed the programme with good grades. Motivation is imp

In 1st sem, we had classes from monday to friday and clinicals were also on saturdays. Usually the whole class gets divided into two groups for clinicals. People usually change their groups if certain hospital is close to their homes. one group use to go to Kaiser fontana and the other to san antonio in upland. Girls carpooled.

Sunday was my offtime and family time. I use to finish the typed assignments by sat so sunday was free. If I use to get workbook assignment for health assessment, i use to finish it in next two days even though it was due next week. Postponing assignments and not submitting work on time created bad impression in prof's mind. I loved my health assessment and pharmacology class. Med-surg was challenge but I managed to get A in the end.

On mondays, classes use to end late but on tues, wed, I use to cover all material of monday. if I was in clinical, which were 7 hrs in beginning, I would come home, take nap and still study for 2-3 hrs.

Reg schedule, it all depends on availability of faculty and this is where regional centre of inland empire is diff from main campus. I don't even want to discuss how the administration etc in school's office had suprises for us. A day before it was told clinical will start at 7:30 am and everybody reach at hospital lobby at 7 am so I set my alarm clock acc to that time. Early in morning around 5;30 am my fone keeps ringing and when I finally pick it up my friend informs me that the clinical is at 6:30 am and I argue that I have correct time and it is at 7;30 am. Well, the clinical instructor emailed everybody at 10:30 pm last evening but I am not sitting infront of email every hour. So, at that time my carpool friends saved me. Any change can happen in clinicals as every clinical inst is different.

if possible, try to stick your time table on your fridge so people in your family know that these days you cannot join them in any outings. Take your vitamins regularly !! enjoy lunch time with friends as there are lot of good places to eat close to san-bernardino campus. Hawaiian BBQ, Panda's. inn-out, starbucks for morn coffee, chipotle, panera bread....

Enjoy ! I will be back in forum next weekend

:typing

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We have our schedules and it really isn't that bad. Class all day Monday (8 am to 5 pm) then class from 2:30 to 5:30pm on Thursday, Class from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on Friday, and then one 12 hour clinical either on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday...I have mine on Saturday :(

for the first three weeks we won't have clinical but instead we will have class all day on Tuesday (8hrs) and about 4 hours on Wednesday. So, for the first three weeks we will have class every day of the week except for the weekend, but even that leaves a lot of open time to study and get stuff done. Every once in awhile I have a little panic attack, but then I remind myself, I am used to going year round and used to a much faster pace than 14 week semesters. CalPoly SLO, where I got my other degree was 9-11 week quarter system, and I always took between 17-18 units and sometimes 21 units-with a lot of labs and I still had time to meet someone, get engaged, run a half marathon and lots of other little races, go on vacations and go to church and volunteer...so this should be fine ;) (Ofcourse now I have two toddlers keeping me busy these days, and I swear they are twice all that work).

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try to get all the hands on knowledge in 3 weeks before clinicals.

if possible be the first one to volunteer in skills lab and also on floor for any new procedure even though other students might make fun of you and not like it. When you open the sterile wrapped pack of foley and practice in lab then you would be confident on floor when your nurse would ask you as to what you know about inserting foleys.

if you do not understand anything then ask right away bcoz if the same professor who took your lab is also your clinical instructor then her golden words be " Didn't I ask everybody in skills lab if they have questions and everybody nodded their head and now what ". LOL

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Thank you jollygirl098! I will do my best - even with my newly broken finger (broke it 4 days ago). I'm trying to see the bright side and make the most of this challenge - I'm learning medical shorthand (WNL = within normal limits, ADL = activites of daily living, etc.) so I don't have to write as much and I plan on becoming a "lefty" for the next few weeks. :)

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when you'll go on the floor, the first day is usually easy as the instruc'' and the nurses both know you all just started.

main thing is listen carefully when the nurse you've been assigned to gets report from the night nurse. instructors would give you may be a daily care plan sheet where you write patient details, their vital signs, input & output, medications etc.

if possible, buy this pocket size book from barnes and noble and its very handy on floor with all labs, abbreviations, skills etc, will help u even when u r out of school.

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Hi Theresa,

I am also going to be in the San Diego eenap cohort for Spring 2010. I am very excited to get started. I am also looking forward to meeting everyone. It has seemed like such a long road to get to this point....See you in January:)

Beth Anne

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