Boston Direct Entry Program - Calling All Applicants!

U.S.A. Massachusetts

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Hello everyone - I just wanted to create a thread for those of us applying to direct entry programs in the Boston area to talk. Has anyone heard from any schools yet? Although I did not apply to Regis early decision (I am applying by the regular deadline), I know that they have likely already notified people - congrats to those who got in! I called Boston College a few days ago, and they said they are notifying people late February. I'm also applying to MGH, Northeastern and Simmons.

Good luck to everyone! :nurse:

I'm a current student and there's tons of information about this elsewhere but these are my 2 cents.

Rankings don't matter. They really, really don't. All the programs in the Boston area are highly-regarded and you graduating and passing the boards is what jobs look for, not a particular school.

As for clinicals, you'll have a clinical at MGH first and second semester of the first year. Those are your general med-surg clinicals, where you do the majority of your hands-on nursing. There are two other clinicals (psych first semester and community second semester) that are more spread out. The majority of sites are in Boston but there are some on the North Shore, South Shore, and MetroWest. You get to request your placements for both of those and basically everyone makes requests based on what's convenient for them. I haven't heard of anyone without a car being placed in a non-t accessible location, nor have I heard of anyone having to commute several hours.

Our class is pretty diverse in terms of location-there are definitely a bunch of people who moved to Boston from other places to attend the program. It seems like about 75% of our class lives in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Quincy and the rest commute anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours. My advice would definitely be to live close to public transportation and plan on commuting to class and MGH clinicals because parking is truly a nightmare.

Any other questions, let me know. Although it's getting to the end of the semester and nursing school has a tendency to make you loopy, so I'm not sure how helpful I'll be :)

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i have questions! i thought that i was set with my selection, but now i'm thinking..

i was accepted into umass and mgh adult/gero primary care (which will all be merged into adult by the time i complete the program) and just got accepted into simmons fnp program. ahhhh!

here are my questions:

1. do i really need to have the bsn and msn?

2. i hear fnps are most employable, should i take that into consideration? my heart is in the adult/population, but in all honesty, i don't want to be scrounging for jobs for the next 30 years of my life!

any advice from students at these programs or others in the same boat would be sooo helpful. i want to make sure i'm making the right choice. my financial brain says umass, but i don't want to pass up a great career move over a few g's.

thank you and good luck to everyone with decisions!

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I just called Simmons and asked if all of the letters were sent out yet. This is what they told me: There were 300 applicants, so the decision committee decided to take the applications in 3 waves of 100 applicants each. The first 2 waves were already sent out and the last one should be sent within the next week or so. She said that my application fell in the last batch of 100 but that it doesn't mean anything, they still have spots available. So anyone who is in the same boat as me and waiting to hear from Simmons don't bother checking your mailboxes until at least the middle of next week.

Fingers crossed. I'm hoping to get into Simmons because I am waitlisted at MGH and NEU. So frustrating...

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Hi all! I am looking for advice.

When I decided to become a nurse practitioner, there was no doubt in my mind that ACNP was the specialty for me. I think my recent doubts stem from the fact that I have a 15 month old daughter and want more children. I was accepted to the acute care specialty program at MGH as well as the Simmons FNP program, and now I don't know what to do! I have read on these boards that you can only switch specialties at MGH if there is a spot available, and since FNP seems to be the most popular program I am concerned that if I decide to switch I will not be able to!

The acceptance letter to Simmons explains why they switched to only offering the FNP and I am just wondering if that is a more flexible option?

Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance and congratulations to everyone that was accepted :)

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Hey Taw620,

Although it is great to ask for advice, I honestly think that you should go with what is best for you because in the long run if you pick a specialty because of what everyone else's think, you will be the one being unhappy and getting stuck with something you did not want in the first place. . Congratulation on your acceptance and good luck with your decission :)

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Thanks johanne502002!

I just wish that I had a little more time to decide (I am in the midst of my final semester of biology degree)...

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Taw, I would try to meet with the people at MGH personally who decide these things and can speak about the applicant pool this year and see what they say about the situation (this is not something to be handled on the phone by staff hired to deal with people, or with us future students and applicants here on these boards, since we really have no power or knowledge beyond what we've heard). This year's pool might be different, and who knows, they might be flexible or might be willing to promise you something if they want you to come to the school (I've been to grad school before, and these sorts of things definitely went on...)

Good luck!

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Just got my rejection letter from Northeastern - no surprise, I knew this was coming!

It's all good, however - I think I know where I'll be next year!

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hey PsyMC,

I was wandering if you've decided if you are going to go to NEU or MGH. What specialty did yu apply for. Good luck with everything.

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Hey Johanne - it's funny you asked me this today, because this morning I sent in my MGH letter withdrawing my acceptance. I had been sitting on the decision for a bit and went back and forth but decided on NEU. I applied for the child/adolescent psychiatric specialty. What about you? What school/track are you going for?

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Hey PsycMC,

I applied for the child/adolescent psychiatric specialty as well but I was waitlisted. Hopefully I will get off the waiting list because MGH is my first choice. Good luck with everything.I'm curious, what made you decide on NEU?

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Johanne,

I chose NEU because I liked the idea of having a portion of the program dedicated to working as an RN prior to starting the specialty track. I also appreciated that they don't require students to officially declare your specialty until a year into the program... although I know I want to do the psyc track, I'm not 100% sure on what population I want to work with. NEU also allowed for the option to going for a CNS or NP. And lastly, I had an overall good experience with the program director and the director of the psyc track.

I hope you hear back from MGH soon!

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