Broward College VS. Univ of Miami Accelerated Nursing Program

GabbsRN · Jan 16, 2010

From what I hear, the hospitals love BC students, at least up here in Broward. Apparently, we get more clinical hrs than the Bachelor programs in the area and they like that. As far as your points are concerned, do you know how many points you have even though they haven't posted it yet? I can help you figure it out if you need to know that to help make your decision. BC is also going to be offering an RN-BSN program in the near future, plus there are countless amounts of other programs in the area that offer the same, many you can even do online while working as an RN. The cost of UM would be a very big factor for me. BC's program costs around $6000, which is pennies compared to what a private university's cost will be. The drive would be a big factor for me as well, unless the school had this great reputation and was completely worth the drive. The only advantage I see is being finished in a year with a BSN, however, its really hard for me to justify the cost, but a lot of people go that route so its really a personal decision that only you can make. To me, if UM had a great reputation it might be worth the drive and money, but if their reputation isn't that great, I would choose BC. Just my two cents.

Also, another thing, as wonderful as it sounds to be finished in a year, how much can you really learn during that time since everything is so accelerated? BC's program is fast paced and even that is about 20 months long. I just can't see how its beneficial to the learning process to go that fast.

Abundant · Jan 16, 2010

Thanks Sunraygurl, you made alot of good points! I have a lot to think about. And how do you figure the points for BC?

GabbsRN · Jan 16, 2010

Lets say you got a B in A&P1. that class is 3 credit hrs. You take the # of credit hrs and multiply that by your grade so you would get 9 for that class, . Do that for each class and each lab but only for pre-reqs, not Micro or the other general ed requirements. Add all the numbers together, and divide by the total number of credit hrs, which is 14. The lecture courses are 3 credit hrs and the labs are 1 credit hr. This will give you the GPA that they use to calculate points.

Then look at your GPA and see how many pts you will be given for it. They do not round up, so if your GPA is 3.57 it will not be counted as if its 3.6 but rather 3.5.

You get a point if you are a Broward resident, and 5 points if you did Hosa in high school, so you can add those in if you can.

So let's say your GPA is 3.57 and you are a Broward resident, but you do not have Hosa. You will get 11 pts for GPA, and 1 for residency, so you would have 12 total. In the past, at least with my group, people with 9/10 pts got in, and people with 8 were put on an alternate list, but all alternates were accepted.

labrador4122, RN · Jan 16, 2010

I lived only minutes from University of Miami, and that is a really good school.

In my hospital, the majority of nurses have gone to UM....... and they are LOVED there. if you ask people at random where they went to school, they will tell you "UM",,,,,, a few of us went to public, and some to private schools.

UM nclex scores have increased because the standards got higher.

UM for you would be cost & drive

Personally, I would wait to get into BC, because it is way cheaper, and it will be way less stressfull than UM because you will be super busy doing the BSN in a year, as compared to BC where you take one class and a clinical every 8-6 weeks at a way cheaper price.

good luck!

Abundant · Jan 17, 2010

Greetings BumblebeeRN or anyone else, can you tell me the difference of having a BSN in the real world of Nursing compared to not having it? If I play as if cost isn't a factor (yea right) I want to choose the school that provides a good learning environment, one with a great reputation in the field of nursing, one that provides me with a thurl knowledge base and prepares me for the NCLEX. Since I live in Broward I have only heard of GREAT things about the BC North campus program (in which I applied). I would love to hear about the UM program from those who have attended there. I wonder if I could take my clinicals here in Broward if I did attend UM? But yes that drive is a killer 55 minutes one direction not to meantion the gas...but I am willing, able and determinated to make that drive if that is my best choice. Thanks for you help and advice!

GabbsRN · Jan 17, 2010

This is from another thread here: https://allnurses.com/florida-nurses/university-miami-accelerated-357373.html

Summer acclerated is like being tossed into the fire. I had that last may and really the first couple weeks were Ok but it takes alot of time figuring out what you need to be doing and studying. Then the fright sets in because of the sheer volume of knowledge you must consume. Youll prolly start with pharm (usually the deal breaker), patho, assesment, and adult 1. You will prlly have 1 day clinical 6:30-2:30. 3 days of classes and labs and 3 day weekend that you will most likely need to spend most of your time studying. I spent the better part of the summer in the library on weekends. The first half of the summer sucks the worst. You just have to hang on and try to make some friends and see what they are studying to figure out how to study for the exams. I really hated the first semester the most.
Then you get second semester and adult health two with ms. **. Oh shes a doozy. Great teacher but extremely hard exams. I started the summer and our accelerated group had 71 or something. I believe around 45 made it to second semester. We lost maybe 10 more on adult health 2. I calculate our group wass cut in half. No one flunked clinical that I know but you better show up on time. Study the powerpoints and do as many practice questions as you can (saunders, mosby nclex review etc.). Semester 2 you have more time in between exams but your in clinical 3 days and getting tons of paperwork in clinical. It was no cake walk either. For the grand finally they give you semester 3 and 21 semester credit hours (big LOL)!
Its very painfull, im not going to kid you. You will get through it but you must be 100% dedicated to it. Good luck

GabbsRN · Jan 17, 2010

Also, I don't know if this matters or not, but UM is not accredited by the NLNAC only CCNE.

GabbsRN · Jan 17, 2010

found someone else who said this: https://allnurses.com/florida-nurses/university-miami-accelerated-357373-page5.html

I forgot to add the clinicals at Miami are awesome. They must be about the best in the country. You will see tons of funky stuff at Jackson. The lecturers are a mixed bag. I think they all now their stuff pretty much frontwards and backwards, but the level of excitement definetely varies. Not sure if nursing lectureers could ever be exciting but monotone or barely decipherable english sucks. Overall, Id give lecturers 8/10 and clinical 10/10. It is unorganized and they seem to wing it but if your disciplined about studying and keeping up its not that bad. The first half of the first semester will suck really badly, boot camp style, then it gets better.

glamorousgirl07 · Jan 17, 2010

Hmmm I never heard anything bad about UM, i have heard hard & intense but its a accelerated program. I have done about half of the application but im gonna withdraw it. I was a pre med student and i have my BS that i paid enough money for. So although BCC will be a longer route I am saving a great deal of money. If it was my first go around maybe but at this point its not worth it. If you are interested in a Masters i know FAU has a bridge program for people with bachelors in another area than nursing.

Good Luck!

labrador4122, RN · Jan 17, 2010

they have to be accreddited somehow! they are graduating new RN's all the time, and are getting hired at my facility!

labrador4122, RN · Jan 17, 2010

Greetings BumblebeeRN or anyone else, can you tell me the difference of having a BSN in the real world of Nursing compared to not having it? If I play as if cost isn't a factor (yea right) I want to choose the school that provides a good learning environment, one with a great reputation in the field of nursing, one that provides me with a thurl knowledge base and prepares me for the NCLEX. Since I live in Broward I have only heard of GREAT things about the BC North campus program (in which I applied). I would love to hear about the UM program from those who have attended there. I wonder if I could take my clinicals here in Broward if I did attend UM? But yes that drive is a killer 55 minutes one direction not to meantion the gas...but I am willing, able and determinated to make that drive if that is my best choice. Thanks for you help and advice!

A BSN and an ASN RN in the real world is a $0.50/cent difference AFTER a year of working at the same facility (well at least mine anyway). Base pay is exactly the same, and you get exactly the SAME amount of training, classes you attend (like new nurse orientation etc).......... NO-ONE praises your for going to any certain school-- like if someone says "oh I went to barry for nursing school" or "oh I went to MDC".... no one cares they just say "oh cool I went there," or "oh that's neat, I went to blah blah"..... that's about it.

Your name tag just says RN on it, it doesn't say BSN on it.

The big difference to me, with a BSN is that you can go on to better things like a master's degree program, or with a little experience under your belt you can be a manager.