BSN to UT Austin and CNA

[Yunikat, BSN, CNA, RN]

Hello! I am currently attending in ACC.

I applied to UT Austin (undergraduate school) in major nursing for this coming Fall 2016.

I haven't heard them yet, but I would hear from them soon ( in 4 days) I am very nervous and excited!!

So here are my questions!

1. I want to get an advice how to do well in university in general (while you are in pre-nursing or nursing program)

Because I heard that junior college and university will be very different.

how do you manage your time? how many hours do you work? (ideal working hours..etc)

2. I am also currently volunteering in North Austin st.David's hospital ( I volunteer once of week, and I have been volunteering about 6 months)

I am planning to apply a job in st. David's, and hopefully I can get PCT (patient Care Tech) position as soon as I hear from UT Austin (when UT Austin accept me)

Do you think it is a good idea to work in hospital while you are pre-nursing in UT Austin?

if so, how many hour would be ideal hours to work while you are in pre-nursing?

3. Lastly, I got a CNA ( certified nurse aid) from ACC and it is almost expired so I need to renew. I heard that If I work in hospital, hospital will pay me to renew.

is that true?

I also heard that if you have CPR, you are more likely hired ( that is what one of clerks told me in St.David's) but my CNA class did not teach CPR.

How much and how long does it take for taking CPR class. And what location or institution would you recommend me to take CPR class around Austin?

Thank you very much!

[theVaway]

Yes having BLS/CPR will increase your chances of

being a more valuable candidate. University for me was a little more work but not ridiculously harder. yes working in a hospital is good while in nursing

school, connections are everything! They don't usually pay for CNA renewal as its a requirement of the job like they don't pay for RN renewal. good luck!

[Yunikat, BSN, CNA, RN]

Thank you for comments! :)

[danyoon1019]

Hi again and thanks for answering my question earlier!

Just in general, junior college (JC) requires less time investment in the courses. This isn't always true (especially for the sciences) but since most of the courses you take at JC are lower division classes, they tend to be a bit easier. Once you transfer to a 4 year school, you're going to be a junior so you'll be taking your upper div courses. Again I'm not sure about nursing upper div courses since I just started taking my pre nursing courses, but for psych, the upper div courses were much more analysis-oriented with a lot more writing and manipulation of the material rather than just simple memorization and reciting of the material back on exams. Basically, once you're at the 4 year university, you'll be required to do much more in-depth work with the material than what you did at JC.

During my time as a psych major at University of Houston, I worked part time (about 16-20 hours a week) and was a full time student as well (4 classes per semester). If you are okay financially and you have someone supporting you, I would recommend working as little as you can. Actually, if you don't have to work, don't work (unless it's the CNA or Med assist since those help with your application). If you can handle working while studying, then go for it but just for myself, I really wished I didn't have to work because it was always a battle against time for me.

I can't say much about the pre nursing prep since I just started that (and therefore you're much ahead of me) but just from the 4yr university experience, I'd recommend literally writing out your daily schedule and stick to it as much as possible.

For example, I tried to group my classes onto certain days of the week (let's say school on only Tues & Thurs), which left Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun free so that let me work M,W,F & Sat from 9-5. After work and classes, I literally went straight to the school library and stayed there till closing. You might not have to put in so much time into your studies like I did but I had to do that since I need a lot of time to understand the material. I took Sundays a bit easy, especially since I also had to prep food for the coming week, and do household chores like laundry, etc as well.

So basically, plan your week and make it a routine and just stick to it as much as you can!

Lastly, yes! Having a CPR certification helps in all areas related to health, be it in the dental or med field so do get it if you haven't! I got mine at the local Red Cross office(?) and it took about 3-4 hours. I googled CPR class and just went to the nearest one. Just register for it, show up and everything they teach you you'll have to demonstrate in front of them but it was very, very easy.