CCAC Spring 2015 Hopefuls

U.S.A. Pennsylvania

Published

Hi All!

Just sending out a good luck huzzah to everyone applying for the Spring 2015 cohort at the Community College of Allegheny County.

We can start applying tomorrow and the the deadline is August 15.

I am all done with my pre-reqs and co-reqs, so am excited to get this application process rolling. I am going tomorrow to meet with an advisor to be sure all of my ducks are in a row.

Anyone else out there applying?

Received my packet :)

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Just received my packet. ;)

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Hi everyone. I'm in the Boyce Fast track program right now. 1st semester. If u wanted to, u can buy your stethoscope, white leather shoes, bandage cutters, and pen light now. The classes are pickedby a lottery. You go in for orientation. Sit there while they walk. Breathe because it's incredibly overwhelming. They'll pass out tickets, like at fundraisers.... And they pick numbers at random. You'll have options already sent to u so u can try to get your first choice, but have a back up schedule in mind just in case. The lecture and lab days are scheduled together and clinical days are separate. After u pick your schedule you'll go downstairs to the nursing lab room to try on uniforms. U can order them there or go right to the store and order them there. Books are 1500$ and there's a tote that's mandatory. And practice your study skills now. The grading scale is different for the nursing program. Anything below a 78% is basically failing. If you are not already familiar with blackboard, get familiar. Lol that's all they use.

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Hi bmda07,

Please enlighten us regarding your advice... "practice your study skills now". Let us know where to focus, like books to read most, etc. Your response is much appreciated. Thanks.

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where do I begin? lol let me give u a background on what to expect. I have 1 day of lecture, one day of labs, and 1 day of clinical. im in the fast track but I think with the day program you will have 2 days of lecture. Lecture is just basically a quick overview of the material you need to know. the stuff they test you on is much more detailed, so do the required readings. study whenever you get a chance. there will be 3 different calendars that tell you what is coming up. The text books come with codes for a website that has the ebooks and also videos, activities, and practice questions. these questions are the chunk of what I study. I just do quiz after quiz. the quizzes are in mastery levels, so once you get a certain number right, the mastery level goes up and the questions get harder. 8 mastery levels total. after you take the quiz it tells you the rationale for the answers if you got them wrong and where to look in the book to review it. like I said before, anything below a 78 is considered failing and they don't round up. so if you finish the semester with a 77.9, you fail the course. there are testable skills that you have to demonstrate to nurses. these are so scary. its just you and another nurse and you have to set up an appointment for a 15 minute slot to test off. tests include vital signs, passing medications, im and sub q injections, cleaning and packing wounds using sterile technique, and we have IV pump skills testing coming up. For these, you have 2 changes, and if you don't pass both, you are out of the program. while you are performing the tasks, they ask you questions and its super intimidating. they do have open labs to go in and practice, so that's nice. there's a dosage calculations exam, so I hope math doesn't scare you. its not that bad (but I like math). the exam was 25 questions and in order to stay in the program you can only miss 2. again, you have 2 tries with that exam. I think we lost 9 students because they didn't pass that exam. what else.... the tests are ridiculous. hard hard hard. study study study. I cannot stress enough. study any change that you have. if you're at a dr apt and you are waiting to be seen, pull out your phone and do some practice questions.

lab, lab is fun. hands on. do not be more than 15 min late and make sure you have your required work (sometimes its vocabulary, sometimes you have to do online training for things and print out a certificate) and if you don't have it done, they kick you out of lab. you can miss 1 lab, but you still have to make it up. you miss a second lab you are out of the program.

clinical. your first clinical rotation will be at a long term care facility. its a little intimidating, but by the end of it, I was having fun and enjoyed the residents. the second rotation you will be at a hospital in acute care. now, clinical work is way different. There are focused assessments which are like small research projects (not that bad), prep tools (you go into the patient's chart and fill in the required information), nursing notes (you write down everything you did and saw), and journal entries (which they give you prompts and you relate the prompts to what you experienced-again, cite your source(s)). clinical is pass/fail. you can miss 1 clinical day but you have to make it up and pay 80$. the second time you miss, you fail the course. remember: C=RN!!!

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Hi bmda07,

Thanks to your thorough explanations of what we expect on our first 1st semester. We really appreciate your contribution. Stay tune.:cat:

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I am also in the Boyce fast track program & everything the girl above me said is perfect! It is a rollercoaster of ups downs twists and turns but it is possible!!! Good luck to everyone joining the nursing program this upcoming semester!! Study hard but still give yourself time to focus on you, you will need a break every now & then!

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HI! Ok so I'm in Boyce day program... Two questions 1. Does anyone know what the total cost is for the nursing program? payment plan? Also, at the time of orientation do they expect you to pay that day? I feel like there is no say on the ibreak down of the cost of everything.

Thanks!

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I am also in the Boyce day program. I looked at the current semester to try and gauge the cost of books and what not. I hope you can do a payment plan or I don't know how I will be able to do it. Good luck! :)

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Also, how is the staff at Boyce? I have been told that certain campuses are better than others.

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Books for the first semester (and the skills lab tote) cost about 1500. Rediculous, I know. I had to get a loan to pay for books and daycare for my son.

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The staff at Boyce, eh, you'll hear good and bad things. The lecture teachers (Pedro and slagle) are interesting. Pedro is sweet and loves helping and answering questions. Slagle will tell you to figure it out yourself by looking it up and she's very condescending... But she know her stuff. They both do. Lab teachers, I only know mine, and I really like her. Clinical instructors, I liked both that I've had so far... Just look them up on rate my professor. Jeanette Petro and Carrie Slagle. Oh and just a tip, don't argue. For the love of all things holy, just don't do it. They are nurses. MSN's. They know more than you, they make the tests, and They will NOT change answers or throw out questions. But they WILL explain why the correct answer is the right answer. And their tests are HARD. I am actually studying right now for my test tomorrow and I'm scared to death. yay fun!

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