choosing a school, what influenced your decision

[jaznia15]

Well I'm so excited as March approaches my two school choices are wrapping up and hopefully I'll receive an acceptance letter from one or both. I have applied to Georgia College and State University as well as Georgia Southern. Up until a week ago GCSU, my alma mater, had been my first choice pick with GSU being a back up. Unfortunately word of mouth has influenced me otherwise. I have heard some iffy things about GCSU in terms of disorganization and no real teaching in the classrooms. I have heard this from two different ppl plus this year they started a whole new curriculum where they've turned the program into a cohort with one full time option that can be completed in two years and one part time option that can be completed in three. I'm not really interested in being a guinea pig in grad school and if disorganization was already a complaint prior to this change I don't want it to continue. They are now starting an interview process which I was selected for and my interview for gcsu is next week and by March 1st I'll know if I got in. The program starts in the summer and I plan to try for the part time option. GSU's also conducts interviews but their program won't start until Fall and the application is not due til March 15 with interviews being in April, the lady I spoke to said you would probably know about a week later if you were accepted. GSU also does the cohort and also offers the three year program. While GCSU usually meets once a week although a hybrid program with a combination of online coursework as well as classroom, GSU truly is mostly online. They only meet the first and last day if class during the summer and 6 to 8 Times during the regular fall and spring semester. I have not spoken to anyone personally who had attended but everyone I've spoken to who's had a friend attend GSU states they loved the program now I'm confused on to who to choose especially if I'm accepted into GCSU in March but won't find out about GA Southern until the middle or end of April I'm sure registration of classes will be due towards that time for GCSU. Long post but I'd like advice as well as your own experiences when settling on a school with more than one choice. BTW GCSU grad campus is an hour away while GSU is an hour and a half

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

For me there were a number of factors. Basically, everything that went into choosing my undergrad program, I went for the exact opposite for my masters.

I chose my undergrad program because it was close to my house (20 minute walk) and cheap (state school). Problem was, I got out and looked for a job for 6 months and found nothing. I don't know if it had anything to do with the school or not, since many of my classmates had no problems, but for my masters I decided to go for a school with a very high reputation (expensive, private, ivy league). It also happens to be about an hour and twenty minutes travel each way. But so far I am very happy with my choice. I'm finding the program very demanding and I'm getting my money's worth in terms of preparation and clinical experience. So I'm happy. Maybe if things had gone differently as far as finding my first job I'd have gone down a completely different path, but right now I'm living this life and I'm happy with where I'm heading. I know the job outlook isn't that great for NPs right now, even from top schools, but my backup plan is to get a regular nursing job when I finish which is what I wanted to do all along. Sounds pretty perverse, I know, to go to all the expense and trouble of becoming an NP from a private school when all I want is to do floor nursing, but some kind of nursing job is better than none at all, and floor nurses make almost what NPs make anyway, depending on the area.