Columbia ETP Program 2012 entry

LookingAhead · Aug 9, 2011

It's not binding in the sense that an offer from Hopkins is, but if they offer you a place you still have to give them a deposit within a certain time frame to accept it - probably something similar to the $500 Hopkins mentions.

LookingAhead · Aug 12, 2011

Alright - I did it! Application submitted!! Let the nervousness begin...

I heard that early application notifications are expected to go out in late December/early January...long wait ahead...

cpsnap · Aug 15, 2011

:yeah: Way to go!

In speaking with admissions, I too was told December. We can do it!

dedicatedone · Aug 16, 2011

Alright - I did it! Application submitted!! Let the nervousness begin...
I heard that early application notifications are expected to go out in late December/early January...long wait ahead...

Congrats!!! I'll be submitting shortly too!

LookingAhead · Aug 16, 2011

Awesome!

Pulling for you guys...

jqfish · Aug 23, 2011

I'm nervous about not getting accepted to a program so I hope that at least one school will say "yes." I would love to leave the Southern California area and go back east because there seems to be so much many programs available to people in out situation.
jqfish - how do you like the CUSON program? Everything you hoped it to be?

Sorry for such a delay. Finals ended the first week of August and now I'm recovering at the beach (with limited internet- it's glorious).

So far, CUSON has been incredible! Out of the 8 or so classes this summer, I only had issue with one being a little lack-luster (pharmacology, which I'm guessing is just not my cup of tea). The clinical placements this summer were super rewarding. I was on an Elder Care floor with 10 other CUSON students (and an instructor of course). You start clinical the second week of school so they really get you right into the thick of things. I've learned more in a summer than I thought my brain could possibly handle! Things you get to do in clinical (for the first day I was thinking- what am I possibly qualified to do here??): bed baths, therapeutic communication, taking vital signs, feeding, changing sheets, moving patients, etc. Later in the summer you will be doing things like changing wound dressings (with supervision, don't worry, they know you're new at this), catheters, removing IV's etc. The nurses on the floor were very enthusiastic about having students observe and help with everything they were doing- bladder scans, pressure ulcers, medications, administering IV's and blood, etc. Having volunteered at the student run clinic, I was also able to do blood draws and tests for blood glucose (cool!). So within 2 months of starting the program, I feel like I've really gotten into some hands on learning and gotten very comfortable operating on a hospital floor. You also get a ton of experience in skills lab where you have those funny dummy-people who can breath, have pulses and BP, etc. You get to practice everything from catheters to injections on dummies first with 2-3 students per instructor and plenty of time to ask questions.

Other classes from this summer included physical assessment- lecture and lab. The lab portion was a hands-on physical exam with your lab partner which you needed to complete in less than 30min by the end of the summer. They completely prepare you for this (as intimidating as it sounded when we first started). My roommates and other friends each got thorough physicals this summer ;o)

Some of our other lecture classes introduced us to the history of nursing, politics surrounding nursing issues, ethical and legal questions in nursing, death and dying, the IOM's future of nursing report, etc. Seeing as most of us are entering nursing from another field, I found this one of the more helpful classes as it really gave a lot of background of what we will be getting into.

In general, this summer was VERY busy. But I know myself and plenty of other students still had some time for a social life on the weekends (and NYC is a great place to have a social life!). I remember a lot of gloom and doom talk at the beginning of the summer from our professors about how HARD this summer term is, but I honestly think it was not as bad as they made it out to seem. Yes, I studied A LOT, but I also enjoyed the 4th of July, took a weekend trip to visit the parents, had a birthday party, cooked a lot of dinners for new nursing friends, played soccer, went running up to Fort Tryon park, etc. It's not nearly as miserable as they make it seem (maybe they're just preparing you for the worst?). And next term, I think I'll be very much more relaxed with the lighter class load.

In terms of specialties, I'm FNP but may switch once I get to our 5x5 clinical placements this fall (where you get to rotate through all the specialties). The only thing I can't switch into is Anesthesia (midwifery is hard to switch into but not impossible they tell us). Thus far, us students have not been segregated by our master's specialties and that's not really going to happen until we get to the master's part of the program. Which seems logical since right now, we're all just going for the BSN (RN).

...That was a lot of stream of consciousness but I hope that answers your question! Haha, I think CUSON has been everything I hoped for thus far: great instructors who are really enthusiastic about nursing and about your entry into nursing, plenty of time to socialize in an awesome city, plenty of new nursing friends to socialize with, rewarding clinical placements, tons of new things crammed inside my head.

jqfish · Aug 23, 2011

Good luck all you applicants!! :up: Waiting was absolutely the worst part of applying. Try and forget about it!! )

dedicatedone · Aug 24, 2011

I cannot thank you enough jqfish for all of the info! It was extremely thorough and definitely made me feel better about the program. I had heard a lot of negative comments surrounding it so I wanted to hear another perspective.

cpsnap · Aug 27, 2011

I just wanted to echo dedicatedone in thanking jqfish for all of the excellent information. Your posts have been very informative! THANK YOU! One question, if you're able to estimate, about how many students are admitted to each specialty? I realize this can vary year to year, but I was just hoping to gain some insight into the specific sizes of the individual specialty groups. Thank you in advance!

cpsnap · Aug 27, 2011

Also, as you said jqfish, I realize that students have the option of switching into a different specialty before entering the master's portion. I can imagine that could create some problems if an abnormally large amount wanted to switch over. I would worry about certain groups growing too large. They do, however, cap the specialties, no?

ashted88 · Sep 13, 2011

Hi everyone!

Good luck applying! I remember how stressful the process was last year :/

I'm a current ETPer in the Women's Health Specialty. I absolutely love the program so far! This summer was busy but definitely very manageable. I managed to go out every Friday and Saturday (and even a couple of times during the week) for the entire summer semester :) The classes and professors were all amazing but the best part has been my fellow nursing students. Everyone is so friendly and passionate about what they are doing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :). I'll try to be as helpful as possible!

danceluver · Sep 13, 2011

@ashted88---thanks for posting---I do have a question about the WHNP program. What sort of rotations will you all have? Is there a reason you chose WHNP over the CNM program? I am constantly going back and forth to decide which is a more marketable and realistic specialty to chose for myself. I could really use some insight from you! What is the your schedule like for the BS program? No evening or weekend courses? Do you need a car for your rotations? How difficult as a WHNP applicant did you feel it was to get in? Did you have a lot of volunteer/experience in healthcare field or related specialty? Feel free to email me as through the site cuz it looks like your can't send private messages yet. Thanks for the feedback!