Columbia University ETP Program 2013

rgracevn · Mar 12, 2013

Hi the healer's art, I am considering Columbia right now, for the peds specialty. I've read that Columbia has a great peds program and so it surprises me that they would have a hard time getting preceptorships. Did they give you any other information on this?

Also thank you for posting your impressions of the Program, I was not able to attend the visiting day and it is really good to hear other peoples experiences.

the healer's art · Mar 12, 2013

They do have them for the NP potion but they said many times your "transitions" (the preceptorship in the last semester of the ETP year) will have to be med/surg or some other floor. I think it's a good program but I like Hopkins and Duke more.

ghostbird · Mar 13, 2013

They do have them for the NP potion but they said many times your "transitions" (the preceptorship in the last semester of the ETP year) will have to be med/surg or some other floor. I think it's a good program but I like Hopkins and Duke more.

I'm actually debating between Hopkins and Columbia too, but for FNP. I was quite disappointed that the FNP director didn't even show up for Visiting Day at Columbia...that has me nervous about the program. Just curious, why do you like Hopkins better than Columbia?

the healer's art · Mar 13, 2013

ghostbird, yeah i thought that was weird. the director for PNP wasn't there too. it really depends on what you want but here are some of my reasons.

abroad options- Columbia only lets you go to the Dominican Republic and that's only for Spanish speakers. Hopkins has multiple opportunities for both cohorts in a lot of different countries and language skills aren't required. You can go for community health or for your practicum.

ICU- while neither schools have an ICU rotation during the prelicensure year; at Hopkins you have the opportunity to go to ICUs whereas at Columbia only nurse anesthesia get that opportunity. although you do get a day at Columbia to pick an ICU to shadow in. i want to eventually work in an ICU so this is really important to me.

picking clinical sites - in the first semester at Hopkins they place you in clinical sites but after that you can register for them similar to how people register for classes (i think). i like having more of a choice in where i go.

organization - although Columbia was better with the admissions stuff this year than Hopkins. I get the feel that Hopkins is more organized over all. I just felt like Visiting Day was disorganized and not well planned. (The Q and A felt like a waste of time. Why didn't they split us into our specialities and then allow us to ask questions? Why didn't they have something prepared? Why didn't they tell us why we should choose Columbia? I thought the "tour" was crazy too. Just follow this random student around. Every tour was different/random.) I haven't visited Hopkins yet so maybe theirs is just as bad?

student enthusiasm - while the ambassadors were enthusiastic other students i've talked to about Columbia are "meh". Most say the reason they chose it was because the ETP year was short and/or because they like New York. They don't think it's an extraordinary program. the graduates of Hopkins that I have met seem to really like it

children's hospitals - while it's true people come from all over the world to NYC; hopkin's children's hospital is amazing (did you hear about the HIV thing?). i also like their new grad residency program

job placements. the help JHU gives you to find a job/career seems better and more organized. Nursing Student Career Binder | School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University i also like their tuition reimbursement. like i said earlier... NYC just seems over-saturated with nurses.

simulation labs - columbia said that you only have 1 day in the simulation labs because they want you to have as much real patient experience as possible. but i think having more time in a simulation lab would be nice to practice skills over and over if you want.

mentoring - Alumni Mentors are Awesomeâ€ Â« Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Columbia doesn't have that

curriculum - hopkins has classes that sound more interesting to me and the opportunity for electives. (Course Listings & Descriptions | Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing )

working during the masters -i heard that at columbia the director of PNP doesn't want you to work part time while in it. but at hopkins you can

housing - finding housing in NYC seems like a pain. i am worried about safety in Baltimore but the 929 seems really convenient and students have told me they mainly stick around hopkins and feel safe.

rankings- don't really matter that much but hopkins is a name associated with excellence in nursing.

the fuld fellowship (if i get it! don't know yet!) at hopkins, tutoring at hopkins

Maybe Columbia has a lot of good things to offer? But they haven't told me about them. There are cons to Hopkins too though but they don't bother me as much. (Baltimore, heard students are super competitive, heard they care more about the masters programs than the BSN, etc.) I know I'm forgetting some things... I think Columbia is a good program and better than a lot of other programs but it's not for me.

kesnurse · Mar 13, 2013

I just wanted to post and say that I also attended Columbia’s visiting day and I really enjoyed it! I thought that the faculty seemed very supportive, and I really liked getting to know more about each specialty (especially since Columbia will let you change if you decide on a different area of interest after the ETP year). I applied for the FNP specialty so I was also disappointed the director of that program could not make the event, but I was able to speak to FNP students and other faculty which was helpful. I had a great student ambassador who was extremely enthusiastic about the program and enjoyed answering all of our questions.

Good luck making your decisions!

rgracevn · Mar 14, 2013

This has been so helpful guys. Deposits due Friday and still no decision made, ugh! Does anyone know what the faculty to student ratio is at Hopkins? I have a friend of a friend who goes there and apparently she doesn't feel very happy with the ABSN portion because her fellow students are "cut throat competitive" and the class size is too big for her, this is second hand subjective info so who knows! I am so torn because they are comparatively priced, JHU is better for nursing but Columbia has a better peds program (reputation wise). Good luck to everyone and thanks again for all the perspectives, allnurses has been invaluable!

ghostbird · Mar 14, 2013

the healer's art, that was super helpful! I basically got the same feeling that Hopkins has a stronger program overall with more opportunities, but I didn't have so much supporting evidence! Part of me is still leaning towards Columbia though for personal reasons...maybe TMI, but I just got out of a 6 year relationship so I need to know that I can have a bustling social life with lots of variety if I need it! Haha. :) I'm visiting Hopkins this Friday (can't make Accepted Student's Day because Columbia's deposit is due before then); maybe Baltimore isn't as bad as everyone makes it seem!

kesnurse, would you mind sharing what the FNP students had to say? I heard from an ETP student that the FNP portion was more disorganized than the ETP portion, which scared me off a little.

the healer's art · Mar 14, 2013

I hope I didn't come across as too harsh against Columbia. Those were just my reasons.

I have heard Hopkins students are competitive and very type-A. And the crime rates in Baltimore were almost enough to make me not apply!

They are both good programs. You can't go wrong with either. You just have to figure out which you connect with more.

edited to add: I think Columbia said it was going to be a class of 180? I think Hopkins is 170?

kesnurse · Mar 14, 2013

Hi ghostbird—nothing really specific from the FNP students, they just seemed generally happy with the program. My student ambassador said that a lot of the students who changed specialties after the ETP year moved into the FNP specialty, so maybe this is where some of the feelings of disorganization are coming from? FNP does seem significantly larger than the other specialties. Obviously these experiences are different for everyone, but I left visiting day feeling that I would be really supported at Columbia, by the faculty and by other students.

If you went to visiting day, I would email one of the FNP students who put their email addresses in the little booklet we received, I am sure they would help with some of your questions. If not, I am sure admissions can give you the email address of a current student. Good luck!

rgracevn · Mar 15, 2013

I've been frantically researching both Columbia and JHU the last few days. For peds it looks like this: At COlumbia you get 800 clinical hours, JHU only 600. JHU has a better ranking for undergrad nursing (#1) but Columbia is ranked higher in peds (#9 vs #12). JHU is cheaper and you are more prepared to work as a RN if you want to gain experience that way. Columbia is really more about getting to the MSN for people who don't really ever want to work as RNs. I guess my only concern at this point is will i be hirable as an NP without good RN experience? This is my thought process at the moment and still very conflicted. Have 11 hours to make that deposit! Sleep time.

rgracevn · Mar 15, 2013

Also! It looks like, based on JHU's msn manual, that the peds clinicals don't include hospitals so if you want that experience JH might not be a good choice.

ghostbird · Mar 15, 2013

Hopefulnurse, got your pm! Once I hit 15 posts I'll reply!

Rgracevn, I just got from a tour of JH and I have to say the surrounding area scared me quite a bit. Also, the program does seem to emphasize hospital nursing a lot, and since I'm FNP this doesn't appeal to me as much. But I was very impressed by the credentials of the professors. I'm still debating, but I think I may go with Columbia since the location is much safer and I get the sense that they place more importance on the MSN portion which is my endgame. I think NY will also have a more diverse patient population. Plus, the flexibility of switching into a different Masters track is pretty cool, just in case I change my mind. :) Let me know what you decide!