Costs/Questions about Macomb

Published

How much do books cost for the first year in the program? Estimates on costs of any other supplies?

Also, what can I expect my first year? Is there anything that came as a surprise to current students?

How many days a week do you have classes/clinicals?

What is your favorite hospital for clinicals?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
How much do books cost for the first year in the program? Estimates on costs of any other supplies?

Also, what can I expect my first year? Is there anything that came as a surprise to current students?

How many days a week do you have classes/clinicals?

What is your favorite hospital for clinicals?

My books for the first year cost somewhere around $900. Uniforms were about 130 but they will be different for next years class. White sneakers: $50. Stethoscope around 100 bucks. Blood Pressure cuff: $15-20. Plus all the costs of drug screen, titers, vaccines. Ace Passport is about $40 bucks for the year (this is a mandatory thing, it is mostly for the school to show the hospitals that you have all your vaccines and stuff)...mid curricular HESI is $45 I think. I can't think of what else..these are all estimates though. There are a lot of random costs though, so be prepared!

Classes/Clinicals: Theory classes are usually 1 or 2 days a week for 2-3 hours. Clinicals are one day a week for 6-8 hours for the 1500 and 1600, and two days a week for 8 hours in the 1700 and 1800. Sometimes they are on the same day as lecture which is good and bad at the same time.

What came as a suprise to me was all the random labs and orientation days for each semester. They do not tell you that the 1600 clinical has a lab attached to it for 4 hours a week, and that for med surg 1 and psych there are lots of orientation and lab days also. So it can be overwhelming if you want to plan things.

I have had clinicals at a few hospitals but so far Mt. Clemens Regional was my favorite because the unit was awesome and the nurses were much nicer than in the other places I have been.

Hope this helps :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Corazon -

That is great information, I really appreciate it! Are you enjoying the program?

Orientation is on the 19th but I am anxious to begin planning now! lol Can you recommend anything that I could start reading? I have seen many posts about Saunder's NCLEX Review, do you think it would be beneficial to pick that up or would it be too confusing before starting the program? My winter classes just finished today and I feel lost without some type of studying to do. Everyone says to enjoy my summer before all the chaos starts but honestly, I don't turn off easily.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Corazon -

That is great information, I really appreciate it! Are you enjoying the program?

Orientation is on the 19th but I am anxious to begin planning now! lol Can you recommend anything that I could start reading? I have seen many posts about Saunder's NCLEX Review, do you think it would be beneficial to pick that up or would it be too confusing before starting the program? My winter classes just finished today and I feel lost without some type of studying to do. Everyone says to enjoy my summer before all the chaos starts but honestly, I don't turn off easily.

I am enjoying the program a lot! Just finished the first year! My advice is to make some good friends when you start who will be there for you because no one else will understand the stress you are feeling! Also, the Saunders book is really helpful but I don't know that you need it for the summer. I started using it to study for tests in the second set of classes. But yes, enjoy your summer, get all the supplies and vaccines done, and maybe apply for some Nursing Assistant or Patient Care Tech jobs if you can. (I am just finishing year one and still have not be able to get hired anywhere....but I wish I had, it would have helped me a lot in clinical. I didnt do any type of studying the summer before school started, I just worked and enjoyed my free time. Don't get too stressed, I was able to have a social life and get a 3.9 for the year.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

thanks corazondeoro for all the great info. i have a couple questions...

what is the mid-curricular hesi? when do the clinicals start? so we should basically plan on being on campus 1-2 days per week for an average of 2-3 hours each day. does that include lab time also? do they usually schedule lab times immediately following the theory/lecture classes? any info would be appreciated. thanks. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

No one will hire us for a Nursing Assistant position with only pre-req's... I met with someone at Beaumont for a Registrar job (not related to nursing, but was trying to get my foot in the door) and I asked if they would hire someone with a resume like mine (3.85 GPA, health care related academic classes, previous volunteer/hospital job work) and she said no....there are other people with more certification applying for jobs like that, and that they would just skip over resume's like mine. Maybe actually have some nursing school under your belt would help, but she pretty much ended any hopes of me finding a job for this summer.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
No one will hire us for a Nursing Assistant position with only pre-req's... I met with someone at Beaumont for a Registrar job (not related to nursing, but was trying to get my foot in the door) and I asked if they would hire someone with a resume like mine (3.85 GPA, health care related academic classes, previous volunteer/hospital job work) and she said no....there are other people with more certification applying for jobs like that, and that they would just skip over resume's like mine. Maybe actually have some nursing school under your belt would help, but she pretty much ended any hopes of me finding a job for this summer.

I don't think what she told you was necessarily true. At our orientation last year they told us St. John's will hire us as PCTs before we start school, and while I had no luck with that, a friend of mine did get hired before school started with no experience. You just have to find the right person to talk to. She just called HR and talked to various people until someone gave her a chance. She didn't even know how to take a blood pressure when they hired her.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The PCT position does come available at St. John's Main a lot.... I've been "passed over" for that job 3 times, due to me not being certified for CPR yet.... I don't know how your friend got to talk to someone in HR.... they usually don't allow incoming calls (people calling and bugging/begging for jobs). I know, because I've tried many times myself! And they don't allow you to personally submit resumes anymore, everything is done online, which is so frustrating. I can sell myself so much better than a piece of paper can! Thanks for the info though!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The PCT position does come available at St. John's Main a lot.... I've been "passed over" for that job 3 times, due to me not being certified for CPR yet.... I don't know how your friend got to talk to someone in HR.... they usually don't allow incoming calls (people calling and bugging/begging for jobs). I know, because I've tried many times myself! And they don't allow you to personally submit resumes anymore, everything is done online, which is so frustrating. I can sell myself so much better than a piece of paper can! Thanks for the info though!

Yeah I know, I keep getting rejected too, even though I have BLS certification and three clinical rotations behind me. Its really the luck of the draw I guess. At orientation though we were given a phone number to call about the PCT positions, which I of course lost shortly after. Maybe they will give you the same number.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The PCT position does come available at St. John's Main a lot.... I've been "passed over" for that job 3 times, due to me not being certified for CPR yet.... I don't know how your friend got to talk to someone in HR.... they usually don't allow incoming calls (people calling and bugging/begging for jobs). I know, because I've tried many times myself! And they don't allow you to personally submit resumes anymore, everything is done online, which is so frustrating. I can sell myself so much better than a piece of paper can! Thanks for the info though!

Hmm...I found St J's to be the easiest to call and talk to nurse recruiters. And they were actually pretty nice. Maybe you aren't getting the rights people?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

They weren't nursing recruiters, it was just general HR.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion