Duke ABSN 2012

danceluver · Sep 9, 2011

@kcbaby! How much did you anticipate having to withdraw? I am going through the same situation and i'm not sure for a bsn if i can do it either-its gonna be a stretch and spending the extra money for an msn would be a better investment. That is truly awful....i'm so sorry! Have you decided where you will possibly go instead?

KCbaby57 · Sep 9, 2011

im sorry to hear it! yes, it is a lot of money for a bachelor's. i am not sure how to withdraw. i will probably not do it until the due date since i am still sort of in denial about everything. i would love to go to unc if i got in, but with the cuts they have recently made i am not going to have my hopes super high.

serfeliz · Sep 10, 2011

I'm very sorry for your disappointment, KCbaby57. It's such a shame when decisions have to be based on money--cold, hard reality can be brutal. I'm also not going to Duke for financial reasons. I haven't tried to get a loan but simply cannot justify the expense given all that I have learned about nursing. I will be going to a public school in the West with a solid reputation, though without the "brand name" that Duke offers.

I must say that I fully agree with dancingnurse13's assessment. If it's any consolation, and I hope it is, I recently had the opportunity to speak with the dean of an *extremely* well-respected school of nursing, and s/he gave me that exact advice. (In the interest of full disclosure, this is NOT the dean of the school I will be attending. ) Depending on what you ultimately want to do in nursing, investing a lot of money in the BSN is probably not the most sensible thing to do. Particularly if it's a second bachelor's and you want to get an MSN or PhD at some point, where you get your BSN is unlikely have much of an impact on your career options. The quality of the MSN (or higher) program is much more important and would be a better investment. Clearly, you need to get solid RN training to be a good nurse, get a good job, and thereby get accepted into a good MSN program. But given that BSN curricula are fairly standardized, going to a school with a "solid" versus "top" reputation is likely irrelevant. UNC would be ideal since it's no compromise either way, but I would strongly advise you not to despair if you have to consider other options.

All the best to you and everyone making these tough choices--I am confident that it'll all work out in the end!

brinkallz · Sep 10, 2011

KCBaby,

Did you try calling WellsFargo about their MedCap loan? I was in the same situation as you. My parents are retired so they couldn't cosign and other banks wouldn't let me borrow without a cosigner (despite excellent credit). I called WellsFargo to figure something out. They didn't require a cosigner for the MedCap loan. (Granted, this was over a year ago, but I would give it a shot.) They were very helpful on the phone. Good luck with everything! I'm sure it'll work out!

KCbaby57 · Sep 11, 2011

I applied for MedCap and they said "according to the information I provided" I would need a cosigner. I think it's because I already have loans out from undergrad.

brinkallz · Sep 11, 2011

Well, that stinks. I have previous loans, too. Maybe they changed their requirements. Last year, they told me that the MedCap loan didn't require a cosigner because they considered us grad students since we had a previous degree. Sorry, I thought maybe that would be a possible answer. Well, there's still UNC. I wish you the best of luck. UNC is a great program, too. And I have to say that as my graduation from Duke gets closer, I'm really starting to worry about paying back these loans. It'll work out for all of us though. We just need a plan. :)

KCbaby57 · Sep 12, 2011

@brinkallz: interesting --because when I applied on the phone we went back and forth about whether or not I was considered an undergrad or a graduate student... and I believe she chose the undergraduate option. I will definitely have to call them and see if they can change that information. thank you for passing that along! that could be why I need a cosigner and it seems no one else does--because my credit isn't "excellent" but it's definitely in the "good" range. Thanks for your help!

KCbaby57 · Sep 12, 2011

@brinkallz: are you glad you chose Duke now that you're graduating? Did you have any other options to choose from? Now that you'll be starting to repay the loans, do you have any regrets? (feel free to private message me if you don't mind and if you think it's too personal!)

brinkallz · Sep 12, 2011

I am very glad I chose Duke. I also got into UNC, but chose Duke. I'll be honest and say that I'm a little worried about loans, but I'm certainly not the first person to graduate with these loans. My original plan was to start my FNP at Duke pretty quickly after graduating. Now my plan is to work a year before applying to CNM programs elsewhere. I considered starting my FNP at Duke anyway, but that's a lot of money for a grad degree that isn't exactly what I want to do. I ultimately chose Duke originally over UNC for several reasons. At the UNC info session, three different people asked about rate of job placement following graduation and the woman from UNC dodged the question every time. That worried me. Duke's rate of employment has been pretty high for the last two or three cohorts. Plus, Duke is finishing their new cancer center in February and the new Surgical Center in 2012. Both of these are going to open up huge opportunities for job placement (and tuition reimbursement). They will be hiring in waves over the next 18 months or so meaning future classes should benefit, too. I also chose Duke because it is a smaller program with more individualized attention. I went to a huge state school for undergrad and I wanted a smaller school this time around. I don't know if you have a say in your clinical placement at UNC, but you do at Duke. You choose your top 2 or 3 clinical placements each semester and they do their best to place you in your preferred setting. The same thing goes for your senior preceptorship. This is huge since your senior placement often dictates your future job placement (especially for something like L&D). Duke Hospital is more likely to hire you in the same area that you did your preceptorship. I've also never worked with so many faculty who want me to succeed. It's great. At my first school, I never had that support.

On the flip side, Duke does have issues of its own. You have to remember that the ABSN program is a relatively young program which means there are still kinks to work out. On the plus side, the faculty want feedback and try to change things for future classes. On the downside, that means each cohort is often the guinea pig for something each semester. I also came to Duke for the community health programs, but those have a lot of kinks to be worked out. Sadly, community health is not the priority that they made it out to be.

Overall, I would definitely choose Duke again. It's totally worth the money to me. We'll see if I still say that once I'm paying my loans. :rolleyes: With things like Duke's tuition repayment plan and HRSA grants, I know I'll figure out a way to pay them back as quickly as possible. If you have other questions, feel free to PM me. Really, though, you can't go wrong with Duke or UNC. :)

KCbaby57 · Sep 12, 2011

thank you so much for your response!

i feel like i'll end up working at duke no matter what school i end up going to...since i work there now and my nurse manager and i are pretty close...and she manages 2 units that have been hiring a lot lately. ( i know it's lucky). i feel like she will definitely have my back when it comes time for a job...so for me it's just going to come down to exactly how much it will cost for each place, and minimizing my loans since i already have 20k from undergrad at unc. Since Duke has the only peds acute NP program in the state, I feel like I should save my money for that. but all this talk is based on me getting into both unc and duke AND if i actually get this loan tomorrow. haha.

we'll see what happens!! thank you so much.

brinkallz · Sep 12, 2011

No problem. If you're going to work at Duke anyway, then I would recommend sitting down and figuring out the difference between going to Duke and UNC. Another reason that I chose Duke is that the tuition repayment is around $30,000 over three years after taxes. I was considering UNC's longer program. (There's no way I could do this in 12 months which is what UNC had at the time, 16 months has been crazy enough.) UNC's program was only about $40,000 cheaper. So after tuition repayment, Duke was only about $10,000 more. And I don't think Duke still does tuition repayment for outside new grads. If they do, it isn't nearly as much money. Duke is where I felt more welcomed and I thought it was worth the extra $10,000. Just something to consider. :)

brinkallz · Sep 12, 2011

Or you could always go to UNC for your BSN and let Duke pay for 90% of your MSN. Also, a great option. Just depends on how soon you want to get your MSN. :)