anyone starting RN at MDC this august?

U.S.A. Florida

Published

i am starting the accelerated RN this august at MDC, and i have some questions for anyone else who's been in the program, is in the program, or in the generic.... lots of questions.....:confused:

do you wear those white tunics only to clinicals? what do you have to wear to the skills lab and health assessment class? scrubs or street clothes?

my insurance won't cover ANY of the labs/physical/TB test/immunizations....where did you go to get yours done?

have you heard anything about the instructors for the accelerated? are they the type to fail you if you breathe before opening your alcohol wipe instead of after, or are they out to help you succeed?

does MDC really not distribute the stafford loans until after school starts??? tuition is due july 22, but the financial aid office lady told me that stafford loans won't come out until the second week of september....eek! that means i'll have to come up with A LOT of money up front that i don't have.....

soooo many questions, i know!!! thanks in advance.

dazed and confused....

Specializes in New Graduate Nurse.

Keeping track of sequence numbers is not as important for Semester one as it is for Semester two and three. Be careful though, you might find that there are not any "schedule conflicts" on your schedule....but keep in mind that class schedules are not always accurately reflected on the registrar's computer. Especially clinical schedules. Also, your schedule might look fine on the computer...but make sure you don't have any impossible commute times. For instance, I saw a student try and mix sequences...she had to make it from Palmetto Hospital to the Medical Campus in 30 minutes. The registrar's computer didn't warn her that she had an impossible schedule do to Miami's infamous traffic. By the time she figured out that she wasn't smarter than the semester coordinator....all of her options did not have any seats left in the class. She is now a semester behind us.

For semester one you might not have any problems....but semester 2 it would be hard to mix sequences. Semester three is impossible. Semester 4 maybe possible to mix.

You might also want to keep in mind that you are going to need to spend time at school in the success center or lab...practicing skills or studying with other students. Nursing school IS NOT like your prerequisite courses. Don't plan on being on campus ONLY for those class times that are on your class schedule.

akspudus

What did everyone think about orientation yesterday... I thought it sucked??

What did everyone think about orientation yesterday... I thought it sucked??

It was a little unorganized, with such a big group as yesterday.

The scheduling for the test today was a mess.

I still don't understand why I have to take the test. Either way, I'm in Nursing School and all that matters is learning, passing and getting my diploma.

Good luck to everyone!:yeah:

Specializes in New Graduate Nurse.

Hey,

Just a heads up. Professor Ponce sells used uniforms. All of her proceeds go to the Florida Student Nurse Association. You are stuck buying the nursing school's uniform top...but you do not have to buy their pants. They just have to be white scrub pants. I got mine at allheart.com. I think I got my stethoscope their also. Don't go cheep on your stethoscope....you won't be able to hear anything with a cheepy.

Also, make sure you get Saunder's comprehensive review for the NCLEX Exam. It has lots of practice questions...and very refined notes/reviews on lots of the subject matter you will be working on for the next 4 semesters.

Take the time to go up to the student success center. In fact...get comfy their...you will be there a lot. On the success center computers...there is a program called "test taking strategies for nursing students". MAKE SURE YOU DO IT! It will help you out tremendously.

I'll keep posting little tidbits of advice on here as I think of it.

Good luck and congratulations for getting into nursing school.

Oh an yes....EVERYTHING you do or go to with MDC's Nursing School is going to seem disorganised. Get used to it. You just have to be flexible and relax. Don't get all wrapped up and stressed out by it.

akspudus

Odie wow! You are leaving your job of eleven years!?! That is amazing wow. Congrats. You are taking the step to a better future, and sacrificing everything.I am scared out of my wits with this whole nursing school thing. I have yet to have someone tell me that it was an easy test! I mean what I feel is that students are going in with great GPA's, and a lot of people just flunk out of everything. I mean how am I going to? How can I read everything for nursing. I hear that this girl had to read like sixteen chapters in one week, and she had a test on it the week after! I mean how did she do that? How did she read sixteen chapter and have a test a week after. I am sorry, but that is impossible to do. Is she exaggerating? It can't be so impossible. I am scared SCARED.

Yessy,

Slow down and breathe. If we got this far, we will get through the rest.

Others have done it, we can too! Yet, I know I have to be realistic and make sure I do everything to succeed from day one.

There is some truth to time management , sometimes it works.

We will get through this, there isn't another choice, we are Nurses in the making.

That's good to hear. It's just that everyone who gets in the program has such problems once they are in. They say that a C is almost impossible, and when you get a C it is a miracle. I mean WOW! I am scared to death. I just want to get through this already. I am scared. I really am.

I want to hear people with positive notes from nursing. I want to hear some good news, but to date I still have just heard mainly horror stories. How people were just blown away by nursing, and how difficult it is to even pass. WOW! I mean this scares me so much.

Hey guys! Congrats to all of you that made it into the nursing school at MDC. I applied for entry in the Spring (Jan 2009) and I am waiting now to hear something. I just had a few questions for those of you that were recently accepted for the fall semester. Can someone tell me what the average GPA for entry into nursing school is? I applied with a 3.3, but I feel like this is not good enough. I had many advisors tell me that I should apply and that my GPA is good enough, but these are the regular advisors at the kendall campus and not the ones from the medical campus. I just wanted to know what were the GPAs of those that were accepted. I would also like to know if you guys did anything special. Did you know someone, did you make any special calls? My husband keeps on telling me to call them and bug them, but I don't have that in me. I know that the main thing they look at when selecting the students are the GPAs and that is why I am concentrating so much on that. Please can someone answer my question and take me out of this misery. Thanks!

Hello KAD24, today was my first day of nursing school. To answer your questions short and sweet: First of all, Don't call and bug them. It doesn't matter who you know. They don't care if you know the president. And honestly, they can be rather rude. It is strickly GPA based. That's It. They have a committee that reviews transcripts when it is time to accept applicants. They look at only the GPA for pre-req classes. Don't bother taking Sociology or Phycology to try and raise your GPA. Those extra classes will not count as the cummulative GPA for your AS. I don't know what the lowest GPA was for my class, all I know is that I was accepted on my first shot and I have a 4.0. Good luck to you, If you want it bad enough, you'll make it!

Hey Kad24. I believe there are about 200 sits avaliable. I hope you applied to both the full time and also the part time. It could give you a bigger chance of getting accepted into the program. Do not worry to much about the GPA factor. I think you have a good GPA to get in. For sure if you have a 3.5 GPA you are in, but a 3.3 still gives you a chance. I knew a girl who got in with a 3.39. Do not bother calling, because the truth is most people over there are evil! I am not kidding. It is not a bad thing, but stay out of their way if you can. Mind you not everyone there is the same. I hope this helped. Do not stress out to much, the important part is to keep focused and to get ready for a bunch of paperwork when you do get accepted! Keep us informed! And good luck.

Hi kAD24,,,I think that you'll lost your time calling them because there are a lot of people thinking the same. My GPA is 3.85, but I know a friend that was received with a 3.35 last year. Don't worry about it and good luck.

hi everyone i just signed up to this forum. I am currently going to recieve a bachelors in biology now in spring. I was on another track with this degree, but decided it wasn't for me anymore and i was always interested in nursing. I have been starting to look around and call nursing schools about their accelerated programs. So far miami dade is the one that attracts me the most. I was wondering if someone can answer my questions since i am trying to do has much research as i can now and have alot of questions, but most have been answered. I was wondering how many people get accepted into the accelerated program for miami dade and if maybe someone who already went through it or is in it can tell me a little more about it? I have a 3.5 gpa and i have all those classes including biochemistry, microbio and so on. What are my chances of getting accpeted? what are the stats for the passing rate on the nclex exam for this program in miami dade ? i have more questions, but i'll just post those for now.

thanks to anyone who can answer these :D

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