OK, I have to apologize that I've been so busy this week with the midterms and all, and just realized that I have set the date for our meeting waaaay too close to my post date, so nobody can make it tomorrow (except few of u). And many of you are out of state, so meeting at Starbucks in NYC tomorrow is impossible, lol... therefore I am gonna try to paint you guys a picture of what NYU nursing really is all about.
First of all, like many of you I had a choice to go somewhere else, and it's really hard to compare the programs, since every one of them has their unique characters/advantages. It's like apple & oranges; simple statistic comparison is simply impossible. I personally applied Hunter college's nursing, Rutgers's Nursing, and NYU's, got in all of them, and I knew people got in Georgetown, UCSF, Columbia yet they choose to come to NYU, so yeah, ppl love NYU, hopefully not just for its name!
1st question, and probably the most important, is it worth it?
OK, the tuition bill really is... about 42K/year, if you are dorming (which I would not recommend, will explain l8ter) it'll cost you around 61K the first year at NYU. Food around here could be expensive, and there are always textbook costs (around 1K for the first semester if you buy new); and COFFEE (which you will need a lot), yeah... my first month coffee bill was like 300 bucks... With that much money put down, you would expect a very very very ... hmmm... how do I put it? LOL! Anyways, as many of you already knew, the class size is relatively larger (actually much larger) in comparison with other Nursing schools. One of the reasons is that NYU does have the muscle; they do have access to many different major metropolitan hospitals around NYC, many of them are world renowned teaching hospitals. The clinical groups are usually ranging 6-8 people for the first semester, and a bit smaller for the 2nd semester (3-6, depends on which hospital you are assigned to), so you definitely do get a lot of individual attention when you need it, personally I loved all my clinical sites!
As far as the lectures, they were more mixed, especially for the 6 credit courses: Fundamental, Adult, and Geriatric. NYU did something stupid in 2009; they accepted way too many students. I think it was roughly 280 students. The class body was big (roughly 100 -150 people) for those 6 credit course, and professors quality weren't great either, I mean they were loving and caring, but just not that good at teaching, at least not at $7000 per class price tag! (With exception of Dr. Ea, if you ever get to have him, you'll love him!) So because the issue of the class size, and insanely negative feedbacks from the students last semester, many professors were "kicked out"/stopped teaching this semester. I guess it's a good thing for you guys =) But it did translate to a smaller class body for 2010. I heard they are def taking less than 200 this coming fall; therefore it will be more competitive to get in.
Over all, it's not a cheap school, and if you are planning to take pre-req, and at the same time not interested to go on for a master's degree, then I would suggest you to think it twice!
2nd question, how rigid/hard/tough/insane is the program?
OK, it's not EASY. If you thought A&P was hard, after the first semester you'll think A&P was a joke; then after 2nd semester, you'll think college was a joke; when it comes to 3rd semester you will wonder why you didn't just apply med school... I don't know how many of you looked into the "Student handbook" on college of Nursing's website, (if not take a look http://www.nyu.edu/nursing/academicprograms/currentstudents/handbooks.html ), because in order to get an A, you have to get 95 and above, and that is DAMN hard. Even if you just want to pass all the classes, you have to do a lot of readings! We talking about 30 chapters for each midterms, and they are all cumulative. I think there were at least 30 people who had failed a course/repeating course/kicked out from the program last semester. So it is not a joke, and you don't want to waste your money if you are not fully committed. I quit my job the 1st month while into the program. It's demanding, it's challenging, but at the same time it's incredibly rewarding.
3rd question, what is the school like over all?
NYU nursing is the smallest branch of NYU, I mean literally we got the smallest building with the smallest budget (they are putting up a new facility on 25th st, but the likelihood of we using that building is zero), all other schools got their flags, we don't! Not that many social events for the nursing students and many of our activities are either related to the Dental school or the general NYU population. Many of the lab/simulation courses are being conducted at 246 Greene st. The lab rooms are actually quite nice, on campus labs are usually 10-12 students. Once you start your second semester, you'll start to participate activities at the simulation rooms, where you get to do all kinds of crazy stuff to the super expensive manikins, and your every move is being recorded on tape for review/study. We don't have a nursing library, or study rooms, so if you want to study on campus, you have to go to either the Bobst library, or science library, not too bad of an experience but for those of you that got used to the rural/suburban library settings this might be a problem for you. The upside of NYU of course is you have access to most of their facilities, so you can always find your own little spot where you'll enjoy doing w/e you do, lol.
Dorm rooms: many of the nursing students are being assigned to the University Hall on 14th street. It's at the heart of union square and right next to a very nice NYU Palladium gym facility, but the room size is just way too small. 4 people share a quad, and only ONE bathroom. It's a major NONO, especially for girls. Just imaging if all of you have 7 AM off campus clinical at a hospital in Brooklyn, that morning would be miserable.
NYU also have a "ticket central", where they have a lot free movie screenings, activities, shows, and discount for many events around city. School itself always invite many famous people, guest speakers etc. to come. And you'll always enjoy the neighborhood: East/west village, SO/NO ho, Union/Washington sq etc.
4. Application! Who gets in NYU?
Ok, many of you probably are still in the application process. If you have any question, ask Lindsay Sutton, she is the greatest assistant director one could have. She would go out extra miles just to make sure you application process goes smoothly. For those of you don't have all your pre-reqs yet, that being any of the classes NOT JUST THE SCIENCE COURSES!!, make sure you have them before fall, because you will not start any nursing course before you have your pre-req cleared. You can take these pre-reqs at NYU, but I'll strongly recommend you to take it somewhere else (NYU's pre-reqs course are not that great, especially the A&P). Now, I know they tell you that you can't "really" apply for NYU, get in the program, and then decide to take those pre-req classes somewhere else because you don't want to pay $7000 for a foreign language or nutrition class. BUT YOU CAN! (don't tell anybody I said this... lol), you have to file an application for re-entry the next semester with out apply the program again! So technically you are guaranteed for the classes next semester!
NYU admission is definitely not GPA based. There's a reason they wanted 2 recommendation letters, an essay, and 5 short questions. It is your opportunity to be creative (for those of you haven't submit your application yet, yeah, I know those who send everything in on the night of 2/29). I knew people with 3.3 GPA that got in the program, so you definitely will have a shot. As I mentioned before, this fall semester they will greatly reduce the class size probably due to the staff situation, so the competition probably will be higher, considering more and more people are seeking a second career.
Bottom line is this, if you get in any other school, and you have visited their campus, especially Georgetown/UCSF, I will recommend you to go to those two instead, I visited their school, and studied at Goergetown (absolutely loved it). A public school (CUNY, SUNY, other state) will just do fine for you if you simply want to be a nurse. If you interested to become a CNP, or DNP, or any other graduate program, I will recommend you to come to NYU, because they are wildly connected with many hospitals, it's a great opportunity to meet a lot great clinical professors/nursing mangers, a great outcome for future job hiring in NYC, etc. If you got any Cs or still don't understand like half of the materials in A&P, I would strongly recommend you to study hard during this summer!!! Because once you start the program, there is no breathing ground, and definitely no room for playing catching up. And then you'll be one of those many who got either kicked out or have to repeat.
Now I haven't slept for 50 hours due to my 2 midterms, nursing careplans, and 8 hr clinical this week, so I think I'll stop typing, cuz I don't think I am making sense anymore... I'll try to get back to those who PMed me early tomorrow morning to see if we can get together in the afternoon. If not, I'll see if next week will be a better schedule for everyone.
Feel free to ask any question, and I'll try the best of my ability to answer them! Good luck and have faith in yourselves, it doesn't matter which school you are going, it is the spirit of nursing that will make you a better person. You have to love what you do, don't just get in nursing because it's a good pay job. (it's kind of not... lol)
