FSCJ Fall 2014 hopefuls

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Hello everyone, I did not see a post for the fall 2014 semester, so I wanted to get it started. I applied to the 2014 summer semester and now I am waiting on my acceptance or denial letter. I am starting this forum just in case i do not get in for the summer. My total score right now is 169.96. I have 97 points for my classes and 72.96 points from the NAT. I am currently taking statistics and humanities, in hope of getting an A in both of them to boost my score up to 178.96. I made a C in A&P 1, my first humanities class and PSY1012. I also made a B in college algebra and that is what got my score down so low. I hope that the low cut off score trend continues to give me a good chance of getting in. The last 3 semesters were 175.96, 187 and 187. I am preparing to retake the NAT in late May to be in time for the June 1st deadline with plenty of time to study for the NAT. I look forward to meeting you all, and hear how things are going for you, so we can encourage and support one another.

What kind of work experience do you have? I emailed Cheryl about the experience and they are very specific about work experience. When I told her I got my EMT cert. and got hired at an emergency room, all she replied was, "Your letter from your employer must state that you worked as an EMT to count." Sounded like such a general answer. I think it's strange that a MA, Respiratory Therapist, EMT on an ambulance gets work experience but PCT's/ACP's do not get work experience points. I went to FSCJ for my EMT 4 years ago and got a job in an emergency room here in town and that didn't get me any work experience points. It's frustrating because how many Respiratory therapists or EMT's on ambulances are going back to RN school vs. PCT's/ACP's/CNA's who work directly with nurses.

It's just frustrating because I got denied summer term but if my experience points counted, I would have had enough to get in. I known I can do better on the NAT, but it's strange to me that the positions that work directly with nurses don't receive any extra points.

I talked to cheryl just a couple days ago and it turns out that I will only have one year of work experience instead of the two years because the first year I worked as an EMT was on my town's rescue squad which was volunteer run. I think that is ridiculous because I worked full time and I responded to 911 calls with direct patient care and assessing. Just because I wasn't paid means I didn't get the experience?! However, with my grades and my one year of experience I will still have a 198.72 and I will be retaking the NAT soon so I will hopefully boost it a couple more points! Cheryl said that I had to have the letter say my dates of employment, my job title and saying I had direct patient care to count. Also on company letterhead with their signature.

What was your overall score that you applied with for the summer term? They are so strict on experience! But then again it is very competitive!! Are you reapplying for fall? How many points will you have then?

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If you have over a 198, you are pretty much a lock for the program based on the trends of the last several years. The summer cut-off was 185, I think, and there were fewer seats available so the competition was steeper. I know that's not super comforting when you are in the application process, because nothing really is, but you should not have an issue getting in with that score at all.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Hello All!

I am also applying for the Fall '14 admission and could not be MORE excited. This will be my second Associates and I am scheduled to take my NAT test on May 13th. Is there anything special to look out for on this exam? I have taken all my prereqs and can't imagine there being much else to study besides the ARCO book. I figured about 2 good weeks of solid daily studying should make me MORE than prepared for this exam. Anyone have any tips, suggestions?

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I am taking the NAT on May 13th! Any tips would help so much! [email protected] Thank you!

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I need to retake the NAT too, could you email me the tips? Thanks so much! [email protected]

I need to retake the NAT as well, can someone email me the tips at [email protected]? I would really appreciate the help.

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What kind of work experience do you have? I emailed Cheryl about the experience and they are very specific about work experience. When I told her I got my EMT cert. and got hired at an emergency room, all she replied was, "Your letter from your employer must state that you worked as an EMT to count." Sounded like such a general answer. I think it's strange that a MA, Respiratory Therapist, EMT on an ambulance gets work experience but PCT's/ACP's do not get work experience points. I went to FSCJ for my EMT 4 years ago and got a job in an emergency room here in town and that didn't get me any work experience points. It's frustrating because how many Respiratory therapists or EMT's on ambulances are going back to RN school vs. PCT's/ACP's/CNA's who work directly with nurses.

It's just frustrating because I got denied summer term but if my experience points counted, I would have had enough to get in. I known I can do better on the NAT, but it's strange to me that the positions that work directly with nurses don't receive any extra points.

Im an EMT and I got accepted for the summer but I work on an ambulance, id suggest you ask your supervisor if in the letter they'd write you are an EMT and not an ER tech. Goodluck

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Okay, so I have a question everyone! I'm taking micro over the summer and they are not accepting my social credit from UNF, so I was just curious if we do not have all the classes, do they take that into consideration? Like im aiming for 170-180 points with out those two classes, so do they weigh the points based on how many points you have and what classes you don't have yet?

for example, if i apply with out micro and my sociology classes and have 175 and another person applies with all their classes taken and has 185 points, do they look at the fact that i haven't taken two classes or would they just take the other person?

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Okay, so I have a question everyone! I'm taking micro over the summer and they are not accepting my social credit from UNF, so I was just curious if we do not have all the classes, do they take that into consideration? Like im aiming for 170-180 points with out those two classes, so do they weigh the points based on how many points you have and what classes you don't have yet?

for example, if i apply with out micro and my sociology classes and have 175 and another person applies with all their classes taken and has 185 points, do they look at the fact that i haven't taken two classes or would they just take the other person?

If you happen to have more points than someone who already completed micro, then that's all that matters, regardless if you have taken sociology or not. Sociology can be taken while in nursing school. However, the more classes you have taken, the better.

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They only care if you have completed the prerequisites, test scores, and how many points you have. If you can somehow manage to get 185+ points without all the extra classes, then you should be good. I had a total of 229 points... but that's because I waited until I finished every single listed course.

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They don't care about which classes you didn't take

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Hi!

I was reading through all of these posts in hopes of finding someone who had some ideas on how to improve your NAT score and it looks like I found you! I took the NAT back in January and didn't do so well on it, so I didn't get accepted to the summer program. I'm really hoping to get accepted into the fall, but I know because my grades don't give me a very high score, I definitely need to score at least 100 or above on the NAT in order to get into the program. Last time I studied for over 3 weeks for the exam but when I actually took it I did not feel prepared at all. Time was my biggest issue. In the aptitude part of the exam I was only able to answer 45 out of the 90 questions in the allotted time and I had a similar situation with the reading comprehension part. I would be so so so grateful for any tips that you can give me! My email address is [email protected].

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Hi, everyone. I wanted to say good luck to you all. I'm starting this May and am now going through the very long process of getting everything in order before Orientation.

Like my sister (JennJax) up there, I chose to do the ADN program first and then immediately pursue the BSN because I knew the timing would work out to be roughly the same. The ADN is sixteen months and the RN-to-BSN Bridge is twelve, so that is very close to what most of what the BSN programs are but for a much lower expense. Once I get my license, I am immediately enrolling in the bridge program, and as long as you are actively pursuing it, you shouldn't have a problem being hired as a new grad with just the RN. I'll happily work while getting it because at least I won't be broke! :)

For those of you who are planning to retake the NAT, I have some killer tips for improving your scores. Feel free to contact me and I'll gladly give 'em up to you. A friend of ours brushed up on material with Jenn and I, and we all improved our scores tremendously and ending up applying with scores from 191 up into the 200's.

Anyway, good luck to everyone!

I'm not sure if my last post reached you because this is my first time on this site, but I would really appreciate the tips as well! My email address is [email protected]. Thank you!!

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