George Mason Traditional Nursing 2018

U.S.A. Virginia

Published

I am applying to George Mason Nursing (Traditional) for the year 2018! I wanted to start a forum because I didn't see any for this year! Does anyone have any idea how competitive the program is? I am taking be HESI on the 11th and I am so nervous about the A&P section of the test.

A good 6 people have yet to register for classes. Is there a deadline for you guys to register? I'm still on the waitlist and they said if a spot becomes available, it wont be until as early August. I'm afraid some people might drop the major last minute as previous year. They cant really get stuents off the waitlist becaue of all the prep that is needed for nursing. Someone told me how they were a class of 97 but 5 students dropped it last minute. I desperately want to get off the waitlist.

Meg2of4 : did you do anything to get a better chance getting off the waitlist? How did they notify you?

Hey Sara! Sadly, I did not do anything to get off the waitlist. I just waited and started looking into other options. I wasn't sure and I am kind of stuff unsure how their waitlist works (especially considering you are not given any information about your placement on the list). Anyway, then one day out of the blue I got a call from the Mason asking if I would like to take a spot that had opened up. She didn't give me a reason as to why the spot had opened, she just said there was one available. There was a deadline for paperwork on Monday and the website said that if something was done incorrectly (i.e. you didn't pass the background check, failed the drug test, etc.) then you would be booted from the program. So although that sucks for one person, it may be an opportunity for you. I hope that you get into the program!!! Good luck!

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Schedule is now posted

x

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Hey guys, so today they talked all about what kind of stuff we should bring/wear to our clinicals. I took a list and I heard: penlight, food (and snacks), water, tylenol, stethoscope, really good shoes, small notebook, pens. Did I forget anything? And like are we allowed to bring a backpack to hold our lunch box, keys, and other stuff in?

On another note- did anyone buy a lab coat to wear when it gets colder? Or like are you just planning on wearing a long sleeve shirt under your scrubs?

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Hey Meg,

Did I meet you today?

I think I met Bokkechick (blue dress & we're in the same clinical group!) and Thunderstorm.

Yes, it's a good idea to carry those things.

Hospitals will have a designated area for you to put your things in. I actually got an email from my clinical instructor detailing where to put our belongings, and advised us not to bring any valuables. Your clinical instructor should tell you more info about it.

They also told us to cancel the nurse 425 section and sign up to a different section. Dont forget to do that!

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I'm gonna bite the bullet and make the facebook account now so I can join the chats.

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I remember them telling us to drop 425 and switch it for another, which one was it again? I can't seem to find the info for it. Thanks

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Please drop the following classes:

Lecture and lab sections to be canceled:

NURS 425-002 (CRN 81558) and NURS 425-202 (CRN 81559)

And please register for these classes:

New lecture section at 10:30 and its associated lab:

NURS 425-004 (CRN 84204) and NURS 425-204 (CRN 84210)

Hope the quoting thing works

Edit: IT worked!

Hope you got it all sorted out x

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Hey, I just wanted to update this post.

Looking back, I could definitely see my anxiety with the applications. But it's amazing the difference a year of nursing school (with all the clinical rotations, assignments, and reading) can make.

If anyone has any more questions about the program, I can write my experiences with it.

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I know there’s other forums that are more recent, but i’m extremely curious of those who got in. I know Mason doesn’t have a “passing score” but did anyone with a low hesi score get it?

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Hey everyone.

GMU was kind enough to provide a class meant for reviewing the NCLEX. It was UWorld and Hurst Review. It is a graded class meaning we had to do it in order to pass.

Anyways, I took my NCLEX and passed! I am now an RN! Woohoo!!

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Hi everyone. I came here to update I've been a nurse for a year now at basically a medsurg unit. I was "basically hired" before I graduated. This was at a hiring fair. This was the same for many other students at my cohort. The reason why is that many of us did clinical in the units we wanted to work in and we went in knowing what we wanted and what to expect and they were familiar with our work ethic. And this is at INOVA. 

Orientation:

I had 12 weeks orientation, 8 weeks on days and 4 weeks on nights. In the end I really enjoyed the pace of night shift, and so I stayed on nights. There is also a "nurse residency" where basically it is a professional development and research class for nurses. It lasts for a year and meets once a month with an evidence based project you have to do at the end. But due to COVID the projects have been cut short, meaning we don't actually carry out the research project. 

Pay

Since I started during the pandemic, hospitals everywhere were basically hemorrhaging staff, and so they tried (and currently trying) to keep nurses. Halfway through the orientation, they gave a $5 dollar raise to nurses across the board. I started with $27 dollars as a new grad, then the $5 dollar raise bumped it to $32. Night shift differentials vary based on weekend and weekday. Weekend night differential is $8 dollars. And weekday night differentials is $4. 

I worked exclusively weekend evenings to try to get that $ but then I asked myself if it's really worth it because I had no social life LOL. So then I switched to weekday evenings, honestly the pay difference was only around $100 in my paycheck. You're also required to work a few a weekends. 

Learning on the Job

Anyways, I had an awesome preceptor who encouraged me. She was like a drill instructor in the way she taught things, but I learned a lot being under her guidance. She was also studying to become an NP, so she knew a lot about pathophysiology and the effects of medications and what to recommend for the SBAR to the MD/NP/PA. Unfortunately she left, but fortunately she's doing bigger things now. ? 

Nursing school gives you the information of medications, some disease processes, and , nursing concepts, but really learning to be a nurse happens on the job. The biggest hurdle for me for my first 6 weeks was leaning understanding the typical workflow and systems of a company and their policies. It's really just a matter of understanding what to do when this or that happens, and knowing who to ask and understanding who your resources are, because not everyone knows the answers and even charge nurses don't know the answers too. 

In the medsurg unit I'm at very rarely anyone is "critically ill," and those that are or are crashing you will know asap because something is wrong and those patients get transferred quickly to higher acuity units. The biggest stressor is that you get 5 to 6 patients who are awake and have many needs and also admissions/discharges and so it's just crazy trying to keep up with everything. I enjoy nights better because we typically don't have to deal with discharges, only admissions. 

Anyways...

Would I recommend working here? At my unit, I really love my coworkers. I feel very fortunate I had supportive and chill preceptors and people who tolerate my millions of questions. 

 

 

 

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Anyways, I haven't included the major elephant in the room: COVID. Also COVID's effects on the general labor shortage in America...and people's refusal to get the vaccine, and the understaffing which DOES happen and expect it to happen. This is just an average Tuesday night. ?

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