George Mason University ABSN Fall 2021

Nursing Students School Programs

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I didn't see an application/acceptance thread for the George Mason University ABSN program for Fall 2021. 

Has anyone heard anything yet from admissions? I figured I'd shoot this post out there in hopes of connecting with other applicants 🙂

Thanks in advance!

Specializes in Surgical technologist.

I am finally out of the wait list! Looking forward to meet each of you! Did any of you already created a facebook group for this cohort?

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Yay! I'm not aware of a facebook group, but I'd love to have one. I can set it up if nobody else wants to. 

 

Kim

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Specializes in Surgical technologist.

Please do Kim! I appreciate it

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OK, here's the link to the facebook group! 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/160777939298515/?ref=share

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On 4/29/2021 at 8:34 PM, Kim Pekin said:

Yay! I'm not aware of a facebook group, but I'd love to have one. I can set it up if nobody else wants to. 

 

Kim

Thanks Kim!

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Hello and congratulations to you all! I was accepted too!  So so excited to start this journey.  I just found this thread because I was searching for any insight on what our schedules might look like so I can start to play my semester ahead of time. All I found was a post from 2016 though and I know so much has changed in the face of the pandemic.   I will check out the facebook group!  Thanks for setting it up, Kim!

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On 4/13/2021 at 11:15 AM, K U said:

Hi! Current GMU ABSN student graduating this year here. I got into multiple ABSN programs and PA programs and ultimately went to GMU for the price, short length, convenience, and because I believed it was the best fit for what I needed. I think any school will have bad, average, and fantastic teachers regardless of how much it is. I obtained my first degree at the University of Richmond, the most expensive college in VA (I got a full-ride scholarship). I had absolutely excellent teachers there, but I also had a few god-awful professors, completely HORRIBLE, as in I still have nightmare stories about them. I've also taken classes at NOVA community college for prereqs and have been taught by some professors that were 10x better than some of my UofR professors. It's the same here at the GMU ABSN; there are bad, average, and excellent professors. For instance, our pathophysiology and pharmacology professors went above and beyond of what is required. Even though those have been our heaviest classes, our professors made things so much more palatable. I'm sorry to hear about that traditional student and that unprofessional teacher! Personally, I have not met any professors like that though. Even my worst professors so far have seemed very invested in both nursing and teaching. As for the NCLEX, there is no doubt in my mind that if you do well in this program and study, you will be beyond prepared for the NCLEX. From my own practice exams and from the required HESI section exams the program makes you take at the end of the semesters, my scores have always been well above the national average/recommended safe score. The more I learn about the NCLEX, the more I realize it is very much a 'study the test' type test. Again and again the advice I've been given from nurses, professors, and past students is to do practice exams and questions. The questions are weird, but once you're used to them, it's not too bad. Now, I'm in no way being sponsored to endorse GMU haha. There are definitely some things that could get better here such as some organizational things like class schedules, but I just wanted to throw my own two cents in.

KU,  can you shed some light on the typical weekly schedule for the first semester?  I'm seeing labs listed as Tue - Friday... are they all every day? I also saw an older post from 2016 that they had 1 weekday free, was that your experience as well?  Would love to know if I have an extra day to focus on the distance learning.  Thanks for any info you can provide and congrats on graduating this year!

 

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Current ABSN student. My opinion on what's been said/asked so far:

I haven't had a single issue with a professor. I definitely have my favorites and then those that I'd rather never see again, but they have all been professional.

I do have major issues with the lack of organization within the SON. They stress the importance of completing all of your paperwork on time (and I always have) but yet they are chronically late in delivering information as well as submitting paperwork for clinicals and preceptorship to the point that some students have missed clinical days because GMU did not complete their end of the paperwork. 

Do not expect to hear anything regarding schedule, classes, etc until the first day of the semester (at the earliest). This is an issue for those of us who work and/or have families to work around. Even then there will be a lot of "Don't worry, it'll get done. Don't stress out about it," which is not reassuring when you have 10 other moving parts to schedule around in your personal life.

We have only known this program during Covid, so all of our lectures have been online via zoom once per week or completely self-paced with random review sessions. Fall and Spring lab are in person once per week and clinical once per week. Summer session is a 5 week preceptorship (150 hours) one-on-one with a nurse in the hospital and community health which is 1-2x per week for 6 weeks.

The school teaches to the test meaning they are teaching us to pass the NCLEX. Every nurse I've talked to says not to worry, that all the hands-on experience you need will happen once you get your first job and is very specific to the unit which you will be working on.

All of this said, I have heard repeatedly that all nursing schools are like this. I don't know if this is true since this is the one and only nursing school I've attended.

My advice: if you want something done, don't take their word when they say they'll handle it for you, do it yourself and do not take no for an answer.

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Specializes in Medical Assistant.

Hey Kim - can you please accept my request to join the group? My name is Zakia!

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Hi Zakia! I checked and I don't see a pending request to join on facebook. If you go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/160777939298515 and try to join, I should get notified and I will approve your request to be added.

Thanks!

Kim

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On 6/5/2021 at 2:46 PM, Kim Pekin said:

Hi Zakia! I checked and I don't see a pending request to join on facebook. If you go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/160777939298515 and try to join, I should get notified and I will approve your request to be added.

Thanks!

Kim

Hey Kim!

My name is Kidist, and I'm apart of the GMU 2021 ABSN cohort. I don't have facebook and I was wondering if the class is conversing in another way? If FB is the only way, I've sent a request through my aunt's FB, her name is Mamaye. Thank you!

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On 4/12/2021 at 10:02 AM, Bethany2134 said:

When I mentioned how I was looking forward to the program with my friend and asked her more about it, she said right away, "there are better schools, believe me". She had talked more specifically about just how unprofessional the teachers were. She said compared to her other general education courses at the college, that the Nursing professors were the least knowledgeable and the least interested in helping students. One of her professors had gone on Twitter at some point to rant and complain about her students. Just very unprofessional and immature behavior that I wouldn't want expect from a serious Nursing program. But you kind of get what you pay for. I guess when they have a program that's cheaper than most other programs, they have to cut costs somewhere, so you get a small teaching staff that just didn't seem to care or want to help you succeed in any way. I also remember her saying that the administration there is a huge pain to work with. I'm thinking to be well-prepared for the NCLEX exam, I at least need reliable teachers who I can really learn from. It's still a lot of money to invest if I'm not getting a solid education. I honestly was put off by Shenandoah's price too, but I talked to my advisor on the phone and she mentioned how they have a lot of automatic grants and aid for Nursing students specifically. If you've got good grades too it will bring the cost down around 10,000. and that's what you get. I'm not trying to slander GMU or anything, but this is the information I got from my friend in the Nursing program there and thought it would be good to share as it has been very eye-opening for me. 

This is interesting to hear, I guess people have different opinions. I was supposed to be in last year's co-hort but had to leave due to a medical reason, and I had to leave after the first class. Although I spent very little time with the professors and the administrators, but some more so than others becayse they followed me along through my medical withdrawal process, I didn't get the vibe that they were unhelpful. I do agree that some of us were anxious about the way the schedules were sent and things like that so maybe there is some truth in the coordination part, although it seems they are trying to improve that this year, but just wanted to share my experience, albeit it's small and short-lived compared to the girl you spoke to.

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