Georgetown ABSN tuition and work load

[chicurious]

Hello, been reading through the Georgetown threads as well as the Georgetown website. I'm unclear as to how much the program is for tuition total. Can someone give me a rough estimate? The website says for undergrad something along the lines of $36K a year, but because this is two years packed into 16 months I didn't know how it pans out.

Also, is the workload really that terrible? Did anyone feel like there was a low retention rate or a high fail rate? I have read at other programs that they don't work with you and there are up to 30% dropping out. I know the arguments for "you have to really want it", but I'd also like a supportive environment. Did people feel Georgetown was a supportive environment on behalf of the faculty and staff? I have a friend that went to Columbia (my other main choice, but I don't really want to live in NYC) and she said she felt the program really treated them well and wanted them to do well. Another friend went to Drexel in Philly and she and many/most of her classmates felt that they were almost pushed out.

[MedicVeronica]

I graduated from the program in Dec 07. My student loan for tuition only ended up being around $70K. Most of the professors were supportive, but they still challenged you. There have been many faculty changes since I attended - but most of the professors that I really liked are still there. There is a "weed out" class the first semester that is really nuts - but other than that one they are all survivable. The amount of busy work is nuts - but if you keep it in perspective and don't obsess you'll be fine. Just get as much done as you can in advance of deadlines. There is too much homework - so don't think about having a job on the side. They assign lots of reading - but I didn't even open some of the books and just used all the class handouts. Most of the clinical experiences were good - the actual hands on patient time - but some of the written stuff that went with the clinicals was just stupid. I feel it helps if you already have some medical experience - I've been an EMT since 1997 and a paramedic since 2000 - which made parts of it very easy. Even volunteering at a hospital would help with your comfort level during the initial clinicals. Your experience will depend alot on your classmates - mine were the best! We supported each other - helped each other, shared resources - and over one-third of us graduated cum laude or higher. The class behind us appeared to be more "cut throat". We had a pretty good NCLEX pass rate - not quite 100%. There is a program between Georgetown and the Washington Hospital Center that will pay for 80% of your tuition if you promise to work for WHC for a couple of years. http://whcenter.org/body.cfm?id=557676 has more info about the program. Good luck!