GSU Accelerated Hours??

ATLbubbles · Dec 14, 2009

I'm glad someone posted this. I too am a bit older than the "traditional" nursing student (29 soon to be 30). And I have a growing family to tend to as well. I've been over and over this about ACE vs. Traditional, because I SO want to complete nursing school in 16 months :specs: , but I don't know if I have 81 hours a week to give to the program. The thing is, I too doubt that it's truly 81 hours of time we must give. The study time just seems way exaggerated. :eek: I managed straight A's in all my prerequs for the past year and a half including the Anatomy's and Micro's, and Statistics and all..with a couple kids in tow. And I know nursing school is supposed to be a bit tougher than regular school, but to study 60 hours a week?? Seriously?

Please someone reply that is or has been in the program that this is correct or incorrect.

izzycatswimRN · Dec 15, 2009

Hey guys,

I can offer you insight from the other side. I just finished my first semester of the ACE program at Ga State. First off, let me emphasize how much they are NOT exaggerating about the required time you need for school the first semester. When you are not in class you have GOT to be studying; otherwise you will never survive. I doubted the amount of time they said was required for this first semester...then I lived it. Do not let the time you spent doing work for the pre-reqs have any influence over the time you think you'll spend for this course work. I thought nothing could be worse than what I had already experienced in college since I spent my first two years of college just up the road at Georgia Tech. I had two weekends this entire semester that I was able to just relax. Otherwise I maybe took half of Friday off to relax, maybe half of Saturdays..unless I had a test that Monday. Monday tests are very common. There were I think only 3 weeks (counting the first week of class) that I did not have at least one test during the week. Most of the time you have 2-3 tests in a week. Things got real fun when we had a pharm and patho test in one week. Unfortunately, you really do need to do most of the assigned reading which takes up a lot of time. The only class I found it totally useless to read for was patho...and that's only because the two teachers are FANTASTIC. Pharm you must read the book. The prof does not tell you everything she will test you on. This gets really hard to keep up with sometimes (at least to me) because we had upwards of 40 drugs to know for a test. Our final test consisted of us having to know 25 drugs (adverse effects, what they do, how they do it, contraindications, etc), 25 herbs, and information from the disaster management book. As for holding a job, I don't know how anyone could manage a job. I know you have to sign a form in your admission packet saying you understand how holding a job could be detrimental to your school work. I know of no other fellow ACEers who currently have a job. If you guys...or anyone else...have any more questions post them here and I'll try to answer back. Hope this info helps you guys out with your decisions!

behopeful · Dec 15, 2009

izzy-thank you SOOO so much for the reply! I've just wondered about this for a while now. So did you not have class and/or clinical everyday? With this response, I may need to go the traditional route, as much as I would like to finish in 16 months by age 33 instead of 3 years and 35...I think my fi fi (my fiance, fi fi is his nickname:loveya:) would probably rather have a roof over his head and food in his tummy.

izzycatswimRN · Dec 15, 2009

We had class Mondays 830am-545pm with a few 30 minute breaks, Wednesdays 1115am-430pm (for half the semester. when 2040 ends you'll be done at 245pm), and Thursday we had either lab 8am-2pm (first few weeks then every other week after clinical started) or clinical (7am-1pm). I think a very few traditional students might be able to take a class or two during summers...but only if you are doing very well in the other courses. I could be wrong so don't take me on that 100% but it could be something you could look into as well.

ATLbubbles · Dec 15, 2009

Thanks for posting. That's really good info to know. I actually have heard that the first semester is totally killer, and if you can get past that first semester than the rest isn't as bad. Any A2, A3, or A4's want to add anything?

gsu2011 · Jan 6, 2010

thanks izzycatswim.. very good info! have orientation friday and the start of ACE program Monday. any advice after completion of that first semester? study tips, etc? did u spend all of the time u weren't in class on the 5th floor of the library? i'm a 30 yr old former marketing major returning to school and thought the A&P pre-reqs were some of the hardest classes i've taken - can only imagine what i'm in for now!

anyway.. any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. thanks again for your posts.

izzycatswimRN · Jan 6, 2010

Well I don't have any advice on what to expect after the first semester since I'm about to start my 2nd! I didn't spend my time in the library studying but that's simply because I find the library distracting. I spent all my time studying in my apartment ( I live alone). A lot of people say reading is a huge thing to keep up with. The only class I found it imperative to read in is Pharm...and maybe some for 2080. I didn't feel the need to read for patho because the two teachers are GREAT. And they post lectures on Ulearn so you can listen to them again. I skimmed some things in the book if I wasn't clear on them for the skills and assessment class. I would advise trying the whole mentor/mentee program. I plan on trying to be a mentor. The school pairs you up with a student further along in the program than you are. This student could have great advice/books/notes/etc they may be willing to share with you. Any other questions? Please let me know!