Gulf Coast State College Spring 2014 Class

U.S.A. Florida

Published

Anyone else out there apply to GCSC and waiting for acceptance or anyone already get accepted? I got my letter last Friday and have seen only one other person! Looking for other students!!

Mr. K is great. I'd rather not post detailed instructor info publicly (even positive) but I don't mind saying that.

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Mr. K is great. I'd rather not post detailed instructor info publicly (even positive) but I don't mind saying that.

Oh yes I wouldn't either and totally agree!! Thanks for sharing that though! That's what I have heard about him so good to hear it again:)

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I am guessing we will not get a chance to get anything as far as books or uniforms until we received our final acceptance letter. Kind of stinks as that part stresses me out just as much as waiting to hear if I got in!

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If you're using financial aid, that's right, but if you're paying cash you can buy whatever books or supplies you want. I'm thinking of buying the basic semester 1 books early because I will have 5 weeks between my retirement date and the beginning of spring term (I still laugh at being a 29 year old "retiree") and while I'll be working at whatever part time I'm able to find, I will have more time on my hands than I do currently and may be able to use it to get comfortable with the material. Other than that, my biggest supply priorities are 1. A cheap netbook for taking notes because my laptop is a 17" monster 2. A quality stethoscope that works for my ears and 3. a good pair of walking shoes for clinicals because there aren't many nursing oriented shoes for "murses." :) I was debating on something to carry everything in but I'm pretty sure I'll be using my rolling carryon I fly with... small enough for class but large enough to hold all of the random stuff we'll invariably be carrying around.

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Oh ok. Well then I might just go ahead too and purchase my books early. I was thinking the same thing about getting familiar with the material.

That's funny. Retiree. You should be able to find something especially with the holidays coming up?

Are we required to have a netbook/iPad? I have a laptop too that is huge so yeah I don't see myself carrying that around!

Yeah a rolling suitcase/carry-on actually isn't a bad idea. When I went in to meet with my advisor I saw several nursing students with those and then others with bookbags. Guess it depends on how much stuff we will have to take to and from classes.

Murses..thats a good one!

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Read this just a minute ago in the handbook:

Foundations of Nursing - Students must achieve an 80% or greater on the first math validation

exam. Students not achieving 80% on the first math validation exam must attain a 90% or greater

on the math revalidation exam.

All Other Nursing Courses - Students must achieve a 90% or greater on the first math validation

exam. Students not achieving 90% on the first math validation exam must attain a 100% or on the

second math revalidation exam.

posted this and I was confused at first but now I get it!

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I don't think we're required to have either but by handwriting is •terrible• and as a classical musician I've had some carpal tunnel issues in the past so I try to take preventative measures where I can. Something else I thought of is two specific books that could be helpful. One is the Medical Terminology course book, I am taking the class but would have gotten a lot from it by itself. If you don't want to spend the 50 bucks there is a med term pocket reference in the GC bookstore for under 10 that is great. The other is the Mosby nursing drug guide. Again, I have it as a supplemental for pharmacology but the information is invaluable and easy to understand. I would have bought one for myself and my family if I had known about it before.

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Ah, good find! That makes sense.

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If you're using financial aid, that's right, but if you're paying cash you can buy whatever books or supplies you want. I'm thinking of buying the basic semester 1 books early because I will have 5 weeks between my retirement date and the beginning of spring term (I still laugh at being a 29 year old "retiree") and while I'll be working at whatever part time I'm able to find, I will have more time on my hands than I do currently and may be able to use it to get comfortable with the material. Other than that, my biggest supply priorities are 1. A cheap netbook for taking notes because my laptop is a 17" monster 2. A quality stethoscope that works for my ears and 3. a good pair of walking shoes for clinicals because there aren't many nursing oriented shoes for "murses." :) I was debating on something to carry everything in but I'm pretty sure I'll be using my rolling carryon I fly with... small enough for class but large enough to hold all of the random stuff we'll invariably be carrying around.

Where did you download the student handbook from? I found one online but it is from 2012-2013

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I don't think we're required to have either but by handwriting is •terrible• and as a classical musician I've had some carpal tunnel issues in the past so I try to take preventative measures where I can. Something else I thought of is two specific books that could be helpful. One is the Medical Terminology course book, I am taking the class but would have gotten a lot from it by itself. If you don't want to spend the 50 bucks there is a med term pocket reference in the GC bookstore for under 10 that is great. The other is the Mosby nursing drug guide. Again, I have it as a supplemental for pharmacology but the information is invaluable and easy to understand. I would have bought one for myself and my family if I had known about it before.

gotcha. Wow thanks for that information! I will def look into getting those books. If I had made this decision a lot sooner to apply I would have taken this fall semester to enroll in courses that would help me understand the medical field a little better, but that wasn't the case. We still have two months roughly so I am going to go over there next week when we have our fingerprinting and criminal background session and purchase those!

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I have last year's too, but since the 13-14 year is already in progress I assume the info is still valid. I'm probably going to hit the bookstore after fingerprinting is over as well. I remember there being a couple more of the pocket sized references that were nursing related.

Don't feel bad about lacking healthcare experience. I'm sure plenty of us are in the same boat. Personally if it weren't for a few extremely awesome nurses at work allowing me to essentially "job shadow" them while on duty I'd have nothing but my own experience as a patient to go by. Like you said, you have 2 months to prepare. Have you volunteered at any hospitals or doctors offices? If you have time (with 3 kids I'm sure "time" is a foreign word!) that may be a way to gain some first hand exposure on what to expect.

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I grew up in Cantonment. What high school did you go to?

how funny, I actually grew up in Cantonment too (no one ever seems to know Cantonment, so I just say Pensacola..lol). I went to Tate until after my sophomore year, then my family moved down south to Boca Raton.

The schedule seems like it might be ok at first without being too crazy. I've already looked into making my 4 year old a full time pre-k'er, and both he and my 7 year old will start at bay base, so I have full open availability during the day, and time to study when not in class. I'd prefer the morning clinicals, but my parents would always be able to swing by and pick them up after work if I have to have the afternoon clinicals.

I have a large laptop too, so wasn't too sure about bringing it with me. I have an ipad, but its not the easiest thing to type on. I'm not sure if I will be bringing it with me or not. I have read that back packs used for hiking, like the North Face recon are good bags for nursing school, so I may end up going with something like that.

I may go ahead and buy some books as well. I am going to try to get them used to save as much money as possible. I wish they would go ahead and give us the list of everything we need to buy/have done (books, stethoscope, scrubs, TB test, ect) before results of our drug test and background check to save a little bit of rush when we do get it, but I understand the reasoning of waiting. I JUST paid for the criminal check a few months ago when I transferred my CNA license to FL, so it kind of stings to have to pay the 80 again lol. I haven't used my license in almost 4 years, but figured it would be good to have it active here just in case.

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