Help! Duke or John Hopkins?

sarita279 · Feb 6, 2004

First of all, congrats!

Second, I dont know what to tell you about the two programs, I have only applied to the Johns Hopkins one. Haven't heard back yet, but hearing from you makes me so....antsy! :confused:

Good luck in your choice!

275Main · Feb 6, 2004

Congrats! I guess the real question for you is are you one hundred percent sure about which area of nursing you want to pursue your masters in since a lot of these programs do not let you switch your area of specialization once you started. Another thing to think about is that if you only go for your BSN first you probably will find a hospital that is willing to pay for your masters, thus saving you lots of cash! ALso if you end up hating either of the areas once you have moved there, does Johns hopkins grant a BSN after the first year if you are in the masters program so you can leave if you want? I know someone who did the Accelerated BSN from Johns hopkins and liked it a lot, but the location is far from ideal, it's in a really bad area.

BSNgrad2004 · Feb 6, 2004

Have u considered university of maryland, baltimore

MaggieJo · Feb 6, 2004

If I were going to choose between the two, I would go for Johns Hopkins. It's just a matter of personal preference though. One side note, though, if you're going to go to Johns Hopkins, you might note the s after John. I hear they're kind of picky about people saying it right.

-Maggie

NCNurse2be · Feb 7, 2004

Kyleelynn -

I'm curious, how do you know that you've already been accepted to Duke? I also applied there, and the admissions people are telling me that they're still processing applications (since the due date was only 3 weeks ago...Jan 15). They said that the committee hasn't even looked at the applications yet, and that decisions will by made by the end of Feb/beginning of Mar.

So how do you know you're already in? Your post made me nervous!!!

calicamper · Feb 14, 2004

I applied to both schools as well. I haven't heard back from either school. However, I'm positive that Duke is my first choice. Duke seems to have set up a terrific program with a great curriculum and a strong clinical practicum at the end of the program. In addition, as I understand it, Duke Health Systems has set up a tuition repayment program (that may or may not be conitnued for the class beginning in 2004). Hopefully, though, it will, and that will certainly influence my decision. I also like that Duke's program is a little bit longer (16-13.5 months). I wonder if maybe I will come out a better nurse if the curriculum isn't packed into such a short time span (I want to eventually become a professor in nursing...so this is important to me). I also am a little wary of taking patho and pharmacology at the same time (per Hopkins program)...but obviously, if other people can handle it, I certainly can. I would just prefer not to do it that way. Another factor to consider is that at Duke you will receive 15 graduate level credits, which may or may not transfer to other universities if you decide to further your education. Some pluses for Hopkins is that they have a Peace Corps prep component for people interested in that (although there's no reason why you would have to do this in order to do Peace Corps). Additionally, Hopkins' program is shorter (Yay!). Hopefully, some of the information that I have gleaned about the two programs will be useful to you as your make your decision. Indeed, decisions from Duke haven't been made yet, so the decision might not be yours to make (but hopefully it will be:) ). Good luck...maybe we'll end up together either this summer (Hopkins) or in the fall (Duke).

Calicamper

PennyLane, RN · Feb 16, 2004

Johns Hopkins was my first choice--I was waitlisted for their accelerated program and was told I could do the 2 year or wait a year and do the accelerated then. I chose a different school in the end.

I'd say go for J.H. I know two people who went there and loved it.