Hi Oklahoma!

lioneyes · Oct 8, 2006

Hi,

I am also hoping to attend OCU in the accelerated BSN program. I believe you are right that if you meet the qualifications posted on the website than they will accept you. I guess the point to them is that they will continue to add sections of classes instead of turning qualified students down because of lack of space. I have no idea how they achieve this but someone else mentioned that they may not have as many applicants because the tuition is much higher than other nursing programs. I don't know.

I have spoken to a woman that you can find in the Oklahoma Nurse forum. There is a thread there about OCU, do a forum search for OCU spelled out. Her handle is TeeBEe. She attends OCU in the regular RN program.

I would be interested to hear the replies about what areas to live in etc. myself ,as I am single without children, want to live as close to school as possible. Perhaps even on campus,not sure. I don't want to have to worry about if my car breaks down or whatever. I was told, I think by teebee (Traci) to be careful as there are variations in the housing. But she said she and her husband live about a mile away in a nice area.

I guess a visit will be in store for both of us soon.

Ann-Marie

teebee · Oct 9, 2006

Hi Amy!

I think I'm the unofficial recruiter for OCU's nursing program!!

Well, it seems that your situation is definitely not unusual - nursing programs are beginning to become almost prohibitively competitive and people cannot just put their entire lives on hold for those ridiculous wait lists can they?

Anyhow, your plan sounds solid - one thing to note is that if you transfer to OCU to complete some of your prerequisites before actually entering the nursing program, OCU will consider your OCU GPA only in order to determine if you meet their 3.0 GPA requirement. If your OCU GPA is above 3.0, but cumulative GPA is still below 3.0, you may have to write a letter to the dean requesting provisional enrollment (I had to do this) but it was really just a formality. I understand your GPA thing - I was at a 2.39 from when I was younger and having so many hours has made it a very slow process to get it back up into a respectable range - I'm still working on that!!

I've had a hinky internet connection all day otherwise I would have responded to your message earlier today - but right now it's bedtime and although we're on fall break (woohoo!!) for the next 2 days... my husband is not... so it's off to bed.

I will get back to you tomorrow morning with more info for you and feel free to pm me as well.

Traci

jarakr · Oct 9, 2006

Traci-

Thank you so much for your information! I really appreciate it and would love to hear more. I'm so excited about the whole thing. Now I just have to figure out how to finance it. :) I know I qualifiy for a decent amount of financial aid grants. I'm also hoping a scholarship or two from the school will fall into my lap somehow, although I doubt it. I'm also willing to take out a student loan. I have to figure out how to swing daycare. What are the hours for the program typically like?

Ann-Marie- Yes, it looks like we'll be visiting the campus soon! I really hope to find a neighborhood close to campus. If you visit, let me know how it goes. I probably wouldn't be able to make it there much before Christmas. I'm hoping to apply to the school around Jan/Feb. Do you know if it's tough to get in? It doesn't seem like it but I'm a little nervous about my past and a few failed courses... ugh!

teebee · Oct 9, 2006

Traci-
Thank you so much for your information! I really appreciate it and would love to hear more. I'm so excited about the whole thing. Now I just have to figure out how to finance it. :) I know I qualifiy for a decent amount of financial aid grants. I'm also hoping a scholarship or two from the school will fall into my lap somehow, although I doubt it. I'm also willing to take out a student loan. I have to figure out how to swing daycare. What are the hours for the program typically like?
Ann-Marie- Yes, it looks like we'll be visiting the campus soon! I really hope to find a neighborhood close to campus. If you visit, let me know how it goes. I probably wouldn't be able to make it there much before Christmas. I'm hoping to apply to the school around Jan/Feb. Do you know if it's tough to get in? It doesn't seem like it but I'm a little nervous about my past and a few failed courses... ugh!

Hi again Amy -

Having a much busier day than I expected - but just wanted to tell you to relax and not worry too much about your past performance in school and a few F's - I know that's easier said than done!! But, I have them too!! I hate that I have them but I've done my best to improve my situation over the last several years and that's all I can do! When I applied to OCU I think I had around a 2.78? After the summer semester it's at a 2.85... It's a work in progress but now I just have to make sure I maintain a 3.0 at OCU. I think OCU accepts about 80% of its applicants and I don't think you will have a problem getting accepted. There are transfer scholarships available that you will qualify for and if you happen to attend a Methodist church, there's a scholarship for that too. They're not big scholarships but you just have to apply for everything available and chip away and that big chunk bit by bit.

OCU is in an older part of OKC so I think that's why it's kind of a weird area to me - some of the neighborhoods close by are a little sketchy but others are super nice. We live about a mile or 2 from OCU in a historic preservation district neighborhood and love it - we have 24 hour patrolling security, lots neighborhood activities, a park, restaurants and shopping close by. How old are your kids? Are they school age? If so, that will be something to consider. You mentioned day care so I'm guessing they're not yet in elementary school. I think a lot of ppl in our neighborhood send their kids to private school - so I'm not so sure about OKC public schools. Aside from proximity to school, a lot may depend on just what kind of neighborhood and atmosphere you are looking for... many many choices! Will you be looking to buy or rent?

As for hours, will you be doing the traditional BSN program? That is the program I am in and for this semester, my hours are basically as follows:

Monday: 10 - 4

Tuesday: 9 - 4

Wednesday: 9 - 3

Right now, our Thursdays and Fridays are free, but many of us come in to the lab for extra practice for an couple of hours on those days. At the end of the semester we will begin clinicals, which will be either on Thursdays or Fridays for just 2 weeks.

Hope that helps a little bit for now - time to get dinner started!

jarakr · Oct 12, 2006

Thanks so much for responding again. I'm fairly active with a Methodist church which is great. Hopefully this helps a bit. I'm so, so nervous about applying! I figured I might as well apply soon for admission to the school, but I have to decide if I think it's a good idea to wait until after this semester- I want to make sure they get my recent (good) grades and don't just see my giant "F" from a while ago. So maybe at the end of this semester. How quickly do students usually hear back from the admissions office?

Do you know what exactly the prereqs really are? I might have all of them done except chemistry! I still want to attend a semester at OKU before beginning nursing classes, just to get a few more general ed requirements out of the way and to bump up that GPA some more! Everything helps. :)

Well, it's really late and I have mountains of homework to do, so I'd better end this here. I'm so excited about really getting my education moving forward.

teebee · Oct 12, 2006

Thanks so much for responding again. I'm fairly active with a Methodist church which is great. Hopefully this helps a bit. I'm so, so nervous about applying! I figured I might as well apply soon for admission to the school, but I have to decide if I think it's a good idea to wait until after this semester- I want to make sure they get my recent (good) grades and don't just see my giant "F" from a while ago. So maybe at the end of this semester. How quickly do students usually hear back from the admissions office?
Do you know what exactly the prereqs really are? I might have all of them done except chemistry! I still want to attend a semester at OKU before beginning nursing classes, just to get a few more general ed requirements out of the way and to bump up that GPA some more! Everything helps. :)
Well, it's really late and I have mountains of homework to do, so I'd better end this here. I'm so excited about really getting my education moving forward.

I think it probably takes a couple of weeks for the admission process to be completed - the actual application form is filled out online and then you need to have your previous transcripts sent to admissions (at the same time, send another sete of transcripts to Financial Aid, it will go much faster than waiting on Admissions to forward them onto FinAid). I would just fill out the online form maybe a week or so before your grades are posted and then at least that part will have been processed then they can process your transcripts. You'll get in!

I think the Methodist scholarship is $1000/year so that'll help a bit and you'll most likely qualify for a transfer scholarship. I have the specific prereqs around here somewhere - I will find them and post - but they're pretty standard: anatomy, microbiology, physiology, chemistry, etc.