How long did it take for you to hear back from Vanderbilt Nurse Residency Program ?

DRobinson85 · Sep 29, 2009

3.6 here

JennRN09 · Sep 29, 2009

I received my response yesterday that I was selected for an interview Peds track.

paintingskies · Sep 30, 2009

I heard on Monday, the 28th. We also got my interview scheduled for the following week. I live out of state, so I have to fly in. I'm pretty sure GPA made a difference - the initial interview selection email indicated that there is a point system involved that included GPA.

I believe, have the impression, that they take a lot of people. If you look at the past classes, it's a large number.

I really hope they can take everyone and didn't overload with interviews. I graduated in May and haven't been able to find a job... it's getting tough.

JennRN09 · Sep 30, 2009

Hey Paintingskies! I hear what your saying. I graduated in May and I still can't find a graduate nurse job anywhere both in or out of state. I have had interviews just no offers. It's like what good is my license if I can't even use it in the field it is for. I too have been looking at pass classes and you are right they have been taking a good number of people and not like a handful like most places I know. I am scheduled for the peds track interview and since they are only doing the interviews for that on Mondays I "like a crazy nut I am being" did some calculations to see how many people that could be interviewing in thoughs four mondays taking the times available and how long the interview is...I came up with 52ish people. But who knows. If I had it my way I would let everyone get a job as long as they meet the standards of what they are looking for since it is a Magnet hospital.

paintingskies · Sep 30, 2009

We have a magnet hospital here and they keep only taking handfulls of new graduates. I think we were putting out close to 220 students a semester, with several hospitals having in-house programs. Well, finally, the hospitals with in-house programs are turning away those people they trained and flooding the market where the rest of us have to go... so I'm in the same boat. Several interviews, no offers... and a lot of it is simply because of how saturated the market is. Repeating the 70s.

Vanderbilt sounds like an excellent hospital from what I hear. Are you from there? Is everyone out of state? Been wondering if they have relocation assistance...

nurse901 · Sep 30, 2009

Hey JennRN09 and Paintingskies!!! I looked back on the classes before and decided to count all the names...yes I am a dork. Well Summer 2008 there were 196 new grads, the winter class had 79 and my friend that was accepted into the summer of 2009 program had about 100 new grads. I don't know if they have decreased the numbers since then but hopefully they are still accepting many new graduates for the winter cohort. I also asked my friend if they offered relocation assistance but unfortunatly they do not...bummer. I guess we are on our own for that one. She also said that the pay is not that great. If you would like to know, New grads that are on the medical floors for the day shift start at $18.25, if you are placed on a critical care then you will start at $19.25. The night differential is +3.00/hour and to my understanding it is $6.00/hr on weekends. However she raved about the program and absolutely loves it. Plus the benefits are awesome and the training you get is fantastic so I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Hope that info helped. Good luck.

paintingskies · Oct 1, 2009

Really? That's the pay rate? Out here, all the new grad programs start at 24.00$, min. Other classmates of mine started out near 28$/hr. How does the cost of living compare? Does anyone know?

Is everyone out of state?

thanks for counting! that's much more hopeful! Though, I hope that doesn't mean that they end up interviewing twice as many applicants as there are openings. The hospitals out here usually have a 2:1, or on some units, 4:1 or 10:1 ratios for their interviews. It's really discouraging!

nurse901 · Oct 1, 2009

Hey paintingskies!!! Yeh I was a little discouraged with the pay too. They start new grads in Colorado at around $22/hr so $18.25 is not that much. I asked my friend about the cost of living and it really is not that high. This website may help you figure out the cost of living between where you live now and what the Nashville area is like http://www.bestplaces.net/COL/. Good luck. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. Where are you from??

paintingskies · Oct 1, 2009

Thanks for all your information! I really appreciate the inside track! I'm from Arizona. It's crazy how it's so hard everywhere! My husband's a nurse, too, and he's working about an hour and a half one way drive in another town... 'cause we can't find anything in town. By the time the new grad program starts in January, he'll be a few months shy of a year of experience. It's kind of tricky. But I imagine it'd be easier for him to find a job than me... and I know Vanderbilt tends to hire RN level 1s.

Is Colorado a tough market right now, too?

paintingskies · Oct 1, 2009

That website is really useful! I just compared and Nashville COL is considerably lower than Tucson... so that's reassuring. It's crazy when places like California are so inflated when the market is so tough.... so I'm glad it's not like that! I imagine I'll get a better idea, too, when we stay out there a few extra days after my interview :) Yay, vacation!

JennRN09 · Oct 1, 2009

Hi Paintingskies and Nurse901. I am from Orlando, Florida and are new graduates start at $21-$22 an hour. I've lived in Florida pretty much my whole life and sometimes I think it's too expensive here, lol. I have family in Crossville, Tennessee about an hour and a half outside Nashville and to me I think Tennessee is cheaper, but that just me...I live in Mickey Mouse, Sea World and Universal land, lol.

paintingskies · Oct 1, 2009

Oh, wow. Yeah, I imagine touristy areas are going to be largely inflated. I wonder why Tucson pays so much more for the new grads then. I don't really understand how that's all figured out and why one area can be so much more than another. Go figure.

Are y'all traveling in for interviews, too? They don't reimburse for interview travel either, do they? :)