Jefferson BSN Students?

AtomicWoman · Jun 13, 2008

I'll be starting in their APW BSN program, which is also two years. Most of our classes are with the traditional BSN students. :)

AtomicWoman · Jun 13, 2008

Also, have you heard anything from their financial aid office yet? I cannot believe I haven't heard from them. I emailed and they said they were working on the fall Nursing students' files this month. Of course, that's not what they told us 2 months ago? With the student loan market being in such disarray, it would be nice if Jeff would certify us so we can go get all our loan ducks in order. :chuckle

RNSES · Jun 13, 2008

NO! I finished everything for financial aid (except borrowing private loans) back in like February and they told me that I should hear something by the end of April or early May as to whether or not I'll get institutional aid. By the end of May, I still didn't hear anything so I sent an email to the lady that I had spoken to before. She never responded, so I called the next week and when she answered, she was like, 'I was just getting ready to email you back. It's been so hectic here'- which I can completely understand, but c'mon. She told me they were working on the Fall students as we speak. This was about 3 weeks ago. I spoke to someone on the Jeff discussion board and she said they told her that it wouldn't be until the end of June or early July!! In the meantime, I don't know what to do with the private loans. I will prolly have to borrow the max that I'm allowed (I'm an independent student with rent, etc. and it's just me-not married), but I don't want to borrow more than is needed, which of course I won't know if I get institutional money until they distribute the financial aid awards. Sheesh!

Are you going to the Philly campus or Danville? I'll be in Philly. What is the APW program?

phillykixx17 · Jun 14, 2008

what was the admission criteria like for acceptance because the site leaves you really looking for more .. what was your GPA / SATs like that sort of stuff

AtomicWoman · Jun 14, 2008

NO! I finished everything for financial aid (except borrowing private loans) back in like February and they told me that I should hear something by the end of April or early May as to whether or not I'll get institutional aid. By the end of May, I still didn't hear anything so I sent an email to the lady that I had spoken to before. She never responded, so I called the next week and when she answered, she was like, 'I was just getting ready to email you back. It's been so hectic here'- which I can completely understand, but c'mon. She told me they were working on the Fall students as we speak. This was about 3 weeks ago. I spoke to someone on the Jeff discussion board and she said they told her that it wouldn't be until the end of June or early July!! In the meantime, I don't know what to do with the private loans. I will prolly have to borrow the max that I'm allowed (I'm an independent student with rent, etc. and it's just me-not married), but I don't want to borrow more than is needed, which of course I won't know if I get institutional money until they distribute the financial aid awards. Sheesh!
Are you going to the Philly campus or Danville? I'll be in Philly. What is the APW program?

Well, at least it's not just me!! I was done in March and when I went to the financial aid program in April, they said it would be "a few weeks" before we heard anything. Now here it is June 14, and I still don't know. :angryfire Not that I'm expecting them to give me any money, but please at least certify us so we can finalize our loans!!!

Were you able to secure your Stafford Loans without them certifying your financial needs? If we can go ahead and do our Stafford Loans at least, I'll do that and then deal with the private loans when all the numbers come in (finally!!).

I'll be in Philly. The APW is a second bachelors degree for those of us who already have one. The only difference between APW and traditional is that APW students take 3 MSN courses before they graduate, so they end up with 9 MSN credits along with their BSN. Also, they/we are automatically accepted to the MSN program.

I'll tell ya, the FACT program is looking more interesting by the day, given the entire financial aid picture (including those lenders dropping out like flies!). FACT is about $32,000 while the 2-year APW is about $50,000 in tuition. I keep wondering if I should ask them to switch me to FACT and wait until next May. I'd still graduate in May 2010, either way! :)

Anyway, good to chat with someone else in the program. And good to know they haven't just forgotten me. I noticed when they reply to my emails now, no one's name is on the email (there was before). I guess they're getting flooded with emails!

Is your orientation July 10? Another annoyance; I'm still finishing my last prerequisites. I really don't want to miss a 4-hour Chem II class to attend orientation for classes that start almost 2 months later! Didn't they think a lot of us would be in summer school??

AtomicWoman · Jun 14, 2008

what was the admission criteria like for acceptance because the site leaves you really looking for more .. what was your GPA / SATs like that sort of stuff

You're right -- they don't give a GPA cutoff, do they? I have a Ph.D., so I can't really say how they would evaluate undergrads applying to the traditional BSN program. I *don't think* they require SATs -- someone correct me if I'm wrong. My sense was that they pay a lot of attention to your science grades.

Since it's rolling admissions, apply as soon as you can, even if you don't have every single prerequisite done. If you have most or all of your sciences done, go ahead and apply as soon as the applications are made available. Ideally, you'd like to be part of the early admission deadline group (October), but definitely not later than the December deadline. By Late January/early February, they pretty much have filled the classes.

Best of luck!

RNSES · Jun 15, 2008

what was the admission criteria like for acceptance because the site leaves you really looking for more .. what was your GPA / SATs like that sort of stuff

I don't know about SAT's (I didn't submit them). For GPA, I had a 4.0 science gpa (which they STRONGLY look at) and an overall 3.84 (statistics..grrr). They don't accept any grades lower than C I think. You have to have an essay- I was told to make sure it was grammatically correct. I think they req'd two rec. letters too. I also submitted my resume and a personal statement, but they were not req'd. Other than my transcripts, I think that was it. I didn't have to take the NET exam because I had all my pre-req's done. Once everything was submitted, they brought me in for an interview (literally days after they received everything) and I actually found out right at the interview that I was accepted. I would say the whole process was very easy and smooth, but as you can see from the other posts, the fin. aid process has been somewhat of a nightmare. My best advice to you if you are considering TJU is to set up an appt. with an admissions person so that you can see exactly what you need to do- it's what I did and I think it is part of the reason why everything went so smoothly for me. Good Luck!

RNSES · Jun 15, 2008

Well, at least it's not just me!!... Were you able to secure your Stafford Loans without them certifying your financial needs? If we can go ahead and do our Stafford Loans at least, I'll do that and then deal with the private loans when all the numbers come in (finally!!)... Is your orientation July 10? Another annoyance; I'm still finishing my last prerequisites. I really don't want to miss a 4-hour Chem II class to attend orientation for classes that start almost 2 months later! Didn't they think a lot of us would be in summer school??

They only thing I did for the Stafford Loans was indicate on my institutional aid app. that I was borrowing them. I had to fill in the actual amount I planned to borrow (I think it was $10, 500). I have not done the MPN yet b/c I haven't decided which Lender to go with...have you? What exactly do you mean by 'certifying financial needs'? They did post on my Banner account what amount everything was going to cost me. It included amounts for health insurance, rent, transportation, etc. It was about $45,000.

Yeah, I'll be at Orientation on July 10. I'll have to miss work for it, which sucks. I think they should have scheduled it on a Saturday so it wouldn't interfere with work/summer school.

AtomicWoman · Jun 23, 2008

They only thing I did for the Stafford Loans was indicate on my institutional aid app. that I was borrowing them. I had to fill in the actual amount I planned to borrow (I think it was $10, 500). I have not done the MPN yet b/c I haven't decided which Lender to go with...have you? What exactly do you mean by 'certifying financial needs'? They did post on my Banner account what amount everything was going to cost me. It included amounts for health insurance, rent, transportation, etc. It was about $45,000.
Yeah, I'll be at Orientation on July 10. I'll have to miss work for it, which sucks. I think they should have scheduled it on a Saturday so it wouldn't interfere with work/summer school.

I could be wrong about this, but I thought we couldn't finalize our student loans until Jefferson gave us some sort of financial aid statement that said "here's what it will cost you to go to school, here's what you're eligible for, etc." I'm not sure where I got that idea; it probably came from the private student loan sites. Most of them say you can borrow "up to the cost of attendance". Anyway, there's nothing in my banner account that says what everything will cost me. At least I don't think there is... was that in the financial aid section?

Still didn't get my pre-orientation package which was supposed to arrive "1 month" before orientation! We APWers got an email on Thursday that said the packages went out Wed. or Thursday. Well, I guess it will get here when it gets here. Not looking forward to telling my Chem prof. that I can't be there July 10. I hope he doesn't schedule an exam that day!!

HE>i · Nov 6, 2008

How do you like the APW program so far? I have been accepted into several programs in Philly and am trying to make my decision. I am trying to decide primarily between Penn (though I haven't gotten a decision from them yet-I am optimistic that I will be accepted) and Jefferson's APW program. I really like that Jeff keeps the APW together as a group during the 2 years. DOes that seem to work well for you? Any insight that might aid in my decision would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

AtomicWoman · Nov 7, 2008

Believe it or not, I switched from APW to FACT and I'll be starting the FACT program in May. For me, the FACT program makes a whole lot of sense for a bunch of reasons. So to answer your question, I never started the APW program, so I don't know how it is. :)