Hi. I am applying for entry to LSU's CARE program for my Accelerated BSN degree in August 2008. I am just getting ready to send my application off, and was wondering if anyone here has done this program, or is currently enrolled in it.
Mainly, I'm curious about the admissions standards. I have always been a very good student, and maintained above a 3.5 in college. I also have an advanced professional degree in another field. I am hoping these things will make me an attractive candidate for the school. I am curious how competitve the program is, especially for someone who is not a Louisiana resident.
Also, I'm wondering what the program is like. I know that it's got to be pretty intense if it wraps up all the nursing education into 18 months. What is a typical schedule like? How many hours a day and things like that?
I'm really excited about this opportunity, and looking forward to reading any responses here. Also, if anyone is currently applying as well, I'd love to connect with you so we can bite our nails together.
If someone doesn't chime in by the time I go back to school on the 3rd, I'll find out for you. I don't use either resource. I can say that using LSU's insurance is going to be much cheaper than using COBRA and it'll be enough to get you the basics while in school.
I am new to this site, but I see you post a lot. I was wondering if you know if students with bachelor's degrees can apply to the traditional program, despite already having a degree? Thanks.
If you have a degree already, you can apply to the CARE program. It is an accelerated program for students with previous degrees. The program last 22 months straight and you graduate with BSN. It is very fast paced, with XMAS time as your only break time. You finish one block and begin the next block sometimes the next day. It is challenging.
Yea I have heard about the Care program, and I like the idea of it, however, I think the 3 year traditional route would be better for me personally. I am currently at LSU, and I am almost finished my degree, so I figure wait till I am done, then go for nursing.
I know I'm getting ahead of myself but does anyone have an idea of when they will conduct interviews? Or when we'll hear if we get to interview? Reading back on old posts it looks like folks were being invited to interview in March, with interviews scheduled in April. This whole waiting process is going to be brutal for me. All my eggs are in this one basket, mostly because I want a BSN as opposed to an ASN and options for quality schools in the N.O. area are limited. My backup if I don't get accepted into CARE is to apply next semester to the traditional LSUHSC BSN program. I'm not the most patient person if you didn't already pick that up. = )
The waiting process is killing me also. Everyone that has applied is suppose to get an interview although I am not sure when that will be. I was hoping that they may have interviews in Feb or early March since it seems that most people find out if they are accepted or not in April/May but who knows. I am in the same boat as you and have everything riding on getting into this program. I haven't decided yet if I don't get in if I will wait another year or just apply to the traditional program. Best of luck to you.
Everyone that has applied is suppose to get an interview although I am not sure when that will be.
Everyone who meets the minimum requirements should get an interview. Nothing can be missing from your application. I'm sure eveyone has done their best to ensure they have all the requirements met, but just throwing that out there.
I would expect interviews will be similar to last year as the senior students need to be far enough into their management class to be ready to do interviews and they just started it this past week. I had mine on March 7 2 years ago and they were in late March last year. I was contacted 2 weeks prior to my interview. I am very willing to bet interviews won't be any earlier than March merely because the students have to be sufficiently through management to be "qualified" to do your interviews.
A couple more questions started bouncing around in my head last night. Thanks in advance for anyone who can help answer these questions.
Once a student is admitted into the CARE program, and begins, if they decide that the program is just too much, too fast and that they can't handle it, do they have the option to apply to the traditional BSN program and drop back into that? Have you seen any students do that?
Also, in the past I was given a great description of what the class hours will be like first semester - three light days and two long days a week. Then you noted that from January to April things really picked up and got much more intense. Can you give me an idea of what class/clinical hours are like, in the most busy blocks that you've experienced?
Once a student is admitted into the CARE program, and begins, if they decide that the program is just too much, too fast and that they can't handle it, do they have the option to apply to the traditional BSN program and drop back into that? Have you seen any students do that?
We had one do that after our first semester, before acceleration started. Personally, I see it as a slap in the face to someone who wanted that spot in CARE. Besides that, this person had to fight tooth and nail to do it and administration didn't take kindly to it at all. Anyone else who has dropped back is repeating a class. Going to traditional during the accelerated portion is not possible without delaying your graduation a year and a half to 2 years anyway. Say you decide it's not for you in February, you won't be able to pick up any classes or restart with traditional until the following August. They expect you to be able to handle it and it will probably come up in your interview. Just keep in mind, if you're passing, there's no reason to drop back. If you can't handle getting C's or even getting a few really low test scores here and there because you're falling behind a bit, don't do CARE because it's going to happen. We had people just drop out because they couldn't handle getting lower grades than in the past - it's asked in the interview if you can handle that, so people pretty much lied in their interview, IMO. Examine what you can handle and be honest with yourself before accepting entrance, please.
Sorry about the soapbox, but CARE's so competitive to get into, I can't stand the smallest thought of someone being denied a spot and then the person who got that spot just giving up on the program voluntarily.
Also, in the past I was given a great description of what the class hours will be like first semester - three light days and two long days a week. Then you noted that from January to April things really picked up and got much more intense. Can you give me an idea of what class/clinical hours are like, in the most busy blocks that you've experienced?
Blocks are all over the place, but the busiest part was the middle of block 2 which ran from January to March. It was 5 - 6 days a week - usually all day 3 of the days and half a day the other 2. I had night and Saturday clinicals, and we had a once a month Saturday class so that made things a bit more hectic (think not getting home till 1 am and having 3 exams beginning at 8 am the next day). Clinicals vary in days. Even the instructor I had for that clinical has switched up her hours, so those can't ever be expected to stay the same from class to class. I don't think the new CARE class is having Saturday class, either. Instructors spread clinicals out however they want to. No 2 clinical groups will have the same schedule and all you can give preference to is nights, days, or Northshore. After that part of block 2, you're only taking one major class at a time, just in a very small time frame.
Every last detail is about flexibility. Nothing will ever be set in stone except your first and last semesters. You'll have a general idea of when and where things are happening about 2 weeks before the class starts, but things are always changing. You'll know when your Christmas breaks are, but that's the only solid thing I had.
Thanks Cpkrn. Don't ever hesitate to give it to me straight. : )
I guess my concern is that getting into a masters program might be just as selective as the CARE program. If they look at grades in the same way as CARE does, then of course I'm going to need to graduate from CARE with high marks if I ever want to specialize further in the field.
Also thanks for the scheduling info. It definitely sounds hectic all the way around but with ebbs and flows. Looks like there's a bit of room for breathing here and there.
Eh, sorry, I don't mean to sound personal, I just like to take someone's questions and broaden my answers to fit my experiences as well as address everything as thouroughly as possible. I know a ton of people lurk around here and I hope we all have a part in answering the shy people's questions .
I'd say 3/4 of the people want to do a post-grad of some sort but nobody has a 4.0 and not a single person received an "A" in the theory portion of our last class. I was gung ho going in that I was graduating with honors and staying at the top. It's been impossible for me. There are many at or right over 3.5, so that's definitely attainable. You might not struggle, but most of us have, so I'm doing my best to give worst case to everyone and I can only hope everyone can prove me wrong! I wasn't disappointed in myself because I know I couldn't have worked harder but so many people feel one low grade on one test is the end of the world and then quit when they could've brought it up to an "A" anyway! THAT'S what I can't stand to see. Every last person is going to see a disappointingly low test grade (low is, of course, subjective).
You simply can't afford to beat yourself up too much in the program. There will be many times where you have to pick yourself up and move on to the next task.
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cpkRN
274 Posts
If someone doesn't chime in by the time I go back to school on the 3rd, I'll find out for you. I don't use either resource. I can say that using LSU's insurance is going to be much cheaper than using COBRA and it'll be enough to get you the basics while in school.