NAU FNP Summer 2019- anyone else?

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Hello! I am hoping to find other nurses out there that have been accepted to the NAU FNP program- with a start date of summer/fall 2019! It would be great to have others to talk to that are in the same program. Speak up! ?

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Hi there! My name is Megan. I applied for full time, but was accepted into the FNP program part-time, starting in summer 2019. I am waiting to hear back from other schools before I decide concretely if I will attend NAU. Are you from AZ? What is your perception of NAU— does it have a good reputation? I’m from MN and it was challenging to find non-biased reviews.

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Hello Megan! Nice to "meet" you! I am from Arizona, born and raised here. I live in Tucson. I got in part time as well. I called to ask what happened and they said that only 5% of FNP students are considered full-time and those are usually people who do not work and live in Flagstaff....so I accepted the part time summer 2019! So excited! I also got accepted to GCU for the same semester. So what made the difference? Clinical set up. GCU and any other school I found makes me set up my own clinical sites and preceptors....but NAU does that for you! Woo hoo! Let me know what you decide! It would be great to have someone with me on this journey.

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Hi campfirekitten,

I am also in the process of applying to both NAU and GCU. DO you know if GCU at least makes an effort to help secure sites? Also, Can clinicals for NAU be anywhere in Az or only in Flagstaff? I won't be able to contact the schools in few weeks as I am outside the country right now. Thanks in advance.

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Good morning!

GCU wants you to get your own sites/preceptors for all classes "womb to tomb" and will not assist in finding the sites at all- however, they DO help put a contract into place if you find somewhere you want to do a rotation in and that facility does not have a contract.

NAU does allow clinicals in other places outside of Flagstaff. Granted, they consider themselves a program geared towards rural communities....so there may be a bit of travel if you live in a city. However, it sounds minimal. And for me, just knowing that they set it all up is well worth any travel.

Are you on a nice vacation? I go on a cruise in 9 more days. Not that I'm counting....ha!

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Well ladies.... the more I look at the situation- the more I’m sure I’m going with GCU after all! It seems that clinical set up is the only advantage NAU has over GCU and the clinical sites may be far away.... that, and I loved my BSN at GCU. Still don’t know for sure... but leaning heavily towards GCU.

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campfirekitten, BSN, RN,

Thanks for the info. I was leaning towards gcu too,except for the preceptorship part ugh. Good luck and have fun on your cruise?

I will update you guys on what school I decide to go with.

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After some lengthy discussions with my husband, I decided on NAU! I still won’t hear from the other schools until March, but decided that the part-time schedule is actually a blessing in disguise as it will allow me to do school online and continue to work as a nurse for two more years so can get vested at my job before moving to AZ for the clinical portion of the program. I work for “the great Mayo Clinic” in Rochester, MN, so getting vested first was important to me so I have the option to come back after finishing school and pick up where I left off. @Campfirekitten what has steered you towards choosing GCU? For me, not being from AZ, having clinicals set up is vital because I don’t have connections there. That seems to be the primary way people find preceptors when they must find their own.

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AZNurse- yes, please let us know what you decide. So many good schools out there! I’m thankful to have a choice and do not think there is necessarily a wrong choice at all.

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Mountainmamameg- there were several reasons I am leaning towards GCU- even beyond the good experience I had with them. I like that they do classes one at a time rather than traditional semesters with the length and multiple classes thing going on. The other thing is that I’ve tslked to many that have done the FNP- some from GCU and some from NAU- and it seems that both agree that the course work is heavy regardless that NAU calls their program part time and GCU calls it full time. For me, that matters significantly because my scholarship pays out 3,500 per year for anything a school terms as part time but doubles to 7000 a year for full time... so I stand to lose 10,500 dollars out of the deal by the time I am done if I choose NAU. The other turn off to NAU is that I heard the two roughest classes of any FNP program seem to be advanced patho and advanced pharm... and in any of the 3 schedule plans that NAU presented me with- they schedule both of those classes in the same semester. Yikes! I haven’t been in Tucson very long- but thankfully have made a few contacts. Setting up my clinicals will be a bit of a chore- but a small price to pay over all. I do understand your situation though- and it seems NAU may sure enough be the best bet for you. I haven’t made up my mind for 100 percent certain- so I’m giving it some more thought before turning one school down.

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hi wondering if you/anyone else decided on FNP @ NAU, looking to connect with someone who will be attending NAU summer/fall 2019. I will be starting the program in the summer/fall 2019.

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I have not made my final decision yet between GCU and NAU. I’m not sure why this decision is so hard for me... I suppose it’s because of the time length commitment. Either school will be awesome, so it’s hard to decide.

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