New Jersey City University (NJCU) Accelerated Nursing 2019

Aaraya428 · Apr 10, 2019

What are the most difficult courses of each semester? Would someone with science background and tech experience in a hospital find the journey to be a little smoother?

Nadiip426 · Apr 10, 2019

18 minutes ago, Aaraya428 said:
What are the most difficult courses of each semester? Would someone with science background and tech experience in a hospital find the journey to be a little smoother?

Im curious about this as well, I have been working as a medical scribe in the ER and internal medicine, as well as a medical assistant and during my time I have gained a significant amount of knowledge. I have found myself knowing more than 3/4th year medical students. So I wonder how hard the classes really are, or if they are just hard because some are not familiar with the material. I know many people that go into ABSN programs sometimes do not have a background in the medical/healthcare field.

maryhamm · Apr 10, 2019

1 hour ago, Aaraya428 said:
What are the most difficult courses of each semester? Would someone with science background and tech experience in a hospital find the journey to be a little smoother?

I'm curious to know about this as I've had around 3 years of volunteering two different hospitals with people of different ages (Geriatric, Children, and just helping with the general patient experience), but I have a lot more experience with neuroscience (drug abuse and neurodevelopmental) and Public Health (HIV/PrEP) research. Does this research help me with with a lot of my classed and as an ABSN student would I be allowed/have the time to potentially gain more research opportunities during the program (especially in the fields of my past/current research)? Thank you for your time and help.

Jyosei · Apr 10, 2019

1 hour ago, Aaraya428 said:
What are the most difficult courses of each semester? Would someone with science background and tech experience in a hospital find the journey to be a little smoother?

1st Semester - Fundamentals of Nursing & Pathophysiology
2nd Semester - Adult Health I & Pharmacology
3rd Semester - Adult Health II

Someone with that kind of background would have some advantage, particularly when it comes to questions of unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP). Day 1, you MUST start thinking in terms of NCLEX.

Jyosei · Apr 10, 2019

1 hour ago, Nadiip426 said:
Im curious about this as well, I have been working as a medical scribe in the ER and internal medicine, as well as a medical assistant and during my time I have gained a significant amount of knowledge. I have found myself knowing more than 3/4th year medical students. So I wonder how hard the classes really are, or if they are just hard because some are not familiar with the material. I know many people that go into ABSN programs sometimes do not have a background in the medical/healthcare field.

There are about 5 scribes in our cohort right now. I would also say that 95% of our cohort has experience in a healthcare setting. Medicine and nursing are very different in terms of philosophy and thought process. You will have an advantage in knowing about pathologies, but the disease process and specific CARE is completely different in each discipline. None of the core nursing courses are to be underestimated, because you will become humbled really quickly. The program really challenges your skills of critical thinking and to think in terms of NCLEX.

Nadiip426 · Apr 10, 2019

2 minutes ago, Jyosei said:
There are about 5 scribes in our cohort right now. I would also say that 95% of our cohort has experience in a healthcare setting. Medicine and nursing are very different in terms of philosophy and thought process. You will have an advantage in knowing about pathologies, but the disease process and specific CARE is completely different in each discipline. None of the core nursing courses are to be underestimated, because you will become humbled really quickly. The program really challenges your skills of critical thinking and to think in terms of NCLEX.

Awesome thanks for the info!

Jyosei · Apr 11, 2019

12 hours ago, maryhamm said:
I'm curious to know about this as I've had around 3 years of volunteering two different hospitals with people of different ages (Geriatric, Children, and just helping with the general patient experience), but I have a lot more experience with neuroscience (drug abuse and neurodevelopmental) and Public Health (HIV/PrEP) research. Does this research help me with with a lot of my classed and as an ABSN student would I be allowed/have the time to potentially gain more research opportunities during the program (especially in the fields of my past/current research)? Thank you for your time and help.

I think the research will give you some good background with each of your respective classes. Also, there is definitely enough work that you won't have time to engage in other types of research other than what is required for the program.

Also, the Nursing Research class will probably be up your alley. There is a large research paper that culminates in a presentation at a campus symposium, which is mandatory.

Dgomez3 · Apr 11, 2019

4 hours ago, Jyosei said:
I think the research will give you some good background with each of your respective classes. Also, there is definitely enough work that you won't have time to engage in other types of research other than what is required for the program.

Also, the Nursing Research class will probably be up your alley. There is a large research paper that culminates in a presentation at a campus symposium, which is mandatory.

Hi, thank you for all this valuable info. I also have a couple of questions of my own.

1. How many males are in the program?

2. Re: applications, do you know of any students in the cohort that scored less than a 90 on the HESI, or had less than stellar pre-requisite grades or undergrad gpa? If you don’t mind posting, what were your stats?

3. Any idea on what components of the application the decision makers put the most emphasis on? HESI, gpa, LOR, etc?

Thank you!

Jyosei · Apr 11, 2019

12 minutes ago, Dgomez3 said:
Hi, thank you for all this valuable info. I also have a couple of questions of my own.
1. How many males are in the program?
2. Re: applications, do you know of any students in the cohort that scored less than a 90 on the HESI, or had less than stellar pre-requisite grades or undergrad gpa? If you don’t mind posting, what were your stats?
3. Any idea on what components of the application the decision makers put the most emphasis on? HESI, gpa, LOR, etc?
Thank you!

You're welcome.

1. Out of the 53 of us that are left, 20% of us are males. Our cohort though is noted to have had the most males that have matriculated into this program so far. Funnily, during out initial group split, I was with only one other male; everyone else was in the other group.

2. Yes, a handful of my classmates who had flat 3.0 GPAs (not sure if anything less than that) and scored mid-high 80s on the HESI. Our acceptance rate for our cohort was around 8%. (55-60 positions out of 700ish applications).

My stats: I have my Masters in Mental Health Counseling and Bachelors in Psychology degree. (3.9 and 3.5 GPA respectively). I scored a 94 composite score on the HESI. I had about 4-5 years of experience in my field as a mental health professional, both in a hospital, prison, and private practice setting. I had several volunteer experiences and professional certifications. I also poured myself into the essay (lol). There was no interview that I had to do.

3. The faculty and program coordinator really takes a view of ALL your components equally. They really emphasized that we were SELECTED and CHOSEN for this program. I have no doubt that they might have had to look at cutoffs just based on the minimum criteria due to the sheer volume of applications.

Didi425 · Apr 11, 2019

@JyoseiThank you for doing this. I was searching for the njcu admissions thread from last year and I can no longer find it for some reason. Your stats are really impressive. Do a lot of your peers in your cohort have similar qualifications? Also-

When was the deposit required post-acceptance and do you recall how much it was?

What is the weekly class schedule, including clinicals like? How many days a week are clinicals conducted?

Do you feel supported by your professors ie- that they genuinely want the students to succeed in the classes?

As you've gotten to know your classmates, have you all generally gotten along as a whole?

Thanks again!

Jyosei · Apr 11, 2019

23 minutes ago, Didi425 said:
@JyoseiThank you for doing this. I was searching for the njcu admissions thread from last year and I can no longer find it for some reason. Your stats are really impressive. Do a lot of your peers in your cohort have similar qualifications? Also-
When was the deposit required post-acceptance and do you recall how much it was?
What is the weekly class schedule, including clinicals like? How many days a week are clinicals conducted?

Do you feel supported by your professors ie- that they genuinely want the students to succeed in the classes?

As you've gotten to know your classmates, have you all generally gotten along as a whole?

Thanks again!

You're very welcome. And thank you! I'm flattered. Two other people had their graduate degrees (Social Work and Nutrition) and are much older than I am. We have a pretty diverse group. There are people who came from graphic design, journalism, finance, etc. A ffair percentage of people have worked as nursing assistants/scribes/techs/EMTs. The age range is from 22-48, with the median closer to 26. In perspective, I am 30. Several people also came from outside of New Jersey (NY and CA).

Yes, the deposit is required to be secured for a position. I believe it was $200.

The weekly class schedule varies between semesters. You can expect the first semester to be filled with theory and 2 labs (Health Assessment and Fundamentals of Nursing), and the last half lab switches to your first clinical rotation (geriatrics). The second semester (toughest one) is the first semester on steroids. You have harder classes + 2 days of clinical each week (Medical-Surgical/Adult, Pediatrics, OB/Maternity). You are typically there from 7 to 4:30 PM. Your clinical days may or may not be on the weekend as well. The last semester (which is coming up for me), we are scheduled for two clinical days a week (Medical-Surgical/Adult, Psychiatry, Community Health) with full class days (8-4:00). You are effectively only "off" two days a week (and not necessarily consecutively). Prepare to make sacrifices for your social life.

The professors are awesome. They really challenge you to think critically, not just memorizing concepts but applying them. This goes also for the lab and clinical professor. They have a LOT of experience in the field and are in high positions with a lot of the hospitals we do clinicals.

Recently, I found out that our cohort was the most "drama-free" of all the recent cohorts. We all pretty much get along. Do take note though, you WILL be split up into two groups for classes (even further for clinical groups - around 7-8 people) and then mixed up at the beginning of each semester. There are a handful of people I haven't gotten the chance to meet, but have seen in passing.

Jyosei · Apr 11, 2019

I know this topic will probably come up...

Here I am in our school uniform. I have blurred my face (although you will likely going to meet me at your orientation anyway, lol). You are fitted during orientation and are expected to purchase them. It includes a green hunter scrub top, white scrub pants (ladies - be aware of this, they are somewhat see-through), and a white scrub jacket. You will also need to purchase a name tag that identifies you as a NJCU nursing student. Stethoscope, penlight, and safety scissors are REQUIRED too.

Full uniform (jacket is optional) and nametag (plus your school ID) is expected at all times during and at clinical sites and is subject for dismissal for the day by the clinical professor.