I am wondering if there are any alumni from either NYU's Accelerated BSN or SUNY Downstate's ABSN programs who might know about both programs.
I am currently in the SUNY Downstate program and am very disheartened by the faculty and administration. There isn't much support from the administration and some of the courses (at least some of the first few courses during the summer session) are not taught very well (pharmacology and pathophysiology) which is important in understanding the future material.
I feel like I haven't learned all that much this summer although we will finish 21 credits this summer (11 weeks) which is a third of the total number of credits for the whole program. The first summer session is 6 weeks long, with 3 courses and the second summer session is 5 weeks long with 4 courses and clinicals. There is hardly enough time to read everything and exams for all classes are every other week (4 midterms in the course of three days). Class schedule is M 9AM-7PM, T 9-5, W 9-3, Th 12-hour clinicals, Fri 12 hour clinicals. In between there, we're supposed to actually learn something. It just seems odd that pathophysiology
The above are scheduling issues, but there are many many more problems with the administration and communication between them and the students which stunts the learning process. The program is difficult, not because of the course content, but because the administration is difficult. As students, we end up fishing for information from the students a year ahead of us because the administration doesn't provide us with information.
I got accepted to NYU's program and can still begin in the Fall semester but am trying to determine whether starting over at another school and paying all that tuition will guarantee a better education and supportive faculty and administration. I spoke to students who graduated from that program back in December '08 and it seems that they weren't too happy with the program, but they also indicated that they felt they were guinea pigs since NYU was revamping their program.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone out there who is currently at NYU thinks the current faculty and administration is supportive or whether the same problems exist there. Or, if there is anyone out there that is familiar with graduates of either program. I'd appreciate any input as I am really considering transferring at this point but I will have to make that decision pretty quickly.
