Opinions?

[court2889]

Hi All,

This forum has been insightful for many things, but after speaking with the advisors and reading the posts I have so many questions and concerns! In particular I feel that I need honest feedback from the individuals who have been accepted into UW's BSN program or know a lot about the 'sifting' process (so to speak) for the BSN program at UW.

Here's my information:

I attended UW and graduated with my BA (CHID) Major about 5 years ago. UW BA GPA- 3.3

In my last quarter at UW through I volunteered at SCH in the phase I and II recovery surgery recovery units as well as the PEDI E.D. (in 5 years including in Boston ~100 hours of hospital volunteer work).

I ended up moving to Boston for a job that I could not refuse. In Boston I run/ coordinate a research study for the Chief of Cardiology. I take full medical histories for the docs in our study and have been trained to do full physicals (listening to heart, lungs, etc.), council them on their medications and lab results, do basic vascular ultrasounds, draw blood, perform ECG's. My patients are absolutely wonderful!! I do not have my CNA license. I have worked as a pediatric phlebotomist (in-patient and out-patient) for 3 years.

For the past year and a half I have been doing my pre-nursing at a local community college (and working full time). My GPA for both the sciences and accum. is 3.85

I have really fine tuned my resume to be very nursing focused. All of my positions for the 10,000+ hours have been directly involved with nurses to provide care to patients and coordinating their care. My resume has been tune to be very specific on my interactions/ overlap with nurses.

One HUGE concern I have is that UW "strongly" recommends a letter of rec from an RN or NP...Mine will be coming from a chief of Cardiology. And frankly, I do not have a boss that is an NP or RN...Opinions???

My Questions...Do you think I will have a competitive application? What should I focus on to make it better? Should I take drug calculation before the proctored essay?

Anything at this point will be guide me.

[mrslizgraham]

Hey I'm not in nursing school yet but I'm getting my CNA next month :) they say having your CNA is a good push for you to get into a program but it is NOT the only factor. Try volunteer in and get close to an RN to give you a letter of recommendation that's what I think.

[court2889]

Thank you for the insight!

[verene, MSN]

I asked about the letter of recommendation thing at a recent information session. While the would prefer the letter be from an RN or NP the woman I spoke to stressed that it is better to get a letter from some one who knows you well and can really speak to your skills who has a different job title than to find an RN who sort-of knows you and won't write as strong of a letter of support.

Reading through what you posted above I think you would have a strong application. (That being said I haven't applied yet or gone through their program).

[court2889]

Verene- I am trying to get all my application components completed by the end of this month so I can have it out of the way. Are you going to apply to the UW BSN program and ABSN in the fall? I think that will be my plan if I get waitlisted and dont get in/ or just dont get accepted.

[verene, MSN]

I will be applying next fall for summer/fall 2016 start (ABSN or BSN) as I still have too many pre-reqs left to feel comfortable applying this time around. Good luck with you application!

[tropicalyeti]

Hi court2889 -- I just came upon your post because I saw you were applying to the UW BSN program, did you end up getting in? Also your previous work history in Boston is very impressive! Can I ask how you get qualified for a job like that? Because everything that you mentioned was everything I want to do and am wondering how to get qualified for a job required for those types of duties. There is an ultrasound program I am applying for but that is 2 whole years and seems like I wouldn't get to do physicals, ECGs, etc. Nursing of course is my back up option but I would love to get your input. Thank you!