Pace - accelerated BSN

Yes, I was going to apply to it this year, but received this email from Pace a month ago:

"Thank you for your email. I do want to let you know that as of Friday January 30, 2009 the Leinhard School of Nursing faculty have decided to cancel the 2 year CDP program that allows students to take their pre-requisites with us and change it to a 2 Year Part Time CDP program. Therefore, all students interested in applying to the CDP program, whether it is one or two years, must have all their pre-requisites completed prior to applying to Pace University. This change in program was only recently announced, so please email me back if you have further questions that cannot yet be found on the website.

Thanks, Doris Lee, Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions"

As I understand it there are now only two routes into Pace, either do your prereqs and then apply to the CDP or apply as a transfer student to the regular 4 year BSN program (which is not offered in NYC). I don't know whether they cancelled it due to lack of interest or funding or what but it was a really bummer for me since I've got all my eggs in one basket now!

Hi there!

I just applied to the Pace CDP program. I have taken all of the prereqs, but have to redo one of them because of the grade. Doris e-mailed me and didn't say anything about it being cancelled, so I am confused.

This is odd. I sent an email a week ago to Pace asking about the program and whether or not it was in Pleasantville or NY. Got a response back last night saying it was in Pleasantville. Didn't say anything about it being canceled.

Strange.... maybe it was clear in my email to her that I was only interested in the NYC program and it is only that one where the CDP without prereqs program has been cancelled?? Were you clear that you hadn't done your prereqs jlan79? I don't know really....

I got that email I quoted below and then I replied saying that I was disappointed and if I took my prereqs and wanted to apply next year would I have to resubmit all my transcripts and letters of recommendation again (since I'd already done it all) and got no answer.

Anyway, here's hoping I get into NYU and don't have to worry about it.

Ok, I checked with Pace and apparently the NYC program got canceled, but the Westchester one is still on! Will be a HUGE pain in the ass for me to get to, but 2 years sounds so great I will just apply and see. What I find strange is that the application deadline for Pace is in June and I'm assuming most other schools require you to give a response to them before then? Am I wrong? If I get lucky and get into NYU, then it will take me 2.5yrs without prerequisites. It's longer than the Pace program (and more $$), but so much easier to get to. In that case, I wouldn't even bother applying to Pace (and paying for and taking GRE).

Sounds like we are totally in the same boat with school. I think your plan sounds good. I heard that you can apply to Pace early and that they will let you know before june/july - sort of a rolling admissions kind of thing - but if NYU if your first choice and you get in then why bother.

How long would it take to commute from NYC to Pleasantville every day? Is that even possible?

Waiting to hear from NYU is already killing me and it's only March.

I am thinking of applying to Malloy as well. Just heard they have a 3yr program for combined BSN/MS degree with no required prerequisites! May be a good way to go. It would take me forever to get to Pleasantville, at least 1.5 hours (from Queens via public transportation).

I graduated from the CDP program in NYC 1 1/2 yrs ago as a 2-year student. Wow! I can't believe they got rid of the 2-year program! The only prereqs I completed before entering the program was Psy and statistics. My first year, as a full-time student, I took the rest of my prereqs at Pace along with non-clinical nursing classes (mostly introductory and elective classes, but I did take pharmacology my 1st year though). And because this program is a combined BSN/MS program, they require students to take 2 graduate level classes before completing the BSN portion. So I took one of those too. I guess the pro to the 2-year program was that I was able to take my nursing classes with prereqs which made my second clinical year much less stressful because I can concentrate on fewer classes. con was trying to recall nursing stuff that was taught even only a year ago because it's such an intense program. My 2-year collegues and I forgot pretty much everything nursing we took the first year by the time we took the NCLEX! Oh and also, I didn't hear about my acceptance into the program until late July. Some of my friends in the program heard about their acceptance as early as April. Their selection process sounds pretty random. So don't give up if you don't hear from them immediately!

Pooshu11-

It's hard to find someone who has attended PACE's CDP program on this website--would you mind posting a bit more about your experience there? I got into their new 2 year part time program (nights and weekends which will allow me to keep my day job) and would love to hear more about your experience and if you think the program is doable part time in addition to a full time job.

Thanks!

congrats brinabear! and no problem, i'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have about pace's cdp program. i learned about this 2 year-part time program you were accepted in recently (this option did not exist when i was enrolled) so i'm not sure what course loads you will have and how they will be dispersed. if you let me know what you're taking in what semester i would be able tell you more in detail. but i do have to say at some point in your cdp career, specifically when you start clinicals, things may get a bit difficult w/ all the classes and a job, but some folks in my class were able to juggle the two. again, it'll depend on the specific classes you take. so they have classes now during nights and weekends? which ones? very interesting.

Pooshu11--

Thanks so much for your quick reply and for offering to answer my questions. They just instituted this program this year, so I think they are still working the kinks out, but they told me it would be three courses per semester and 1 clinical. I think the schedule would be three nights per week and one 7 hr clinical (so maybe M, T, W: 5-8pm and Fri or Sat: 7am-2pm). The program would last 2 full years, no break. The first three classes are fundamentals of nursing, pathology 1, and communication skills. I don't have the breakdown for the rest of the program yet.

So, what do you think? Doable? Also, while I have you, can you tell me more about your experience? Did you think it adequately prepared you? Are you an NP now? Any information about the prorgam or your work would be extremely useful--this is a very hard decision for me!

Thanks,

Sabrina

Hi Brinabear,

Okay, so this is gonna be long post...

I'm assuming your clinicals will be on Saturday?? I think that sounds right-7AM-2PM. I had sat clinicals too. I wonder if you'll have the same instructor? As far as your class load, Fundamentals I believe is now an online class. That class isn't so bad. Communications is a great class. The instructor is absolutely wonderful. And she teaches and tests you exactly how you would be tested on the NCLEX. The hardest class by far is pathophysiology. I think one of my old classmates is teaching that class? Keep up with that class-things in this class come up in clinicals (all the illnesses and disorders). I totally understand this is a difficult decision for you. I have to say overall, this program is not easy, as all the other accelerated programs. Because you go through 4 yrs of curriculum in 2 yrs, there are tons of readings, papers and ridiculous projects you'll have to spend time on (like a health fair). And then there will be many frustrating times when you wonder what drugs the faculty are on. I've lost my social life, friends and all weekends and holidays during this program. You'll have quizzes pretty much every weekends and sometime big exams (online). But if you take it day by day and think of the big picture that you'll be a nurse, you can handle it. Make friends with the people in your class and form study groups-that'll be your family for the next 2 years that definitely helps with the retaining of information.

As far as landing a job after school, I personally can't tell you that it's going to be easy or hard because I had personal issues after graduation and began looking for a job at the end of last year and still haven't landed one yet. With the economy and hospitals tightening their budgets, they are not easy to hire new nurses. I did speak to a faculty member who said the class that graduated this past August did have trouble finding jobs but they all eventually found jobs. I don't know if that's because they all landed jobs right before things got bad or not. But I'd like to think that Pace has a decent name on the street, even if the students who go there don't think so. My graduating class had no problems finding work, even in specialty fields. Some of my friends have returned to school to become NPs or nurse educators after a year at work. These are the same people that absolutely hated the program while they were in it, but decided to go back for more! And pace's graduate program is top 10 in the nation. So I guess in hindsight, it's a pretty good school. It may not be at times of stress, but I will tell you that pretty much all of my classmates passed the NCLEX with 75 questions, and like only 2 had to take it more than once. So it prepares you decently. BTW, I'm totally not trying to sell this program to you, just giving you my honest opinion. Oh yeah, one more thing-If I could turn time and do one thing that I didn't do while in school is to get an externship or preceptorship at a hospital. There's like so much going on that taking on this load would be absolutey ridiculous, but it does pay, and I think you can write it off as a clinical. So I highly recommend you doing this the last sememster of school. I hope all this blabbing helped. If you have any more Qs, let me know!