Drexel University-ACE Program Fall '09

U.S.A. Pennsylvania

Published

Hi,

I will be attending University's ACE program in the Fall of 2009. I just wanted to see if anyone else on here is in that class...and the kind of information they have on financial aid for this program and how they are preparing for the fall.

Thanks!

Andrea

Thanks, Hiddencat!

I just ordered the ones from the Barnes & Noble bookstore list through a different website I like to use called abebooks.com. I managed to get every book used except Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice and saved a lot of money by buying the next to newest editions. I figure any discrepancies will be covered in class. Not all the courses have books posted so far, but I ordered all those posted, including the one I couldn't get on abebooks but ordered through the B&N Drexel bookstore site, for under $225, including shipping. Buying older editions can really save you dough!

Hi!

I'm new here, and I will be attending the ACE BSN program this Fall, which is actually only a couple of weeks away. I'm excited and nervous. Was anyone here at the CPR/AED American Red Cross certification course on Aug. 24th in Philly? If so, then I was there, and we might have seen each other....but unfortunately didn't get to properly meet & introduce ourselves.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to orientation. I'm curious about how the clinical rotations work, especially how they fit into our class schedule(s). I really hope this program is good and will pay off. This will actually be my 2nd degree. I graduated form Drexel in 2006 with a BS in Psychology and had a very difficult time finding a decent job. After months of searching, I ended up working at a previous co-op employer for very little money, and then lost that job due to the poor economy.

In regards to the books, I've found great deals on Alibris.com and Half.com. Amazon is of course also good. Barnse & Noble has had some decent prices lately and very fast free shipping on new books.

I have books from first quarter that I would like to to sell if any of you are interested. Just PM me.

Hi vundernurse,

I am curious as to how much you ended up spending on books for your 11 month time in ACE. I got the book list for this Fall and it is nearly 1000 dollars for only first quarter books (assuming I will buy all of them). What should nurse ACERs expect on books for the entire program? Thanks for your clarification!

Faye

I probably spent about $1200 for the whole year. You don't need all the books that they "require," and lots of the textbooks are on reserve at the library. Use your judgment and be careful about buying all the books on the syllabus until you can tell what you'll really need.

Christina

Specializes in ortho.

honestly,

you can easily get by without buying a single book in this program except for med surg, pharm, and assessment as references. However, some of the books have CDs/website access which can help you study for HESIs.

I also found that reading never helped me for exams, in fact it distracted me from the "snapshot" learning required to succeed in this program. In otherwords, too much info clouded my head and at times I did not know what circle to fill in on the bubble exams.

honestly,

you can easily get by without buying a single book in this program except for med surg, pharm, and assessment as references. However, some of the books have CDs/website access which can help you study for HESIs.

I also found that reading never helped me for exams, in fact it distracted me from the "snapshot" learning required to succeed in this program. In otherwords, too much info clouded my head and at times I did not know what circle to fill in on the bubble exams.

Did you use the Reviews and Rationales series at all? I was considering getting a bunch of them instead of the texts.

I think the important thing is to figure out how you learn best and use your resources accordingly. Some people like to read, some like to do the questions on the CDs, some like NCLEX books. It takes a little while to find your style, and you have to be prepared to modify it a little bit depending on the class or your own time priorities. Ultimately, you need to end up with a really good grasp of the concepts and how they relate to your patients. If you understand what's going on, that's the important part.

I also agree that the books new1nursebabyea mentioned are good ones to buy...they're definitely still on my bookshelves. What I ended up doing after first quarter was waiting and buying books throughout the quarter as I found them necessary. My study group was also good about sharing materials - textbooks, notes, online codes, NCLEX books. It worked for us, which was what mattered.

You'll get the hang of things pretty quickly.

Specializes in ortho.

I would agree with August Rain. I did not use those reviews/rationales while studying for classes but they are great now that I am studying for NCLEX. I do not know if they are the best idea for the classes themselves as the class exams are usually fairly straight forward.

If you can stay on top of your studies, which is quite difficult in this program to do because of the amount of time you are in clinicals, I would incorporate the use of the study DVDs that come with most books. When I used them, they really helped me with the HESI portion of the exam. If you do not want to buy the books, you can borrow them from the library, and often you have free access to on-line reviews/practice quizzes by virtue of being in the class.

My best advice for success in this program is what they always say, study frequently in small chunks. It is very easy to be overwhelmed by the bs of the bsn.

Good luck!

Specializes in Operating Room.

Is anyone else having financial aid issues? We start on Monday, and I listened to and took out exactly what they told me I should. Now I'm finding out that they split your disbursed money into the 4 quarters. This would be great, except for the first quarter we're charged an equipment fee, which looks like is gonna eat up all of my refund money for the first quarter.. not to mention I'm going to have to get the student health insurance plan... does anyone know how payment for that works? Does it get added onto your student bill and taken from your financial aid? I really wish I woulda knew about these extra expenses, so i could have requested much more money.. :( looks like I'll be a poor college student again.. lol

I had that same problem. After I called and spoke to financial aid, the told me i just needed to send a letter to them explaining why i needed the disbursement of my loans adjusted and they would then contact my lender. He seemed confident that for this situation the request would be granted, and the process would take a week or two. I would give the financial aid office a call and they will help.

Hey, I just finished the ACE program and I will be more than willing to answer any questions anyone has. I agree, you do not need to but the lab coat. Also, do yourself a favor and don't buy the awful scrub pants they tell you to- they are like cardboard. Go get yourself some comfy navy scrub pants with a bunch of pockets.

Textbooks- it all depends on who you get as your professor. In general most test off of their lecture power points, but it really depends on who you get as your prof. I agree with new1nursebabyea- and I'm trying to figure out who you are lol! Also, get the HESI review book the start of 2nd Quarter- it will help with the HESIs you take throughout the program....and 4th Quarter make it your best friend! But, in my opinion, if they are still using Lewis for Adult I would just get the clinical companion guide. It's $35 compared to $100+ and if your prof is good this is really all you will need. I discovered at the end of Adult 1 and never opened the text again. DO NOT BUY books for : Mental, Community, Leadership, the APA book, Informatics, and whatever class they tell you to get the Mosby Study cards for- wasted a ton of money! I think the Assessment book was helpful but towards the end I really just used the clinical pocket guide for that too.

Look on the FB ACE page for people selling their books- join the page and ask, I know people who are selling...Do Not buy from the bookstore unless you have a trust fund ;)

Anyone that has more detailed questions can shoot me a private message and I will be more than happy to answer!

I was wondering if you could give me more insight about how doable the ACE program is....is there really a 30% drop out rate??

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