herestohoping

I got swamped at work and couldn’t post earlier, but I was accepted for AG ACNP track part time! I got the email late morning. Clearly they are working through everything in batches.

About an hour ago. I had a separate question r/t my application that she had not followed up on, so I just emailed her about it this morning again...and of course asked when we could expect decisions.

Y’all are welcome! I’m glad some of you found it helpful, tbh it was helpful to me to type it out and read it through as well. It’s so easy to lose sight of reality and logic when you’re invested in the outcome...at least it is for me! Mailing emailed me (I had a question about my application) and indicated she was “waiting on final details but decisions will go out this week.” There would be no details to wait on if it were all just a big pile of rejections to send out, right? ? So stay tuned!

Hi all, just lurking here since I hadn’t heard anything yet...glad to see I’m in good company. I have been a student and employee at UF and Shands for 10+ years, including nursing school, and all I can say is...this is all fairly typical. Especially for the CON. I actually feel like there’s a pretty decent chance even if we haven’t heard yet. They must have received hundreds and hundreds of applications, way more than past cycles, which they simply did not have the resources to handle. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of the applicant pool is higher - in fact, I would argue that it may even be below average compared to past years since the requirements were lowered - it just means their resources are tied up reviewing every.single.application. It must be a ton of work. Plus trying to figure out exactly how many applicants they can take in each track and in the overall program - trying to predict what resources they’ll have come August is harder than it seems. Maybe there were faculty that unexpectedly put in their notice, or perhaps some that recently were hired. My hypothesis is that they somehow filtered the “cream of the crop” (whatever that means...certainly not saying anyone who hasn’t heard yet is “inferior,” as I am also in that group! Just that they sorted folks based on some characteristic that can be measured, likely GPA) to the top, in order to manage some of the volume, and sent out acceptances to them first. Until those seats were either confirmed or denied, there is no way to know how many there are left. It’s also helpful to keep in mind that some folks consider UF to be their back up or least preferred choice, so not every seat that is offered will be accepted. Seems simple and intuitive, but I think it gets lost in the mix a bit. With this logic, you can almost guarantee that there are some seats available as of today. The process is imperfect here as it is everywhere. I have actually received not one, but TWO rejection letters from UF (first for undergrad, then for the ABSN program) in error. Both times it was because something was incorrect in their records (their fault, not mine) that caused them to deny my application outright. Both times I ended up getting accepted and going on to attend. I say this not to encourage anyone who gets rejected to beat down the doors of the advisors, but to show that the process is complicated and not without its deficiencies. With the increased volume of applications, they are bound to be struggling, but I’m confident they’re doing the best they can given their resources. I hope some of that makes someone feel just a teensy bit better about the wait. We’ll find out soon enough one way or another! Good luck to each and every one of you!

Yes, you will follow the UF academic calendar and can expect to have all official holidays off. You will probably have an evening clinical at some point, and there's not really a way to anticipate when it will be (unfortunately). The schedule they put out in March will tell you what days they will be scheduling clinicals for your cohort - for example, this semester all of our clinicals are on Mondays and/or Tuesdays. For work purposes, I would just plan to not work on those days at all until you get your more detailed clinical schedule. I worked at UF prior to nursing school and one of the faculty members I worked with asked me to come back on part time, so I work about 6-10 hours/week right now. Many people in our program work at the hospital, either in CNA or clerk-type positions.

I would definitely review as much A&P as you can. It will be tremendously helpful when you take pathophysiology - it's one of the harder courses in the program and having your A&P down pat will make it less painful. The anatomy part will also be helpful when you take Health Assessment. That said, I hadn't taken A&P I in nearly eight years and A&P II in four years by the time I entered the program, and I did quite well in both courses. You can do it!

I posted a little bit about this earlier in the thread too, but the first semester is pretty tough. Expect obligations (classes, clinicals, community experiences, labs, etc.) about 3-4 days per week, but they *try* to keep your Fridays free. They typically release a course schedule sometime in March (you'll be able to find it here, along with past schedules: Advising and Class Schedules >> Students >> College of Nursing >> University of Florida), but you won't know your specific clinical schedule until the semester starts. This year the summer semester starts on May 14, and they'll schedule an orientation day shortly before that (last year it was the week before classes). I was employed full-time before starting the program and I quit about 10 days before it started - however, I already lived in Gainesville, so I didn't have to worry about moving. Hope that's helpful!

You should still receive a rejection email. I think this is something that happened a couple of cycles ago also, in which some folks simply didn't get emails. Try to get in touch with Kenneth, but be aware that it will probably take a bit to get back to you.

We have a pretty big HSC library that you share with all of their other health professions. Usually there are plenty of places to study, but we don't have a program-specific area. I am a "study at home alone" type, so I'm probably not the best judge of this, but I study in the library a few times a semester and its always fine. As far as support from professors and administration, most of your professors will be more than happy to help you in any way you need, whether that is privately in office hours, in small groups, or both. Some professors can be a little short via email, but talking to them face-to-face is much better, and they really do want to help you. For some of our exams we have been able to review the questions online after the exam is over, but usually you will need to make an appointment with your professor to review specific exam questions. We have a new associate dean of students this semester, so I can't say for sure how things will be for the new cohorts, but I have spoken to her in person and she seems very receptive to student concerns.

I have actually enjoyed the program overall, and feel like I will be pretty well prepared to take my boards and start my nursing career. That said, there are certainly some bureaucratic issues you'll likely have to deal with: often you will not know your full semester schedule until the first day of classes, exams and other commitments will be double booked, you'll have a night clinical one day and be expected to be at class the next morning, etc. Try to remember that they are managing a LOT of students (40-60ish in each ABSN cohort and 120ish in each traditional cohort), and a lot of faculty who have other clinical/research commitments on top of teaching. I will admit that it's a little chaotic at times, but I think it helps the time fly by even faster.

Thanks! I was assigned to Gainesville, which I selected in my application.

I went and talked to Kenneth Wynn, and there was an error in their calculation of my GPA - to the tune of almost an entire grade point. My application was re-reviewed and added to the wait list, and I was offered a spot on the day that all accepted applicants had to notify the program if they were going to accept or reject their seats. I will say that my situation was a little out of the norm and that they are normally very careful about processing applications, but I just had the feeling that something wasn't right, so I pursued it and there turned out to be an error. For those that are denied, there is an appeal process to be put on the wait list (or at least there was last year) if you feel your application should be reconsidered. I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have about the program, and as far as the course load goes - just be prepared to work your butt off. I chose not to work during the summer semester so I could get my feet wet, and am glad that I did. Many people have worked part time through the entire program, so it's possible, but the summer semester is tough and you have obligations 3-4 days per week. Plan to spend a little bit of time almost every day studying, completing assignments, etc. That said, it's pretty doable and most of us do quite well in our courses (in spite of the fact that the college has their own grading system in which it is more difficult to get an A).

We haven't heard anything about it on the GNV campus, so I think it was a Jax professor who told their students about it.

Current student here - they don't have a policy against the use of social media (just to be smart about it and remember you're representing the college), and in fact each cohort has a private Facebook group. For the GNV cohort that graduates this summer, we had to change it to "secret" because there were a lot of random folks trying to request access to it, so I am not surprised that you weren't able to find anything. Regarding the time of day decisions came out, I didn't receive mine until about 5ish last year. Which, incidentally, was a letter of rejection - and I'm now six months away from graduating! It just goes to show that things work out the way they're supposed to in the end, so stay positive and don't give up. Good luck to you all!

I don't think they send any notice of rejection until after September 30th. I received my participant email today, so they are definitely working through applications. Here are my dates for reference: Credit check: 7/24 Finalist notification: 8/11 Confirmation paperwork submitted by me: 8/15 Contract signed: 8/30 Participant email received: 9/5

I certainly don't mind doing this, but I'm just trying to gauge whether the things I've mentioned are actually abnormal, or if I'm being paranoid...I've never been to nursing school anywhere else, so it's hard to know what's typical.

Hi all! I'm in an ABSN program at the flagship public university in my state. It's frequently lauded as having the "best" BSN program in the state (whatever that means), so I've had nothing but high expectations up to this point. I'm starting my second semester, two weeks in now, and a few things have come to light that strike me as fishy: 1) I learned today during a skills lab that we would not be taught or permitted to administer medications during clinical this semester. They admitted that they were changing the curriculum around a bit and that we were the guinea pigs, but I found it unsettling to know that I wouldn't be allowed to practice one of the most important skills that nurses have until the program was more than half over. This does not seem to be standard for nursing programs. We are still taking a Pharmacology course this semester. 2) There are NO individualized skill check offs in any way, shape or form. This was the case for our first semester as well. This week we learned a lot of important skills (i.e. IV placement, IVF admin, CVL dressings, etc), and when I asked one of our instructors when we would be tested on these, she indicated that the skills lab was the extent to which we were "checked off." She said, "Of course we hope you'll be able to do all of these at least once in clinical," but implied that this was not a contingency of passing the course. I fully expected this to be part of my curriculum and am a little upset that I won't be formally tested on these procedures - what if I'm doing it incorrectly and not realizing it? What if my classmates observing me aren't catching my mistakes either? 3) I feel like some very important concepts are being left out of our curriculum. For example, in our discussion of administering IVFs, we did not go over the difference between 0.45 NS, 0.9 NS, LR, dextrose, etc, their indications, their admin (other than working the infusion pump)...nothing! Perhaps we'll learn this later in the semester, but doesn't this seem like the logical time to teach it? The administration at my university has a "BSN Curriculum Transformation Committee," which some of the faculty have hinted exists because the NCLEX pass rate from our program in recent years has been slumping (they aren't forthcoming with this information). Clearly they are trying to change it up to see if other educational strategies work better, but I can't help but feel that some things are inadequate, missing or are not emphasized. So my dilemma is this: do I have sufficient cause to voice my concerns to the administration, or am I panicking a little too early? Does this seem "off" enough to be concerned about? We take our mid curricular HESI in November, so that will be a good indicator as to whether we're on the right track...but I thought putting a line out there to get some opinions would be beneficial.

My contract was signed today! I did not get any kind of notification about it, I just happened to open my contract from my log in page to see if it had changed. For those who are "in final review," try downloading your signed contract and see if a signature has been added to the last page.

Oh wow...mine hasn't changed from In Final Review. Maybe try and call them tomorrow? That seems weird.

Some people love it and others seem to hate it in nursing!! I was a researcher before entering my ABSN program so I'm a bit biased. I'm sure you'll do great!

They certainly are. Apologies that my viewpoint offended you so much, although I am just as free to express my perfectly valid idea as much as you are. Hopefully others will understand that my suggestion was just that, and that they are free to do as they please - and perhaps someone will find the answers they're looking for in this thread.

Goodness - I merely suggested that most questions could already be answered most efficiently with a little bit of digging - this way folks can get answers quicker and perhaps we'll have fewer posts asking when x and y happened for the eighth time. I didn't realize that "maybe try a little research" would be such an unpopular opinion. Remember, we're nurses - we should like research. I'm also confused as to why my suggestion to "try your best to find the answer in all the great information here" has been construed as "all these idiots shouldn't be allowed to speak and I am trying to dictate what questions are asked." Clearly that's absurd and no one has any power to do such a thing, and again, my suggestion was polite and friendly. Anyway, carry on. Simply my two cents. Hopefully Emily doesn't get tired of answering the same questions over and over. :')

I'm not implying that questions should not be asked, but I thought it might be helpful to folks to know that the information is already there - so they might actually be able to get their questions answered more quickly by simply searching for a few minutes. I'm not being judgmental nor unfriendly, just a suggestion.

I see a ton of questions being asked that have already been answered elsewhere in the thread or in previous year's thread...there is a lot of wonderful information here if you just take a few minutes to look for it! :) Emily has been very patient through this whole process (thank you!) and I just think she'd appreciate all of us doing our best to seek out an answer before asking her a question...just a thought.

You can work in any specialty for your service commitment. One of their promotional videos on FB even featured an ICU nurse who was fulfilling her commitment. I also plan to go into critical care, and don't think I would have accepted the award had it required me to work in a certain specialty.