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Call the program you want to apply to and ask them if they accept A&P classes taken through Portage Online Learning. If they do, you can take a Portage class in as little as three weeks. I took Microbiology with Portage in about that time frame and I learned a lot.

Hi there! I know this thread is old, but I was hoping someone could answer a quick question for me regarding the program! I am an incoming student in the ABSN spring program. I'm wondering how much time we have off between semesters. For instance, the academic calendar says last day of final exams for spring 2018 is May 1st, and the first day of classes for summer semester is May 21st. Does that mean that there are no classes or clinicals at all during that time? Thank you in advance!

NursingCAS creates a breakdown of you GPA in multiple ways. Total, undergrad, prerequisites, etc. My total GPA (including non-degree courses I took in 18 years ago) was 3.4. My undergrad GPA was 4.0. I think the fact that you have a biology degree would be considered a plus. When I went to the info session last spring admissions said they looked for students with a medical/science background. Of course, plenty of accepted students don't have either of those so at the end of the day admissions is probably looking at the entire application as a whole. If you are concerned that your GPA is low then definitely take advantage of the option to explain any poor grades. Make sure that you have strong recommendation letters. Have as many people as possible read your essay and get all the feedback that you can. I asked a friend that is an admissions counselor at another college to look mine over and give me her thoughts from an admissions counselor's perspective. I also asked another friend that is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol to give me feedback and constructive criticism. They both gave me some great insight! Also, definitely get to an info session if you can. Admissions will answer all of your questions about what they're looking for in an applicant. Good luck!

Kastio - It is odd that you didn't hear from them until today. I thought they sent out all of the decision e-mails at once! Congrats on the waitlist! I hope you get a spot. :)

Did you request transcripts from all of the schools that you attended? If I remember correctly, on NursingCAS there was a sheet for each school that I printed out and faxed requesting my official transcripts be sent to NursingCAS. That was in addition to manually adding each course into the system.

Yes, you enroll in the corresponding lab. It's not an additional fee or anything. And I took my final (and every test) using the Lockdown browser. If you have any issue finding the lab info definitely call the registrar's office. They were very helpful when I enrolled.

Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone on the waitlist!

Wow, that would be interesting if that's how they do it. I think in past threads there were some people who just didn't get accepted. Maybe they've changed how they do things.

It should be searchable... the link didn't work? Log into Facebook | Facebook

Amy, enrollment forms and registration fee must be received by October 12th.

:) I got accepted too! :) I'm making a Facebook group so we can all get to know each other! Here's the link: Log into Facebook | Facebook The name is MGH ABSN Spring 2018 if you want to search for it.

I'm with you Anjali. I only applied to MGH. In retrospect, I don't know why I didn't apply to other programs. I think I'd feel a lot less stressed out about things if I had.

PeteC - You're my new favorite person! Why can't they just have a definitive answer? How do they not know if it's today or tomorrow???

@PeteC - That totally cracked me up! That's EXACTLY what it's like! Also, does anyone else have the same fear that I do about being put on the waitlist? It's better than being rejected, but then the wait starts again with no guarantee that you will ever hear from them! As I understand it, they do not tell you what your placement is on the waitlist so you could be first or last. Eek.

Why is this the most drawn out process of all time? Whyyyy?

My understanding was that all of the decisions came at once.

I'm going to put my money on tomorrow at 4pm.

I just wrote a long response and the site locked up and lost it. Anyway, I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Unless you're taking 100% traditional face-to-face courses for all of your prerequisites then you need to contact all of the schools you plan on applying to and get specific information regarding what they will and will not accept. One ABSN program that I considered applying to will accept ALL of the courses Portage offers except A&P I and II. This is not due to the lab component being online because I took Microbiology w/ lab through Portage and they accept that no problem. I can honestly say that schools that are unwilling to accept online courses as prereqs are probably missing out on a lot of well qualified applicants. Online education is the direction a lot of schools and students are headed in. Also, transcripts don't indicate that a course was taken online, so unless the school is a dead giveaway (such as Portage) then the school wouldn't necessarily know anyway.

Oh my God, I will cry if that happens!

Good news is that we will definitely know by Friday. At least the end is in sight and we can all stop going crazy!

I agree. I'm local, but I'll need to leave my job and secure loans for both school and living expenses. The more time I have to make those arrangements, the better.

If it is, it looks like it's not going to be today at 4pm!

And so begins another day of staring at my e-mail inbox...

Thanks for checking! I was going to, but I'm at work and didn't have time! :) Ok, well I guess the news will just come when it comes!

Last year September 15th was a Thursday so I almost feel as though it's safe to assume that it will be the end of the week that we get the decisions.