gennn19

I checked on my computer and phone and nothing.

I feel like we would have heard by now. Last year's thread people received waitlist notices on December 20th so maybe soon!

Literally nothing, no rejection or waitlist just crickets over here ?

Just got the email for the waitlist!

Congrats!! That's amazing! Do they update your portal too? Has anyone else heard anything?

Totally second this. I think toward the middle end of my interview I got nervous and started rambling a bit LOL. But I absolutely fell in love with the school. The students seemed to love it. The environment seemed supportive and close knit. It's one of the more expensive schools, but I'd spend that money in a heartbeat knowing I'm going to be supported and cheered on to succeed.

Good luck everyone! Anyone else SUPER nervous? I've had a pit in my stomach since yesterday ?

Supposedly it's very heavily emotional intelligence based. That's what I've heard from people who went to Columbia. But I'm still going to prepare for both clinical and EI just in case. I'm interviewing the 28th! Good luck everyone!!

GUYS check your email!! They're out!

What if the plot twist is they already sent out interviews and none of us in this entire thread happened to get one ? my brain is beginning to feed me anxious thoughts like this because howww are they planning on interviewing next week and all we get is complete radio silence literal days before the alleged interview dates ?

Nothing over here yet ?

This wait is diabolical ??

If it makes you feel better, I quit NP school with only 2.5 semesters left until graduation. And I wasn't even pregnant LOL. I have no kids, not married, no overwhelming life circumstance other than I realized that far in that I actually completely hated it. And that was really taking a toll on my mental health at the time. I told myself the same thing you did: what's the point of finishing a degree I don't plan on using? It was a very difficult time because I tend to care a lot about what other people think and everyone around me kept telling me to just finish it. Even one of my professors scheduled a call with me one night after I told him my intent to quit (not to brag but I was apparently one of his best students and was doing very well in the program overall —3.9 GPA) and spoke with me for over an hour trying to reason with me and get me to change my mind. But I was done. I valued my mental health. Like another poster said, it just was not the right time. I quit with no regrets. That was 2 years ago. Occasionally I do wonder what could have been if I did finish the degree. But I just do not see myself as a provider in that capacity. While I'm still stuck at the bedside, I'm trying to figure out what my next path is and make sure it's something that I will genuinely enjoy. Like people said in this thread, you can always go back or transfer your credits. I'm considering perhaps switching to nursing education or even just finishing the NP now that I'm in a better place and using it for education because education is something I am actually passionate about. But I listened to my heart 2 years ago and my heart just wasn't in it. So I wholeheartedly believe I made the best decision for myself at the time. I'm sure you will as well. Best of luck :)

I wasn't sure if that would be an option since I'm doing FNP and I was under the impression that only acute care NPs could work in the ICU setting. But I guess I'll see and if CRNA means having to go back to the ICU as a RN for another year or 2 then that is something that I will do.

I also feel like part of the reason I made my decision for NP vs CRNA was burnout and fear of rejection so I 1000% understand how you're feeling. I think it's a great thing that you were aware of how unsafely you were being trained in the AGACNP program and took action about it because at the end of the day it's your license on the line! Looks like we're about the same age and got a lot of thinking to do. There's still time to follow our dreams!! Best of luck and hope it all falls into place for you.

Absolutely. I think my best course of action right now is to focus on finishing the NP degree while completing the remaining pre-reqs (CCRN, possibly GRE, more leadership exp… etc.) for CRNA school.

Thank you for your input!! I’m 25 going on 26 this year so I feel that I do have some time. I’ve got a little over 1.5 years to finishing my NP degree. I’m hesitant to leave my current unit so soon since I just came back and I don’t want to burn any bridges. So far my plan was to use this year to obtain my certifications, climb up the clinical ladder, get more leadership experience, focus on school, and save money. I could try to work per diem in my old ICU to keep up with skills. And then transfer to an ICU next year.

Thank you so much for your response. It’s very relieving to hear that. I’d still love to do anything else that could improve my chances even if it means going back to the ICU eventually or anything else that can make me stand out.

Hi everyone, I’ve been a RN for < 3 years. Anesthesia has been my dream since high school but it hasn’t been a linear path. I started as a new grad in postpartum (only job offer at the time) where I worked for 1.5 years before making the move to our very high acuity peds cardiac ICU (highest acuity PICU in my city—large academic children’s hospital). We took fresh post op hearts, ECMO, CRRT, lots of VADs etc. That transition was difficult for me at first as I had 0 skills from the postpartum floor, but I made it work, (even made employee of the month once!) Unfortunately my anxiety/burn out was at an all time high in the PCICU and I only lasted 1 year and 3 months before recently switching back to my old unit. I enrolled in FNP school b/c at the time I was so demotivated to follow through with anesthesia. So far I’ve got a 4.0 GPA in NP school. Currently taking pathophysiology and doing very well. This has really sparked my passion for anesthesia once again. But being that I only have 1 year of ICU, I know I’d have to go back preferably to an adult ICU for at LEAST another year to even have a chance. I want to be more comfortable with my critical care knowledge and taking care of really sick pts. I know I need my CCRN and shadow experience. I’ve shadowed CRNAs in the past while in undergrad but would love to shadow more to increase my chances. If anyone can give any advice as to how I can get back on track I would really appreciate it. Or anything else I can do to stand out. This really is my dream and I don’t want to give up. Other things: undergrad nursing GPA is a 3.74 currently a TA for the undergrads at my NP school where I have even taught lectures

Thank you so much everyone for your responses. I have checked with HR and I do in fact need to stay for an entire year before transferring. I am so afraid of making the wrong decision. If I were to leave it may look bad to have left a job after only 6 months and I'm afraid it will close some doors down the line. I love my hospital system and it took me 8 months to get into this hospital as a new grad, I can't help but feel I'm throwing away a great opportunity ? I feel extremely guilty too because my coworkers and even NPs keep praising me for doing such a good job managing with the high demands of the unit and caring for my patients. It's just the chronically short staffing makes me so anxious, not knowing what kind of insane assignment I'll be walking into, whether a patient is going to decompensate at any given point on top of an already heavy assignment. I'm always on edge. It's not so bad when we have decent staffing. But still bad. I am afraid to talk to my manager. We have check ins every few weeks and I have already sort of expressed how I'm having a hard time coping emotionally. But I didn't go into too much detail. I guess I have some serious thinking to do...I really appreciate everyone's input ❤️

Hi everyone. I've been a nurse for ~2 years. My first ~1.5 years as a new grad nurse were in a very happy laid back specialty, but ultimately I felt like I had no "real nursing skills" and made the switch to a very intense peds ICU where I've been for almost 6 months. Ever since I started in the ICU it has been an emotional rollercoaster of depression and anxiety for me. I had bad anxiety and from the minute I took PALS (pre-req for the position) and got super anxious, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But I tried to push past the anxiety because I wanted to succeed. Orientation was rough too, I would get so anxious that at one point one of my preceptors suggested I get a new job. I have been on my own for 3 months now and have been doing really well. But nonetheless I am extremely burnt out, I still experience anxiety and depression when thinking about work. It's not the staff. The staff has been nothing but amazing, everyone from the providers to the educators to fellow nurses have played a role in making sure I am part of the team and that I feel supported. Everyone asks me if I like the job and I feel super bad because I lie and say I love it when I know my heart is just not there. The unit has been extremely high acuity lately (almost all patients are on some sort of device be it ECMO, CRRT, VADs, etc) and extremely short staffed. Management asks people to do overtime almost every day and I feel guilty because I never do. It's not the schedule either--I love night shift and working 3 12's. Every day before work I get super anxious, and depressed on my days off. People say give it a year for the feeling to go away but I don't know if I can. The thought of a patient coding on me makes me sick to my stomach. I constantly feel overwhelmed on the job with the difficult assignments despite people telling me I'm doing well. Lately we've also had a lot of death and each child's death has been so rough for me to process. I feel like Goldilocks where one unit is too boring and the next is too intense. I also feel guilty because I know so many people would love to have this job. I just genuinely feel like the ICU may not be for me. I feel stupid because what did I expect from a critical care unit? I don't want to be miserable, anxious and depressed every single day for the next 6 months until I make a year. Before transferring to ICU I considered OR (which I've always been super interested in but ultimately went with ICU because I wanted the skills and experience). I don't want to leave my hospital system, but I don't know how feasible it is to transfer to another unit at this point. I am just feeling so burnt out and don't want to give it more time. I don't know what to do with my life and don't want to burn bridges. Any advice would help ?

I second the user above me. The stress is NOT worth it, in my opinion. I recently, ~6 months ago, made the switch to a very high acuity peds cardiac ICU, and honestly, I dream about leaving every day. Yes, it can be rewarding, but the stress, anxiety, and just overall frustration happen far more often. I was in a similar position as you. I had a very laid-back job before this in a very happy low acuity specialty. I wanted a challenge because I was bored. And even though I don't want to go back to my old unit and I have learned a lot in the ICU (and am very grateful for the experience), I know it is just not for me. People keep telling me to give it a year, but honestly, I don't know if I want to. If you're happy where you are, stay. If you really want to venture out, go for it, but you might end up like me.

Stick with Kaplan! Make sure you do as many practice questions as possible. The NCLEX really is about learning how to take questions and the more you practice the better you will do. To be completely honest I HATED Kaplan at first. But my school paid for it so I felt obligated to use it. I thought it was incredibly hard and it gave me so much anxiety for the real thing. Honestly my scores were pretty similar to yours until the very end when something clicked and I magically started reaching those benchmarks they wanted us to reach. Don't just read the rationales, but actually try to understand them. Practice your lowest categories the most. I eventually supplemented with U-World. But honestly I think Kaplan is what really saved me as much as I hated it at first. So keep going and you'll get there I promise! Even if you need an extra week or two from your current test date. Personally I did find Kaplan to be way harder than the NCLEX. I remember getting like a 28% in one of the last question trainers or categories on something after I had been doing so well and I was devastated... but I passed the NCLEX in 75 questions on my first try ? Good luck!!

I totally agree. I've had a few interviews (not peds) but I'm waiting and taking whichever offer I get first, if any. I now understand that getting your foot in the door is what is important. Transferring can be done any time later and experience is experience! Thank you so much for your valuable input!

The new grad job market here has really slapped me in the face! Unfortunately neither of the positions panned out but I've been scoring a few job interviews lately. Waiting to hear back. Will update if anything!