melm07

khouse05, I have heard that the process does take awhile. I will most likely begin working in an ICU this coming October and my recruiter advised me to recontact him when I have 6 months experience. Are there multiple boards year round for FQN's?

jfratian, I will have to look further into the the GPA scale my school uses! You bring up some good points. One of the big positives I see in joining as a FQN is that you are able to be in the specialty of your choice so I guess being assigned to a specific department for multiple assignments wouldn't be an issue for me. I am very interested in flight nursing as well. I see you mentioned that they are in demand right now?

I'm honestly not sure! I know I'm able to view my fed loans through the fed loan website but other than that I couldn't tell you. Call the financial aid office at school or meet with them and I'm sure they can tell you how to see your info

Exciting!! It will go by so fast. In my opinion, I wouldn't say any of the courses felt truly difficult. But OB was just different content altogether so it required more effort.

Federal loans are the better option as the interest rates are typically much lower than private loans. For example my fed loans have an average 4.5% interest while my friends Sallie Mae loans are 18%. So it's a pretty huge difference. With the federal loans you don't have to start paying until 6 months after graduation which allows you time to find a job. My advice would be to begin paying them now as it will stifle the interest that accrues and save you money in the long run. I have worked 2 part time jobs (so full time hours, sometimes more) throughout the whole program. People will tell you to quit your job but I didn't think that was necessary. The program wasn't really that hard in my opinion, just time consuming.

I figured the GPA was pretty much set in stone, but good to know nonetheless. I will pursue the FQN route, hopefully I can get in sooner rather than later :) Thanks so much for the reply!

Okay so I got lucky and received a significant grant. Unfortunately I don't think they offer that grant anymore so I don't have a ton of info on how they do their financial aid with new students. I do know that for most students, you will need to pull out private loans from lenders like sallie Mae or college ave. Depending on your age, you will need a co-signer for these loans since they are a huge amount of money. From what I understand (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) You can choose to cover the cost of supplies and books in with your loans, which they call book vouchers, or you can choose to pay for them out of pocket. I believe the money goes directly to the school from your lender, I don't think thy give you any sort of card. None of my friends who have private loans have ever mentioned a card. My supplies (uniform, clinical bag, ATI books) were included in my tuition. However, the "required texts" for each class were not included. These books can be upwards of $150 per book. Honestly I bought maybe 2 books my entire nursing program, you definitely don't need most of the ones that they say are necessary. If you're serious about saving some cash you can go to the campus library and read the books there for free. You can form study groups with friends who have the books, or rent books, etc.

Hi everyone, I am in my last term at West Coast so I can try my best to answer questions you guys may have about the process. I know when I first applied I had tons of questions as well :)

Hi everyone!! I am currently a nursing student set to graduate with my BSN in a few weeks (August 2018), and I plan on pursuing a career as a RN in the Air Force. I had contacted a healthcare professions recruiter earlier this year in attempt to pursue the NTP but was told my cumulative GPA of 3.42 did not meet the minimum requirement despite the fact that my nursing GPA is 3.67. Due to this, I was told that my only option would be to apply as a Fully Qualified RN once I get a year of experience. Although the NTP would be my first choice, I would be more than happy to get into the AF as a nurse through the Fully Qualified route as well; However I have heard that it is much tougher to go this route as space is extremely limited and I'd be up against RN's with tons more experience. I was hoping to gain some clarity here as my recruiter has never worked with nurses before and admits his information is a bit limited. Definitely not trying to discredit him!! Just hoping to find some insight/advice from those who have been through the process. So, finally...my questions are: -Is entry to the NTP impossible with a cumulative GPA less than 3.5? -Is joining as a FQN more competitive than getting in through the NTP route? -Are you able to change units/specialties once hired as a FQN? -Is furthering education (NP/MSN) an easy process in the Air Force? -Which method of entry would you recommend for someone in my situation? (New grad with preceptorship experience in the ICU at a level 1 trauma/STEMI/Stroke center, 6 years EMT experience, 2 years working on pediatric med-surg floor, 1 year CPR instructor.) Also, if there's any additional info you'd like to add please feel free to do so. All insight is appreciated!! Thanks :)