ti123

I will be declining my offer to Simmons. Good luck to all those on the waitlist.

I would have expected to have some sort of event for admitted students. The last form of communication I’ve had from them was an email indicating my application was complete. Not sure if I should even be expecting an interview. You’ll be in good hands at MGH.

I haven't received a decision from Northeastern yet. When did you hear back from them? Sounds like they didn't give you much time to consider your acceptance. I've had the same experience with Northeastern's admissions office; they are consistently very difficult to reach. I was hoping that their poor communication would not be reflective of their nursing program. I will likely be putting down a deposit for MGH before I hear from Northeastern which is fine because I, too, have no doubts about MGH preparing us to be competent NPs.

Congratulations! What made you decide? MGH was one of my top choices when I was applying as I've heard from friends who went there speak highly of the clinicals and the supportive/non-competitive environment. I was also impressed by the faculty member for my specialty when I went to the open house this past Saturday. The program puts great emphasis on interprofessionalism and the campus is nice, quiet, and seems safe. I also kind of like having a smaller, graduate-only student body. I do wish that there were more study spaces on-campus. (I've only seen photos on their website though, so maybe I've got the wrong impression.) So I'll most likely be attending, but I'm still waiting on Northeastern! They've been extremely slow as seems typical of them based on past threads.

That was helpful! A bit surprised that Emory is more expensive given that MGH's cost of attendance is already pretty high. Thanks again and good luck!

Congratulations and best of luck at Emory! May I ask why you chose Emory over MGH? I'm still weighing my options, so any opinions would be helpful.

I plan to! Would love to get a feel for the school before putting down a deposit. Anyone still deciding between other schools?

Whoops, took the GRE so long ago I forgot the names of the sections lol. I meant verbal and quantitative sections respectively*

Like stated above, work on your personal statement and on getting good LORs. If you haven't started already, get some clinical experience to show that you have some basic understanding of what you're getting into. MGH didn't conduct interviews for the DEN program, at least not for this year's cycle, so make sure your application is good on paper. Try your best on the GRE, but don't sweat it. Most schools want to see that you're around or above the 50th percentile for all sections. I also used Magoosh and did the free practice exams on the official ETS website. I studied for maybe a month consistently and received scores in the 65th and 77th percentiles for the quantitative and qualitative sections respectively with a 4.0 on the writing. My GPA wasn't the best (3.4), but I guess it was enough. Good luck!

With Vanderbilt's shorter program, it definitely would be cheaper and you'd be out practicing and earning money sooner. Correct me if I'm wrong, but with Vanderbilt's program, you can study from home and do clinicals in your home state (may save some money that way?). In Penn's FNP webinar, they emphasized part-time study and getting experience as an RN (whether that's an advantage is up to you to weigh). I personally like the idea of part-time studying while gaining clinical experience. As a recent college graduate, I don't mind being in school a bit longer, but seeing that you've graduated awhile back I'm not sure if you're trying to practice as an FNP as soon as you can. Do note that RN experience does not necessarily translate to success as an NP as the two take on completely different roles. I think something you should also think about is the type of population you want to serve in the future and which school can provide you with experience working with your target group. Have you thought about location? You should enjoy where you'll be living and studying. 2-3 year is a commitment so consider weather, people, environment, etc. I might be missing some things, but I'll add ideas as they come to me. All in all, both are strong programs and you can't go wrong with either. Good luck! ?