kayji

Ohio BON has very slow processing and slow or no response to email or phone (check Google reviews for lots of people with the same issue). They also seem to be fairly disorganized in terms of processing documents that they receive - there doesn't seem to be a good "first received, first processed" system in place since some people get quick turn around and others wait months. When I applied (graduated in Dec), my application went from "in progress" for over 3 months after they should have had my documents, to ATT in one day without any in between updates about documents received. I firmly believe documents just sit in a pile on someone's desk waiting to be entered and new ones probably get added to the top instead of the bottom of the pile... All this to say, if your school just submitted your program completion letter, give it some time. If you get lucky and it is processed within a few weeks, celebrate. If not, consider filing a complaint through your state reps or the BON website since this seems to help some people who have been waiting for a long time.

Some schools will allow you to start an ABSN with a sufficient number of credits (not necessarily a completed degree). It can't hurt to ask your school if that is an option. Have you completed the prereqs for the nursing program already? If you're sure you want to switch to nursing, I would suggest spending some time researching what programs are available near you or somewhere you are willing to relocate for school. Look at transferring to BSN programs, ABSN, and community college programs. Some people are less willing to consider CC if they have lots of credits already, but in general it is a practical and economic way to get into nursing. Do a little research into what hospitals are looking for in your area, but in many places nurses with ADNs and BSNs work the same jobs for the same pay. The downsides of finishing your current degree include limited loan options for a second bachelors degree, wasted $$ paying for the remaining 24 credits to get the degree you don't want, and more time spent pursing something you aren't really interested in. If nursing is really what you want to do, spend the time now to figure out how to start on that path instead of continuing on a path you don't want to be on.

Co-requisite usually means two classes that have to be taken at the same time (e.g. a lecture and lab). I don't know why they are using it for the A&P II and micro classes - it seems out of place. To calculate your GPA you need your grade and how many credits each class was worth. We can't verify without the credit information, but you can easily calculate yourself: add up (class * credits), then divide by the total number of credits. If that's what you did to get 3.23, then it's right.

There isn't a lot of info out there, but I think you're fine. You made it into the 'hard' question level, so that alone should tell you that you are doing well. Beyond that, it's expected that you would have some variation in percentile, and 26th is still after making it to the hard level. It's OK to only be getting 50% right because the questions are skewed to higher difficulty because you answered the easier questions correctly. I remember reading somewhere that a school recommended trying to get above 50th percentile on the medium difficulty.

I think overall passing minimum is 70%, and you also have to get 70% or higher on exams. "Students are required to repeat a course if they earn a grade below a C- (<70%). A grade below a C- (<70%) constitutes a course failure." "Clinical Nursing and Nursing Science Courses (Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, and Health Assessment): Testing by examination in each course will comprise a minimum of 70% of the course grade. Students must earn a weighted average of 70% on exams in order to pass the course. ATI proctored assessments are included in the average as appropriate. Once the 70% is met, papers and other written assignments will be included into the overall final grade. Failure to achieve a 70% on the final grade (examinations + written assignments) will result in a course failure"

I was in a previous Spring cohort. I applied in May and didn't get my acceptance until September, and that seemed like their first round of decisions that went out. The program is busy and you have to actively make time for your personal life and self care, but it is doable with good organization and prioritization. First semester we had class three days per week. Second & third we had class two days plus clinical 1-3 days depending on scheduling. Studying outside of class was 8-10 hours on non-class/clinical days. If you're someone who likes to read the book and take detailed notes, there is nowhere near enough time to do that. Jobwise, I started looking in September and had three offers in October for residency programs. However, I think the local job market varies a lot and some places prefer to wait until you have your license to do interviews and offers.

The bigger concern for your friend might be learning the strategies used to answer ATI questions (e.g. studying answer rationales, breaking down the questions, and prioritization methods), which he will need for the NCLEX. It's a shame that his program didn't prepare him for that - not only in his last semester, but throughout. However, these strategies can be learned and practiced. Lots of schools use ATI or similar tests as part of their evaluation, so that part doesn't seem too strange to me. Some schools use them to weed out students to keep their NCLEX pass rates unnaturally high. That seems less ethical to me, but it happens. To me, it sounds like this program is somewhere in the middle. I do agree with you that only having one chance to take it is rough, but they are also not straight failing people based on their one grade since it is factored in. However, the test policy and grade implications should have been discussed somewhere before hand (syllabus or policies)...? If this policy wasn't mentioned anywhere (which I think is doubtful), your friend may have grounds to raise the issue within the school and try to appeal. This is not hurting your friend the way you think it is. Raw scores are lower than probability of passing for ATI exams. For example, my school used 90% probability of passing as the required score, which corresponds to 69.3% raw score. 60% probability of passing appears to correspond to 58.7% raw score. Although it is disappointing to get so far and be asked to repeat a course, the fastest route to be done may be just to repeat the course. If it ends up going that way, make sure your friend puts in the effort to focus on ATI strategies to avoid a repeat experience.

What state are you in? I just graduated in December and people from my cohort had very different wait times depending what state they applied for licensing in. Fastest were just a few days (RI, MI), but some took multiple months (SC, OH).

What are your concerns about using a flush syringe? Try to think about what you need to accomplish when diluting IV meds and whether flushes or single use vials affect the outcome. As for articles, you could try researching with your school's library resources.

You can't really study for it. It's logical problems like: If Alice is shorter than Bill, Bill is taller than Charlie, and Charlie is shorter than Daniel then which of the following must be true: Alice is taller than Daniel Charlie is the shortest Bill is taller than Daniel Charlie and Alice are the same height

The sample questions I had were more like a case study than the regular (stand alone) questions. There were a bunch of questions about one patient scenario with history, symptoms, lab results, etc. There are similarly formatted practice questions in ATI's question bank, and maybe on the NCLEX already, but the sample questions had even more detail. I didn't think they were harder, just different. I guess you get some context from the series of questions that you don't with the current NCLEX format.

I don't have any specific organizations to suggest for you, but you might be able to see if your school offers anything. My school had an option to do international work that counted for population health clinical hours. Since you have the Summer off, they may have an option organized for students who are interested.

The only thing that is for sure is that if you don't apply you won't get in. You could try asking the admissions office, but they probably can't tell you for sure. If nursing is what you want to do, don't give up before you've applied! You may need to retake some prereqs to try for higher grades if you aren't able to get in initially, but if that's gets you to where you want to be, start taking steps to get there. If you are calling the admission office, ask them what their policy is on repeats (in terms of evaluating applications).

I think it just depends on the situation where you are. Some places are willing to hire (conditionally) before graduation but others prefer to wait. If you are applying in the same city you are going to school, your teachers or nurses at clinical should have good advice for what employers are looking for. If those people are telling you to apply before graduation, you may need to work on your resume.

I would recommend being very careful with your units when looking at this question. At the risk of stating of the obvious, mEq is not the same as mL. It might be the case that you have a solution with a concentration of 1 mEq/mL, but that isn't always the case and can't be assumed. In order for you to find the rate (mL/hr), you need to know what the concentration (mEq/mL) of your potassium is, and add the appropriate volume (mL) for the prescribed quantity of potassium (mEq) to the total volume to be infused. It is added because the potassium solution is being injected into the bag of fluids.

Is their policy for failure and removal in your student handbook? If it is (and I imagine it is if this is something they want to do), I would think they are asking you to sign something more like a counselling statement than a contract. Counselling statement just means that you acknowledge you were told about the policy that you would be removed if you failed. Your best bet is to check the policies. If the policy exists, not signing the form probably won't be a loop hole to help you.

It's certainly not too early to start practicing NCLEX style questions. Just make sure you're focusing on the right content areas (like others have suggested from your fundamentals text book or other class resources). What you don't want to do is start using a generic NCLEX test bank with questions covering every topic on the NCLEX that you haven't even learned yet. If you haven't learned the material, you won't have the background to get as much out of practicing.

Ohio BON doesn't have a great reputation for replying to emails or answering phone calls... or issuing ATTs. For reference, I graduated in December, and they haven't acknowledged receiving my background check or transcripts yet (about a month after they should have had everything). So, I guess what I'm saying is, if you are wanting to try to get licensed in Ohio, I won't wait for a response from the board. These are the legal codes that control licensing: http://codes.ohio.gov/oac/4723-7, and I didn't see anything about a time limit after graduation. You may want to read carefully to assure yourself that you wouldn't be throwing application money away and then just go for it. If you have questions about applying in Ohio, I'm happy to share what I know, limited though it may be!

Your best bet is probably to contact schools you might apply to and see what they say since different schools have different policies. To me, it sounds like you have overcome a lot and that shows dedication and determination, both of which should be valuable in applying to nursing school. If the schools you want to apply to include a personal statement for the application, you might use that to explain how you overcame the challenges you faced and how that helped prepare you for an ABSN program.

This is certainly a choice you can make, but it would be better to make it with all the info. By that, I mainly mean what would be required to switch now vs. later. Monday is coming pretty quick, but that is enough time to collect some info and at least build some confidence in your plan for the future. I'll send you a direct message to follow up.

Are you familiar with a concept called the sunken cost fallacy? It's the idea that people will keep doing something simply because they have invested time/effort/money into even though the end result might not be worth the time/effort/money that it takes to get from where they are now to the end. People don't want to loose the time/effort/money they have already put in, so they keep at it. With that in mind, you sound pretty sure that you don't want to be a nurse, so are you absolutely sure it's worth the time/effort/money to do two more semesters of nursing school? You have a couple ideas for alternatives (comp sci, engineering, pharmacy) - have you looked into what it would take to switch majors? How many semesters would it take you to work through the major requirements (usually ~30 credits), keeping in mind the pre-reqs and progression? Once you have that info you can make a better decision if 2 semesters of nursing school is a better option than 2-4 semesters of another major. You sound pretty stressed out, so I'm willing to help research other options if you would be interested.

That sounds like a waste of money. You don't need to the scientific functionality, graphing equations, finding intercepts, etc. I used the built in windows calculator for all the math to get through my nursing program.

Every place I've ever had to get recommendations for only wanted the contact information for my recommenders. What they actually want from the recommenders varies a lot. Some have a form with all kinds of stuff to fill out while others just wanted an email response with that serving as the "letter" of recommendation. Nobody has ever wanted me to hand them an envelope. Keep in mind the LOR should match what you're applying for, so a generic one ahead of time isn't as helpful. Since you have some time, if you think one of your current professors/instructors/preceptors would be a good recommender, I would just ask them if they would be able to help with recommendations when the time comes. Make sure they know what the time line is and plan to follow up when it actually comes time to get your recommendations so they aren't surprised and know who to expect the request from.

It is possible to transfer in to some traditional BSN programs, but it depends on the school. My school has both an ABSN and transfer option, they are basically the same in terms of classes. The ABSN continues during the Summer, but they are both 4 semesters.

I don't have any insight to know if that would be likely to help at this point. I know they say they do rolling admissions, but I think it's done a lot more in chunks than they make it seem. If the faculty members that do the admissions decisions won't be meeting again before the start of the Spring cohort, it might not make much difference what you do. But, I don't think they would hold it against you for asking.