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IYQYGR, I think we work at the same hospital in AZ. :) It's so frustrating because nobody in upper management seems to care that we all KNOW it's not safe. Where to go to get things changed??

I work in the NICU right now as an extern II (just graduated last night - woot!) and I really like it. They are expanding like crazy right now because they are slated to open their 100+ bed level III NICU this year, and are also finishing up another freestanding children's hospital. I'm happy with Banner Desert. My sister worked for PCH and loved it there, too.

Thanks! Crap, the phone calls are coming in. We've lost a third of the class we started out with. Wow. Truthfully, I can't say I feel smarter than anyone who didn't make it. I feel like with the way these tests were worded that it was simply luck that I made it and others didn't.

I need to brag and celebrate! Just took my Block IV nursing process final and passed yesterday. It was CLOSE for the entire class, as we were all sitting around a 76%. Yikes. I am so excited to move on and take my NCLEX and go on to a career after all this schooling! Banner Fellows at Gateway is a ridiculously hard schooling by Block IV and I can't believe I made it. YAY! On to my L&D preceptorship. Blah. (I don't know why but most of our class ended up in L&D!)

Congrats Keli! That's wonderful! All those hours studying paid off.

Oh! I thought they were going to continue Fellows at MCC. Bummer! I'll look for ya, Julie! As long as I pass.....*bites nails* How is your class doing in Block IV? Our entire class is just barely hovering around a 76% because of the way our last teacher tests and we're all nervous as can be. I had heard that most students pull themselves up with the final.

If that irks you I hope you don't ever have to deal with their financial aid department. Full of morons! LOL! I would just go ahead and take the test. It takes maybe 1/2 an hour and is no biggie. Extremely easy.

I have done a few clinicals there in the ER and I must say it's one of my favorite places to go. It's extremely busy but everyone there is VERY helpful to newbies/students. The setup is awesome and Good Sam has a great reputation. Congrats! I would LOVE to work there if I didn't live so far away!

You usually have classes Mon/Tues or Wed/Thurs. The other two days are clinical days.

There's always one of each block going at all times, so there will be another Block III in March. But those people are in block II right now and we won't know if they've passed or not until the end of this "semester". :)

I'm in the accelerated Fellows program, so my Block started in October - all of our blocks end in March and the new one starts up in March, so we'll know if someone failed at the end of February, really. I'm not sure about the traditional program. You can call Margie Schultz at Gateway and ask, she's the person to talk to. We had five people fail Block III, but three of them were from other Blocks and had failed before. Our class average for the end of the block was 78%, though, so I can't say it's going to be easier. As far as Chandler-Gilbert goes, I work with someone in the NICU who is doing the program there and she HATES it. She's trying to get into Gateway as well. She hasn't had too many good tales to tell about it.

I don't know the exact passing rate, but I'm in Block IV at Gateway and they are constantly bragging to us about having one of the best pass rates in the district. Eh, it's nursing school and yes it sucks, but I would recommend Gateway. At least from what I hear about CGCC. (You don't work in the NICU, do you? I'm kind of wondering if I know you.... )

Keli, you were a Banner Fellow, right? Did they use the Saunders book or one of their own? I'm confused. I know at the end of our block in March they all have planned for our cohort to take a review class, but if I already have the NCLEX book maybe I won't even go! Better to be working those days, methinks. Banner pays for it, but I wonder if it's required....?

Wow, this thread has grown since I started it! Congrats to everyone who got in! I'm almost done with it all, thank GOD. As long as I pass Block IV, which so far has been the most ridiculously hard block, I'll walk March 6th. As far as the CGCC group, I work with someone in the NICU (I'm externing there) who is attending the CGCC program and apparently since they are still a new program, there are a lot of bugs to work out. They do have the same curriculum as all the other MCC schools but for whatever reason a LOT of people are failing out. It IS difficult to compare programs to each other, though, because each block at each school has completely different students in it, different teachers, and no matter what anyone tells you, the tests are NOT the same between the instructors, no matter how much they are supposed to be. We've lost about 7 of our original 30 and picked up a few along the way, too, and lost most of those too. Good luck to everyone still trucking on! Corinne

Yeah, solid white is the rule. I swore up and down that I wouldn't buy those granny-looking Dansko shoes but after two blocks of Sketcher pain I caved! I say go with the Danskos.

They do pay for everything, but I'm using student loans to cover living expenses. Well, at least a little of them. I went from making $50,000 a year to nothing while I'm in school and it hurts! :) Thankfully I landed an externship so that'll help just a little. Not that externs get paid a lot, but anything helps.

Hey all, I know this is probably a stab in the dark, but thought I'd try. Any other Banner Fellows on here who have had to deal with Financial Aid? Gateway is telling me that for Block III, which starts in July for our cohort (X) we won't get our aid until SEPTEMBER since it's considered an early fall class. I don't know what I'm going to do! Anyone else dealt with this? Thanks!

That's awesome, guys! Congrats on your placement Selaz!

Hey, I'm at Gateway and we're there way over 20 hours a week! I'm getting shafted then!

I don't know if they change the questions between cohorts or not - maybe Stopnik's were different - but you had to give examples of times that you showed compassion, times you showed good customer service, etc. Those are the two main ones I had. They wanted to know why you were going into the nursing career too. You answer all these questions in front of a panel of people, so it can be a little bit nerve-wracking.

Awesome. Thanks for the info! I went to orientation today and Linda was there, but nothing about the extern program yet. I'm really impressed so far, and I've only been to orientation. It seems like Banner really does care what happens to us. You must be in the Block I group that a tall skinny teacher (I can't remember her name) came in and told us she had just given finals to today.

It's great to hear from someone who is already in it! I'm so excited, I have orientation on Monday and I can hardly stand the wait. I quit my job in order to do this because I figured that it would be much too difficult to work during this program. What block are you in? Can you tell me any more about the extern program? Do you think it's possible to work one shift a week (as an extern) while in the program? I just don't know what to expect at all! I picked up my books and nursing tote last week. Holy crap, that's a lot of books. I hope I won't have to carry them around all the time! :) I desperately want to buy new tennis shoes but I don't know how picky the instructors are about dress code and the shoes, so I'll wait til Monday. I'm so pathetic.

I start in two weeks and no I don't work for Banner. I've been doing mortgages for the last six years and I'm soooo ready for a change! From what I can tell they won't give preference to people already working for them, but I'm not sure - you may want to talk to the program director about that.

I live out in Queen Creek. We bought our house last year and were really nervous about the commute because we had heard from sooo many people that it was horrible. It's not. The backups are nearly gone - the longest you're going to wait at the worst light (Hunt Hwy/Ellsworth) is ten minutes. No big deal. Don't let it deter you - I really like it out here! The schools suck though, so if you have kids you may want to look at getting them into Higley schools or Gilbert ones. Mine goes to a charter school not far away and it's worth the ten minute drive to take her there.

I applied for Mesa and Chandler-Gilbert back in January of this year on a non-contingent basis and was accepted for this fall. I deferred, though, need to get a little more ready financially and I just got accepted to Banner's Nurse Fellows program, so I'm glad I deferred! So anyhoo, the wait for me was only like 8 months. I got word I think back in June that I was accepted for Fall 2006.