@birthjunki I'm a current student in the fall semester. There are lots of opportunities to volunteer using your nursing skills through the school. The school frequently has booths at local festivals (I believe Harlem Multicultural Festival was the most recent) and fairs, and things like the NY Marathon where student nurses check blood pressures, provide public health education to the community, provide first aid, etc. I believe there was also an opportunity recently to sign up to be a part of a home based case study team where you work directly in the community with a team on an assigned case.
I will say though, that very few people that I know in the program have time for any of this. The program is very demanding and when you're not studying the material that you've already learned, you're getting ready for next week, sleeping, or trying to relax a little bit. Kind of the sort of program where you're spending so much time thinking about school that it's the last thing you want to do after all of that is done ;).
So far in my experience, the only thing that I can say I dislike about the program is the cost (though I doubt anyone actually likes that part lol). At the end of the day for me, however, getting a master's degree (instead of another bachelor's degree) at an Ivy League School, where I'm able to get clinical experience at tons of different hospitals in NYC in a period of 14 months, is worth it. Also worth noting that you get a really decent amount of school breaks! We had off August 10th - September 3rd, and we'll get a week for Thanksgiving, December 20 - January 21st, March 14-22, May 16-June 1st. -- So while the program spans 14 months, you are getting some breaks in between to relax which is nice, and could also offer you an opportunity to volunteer in the community independently!
If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to tag me here or PM me!
