DQuixote

LOL. Nice to see nothing changes. You will get your skills bag day one of Skills Lab. They will hand them out, you will be shocked at the amount of stuff in them, and then over the course of the semester you will use 1/4 of the crap in there and proceed to be pissed off.

Hey, I'm fully sleeved on my right arm and I bought a basketball compression sleeve from academy and haven't had an issue during clinicals or during my first semester skills lab... I only covered my tats in my Collin uniform and never when we had to wear our own scrubs for afternoon activites

Hahahaha. Not accurate at all... AT ALL LOL. This was actually a thing at the start of the semester because everyone was giving each other scrubs because the sizing is so wonkey. They run large for women. I'd definitely order them early

All white shoes for clinical/lab practical attire. Material is inconsequential.

They are under the bookstore as a type of book bundle you have to buy. It is not a part of tuition, but you can use your FA to buy it... If you happen to be a veteran you can thank me because I was able to coordinate with the VA and Collin to get the expense added as a "mandatory program cost" that we pay for up front and get reimbursed for... Took me all of semester one to un*** that nightmare...

The way that I study is by honing in on pertinent information as related to the lectures and PowerPoints. You will be given exemplars (disease processes) to study. So exam one could be Hypertension, CHF, PVD, PAD, Gestational Hypertension (until 1), Osteoarthritis, osteomyelitis, otisis media (unit 2), MD, MS, Parkinsons, and Alzheimer's (Unit 3) all for your first exam. With these will be a slew of medications you will need to know about. The way that I study is to learn the Nursing Process for each one... I.E what can you, as a nurse do, and are expected to know (S&S of stroke r/t hypertension, ranges of hypertension, S&S of left/right sided heart failure, ect.) and then couple those exemplars with their respective medications and learn what I need to know about those (how to administer, contraindications, reversals for overdose, ect.). What I was saying in an earlier post about not reinventing the wheel is to just utilize the same study habits that got you into the program in the first place. As for your question about studying alone, absolutely it can be done... It will be challenging for your skills portion because it is much easier for a classmate to see your errors in a skill execution then you can (you might not even notice you are doing it wrong).

I already had my co-reqs done from a previous degree for the BSN and ADN. I would take those extra classes over the Summer. Semester 2 you might be able to take an extra class... But definitely not semester one Collin has a CRAPTON of scholarships... Because I'm a veteran I didn't look for them, but I helped a few classmates out finding them. They are plastered all over cougar web. You can also just go to the Student Advisors and they will help you.

Congrats on the acceptance for everyone who got in! I'm a 3rd semester student and TRUST ME, we all had the exact same questions as you did, we were all as anxious as you are, and we were all chomping at the bit to get started (careful what you wish for LOL). Here are some BIG things I wish I knew starting: ATI fees - Picture ATI as a massive online tutor that has quizzes, videos, virtual labs and virtual EHRs (which make clinical waaaay easier then doing it the old hard paper way). ATI can be your best friend or it can overwhelm the absolute hell out of you. I'd suggest getting access ASAP and playing around with their practice exam sections. Their questions are in NCLEX format and will greatly benefit you for your Collin exams. ATI COSTS $800 PER SEMESTER. Plan accordingly and apply for scholarships (there are a TON and as a nursing student you will get one). Don't reinvent the wheel - Nursing school is going to throw A LOT at you semester one. There will be a point where you feel underwater. This is by design. Buckle down, push through, and use the study habits that landed you at one of the most competitive programs in North Texas. You will be regularly assigned 800 pages of reading for TWO WEEKS... This is an impossible task. Get good at streamlining, making study guides, and study groups that work for you. Everyone is feeling the same - We are all OCD, Type A, neurotic, overachievers... Nursing school very well might be the first time you've ever encountered SO many people just like you. Don't bottle those feelings up and put on a front. Communicate and ask for help. I promise your classmates are thinking the same thing. Amy Wilson is a freaking God - So, I was the top applicant for my class, I was a valedictorian, and I have INSANLY high standards for professors. This woman HAS YOUR BACK. She is amazing and if you listen to her you will succeed. She is caring, compassionionate, and will go out of her way to help you succeed. The Skills Bag is a huge waste of money - just get ready for it... You will use about 1/4 of the supplies.

1st semester for me waz 3 days a week. Monday is 1430, Tuesday is off, Wednesday is clinical, Thursday is skills... If you have other days it is because you didn't do your co-reqs... I can imagine having co-req classes would add an unneeded level of stress. There isn't a single person in my cohort that doesn't have them all already complete. The next semesters are only two days a week which is great so you can work and starting building a hospital resume

Oh damn, that blows. They didn't let you recycle into my class (Just finished 2 and heading into 3)? My class has had a few people fail a semester and drop into my class...

Correct. After the first semester your costs are reduced to ATI fee ($800) and regular tuition ($900 for out of county, for me). As a side note, Semester 1 is significantly more challenging than Semester 2 IMO. The content of Semester 2 is slightly more challenging, but the work load is much much much less and you'll already be adjusted to nursing tests and what YOU need to do to succeed. Which leads me to my next point. When you get in, don't reinvent the wheel with the way you study. They are going to assign you an unreasonable amount of reading (about 500 pages per week) to go along with skills. Just focus on the PowerPoints, pertinent material l, hit the high notes, and ALWAYS look for what nursing interventions can be done for each exemplar (body system issue). For meds just learn the high notes for each drug class and the ADRs that pop out.

Congrats! Welcome to the hell that is Nursing School LOL. WGU is a great program! I think they hit the 100% NCLEX pass rate with one of their classes in 2019. Get ready to have a crap ton of info pumped into your brain.

It's not that they don't care about the TEAS it is just that Collin is one of the best programs in the area and INSANLY competitive. Collin averages about 500-600 applications PER cycle. Of those about 150 have a 4.0 GPA... So what the director is getting at is that losing a point with a B can be a very hard obstacle to overcome... You essentially need to crush the TEAS to have a chance. My cohort (fall 2020) has a class average of a 4.0 GPA and our class low for the TEAS was an 80 with 8 tiebreaker points. The Spring semester was a tiny bit less competitive because they took more students, but still very difficult to get into. Collin has an excellent reputation and NCLEX pass rating for a reason. Not all Nursing Programs are created equal... There are some absolute jokes of programs out there that won't teach you *** and that have terrible NCLEX pass ratings... Collin is not one of them... They are actually a center for nursing excellence LOL...

As I have commented previously in this thread, the 16 points low acceptance was from my Cohort (Fall 2020). We were under a different point system. We were actually an incredibly difficult class to get into because they only took 60 of us. Our class low for acceptance under YOUR point system would have been 19 points with 8 tie breaker points. People REALLY need to stop confusing others with this misinformation.

Also, the first semester you will have to drop about $300 for a *** "skills bag" that you will only use 1/4 of the material out of... Then there are the Castle Branch fees, buying a set of Collin scrubs, book bundle, stethoscope, ect. I spent about $1200 on top of tuition for first semester. Good news is Collin offers a TON of scholarships to help offset the cost. They are easy to get and you'd be a fool to pass them up.

Depends on if you are in-county, out of county, or out of state. For in-county it will cost about $1,200 per semester. $400 for standard tuition and $800 for your ATI fees

LOL, no not at all. That's actually more common than not in my cohort.

With a 4.0 and a 90 on the TEAS you will be fine. That is par for the course for most accepted students. Things start getting iffy when you throw a B in there or a low 80 TEAS.

With 19.1 points I think you will be competitive depending on what your tie breaker points are. Also, keep in mind, my cohort was unusually competitive and had a reduced capacity for acceptance. It wouldn't shock me if your cutoff is around an 18.8 or so. I wouldn't waste my time (or money) retaking micro. I would focus on getting Stats, Chem, Nutrition, and being Texas Core complete instead.

Micro is a complete/not complete point. The grade for that class does not matter (which I think is DUMB).

Hey guys, 3rd semester Collin Nursing Student here (3rd semester starting Fall 2021, that is). Just wanted to answer some questions, if you have any. I am part of the infamous Fall 2020 reduced capacity class (they only took 60 of us out of 500 applicants) and some of the information I have been seeing regarding acceptable applications points is a tad misleading @rudyphox. Our application points were different then the current scheme, so the tie breaker around 16 for acceptance is not entirely correct. They changed the application points for the TEAS after our cohort. Originally, it was 5 points for a tease >96, 4 points for 86-96, 3 points for 85-75. That is where the tie breaker at 16 points is coming from (our max points were 19). To give you a snap shot into what was accepted for my class, our ENTIRE cohort has a 4.0 GPA (with no retakes), the vast majority of us had micro complete, our average TEAS was an 87, and most of us already had a degree in other fields. Our class low for acceptance, under your point system, was a 19 with 8 tie breaker points (4.0 student with micro NOT complete, that had an 80 on the TEAS, 8 tie breaker points, and a military point - he is a buddy of mine). Our class high was a 21.2 (me, HOORAY for military point). Our average score with your application points was approximately 19.7 I'm telling you this to show you JUST how important that ONE extra point is in you application. If you have only taken the TEAS once in the application cycle, take it again. You can select which one you send in. Take micro, retake a pre-req if you got a C....do all the things, seriously. Collin is an INSANELY competitive program, with an excellent staff, and great reputation with the hospitals in the area (I got hired at Baylor Heart in Plano because of my clinicals with Collin). Also, a large part of nursing school is pushing yourself. Never stop pushing for better scores, always seek to be better. Don't settle. Ever.

You're welcome! If you have any questions about what to expect after you are inevitably accepted let me know. The process can be a tad confusing. Our cohort JUST now finished all of our paperwork and got our class schedule yesterday. Good thing was the blue cards came in pretty fast despite the pandemic.

Hey ladies and gents I'm headed into my first semester of nursing school and have run into something that is a tad perplexing and can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone. During our orientation we were told that we would have a reoccurring ATI fee each semester but wasn't told exactly what it was for. Initially, when I spoke to the bookstore I was told the ATI bundle was $420 but that this fee was being "renegotiated." The fee is now $756 per semester and nobody can tell me what exactly I am paying for. ATI themselves said they couldn't discuss it with me and that I would need to speak to the program directly. The campus bookstore said they have no idea what it contains and the nursing department hasn't gotten back to me. My fear is that I am paying for unnecessary material and/or duplicate books pertaining to the same material as the seperate $900 "Book Bundle" I was told to purchase that has various textbooks. Has anyone run into similar ATI costs that can tell me what I am paying for?

No, and the group chat that has 6 of us all haven't either...

Nice. It seems like all of us who got in had 4.0 and around a 90 TEAS. This class was ultra competitive. See you on the 28th. Side note, do you know what the 2nd backround check is all about? I mean the first one is an FBI check and the same type when I got certified as a police officer... So I can't imagine what the second one is... Drug screening maybe?