FLAgal14

I forgot to add that yes, I find myself looking up tons of diseases and conditions since I've started nursing school and especially after clinical rotations. Yesterday I had a patient with severe cellulitis and a two stage 3 pressure ulcers. I was so interested in what cellulitis is and how it is caused that I looked it up once I got home.

That's interesting -both my mom and I have malignant hypothermia and I never really researched it in depth until nursing school.

I'm in an accelerated BSN program now and probably about half my class has a scholarship with a hospital. In our accelerated program we have 4 hospitals that we can do clinical rotations at and all 4 offer scholarships, and if you take the scholarship you have to do your clinical rotations there during the school year (but you do not have to work there during the school year). These hospitals were offering $10,000 (pre-tax) for tuition + books, in return for a 2 year service agreement. It all depends upon the school and the hospitals in your area. Good luck.

Hi Batlin I am starting FAU's accelerated program next week so I can't tell you for sure what the hours of the program are, as they change each semester. It is a 3 semester program, starting in May and ending May the following year. This summer I will be taking 16 credits and starting clinicals in June. I am taking 2 online courses for the summer and have class Mondays from 1-4 and Tuesdays 4:30-8. From what I was told they start you off slow in clinicals at first 4 hours once a week, to 12 hour days, once a week. I haven't been assigned my clinical schedule yet, so I don't know all the details of it. Note that the traditional program is very different - in terms of # credits taken per semester, when classes are and when clinicals are. You should go onto the FAU nursing website: http://nursing.fau.edu/newnursingsite/ugradprog.html and email the admissions for the traditional program your questions. Galore is right - they are much better at returning emails than phone calls. You could also look at the course catalog and try to get a general idea of the class times/schedules. I will also be working part-time in the accelerated program - I'll let you know how that works out!

I was in the same boat as you currently are in - I have a BA in public health and decided to change careers. I am fortunate enough to live in an area where the accelerated BSN program is not that expensive (it's a state school), but generally speaking the private acclerated programs are expensive. There are also scholarships & loan forgiveness programs out there too to help with expenses. My program is 12 months long, at the end I take the NCLEX and am ready to practice as a RN. Tweety was right about the pre-requisites, check out the schools you are interested in and see what the pre-req's are , as well as if there is an entrance exam you have to take. Good luck!

Mine will technically cost around $7000 but my job is paying for half of it (thankfully!). I already have a ton of loans from my first bachelors and masters so I am very happy about the low out of pocket cost for the BSN program that I chose.

Yeah - I get a mix of positive and negative comments when I tell people I'm about to start nursing school - anywhere from "NS is hard! How are you going to do it?" to "Why do you want to do that? I can't understand how people want to be in that job?". Whatever - I just let it slide off my back now - I don't really care anymore - this is my decision and I am happy with it. But I think everyones perception is different once in school - and it does have a lot to do with what else besides school you have on your plate. I know it's going to be difficult for me because I've been out of school for 3 years plus I'm working part-time during school - but others may not find that hard, or may have less on their plate. It's all an individual thing. And I think it's better that people (i.e. non nurses/students) are telling me how hard it is rather than being condescending (as some have been) and telling me how easy it will be.

Here are some things I found by searching on the internet: The first two are basically the same - the first came directly from the Delaware department of Health & Services site and the other from HRSA: http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/hsm/opslrpnur.html http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/loanrepay.htm This one is probably not too applicable to you since you are already an RN, but someone mentioned that some states will finance your education in return for a service committment and Delaware does this (just as a FYI): http://www.doe.k12.de.us/high-ed/nursing.htm I think this site is more about searching for Health Shortage sites which is how you can apply for the HRSA loan repayment program. It can be worth looking at if you want to work in a rural underserved area ( which is where most of the federal loan repayment programs will be): http://www.3rnet.org/ Another option is to look up the websites of hospitals in Delaware and look at the benefits they offer. Not all hospitals do loan forgiveness but some do (I've seen some that do and don't around where I live). Good luck!

I'm right there with all of you. I'm absolutely excited about starting school but at the same time absolutely terrified. It's a huge life change for me as I'm changing careers, taking a cut in pay, etc... and I'm a worry wart by nature and these past few weeks before school starts I've been up all night worrying about it. I think it's very normal to have fear before such an undertaking - it means that you are really thinking it through. You need to take a step back, take a deep breath, take some time for yourself and figure out why you are having second thoughts.

My top 2 interests are L&D and NICU. But I haven't started school yet or clinicals, so you never know what will happen - I'm going to try to keep an open mind on all the clinical rotations though

I will be starting an accelerated BSN program in May and my goal is to gain experience as a nurse for a few years and then probably pursue either a PA or NP degree. Good luck everyone!

Hi Abelshan I'm another one who went pre-med to pre-nursing. Like the others - I did a double take on my choice when I thought about the amount of sacrifices that I would have to make, and let's not forget about the amount of debt I would have been in. I was accepted into med school last year and I think the acceptance actually made me reconsider it - it is really a huge committment. You have to want it 100% because there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears during & after med school. I have a lot of friends in med school and even they have their doubts about it sometimes - I even had a couple of friends that wanted to drop out and pursue nursing instead (but they hung in there). Similar to arciedee- for me, there were other priorities that were higher on my list such as family. The best way to really see if you want it or not is to volunteer and to talk to both doctors and nurses to get their takes on their career. Good luck with everything.

If you don't mind doing a service committment after you are done with your BSN there are gov't programs to fund nursing school - such as the National Health Service Corps (which you can also do as a loan repayment option after you are done) and they have nurse specific scholarships/loan repayments. Here is a website to look up this info: http://www.hrsa.gov/help/healthprofessions.htm Does Hopkins offer any scholarships? I went there for undergrad and they were pretty good with their financial aid package for me - but I don't know how the nursing school is. Did you file your FAFSA and receive your financial aid package yet? I don't think that a hospital will pay all the tuition for Hopkins because it's pretty expensive - the most you may get out a hospital is 5,000 - perhaps more (depending on the hospital and the funds they have set aside for this). Vanderbilt University also has a good scholarship website if you want to peruse: http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/nursing/msn/scholarshipsext.html ; also on that site they have loan repayment programs. Some states also cancel loans if you agree to work in an underserved area afterwards, I know Georgia does this - you may want to check to see if Maryland does this too. And there are tons of direct entry MSN programs if you are interested: http://www.allnursingschools.com/find/results.php?program=accelerated-msn&st=&submit=Find+a+School Good luck!

Florida Atlantic University accelerated BSN program starting May2007. Congrats everyone!!

I have a good friend who is now in a PhD clinical psychology program. You really need to research these programs - she doesn't have to pay for hers. Instead they give her a $14,000 stipend a year - but she has to TA some courses. She has told me that for a PhD in clinical psych you shouldn't have to pay for the program. She has also been in the program for 5 years now and has 2 years or so left - she's exhausted all the time, and sometimes she regrets it, but other times she loves it. You really need to do some soul searching and research both avenues. Perhaps you should shadow both NP and a Clinical Psychologist. There's nothing wrong with taking a year off after college to think it through too - my friend did that. She worked in a psychiatry research department in a hospital and that clinched it for her that she wanted to pursue clinical psych. Good luck with your decision - I completely understand where you are coming from.