fluffhead

Study with the NCLEX in mind - the NCLEX and RN practice are different. I am a graduate of accelerated program - wish I spent more time prepping for certification! Much of the rest you will learn when you get a job. Saunder's Review is good. Try to enjoy the process of learning - know your learning style! Are you visual? Auditory? Does it help to recopy your lecture notes more than it does to tutor a classmate? Do you record the lecture and listen or do you do better reading the textbook? Pretty fundamental, but many students never think it over. And remember, every cohort or class has a distinct personality and dynamic. Don't be bummed if you happen to be stuck with people who can't really aid you in studying. No reflection on you - just the way it is. good luck. Congrats on choosing a fab field!! :mnnnrsngrk:

Hot topic! :igtsyt: When I got the sticker price for the Columbia, I fell out of my chair, got up and called the financial aid office and then fell down again... There are days when I feel completely duped - and other days when I can't help but realize how far I have come (I was working at Trader Joe's in 2005, now I'm a few semesters from an MSN/ANP while working as an onc RN in a top rated hospital). Worth it? I can't say. All those powerpoint presentations could be viewed online and tests taken as well without the two cents of an NP at the lecture hall, right? Longer clinical hours might have been nice. More care plans...I don't know. You learn it all on the job for the most part. Seriously. The money spent is an investment - it ought to pay off. I have met NPs who started off as volunteers in high school, became LPN and then RN and then eventually went back for a MSN - they do the same job as the accelerated grads. At my age and time in life, I wasn't going to get on the waiting list for the Peralta District nursing programs - I'm almost done. Is it a quality education? I don't know. The curriculum builds in master's level courses during the pre-NCLEX coursework, so the price is not cut and dried as Miss Mab couches it - but there is no arguing that the price is steep - and Bush will likely cut reimbursement programs for working in underserved areas, right? I'm happy I don't work in an office or in retail anymore. Sallie Mae will be getting checks from me for years to come - I'm in bed with her...like it or not. Hopefully we will be well trained and take good care of people and change health care for the better, and be happy in how we spend our days, even if we are slightly disgruntled about how we spend our money ("I owe, I owe..." said the little dwarves)...:oornt:

is there a test to measure the effects of lovenox? just curious

fresh direct totally saves me from starving or eating crap in the Heights! Great service. There is also a shuttle to the fabulous Fairway Market twice per week, which helps alot for those of us not used to carrying everything all over town - I'm from Cali and used to loading the car with a week's worth of groceries!! I graduated ETP/RN in May and am now on with the Master's portion, working and schooling full time. Drop a line if you need help. AND relax - you'll get in if you were a strong candidate. Columbia really wants your money, er, I mean, they really want to educate great nurses.

Thanks for chiming in on this one, everybody. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one - but nice to hear from the allnurses community that a little woosiness here and there is par for the course. Now if I can only conquer donating blood! =->

Just started on my floor mid july after graduating in may... Doc needs help with bone marrow biopsy. Just as he reaches bone and it begins to crunch, and the patient winces and moans, I start seeing spots and break a sweat. I excused myself from the room, and the floor nurses thought my new green color was pretty funny. Not even and hour later, my other patient had a chest tube placed. Oi. Again I go in, I'm holding the patient's hand - and the patient winces and writhes and I hear a "sploosh" and again I start seeing spots, have to excuse mysef and go sit down and drink juice. What kind of nurse AM I?? Embarassing.

When someone on the floor says, "Hey you, with muscles. Come help me lift/move this patient," is that discrimination? I am a new hire - just got my RN on 6/15 - and I get the feeling I am mostly around to lift patients up if they fall. Ugh.

:uhoh21:So I don't understand - your profile says you have been practicing for 11years? So are you already $40K in debt, or is that what you are planning to spend to further your education? As to whether or not an investment is "Wise" - some midlife career switching men need to consider spending money in order to make money. I don't want to move to Wisconsin. I want to be marketable and well trained. I agree the pricetag is high - but we can pay it back, hopefully committed to helping people while we're at it.

Well I for one have been having a rough go of it.

Hard to tell you specifics on grades and cramming and learning - it's so individual. I'm a 37 year old English major (this is relevant only when you think of the adage about old dogs and new tricks ) and I have about a 3.3 GPA right now...I graduated Cal with highest honors and a double major in Rhetoric, so I'm not thrilled with my GPA, but it's not really my goal to be in the honors society. You have to be honest with yourself. I was scared to death of all the courses, but I'm doing fine and you will too. Worse case scenario is academic probation, and you get a warning to bring your grades up.The living thing has been addressed elsewhere - but I will say that dorm housing is the best deal on the block - if not that, look up Adele in the housing office, she tries to send listings in the neighborhood and place people in student friendly situations. Craigslist can be fruitful, but exhausting. Some students are happily paying $1200 in Washington Heights for a spacious one bedroom, others are paying $1300 each for a two bedroom share in a "nicer" neighborhood. There are deals, there are scams...does that help?

Hmm - I'm native to Denver, but lived some'teen years in Cali, all over the Los Angeles basin and then 6 yrs in Berkeley. There are many Ca transplants in the ETP program, and we have some small town girls - central MA, VT, a guy from Houston - nobody has gone home with their tail between their legs to my knowledge. When my Supershuttle dropped me off in front of the dorms, the first thing I saw was a big fat rat that could probably ingest a chihuahua. And that was in broad daylight in the hot May sun. Lovely. None indoors (yet), thankfully. :chair: People are cool, if standoffish. Hard to get used to the direct-ness, especially after being used to the flakey "let's do lunch" los angeleno nice you to death approach...but it's refreshing. There are security/escort services around Columbia Presby campus, and that is in response to the muggings - this isn't Mean Streets and thankfully the '80s are a distant memory, but there is crime in Washington Heights.:smiley_ab Still, it's great. Everyone should get such a chance to check it out! It will make you a great nurse practitioner to interact with the people of NYC.

Re: cpr The benefit of using the American Heart Association is that the cert for a Healthcare Provider lasts 2 years while I believe Red Cross expires after one year. If you are in the Bay Area of Ca., the Paramedics Assoc. is a great place to get 'er done.

Wow where to start. Here is what I can remember and address: CPR - yes. Get it done. Hours - many, especially in summer. Tons of lectures. 8 hours daily, and clinical from 7am til after 3pm. Studying hard, lots of exams - physiology, community health, nursing lab, physical assessment, nursing practice...pharmacology - lots of sciences. (But I'm an English/Rhetoric major and I did fine.) I believe the 2nd bachelor's is 60 units - 20 in summer, fall and spring. What more schedule do you want? Like a breakdown? I can do it if you want...you will know more soon. As to negativity - show me the better cheaper option. None of us went anywhere but here, so there is no point of reference. I can say that plenty of friends in GEPN at Yale are fed up with issues around placements and other red tape, same for Pace or NYU...but if you believe you can get it cheaper, and better, then hell yeah - why would you come into an investment like this with an attitude problem or riddled with doubt??? Accelerated programs have built-in stress, for students and for administration/faculty. What is more valuable? Time? Student/teacher ratio? Clinical placements? Patient population? Location? Pedigree? You have to look at your goals. You will get work. Nurses are in demand. Ivy League may not be your thing - but since you got into a great school, you have to be ready embrace all that comes with it. There are fabulous aspects and less fabulous ones. If it is a bang for your buck bottom line kind of question, only you can answer that.

Wow - not sure which one to address or whom to quote from... Oscar the financial aid guy is a character. As for tips - just make sure you know what you are signing, and stick to the student budget. Some people had to apply for an emergency loan because $2k was distributed early, and naturally, people spent it! :roll Almost all of it is still private loans - but there are ways to find loan forgiveness thru gov't placements and other avenues, depending on where you wind up working. The math is shocking - be sure this is what you want. The Heights has cheap rent, and you live at school during the summer of 20 units anyway - but you are pretty FAR from the action. Then again, you have very little time to get distracted, so depending on your personality, it is better to take an excursion downtown than schlep up to school. Most people living far from here (Washington Hts) are already New Yorkers. TURN IN YOUR HOUSING APPLICATION RIGHT NOW! Just put it in the mail tomorrow. They go by the date that piece of paper gets returned to the office, and by how far away you live from the school at time of the application. Placements are made accordingly. If you can deal with the dorm, it's the cheapest option by far. Congrats to all!!!!

Welcome everyone! I will probably be one of the zombie-eyed students representing the currently enrolled etp'ers in March. If you have any questions let me know. As for financial aid - Aunt Sallie Mae takes care of everything, unless you really live it up. The financial aid guy is not the brightest bulb you could hope for, so pay attention!