PsychGrad2BRN

Hello, I have just completed my first year in a 2 year ADN program. Currently I work in the field of mental health. I would like to work as a nursing assistant in a hospital. I believe doing so would increase my comfort level with providing patient care. Problem is, I have applied for jobs at several hospitals but have not received responses. Anybody else have this problem? Is it different once you graduate? Melody

Just finished my first semester with a solid B average...and very happy about it too! In my drive to get A's every time, I used to drive myself crazy! This semester, I developed a different attitude. Since I was not sure what to expect, my goal was to simply pass. B grades are passing with a pretty good margin. Congratulations to everyone posting to this thread! :balloons:

Hello Everyone :welcome: I was born and raised in CT, and have lived here my entire life. I am finishing the science prereqs at Gateway Community College and will be attending the Nursing ADN program there in September. I have already earned a BA in Psychology (hence the name) from UConn and would like to go into psychiatric/chemical dependency nursing when I graduate. Somewhere down the road I would like to get the MSN degree and have a career as a Psychiatric NP.

I received thin envelopes for both acceptance letters. These were Gateway Community College and Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing.

Hi Everyone, Thanks for all the replies. I just returned home from Gateway's Nursing Program Orientation. I have decided to go there because of the location and class schedule. I am ineligible for financial aid at both institutions since I already have a bachelor's degree. However, the woman conducting the orientation stated that there are options for loans and scholarships for people who are not eligible for government financial aid. I'll find out about this when I go back there in June. Bridgeport's program is really well established, and the contract opportunity was very attractive for me. However, in my case, the option providing the least disruption to my life would be Gateway's program. Good luck to everyone!

I received my acceptance letter to Gateway CC on Friday. I received an acceptance letter to Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing in late January. I need to send a reply to Gateway by April 12th. Good luck!

Hello Everyone, I would appreciate any and all feedback regarding accepting offers of admission from two nursing schools in CT. Option #1 Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing - I received offer of acceptance in January and immediately sent back my acceptance fee to hold my spot in the class for this September. Since I had applied to four schools, and received two rejections, I jumped at the chance to attend BHSN. I knew I would not hear from the remaining school until April. Pros: Oldest, most established nursing program in CT; opportunity to sign contract and have the entire tuition paid by YNHH in return for 2 year commitment; acquaintance with future classmates there Cons: Eventual necessity of changing job/reducing work hours and going into debt for living expenses; relocating to greater Bridgeport area (I currently live in Plantsville). Option #2 Gateway Community College Nursing Program - I received offer of acceptance today and need to notify them by April 12 (along with $230 acceptance fee) to hold my spot in the class for this September. Pros: Possibility of being able to work full time and keep my current job since the program is in the evening; campus and clinicals are within reasonable commuting distance, hence no pressure to relocate; familiarity with campus since I have taken prereqs there. Cons: Gateway's program is relatively new (3-4 years old); no financial aid eligibility for program. Any feedback or advice from people attending either of these programs? I would like more information before making a decision. Thanks in advance.

Hello Everyone, I would appreciate any and all feedback regarding accepting offers of admission from two nursing schools in CT. Option #1 Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing - I received offer of acceptance in January and immediately sent back my acceptance fee to hold my spot in the class for this September. Since I had applied to four schools, and received two rejections, I jumped at the chance to attend BHSN. I knew I would not hear from the remaining school until April. Pros: Oldest, most established nursing program in CT; opportunity to sign contract and have the entire tuition paid by YNHH in return for 2 year commitment; acquaintance with future classmates there Cons: Eventual necessity of changing job/reducing work hours and going into debt for living expenses; relocating to greater Bridgeport area (I currently live in Plantsville). Option #2 Gateway Community College Nursing Program - I received offer of acceptance today and need to notify them by April 12 (along with $230 acceptance fee) to hold my spot in the class for this September. Pros: Possibility of being able to work full time and keep my current job since the program is in the evening; campus and clinicals are within reasonable commuting distance, hence no pressure to relocate; familiarity with campus since I have taken prereqs there. Cons: Gateway's program is relatively new (3-4 years old); no financial aid eligibility for program. Any feedback or advice from people attending either of these programs? I would like more information before making a decision. Thanks in advance.

I will be entering a Diploma program this September, and will graduate in May 2009. Upon becoming an RN, I will work in a hospital for a couple of years, gaining experience in both med-surg and psych. I would like to complete an RN-MSN program and become a psychiatric NP. My goal is to accomplish this by the time I turn 40 (I'm 32 now). I would like to be a psychiatric NP with my own practice one day, and also teach and do research at a university. I'd also like to get into travel nursing at some point, seeing different parts of the USA as well as going to different countries.

I'd have to say the bodily fluid that grosses me out the most is mucous from the throat. Last spring I was taking a course on Biology of Addiction and we watched a video on the effects of cigarette smoking. The host of the program had a container of mucous. I couldn't even watch the video, and was gagging. About six months ago, my father was in the ER. He had a GI bleed. I watched as two nurses put a tube through his nose, then as the doctor started an IV on him. Although these were painful to watch, I managed. He had several BMs over the course of a couple of hours, and I do remember the odor, though I left the room for them to clean him up. Here's a bit of perspective. My father passed away three weeks ago. I was at the bedside when he died, shortly after his death I touched his hand. The disgust of feeling his hand at that point trumps anything else I saw while he was alive.

I think retaking a course once is understandable, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it is due to entering college too quickly, being ill prepared, or not having proper study skills the first time around. Perhaps it is due to having too many obligations. Or, perhaps the material just isn't grasped enough to get a competitive grade (read: A) the first time. Some colleges also require that science courses be completed relatively recently (i.e. within past five or past seven years), which could prompt someone to retake a course. I took A&P 1 last semester for the first time and got an A. I certainly studied a lot but did not think it was difficult. I had a full time credit load and also worked full time. Part of my credit load was a counseling internship which required much more time per week than the credit load reflected. I am in A&P 2 now and am overwhelmed with the sheer amount of material in the course. My father passed away at the beginning of the semester and I did not study at all for the first two weeks. I have spent a lot of time catching up. I do not want to drop the course since I have already received an acceptance to a nursing program for this fall and would like to take a break from school over the summer. So far I am doing well, but if I do not perform well on the first exam, I plan to drop the course and will retake it in the summer. I have asked a friend who is a nurse what she thought of A&P 2. She stated that she had retaken it for a higher grade. Unlike me, her original college major was nursing and she got her BSN in 1999. I know that she repeated one or two other courses. She has done well in her nursing career and I do not think less of her for having to repeat a couple of courses, even if it was for nursing. Sometimes stuff happens and repeating a course is necessary. However, doing so more than once necessitates rethinking of one's field of study.

I agree with the previous poster on the above two points: 1) You should check into financial aid options at the school you plan to attend. If you never finished your bachelor's degree, it is easier to get aid money than for those who are pursuing a second bachelor's. Also, there are hospitals that will sponsor you through nursing school if for some reason you don't qualify for any aid. There are also plenty of scholarship resources out there for people who are pursuing nursing as their first undergraduate degree. 2) You will easily make the $10,000 back when you graduate. That is a relatively modest amount of money to take on as student loan debt. Keep in mind that the payments don't start until six months after you graduate. Also, once you have more financial stability, you may be able to work part time and spend more time with your children. As you have pointed out, if you don't further your education, you will probably remain where you are. It isn't selfish to take on a small amount of debt to improve your (and your family's) situation. Good luck in your efforts.

I can sympathize with your situation. When I started college back in 1992, I did not do so well either. My major was Pharmacy and my GPA for the first two years was a 2.4. I changed majors to Information Systems, did somewhat better, and graduated in 1997 with a 2.8 cumulative GPA. Fast forward five years later, I decide to go back to school for Psychology after deciding I wanted to switch careers into the mental health field. So I take several courses and earn a degree in Psychology, with a 3.9 in those, raising my cumulative GPA to 3.2. I have changed my career from Information Technology to Social Work and last spring I decided to pursue nursing (I want to work as a psychiatric nurse). I took a chemistry course over the summer and A&P I last semester, earning A's in both. The rest of the prereqs (Developmental Psych, General Psych, Sociology, English, etc.) were completed during my undergrad years. Last semester I applied to four programs. The one that accepted me was a diploma program, which I am starting in September. They only took into account the grades of the courses that were needed for the program. In my case that is nearly 3.8. They did not look at the GPA from my first two years in college since they only go back seven years for the science courses. See if there is a hospital diploma program in your state, and what their admission policies are. Like many others have posted here, many schools only take the prereq/coreq grades into account for admissions purposes. Good luck in your efforts.

Hello everyone, After applying to four programs (Diploma, ADN, Accelerated BSN, Master's Entry), and receiving rejections from two of them, I received a letter of acceptance to nursing school last night. I will be sending it back today confirming my decision to attend along with the matriculation fee. The program I will be entering is the Diploma program at Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing. I'm very excited about this and will be starting in September of this year, graduating in May 2009!:balloons: :smiley_aa :yelclap:

I got in and will be starting nursing school in September 2007, therefore graduating in May 2009.