karen230

CONGRATS TO YOU!!!

Hi All, I haven't posted here in months but I have to post. I just called the NS I applied to b/c I haven't heard anything yet and the woman told me I should have my acceptance letter by the end of next week!!! She said that students that where changing programs (like me) were being processed now. I said my niece got her letter a long time ago and she said that is b/c my niece is a new student and those were sent out a long time ago but existing students get mailed closer to registration and that begins in a few weeks for Fall!!! I now have to make a huge decision, work another year and take one more year at night and knock out micro and sociology or jump right into the nursing program and take micro and sociology along with my nursing classes. The woman said I am listed as extended track which gives me 3 years to complete the program rather than 2 so I have 3 years from the Fall semester to graduate. I guess I wasn't expecting to actually be accepted into the program so I am not prepared for the reality of it . Sometimes I think that even doing this right now may not be the smartest thing for me (I'm 38 and will be 39 when the Fall semester begins). I wasn't scared before but now I'm scared. The "what ifs" going through my head are overwhelming. I think I was better off not knowing anything.............lol.

OMG that is great . I'll remember that one. My first test is in 2 weeks and I'm sure this material will be on it!!

HOW FUNNY!!!! I love to say STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID as well :smokin:. We did that one last semester in Human Bio but we only did 18 muscles and about 30 or so bones. I just finished printing the powerpoint slides from the instructors website and now 2 days later, it doesn't seem so bad.

if I had just stuck my wet finger into a light socket to make my hair stand on end. I went to my first A&P lecture last night and all I can say is WOW!!! I took 10 pages of notes in a 3 hr 40 minute lecture and last night was the first class, so I'm guessing since we did the whole "hi this is anatomy and physiology 1 and my name is....." thing last night, that a regular lecture will by about 14-16 pages of notes. Writers cramp here I come . But unfortunately, I LOVED IT!!!!!!!! My lab starts on Monday and I'm looking forward to going.

I have applied for scholarships and have begun to wonder. Since I am a non-traditional student, is it even worth it for me to apply for scholarships? I haven't seen very many that are geared toward a non-traditional student and so many seem so difficult for a non-traditional student to obtain that I do not even bother applying for them. I know there are so many scholarship opportunities out there, so for any of my fellow "non-traditional" students, have any of received a scholarship? Where did you get it from? A search on the web? Your school?

You are so right, I am a bit bothered that she dropped the course and I know I shouldn't be since I was planning on going to NS anyway. It just seemed nicer with someone I know.......a buddy, KWIM?

For those of you who have already taken A&P, did any of you use index cards to put info on? I was in a drugstore checking out school supplies and saw the index cards and a holder. I thought maybe they would be useful for A&P and the holder would be great for sticking in my purse and then I would always have them. But that was a couple of weeks ago. I came across them last night and started to wonder how I could make them useful. Would they be better for lab when the time comes to memorize muscles and bones? What kind of lecture information would be useful and to the point that I could actually fit it on a 3 x 5 card? Or would they be more useful if I put them away for when I actually begin nursing classes? I didn't spend much on them so if they aren't going to do me any good right now, it is no big deal. I could always give them to my son to create site words for him for Kindergarten this year.

Thank you everyone for your support. I have decided that I can only be concerned with the task at hand and not about the future. So I'm slowly getting myself back in to my "one semester at a time" mode. Worry about Fall for now and when the time comes, then I can worry about Spring and so on. Now if I could just get someone at the school to tell me which book they are using in A&P for fall I would be a much happier camper .

Well I have decided to take A&P I without my girlfriend. I have to remember something........at first I was expecting to go to NS alone so at first I was expecting to take A&P alone. It would be great to have a buddy in the class but I was willing to do this alone to begin with, I should still be willing to do this alone now. If she does go back in January and take A&P I, then that is great, but I have already said that I am doubting she will do that. I can look at the bright side, my niece is graduating high school in June 2009 and is considering NS, and considering the same school I attend. So I could be in NS with my niece, that would be neat.

Thank you everyone for your response. My head tells me to go in to A&P anyway and continue with my plan. I heart is somewhat telling me that she will not go in to nursing school at all. In conversations with her, she has pretty much admitted that she hasn't done anything that she needs to do to get accepted in to the school itself. So having said that, she can take all classes she wants as a non-matriculated student but the actual nursing classes are reserved for nursing majors only and she cannot get accepted in to the nursing program without having been accepted in to the school. And since she isn't trying to get accepted in to the school, my feeling is that she may not want it bad enough. I on the other hand, have been on the phone for over a year now, asking questions and making sure that I am doing what I need to do to get accepted in to the nursing program. It won't be soon enough that I will have gone from thinking about going to NS to actually becoming a nursing student!!

Hi All, A little background on my dilema. In the Spring semester I took my only pre-req that I needed to get in to NS with a girlfriend. It was great to, she is really awesome at taking notes so she gave me all the notes and they really helped me alot. Since the semester ended she has decided to sell the home she lives in and move to her cottage which is fine. She said she would still be attending school with me in the Fall for A&P I. She told me to call her when I paid my bill to remind her to pay her tuition bill as well, which I did. When I called in the beginning of July to remind her to pay the bill she said it was in her pile of things to pay and mentioned that money was tight (which I knew her and her partner were having some money trouble which is why they are selling their house and moving to the cottage so they can cut expenses). Well I have spoken to her and her partner since and I know they have been very busy getting their current home ready to put on the market and their cottage ready to move in to. Yesterday I got an email from my friend telling me that she is dropping A&P I for the fall semester. She said that it was too stressing for her at the end of last semester fixing up the house while going to school and that she needed to get her priorities straight. She said her goal right now is to finish getting the cottage ready so they could move and get the house on the market. She said that she would take A&P I in the Spring 09 semester instead and to let her know if I was going to wait to take A&P I with her and take something else for Fall or if I was going to take A&P I anyway and try it on my own. So I emailed her back and said that I understood and that I didn't know what I would do about the class that I was going to wait a bit longer so I could think about it. Now here is my dilema. I will not be taking any nursing courses until fall 2009 so my plan was to take just A&P I & II this academic year so I wouldn't have to take it concurrent with nursing courses. But my plan was to take all my classes with my friend so we could do this together. I could easily change to another course that I would need for NS anyway (I just can't take any core nursing classes until I am an accepted student which I am expecting to be in the fall 09, I have already applied and meet the criteria to be accepted so I do not think I will be turned away.) BUT, I was planning on attending NS and preparing to attend before I even knew that my friend was considering it as well. So bascially even though I was planning on taking all my classes with my friend, my plan never really changed other than adding her into it. Now that she won't be attending in the fall I am wondering if I should just take a different course and wait to take A&P I with her and then possibly wind up waiting another year to begin any nursing classes or do I stick with my original plan and hope that she doesn't feel like I am abandoning her. My DH brought up a good point, I used her notes all semester last year so part of me was relying on her to get me through the course and I shouldn't have done that. DH thinks that I should go ahead and try A&P without her and see if I can manage it. My thought now is that maybe I should just go ahead and take the course anyway since when I first started looking at changing careers, my friend was never part of my plan so I would have been taking all of my classes alone, KWIM? My other thought is that maybe she is having second thoughts and doesn't want to admit that to me so if I do wait to take A&P with her in the spring and she decides once again not to take it, then I would be really upset with myself for waiting. Yet I do not want to upset my friend by taking the course when she may really be intending to take the class in the spring. One thing I am sure of, I want to A&P I & II alone with no other courses so I can concentrate on just A&P. From what I understand, it is alot to learn and A&P is my deciding factor as to whether I will truly persue nursing or not. I figure if I can't make it through A&P then I will never make it through the program itself. I am willing to put off taking any core nursing classes to the fall of 2010 to wait for my friend if she is really serious about NS. She, like me, thinks that A&P will be tough enough and agreed that maybe it should be taken alone so we would only have to concentrate on that one course. If she is serious about taking A&P alone and will not begin it until spring, then she will not take any nursing courses until the fall of 2010. Which I would be fine with waiting another year (considering that it took me 20 years to get the guts to actually attempt NS, what is another year right?) So, do I take A&P I in the fall and continue on as planned or do I take Sociology in the fall (which I would need for the program anyway) and wait to see if my friend attends school in the spring?

Thank you so much everyone for your encouragement. I just need to get myself back in to the frame of mind that I can only plan as much as I can and take NS one day at a time/one course at a time. If it is meant to be then it will happen.

Wow, you sound a bit like me. I blew off high school and didn't bother going to college and yet have considered nursing since high school. I had the fear of not being smart enough to get in and this is the 3rd time becoming a nurse has entered my thought process and this is the furthest I have gone to actually doing it. See my post below, I am doubting myself right now as well BUT I will say this. Speaking from experience (see above mention of high school and yes I have failing grades on my college transcript as well), you can do this. Don't let your grades or people telling you that you won't make it get in your way. The only person who will know if you can do this is YOU. And the only way to truly find out if you are smart enough is to try. I have taken many courses in college (I'm the forever college student) and took human biology last semester so I could have a valid enough bio grade to be accepted into the program at my school. Guess what, I didn't get a chance to study as much as I wanted to but loved the course (which was a little wierd for me since I didn't like high school biology at all) and still got a "B-" in the course. I'm signed up for A&P I in the fall. Now for the real advice: My school has a minimum GPA of 2.0 to be accepted and a "C" or better in biology in the last 5 years. Yeah they will weed out many in the first semester but they will give you a chance. My GPA is 2.37 overall BUT my program GPA is 2.9 which is the GPA they are using for my acceptance. Start looking at schools in your area and don't discount the ADN programs at the CC's (I am going in to an ADN program). Don't be afraid to ask if your acceptance is on overall GPA or program GPA. Ask them what you need to be accepted into the program (an admission person is probably best to speak with) and go to their website. Look at the ciriculum online (my school posts the ciriculums online so I have been able to see what I have already taken at the school like english and what I still needed like biology). Ask when they typically accept students (my school only admits in the fall but many schools admit fall and spring semesters) and ask if there is a waiting list. I started with the school that I already had grades at even though some of them were "F"'s, the "F" didnt affect my admission process for the nursing program. Ask if there are any pre-req's you need to be accepted in to the program, many schools require A&P before applying to the nursing program but my school allows you to take A&P with your nursing courses during your first year. You can do this if you truly want to and don't be concerned about your age, I am currently letting my age get to me and kicking myself for it. And thank you, you have just made me listen to myself and refocus on my end goal and reminded me to take each semester 1 at a time. Worry about the semester I am in instead of the next one. Everything falls into place at the time it needs to.

I am 38 yrs old (or will be in a month) and haven't started NS yet. I am planning on attending in the fall of 2009 so this year I will knock out A&P I&II (they aren't pre-req's at my school but I want to take them before I start the program). I have the normal 38 yo issues, kids, hubby, house, car payments, etc., etc., and have started trying to save for school. But lately, things have been terrible for us and I have been dipping into my school money for necessities. So to try and stop myself from dipping into my school money I started to put it other places that were not as easily accessible as a savings account is. I tied up some in a CD and some in stocks thinking that I had over a year to wait before I would need to cash the stocks in and get the cash. Well you know where this is going, the markets are down even further than they were when I bought the stock so I have lost money, I haven't been able to "replace" the money that I used for necessities and and to top it all off, the last 2 paychecks I haven't been able to put anything away for school. I am only a couple of weeks away from having to buy the book for next semester and with all the money locked up in other places, I'm not sure I'll have enough cash saved up to purchase my books for fall. Now I am starting to second guess the financial plan I figured out last summer which should have gotten me enough cash to get me through the first semester of NS without financial aid or having to take out a student loan and now, I am not so sure it will happen anymore. And I am also starting to second guess that I am making the right choice for myself and my family at this point. The plan is to quit working while I'm in school and with the price of gas, groceries, and now utilities going up, I am not so sure that we will be able to do without my income. Yet I am very concerned about trying to work while I'm in school and have applied for positions at my current job that are part-time in hopes of being able to do at most part-time while in school but right now we can't afford for me to go part-time. But part-time positions at my work don't come up very often so I fear that if I don't apply when they get posted that it will be too long before I see another and to top it all off, my employer is talking about possibly cutting jobs which could lead to lay-offs or vacant positions not getting filled, which would mean even less of a chance at getting part-time in the future. I do not feel that my job is in jeopardy though since I think I am too far up the totum pole to get a pink slip and if I did, I have bumping rights or could take a severence pkge. I'm just starting to feel that I am not making the right decision for this point in my life and that maybe I am too old to go to school full-time with all the responsibility DH and I have right now. I applied for a scholarship but of course won't hear anything for that until much later and that may help IF I am lucky enough to get one. I am already expecting to be rejected for financial aid since DH and I make too much but after the first year of me not working, we may be able to get something for my second year in the ADN program. That is why I was trying to pay out right for the first semester, thinking I would take out a loan for the second and remaining semesters while trying to limit how much debt I was creating by going back to school. I'm just feeling like we just can't afford for me to make a career change right now and that by the time my little guy starts school (in another 3 yrs), I will be too old by the time I graduate to find a job quickly and will have lost a couple of years pay, pension, retirement and all that besides possibly having to create debt for nothing at that point. Has anyone second guess their decision to make a career change? How did you get through those feelings of "am I doing the right thing right now?" I guess if I lost my job then I could use whatever they gave me for a severence pkg to help pay for school and household expenses, but what if it isn't enough? Would a severence pkg void me from being able to collect unemployment benefits? I would rather go on unemployment while in school so at least we have something coming in from me.