TN Student

yep, most of the time you can find books online cheaper . however...the fundamentals book by kozier comes with a 5-disc package as well as access to mynursinglab--which you definitely need. i would encourage you to buy kozier from school so you don't have to go back and buy what wasn't included with the book if you bought online. we're looking forward to the meet & greet! see ya then. josh

chichi-- i'm almost certain you've rsvp'd for the meet & greet--we're looking forward to meeting you. as far as your questions: there is no specific store that you must use, but you may want to wait until your official orientation before buying your uniform. the first 4-5 weeks of your clinical will be in our lab at school (unless something has changed in the last year, which i highly doubt). the biggest thing about the uniform is that neither part may be remotely similar to scrubs and it must be completely white. it was explained to us that the shirt must button or zip. in order to not be considered scrubs, the pants should have elastic band or button waist. white leather shoes that completely cover your entire foot and white socks that cover above the ankle (yes, they check...lol). white lab coat. be sure to always wear your watch and make sure you always have clear, trimmed nails--they also check this for the first couple weeks. as far as equipment: bandage scissors, stethoscope, pen light, goggles (which i don't think i've ever used because the hospital supplies the disposables, but you may want to have them just in case). as far as books...i just pulled up the whole list for nursing 1--oh dear, do they think you're made of money? lol if it says required, you must get it. you will use the med surge (lewis) book all the way through, so take care of it. the fundamentals (kozier) book will be your main book during 1st semester, and is also very useful once you're writing your own care plans. (don't sell these books back!) of the recommended: nursing care plans by gulanick is great, i have it. i bought mine from amazon for $15 as opposed to paying $45 at school. mosby's medical dictionary--i bought it from barnes and noble for less than the school bookstore. if i were you, i would probably wait on buying the care plans book until you've covered this in class. there are tons of books out there designed to help you write a care plan and all of them are different. in the lab, there is a shelf of reference books that you can use and flip through to see what you might like before you buy. i hope this information helps! i believe you have my email in case you need anything else. josh

Sazola.. I would wait to have it all done because there are time frames that must be met. As far as costs, I've heard that the clinics in Walgreens/Kroger/CVS are cost effective. My insurance paid for all of mine (surprising, but they did). Good luck! Josh

In a class of 28, we have 5 guys.. Me included. It's really never been an issue though. In OB rotations, I had a few laboring mothers that didn't want a man in the room, but other than that--it's been great and lots of fun!

for anyone who is coming to nursing 1 this semester @ columbia state (franklin or columbia): fall 2009 meet & greet saturday, august 15, 2009 @ noon franklin campus ***mailed invites went out today to addresses the school had on file. if you don't receive an invite, please send me a pm.

Will do! I am not 100% sure of what information SNA will get from the school, so as soon as I know something I'll let ya know. Josh

OH...for those of you who were accepted for Fall 09... Do you remember ever supplying your email address to the nursing dept? (Not the school, but the nursing dept.) J

TN Mommy, I love your enthusiasm! As far as dress for Orientation--everyone was different at mine. Some wore jeans, some wore skirts and shorts.. I have a rule of thumb that I follow when it comes to functions that "important" people are going to be attending. "You only have one chance to make a first impression." I wouldn't dress down to the point that you stand out. I think I wore a pair of khaki pants and a simple polo shirt. Now, we are going to be having a Meet and Greet on 08/15/09 on the Franklin campus, but you are going to be receiving more information on that in the coming days. For the Meet and Greet--casual will be fine--it's going to be a Saturday afternoon luncheon. Also, unless something has changed, I think the iPod Touch will be fine--there is app for a drug book that I know several people use. Definitely bring that up in Orientation to get all clear though. Hope to meet you at the M&G! Josh

Congratulations!

Let me try to address your questions.. 1. Spring/Fall...both are very competitive-neither easier than the other. 2. GPA is only used when there is a tie for points to get into the program. From what I understand from the process is that they only look at your GPA (as a number only), the number of hours or classes taken are not taken into account. 3. Taking classes early, such as those mentioned, will not help nor hinder you from being accepted into the program. They are only taken into account if GPAs have to be used as a deciding factor. If that is the case, of course you want to make sure that the grades are as high as possible. As far as an Advisor-I would think that one should have already been assigned, especially if you've chosen Nursing as your major. You can call the Student Center at 931-540-2540. Tell them you need to know who your advisor is and they should be able to pull it up using your SSN or Student #. They may also walk you through how to find this on MyChargerNet. If you email your advisor, understand that most of them will not be on campus until August. Just a word of advice (take it or leave it--I just wanna try to help you get accepted).. I might would try to retake the ACT to see if you can improve your score. The semester I was accepted (Spring 08), the lowest ACT score was 23 with a B in API. Hope this helps....and Good Luck! JPM

Do you think a Student's opinion would "hold water?" Where do I write to? JPM

Congrats to everyone coming to CoSCC this fall! The instructors are awesome and truly want to see you succeed. They will provide you with the tools you need, you just have to use them. FYI--Be on the look out for an email or phone call from our Student Nursing Association (SNA). We're gonna be reaching out to all of our incoming Nursing Students with some type of get together before school starts. This is a great way to meet upper classmen and to get some "insider" information about what to expect and how to survive. Also, this is a great time to sign up for our mentoring program. Congratulations again! The Franklin SNA looks forward to meeting you all soon! Josh (Nursing 3 in the fall 09)

Right now Saint Thomas has 40-50 RN positions available and some of them are listed as Nursing Grad. One other thing I've found out is that just because there is only one listing for a particular dept or floor, doesnt mean that they are only looking for 1 RN. I have a friend who works on one of the floors that only has one RN position listed, however she said that they are hiring 17 RN's. Not sure if this helps at all, but thought I would share what I know! JPM

Asian-- Congrats on your ACT score! I don't think you will have a problem getting in with the 26, even with the B in AP1. The 26 will carry you much farther than you may think. There was an informational meeting in December for the upcoming semester for students interested in the program. If I were you, I might would contact Nursing Dept and ask them if they are going to be having another in the Spring. When you do get in, be prepared to study your butt off..!! Isn't that right CHScruggs? Again, congrats and good luck! Josh

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like I was calling anyone a whimp.