wazeout

Congrats to all of you for passing the 1st test. I just had my very first test this past tues. and I received a 92% grade average. I was surprised, because I thought that I would be in the low 80's. I missed two lecture classes, and was still acclimating myself to the whole programs online portion (it is so confusing at first, but a great tool and idea once your familiar with it), which gives us handouts and other useful info. that is essential to this high paced program. This school has a consistently high nclex pass rate, so getting anything under an 82 is failing. Good luck to all future test!!

Can you validate your suspicions, because right now you only sound paranoid. Besides, a person has to graduate from an approved, accredited program before they can take the nclex, and they have to pass that exam before becomming an RN. So, your above (highlighted) comment makes no sense at all.

You know, I was originally upset about the whole ban on smoking in public places thing--not the hospitals and stores and offices etc., but mostly about the ban in bars and casinos. I still feel that an owner of a place should and could if they wanted, create a seperate smoking area that is totally isolated from the rest of the building. I use to smoke and no longer do so, but even when I did, I couldn't believe how people would smoke in laundry mats and other places (god forbid a hospital) without regard for anybody else. Smoking in a hospital is just stupid and just plan wrong. But, some people don't have common sense, and will do stupid things because they can, which then causes a law to mad for these stupid people to obey without being discriminatory.

I thought you said that the VA and your employer pays for your college. Which is it? Donyou have money and pay for your own college or do you use the financial aid/educational benefits (which of course you've earned if a veteran) of the VA to pay for your college?

I can understand what you're saying from a "dip your toe in the water" approach to see if you can deal with the environment of healthcare, but saying that YOU know people "with little to no patient care experience" will not be a good fit for a nursing career is just your unproven opinion--anecdotes aside. Working as a CNA before going to nursing school doesn't make you a more experienced registered nurse once you finish school and pass the nclex. In fact it doesn't even count as RN experience at all. It's not like you can negotiate a higher starting wage based on that experience, let alone even get an RN job based off it. I mean really, you never hear people say this about PT's, OT's or MD's only RN's. The truth is that once you've finished school and become licensed in whatever healthcare postition you've been trained in, then you can practice what you've learned in school, and continuously build upon that knowledge in real (life) time, which will always present something new and challenging.

That was a really good explanation. Thank you for that.

take Movakel for A&P, he's a good teacher.

Not to sound snarky, but if you just graduated high school, then you probably haven't lived long enough to know the difference between passion and desire. However, deciding on a career path at a young age is a good thing and should be applauded, but now you are getting a taste of the real world where everybody in these times are desperate to make and keep a standard of living, so the competition is stiff for nursing school and nursing jobs. Heck, teenagers at McDonalds are fighting senior citizens that have had to come out of retirement for them positions. Good luck to you. I'm sure you will get into a program.

I hear where your coming from OP, but would like to encourage you to, and all others, to take a look at PBS FRONTLINE: The Plea. It's an eye opener! IMHO, I think, besides sexual predators, the worst criminals to healthcare are the greedy finacial criminals, because they affect groups of people, instead of one or two here and there, and they most often do not have a criminal background, but even if they do, it's usually over-looked.

Although I can understand where you're coming from, I disagree with this statement, because we all can and have felt frustrated with the bureaucracy of organizations, which feel exactly like the "man is hold'n you down," and in many cases that is exactly what's going on, because often times, especially with government agencies, there is an "if it ain't broke don't fix" attitude, that can hinder progressive thinking. Unfortunately, most people's behavior reflect this attitude and go along with the status quo, that is until something drastic happens, which will cause the bureaucrates to finally look at and fix the problem, but that is only reactionary without the benefit of forethought.

The math for nursing is so easy. The only math you will ever really need for dosage calculations is very basic elementary algebra, and that is basically fractions and multiplications in the form of dimensional analysis. K,H,D,U,D,C,M can be used without doing math at all and is much quicker when converting btwn metric units, because all you need to do is move the decimal from right to left to get the required metric equivalent.

I believe it, and its probably why Washington state doesn't recognize LVN's from California.

You should look at PBS Frontline's report online about for-profit schools called "College Inc." and then check out the other report called "Educating Sergeant Pantke." These two investigative reports are a must see for anybody considering taking this route. Very informative!!!

Why not do both, that is get your RN and work and go back to school to become a physician. The hospital you work at may even help you out.

I think you make some good points, and I would hope hospitals that are seeking Magnus status by pushing all nurses to become BSN's would take a page from your essay.

You should get a cna license first and work as a nurse asst for awhile to see how nursing is. You won't be working as a nurse, but you be able to shadow some of them. As far as going to a community college for your RN goes, well if you think it will be easier to get into than a BSN because of your low gpa, then you'll be in for a rude awakening. ADN programs tend to get a lot more applicants with only a small amount of seats to fill--around 200 apps or more/30-40 seats. So, you can see from the numbers that it's pretty competitive, and this is usually because CC's have lower tuition rates and some have night classes or part-time schedules that are accommodating for a large amount of people. Therefore, most of them have different ways of assuring the selection process is fair which includes having pre-reqs completed with nothing lower than a 2.5 gpa and other things just to be able to apply and even then that doesn't mean that you'll be accepted. Most of these schools--and I'm just generalizing here--don't really look at gpa"s accumulated from other courses, but only the ones that are pre-reqs for nursing, so if you failed your science classes then you would have to retake them and reach an acceptable gpa to apply, but a high one to compete and taking them more than once or twice doesn't look good unless you got a 3.0 or above the first time you took them and was just retaking them to get an even higher gpa to be more competitive. Just some things to think about.:)

Honestly speaking, networking is the way of the world. That's why all these communication corps are fortune fives. It's no accident that these companies have found a way to make lots of money. The thing is, most business minded people know that word of mouth can make or break you. So, networking and knowing someone that knows someone is a big part of sales (cold calls or leads from somebody), and to be quite honest, it is yourself and skills that you're trying to sale to the employer. Bill Gate's mother introduced him to the execs at IBM, which allowed him to pitch his idea to them, and they obviously loved it. So, networking and knowing someone that knows someone does not mean that you are unqualified--making it through nursing school and passing the NCLEX qualifies you--but rather that you've been given a priviledged opportunity to represent yourself and what ever it is that you're selling. BTW, I support networking and not nepotism.

Most school's statistic classes have intermediate algerbra with a 2.0 as a prereq.

I too have been waiting to get to this part of the process. Yeah, it doesn't feel real to me yet either. I've already signed up for the fall classes and paid the tuition, but I'm still not feeling it. I'm sure that will all change once I actually step foot into the fundamentals class. If everything goes well--I'm definitely sure they will--I will be graduating this time in 2013:yeah:and off to take the NCLEX immediately afterwards. I don't plan on waiting, because the school I'm going to has a consistently high pass rate. Congrats to the class of 2013:grad:

Didn't they pass a new law that makes parents keep their children on their health insurance until the age of 26?

Street smarts is basically having common sense and using it, although common sense isn't all that common. I don't know of any nursing schools that would allow anybody to apply to their school with a C-, I could be wrong but I don't think so. Well, I'm not sure what the requirements are for entrance into the diploma schools, but I do know that diploma RN schools have the highest average nclex pass rate out of all the other BSN and ADN nursing programs. So, if nclex pass rates are indicative of good schools producing good bedside nursing RN's, then diploma schools are doing something right with the students that they let in and train.

There is a school in my county that does first come first serve, and they have a consistently high nclex pass rate. They have been open since the 70's, and have received awards for being one the best schools in the state. They have always done the 1st come 1st serve system. You must have all prereqs done with at least a B-, pass the nursing entrance exam with a 75% or higher,and have an unencumbered cna license. They use to allow people to hand in their applications at the beginning of the open session, but then they ran into that problem of people camping out in front of the college waiting to apply. Now you have to mail in your applications and they have to be post marked no earlier than the date given to apply. The reasons given for doing this were;to allow everybody a chance to get into the school of nursing, to see who were dedicated and determined to get in, and if you can follow directions, because if any part of your application isn't followed to the "T" then they will not consider it. This school doesn't have a waitlist, and it's once a year. So if you don't get in then you re-apply the next year. Many other schools in my county do lotteries, point system and of course the waitlist, but to tell you the truth some of these ways can be unfair to some people. If the applicants have the same gpa of 4.0 and even 100% on the entrance exams some people are still not going to get in, and like some have said already that a person's gpa doesn't really tell you if that person is going to be a good nursing student or nurse. The competition is pretty stiff here, and there are people from all walks of life applying to the programs. So, when you consider 2-300 apps for 30-40 seats it's not hard to see more than 30-40 people receiving the max points possible and 4.0 gpa's, which then calls for a tye-breaker that can be seen as fair. IMHO, lotteries, and 1st come 1st serve systems are probably the most fairest ways to resolve them issues, because nobody can scream favoritism or whatever in the event of tye-breaking decisions. Just my:twocents:..

I got my acceptance e-mail today, and I am so excited to finally get to this part of my journey. Congrats to everyone who's made it thus far, and I can't wait to meet you all this fall. I'll be the guy wearing the big kool-aide smile. :dancgrp:

I feel so disheartened after reading the majority of opinions on this thread. First of all I can't believe some of the comments that are comming from a profession of educated people that are suppose to be versed in the arts of science which incorporates math, logic, reason and above all critical thinking, which should in all practical sense, keep you guessing. Secondly, the practice of medicine is just that; the ability to learn by repetition the things we have learned thus far with a caveat of learning more than we have been taught, and using that combined knowledge to proceed. Thirdly, although we are not practicing doctors, we are still educated people in the health profession that have been taught similarly, if not the same way, to understand the limits and capabilities of A&P along with the chemistry and outside enviromental causes that can afflict not only a single person, but a population. Florence Nightingale was a nurse that recognized the environmental causes of illness in the form of inadequate, and unsanitary procedures that caused more harm than help, because of microbial infections. Margrat Sanger, who was also a nurse, recognized environmental causes as well, except in the form of socially constructed ideas that were reeking havoc on the the lower socio-economic classes that were, and still are, the majority of our populated U.S. of America. Finally, but definitely not the last word on this, our emotions are probably the most constant thing throughout our human development, which is why there are so many things written directly or indirectly concerning them, and why "civil" societies and professions shun them--the word stoic comes from a group of people that wanted to deny emotions, and the resistance were those that wanted to indulge in every sensation. They get in the way, sometimes, of doing our jobs or creating new ways of thinking. Our goal, as nurses, is to heal the body, which incorporates mind, body, and soul. As nurses, our job and duties are not to be judgemental, but rather to assess the circumstances that affect the health of our patients, and act accordingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- " Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is; the PEOPLE is never corrupted, but it is often deceived, and on such occasions does it seem to will what is bad." ( Rousseau: Social Contract)

Well lets see, I went to the post office on the first of Feb. and made sure that it was post marked for that day and had them mail it. Now I would like to say the 1st is when I applied, but that wouldn't be true. So, I'm guessing my app arrived either on the 2nd or 3rd of Feb., but no later than the 5th of the month.