RossayRN

Congrats!

Honestly, the area isn't good but it's not the worst I've seen either. It will be difficult being that you are coming here from another state and you will probably be staying on campus which I think is pretty safe. I wouldn't be out walking around there late at night or anything like that, and that is a woman of any nationality. I've never had any bad experiences over there in the 2 1/2 years I attended the school, but I know that the neighbor hood isn't one i would be in after daylight. You just need to meet some good friends . I think you will be fine. One of my good friends is Mexican, and she stayed on campus throughout nursing school and she never complained to me about any problems other than having a sloppy roommate that never cleaned.I think you will be fine, there are people that aren't black attending the school to and I don't think you will have any issues on campus for no being black. Hope this Helps.

wow this comment is old i didn't know i did it. maybe because no one responded.

It wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible. I don't think any nursing program is easy. Yes CSU uses HESI as their exit. The way I see it, if you prepare from day none of the nursing program, you will be fine. I always studied everything through the whole program. I used several NCLEX books throughout the program to study for each test (about 5-6 books). I passed HESI first try with a 1096. and I took NCLEX 4 days after I got my authorization to so I did not study extra for it. Passed that in 75 question in about 1 1/2-2 hours. HESI was much harder in my opinion. CSU has a lot of new teacher there now that wasn't there when i was there. I don't know anything about some of them. But it's totally up to you how well you do in the program. only a few passed HESI the first time around. Most passed the second time. and there are still a few that haven't passed and are taking it for the last time.

Feel horrible, and frustrated. I don't go home crying (yet) but I am definitely feeling like I am never going to get the hang of this. I am starting week 4 tomorrow, and I should be up to 4 patients but I am going to have to take 3 again this week because I am not ready for 4 yet. This is week 4 of orientation and there is always something that comes up that makes you late, or forget about something that you needed to do for one of your patients. I absolutely hate this new nurse phase and can't wait for it to be over. I am on a very busy med-surg unit. I still love what I do, but I just wish I could get the hang of it faster that I am thus far.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I will check with that school as suggested because I work on an Med/surg unit and was planning on being there at least 2 years before trying to get into ICU or the ER.

I want to get become an advanced practice nurse, and am looking at attending loyola when I get enough clinical experience. The program I am interested in is an ACNP. I need to have 2000 hours in the specialty area I want to practice in with my msn. so If I work in the ICU, this is just another name for critical care or acute care or am I wrong?

Well my fiance is a Roofer. He did a house for a guy who knows the director of patient care. Gave her a call, and she had HR pull my application and get me an interview. This took about a month from time of talking to her and getting the phone call for the interview. I then interviewed on tuesday, and got a job offer (for a different position than the one I interviewed for) on that friday. I put in the application 3 months before the director had them pull my application. So if it weren't for the director, I wouldn't have this job right now.

As another poster said, it's who you know. I have put in a ton of Apps, got my ACLS cert. and I didn't land the job that I am starting on the 25th until my fiance (who is a roofer) put a roof on a man's house that knew the director of patient care at the hospital I am now employed at. It took about a month but she called the recruiter and asked them to pull my application (that I put in 3 months ago) and I got a call a week after they pulled it and hired in 5 days after interview. If it weren't for her, I'd still be looking, because I still haven't received a call yet from anywhere else.

Graduated BSN in may 2010, took passes nclex june 19th, and will start my first job October 25th. so it took me 4 months and some help from people working in the hospital to get a job. If I didn't have help, I'd still be looking. I live in Chicago, IL

You don't have to have an ACT or SAT at a community college, GED is all and their placement exam so they can help you set up your initial schedule and get you in refresher classes if needed before your regular gen ed classes. As another poster posted, it is MUCH cheaper to get prereqs. done at a CC. I graduated from high school, but I still chose to do prereqs. at a CC because they're the same classes, for much cheaper, and from my experience I had to work harder at the CC than at the university for same classes (were worth more credit hours at CC than same class at University). Here in chicago at least, to skip the need for high school transcripts you need to have 24 or more semester credit hours to not be considered a freshman college student. After that your transcripts from the CC is enough (speaking from experience, I got all my Nursing school prereqs. done at a total of 4 different CC here so I could save a ton of money). I'd go to a CC first. Hope this helps.

I got the job! Start Oct 25. Thanks for your well wishes and prayers!

The nurse manager asked me first why did I want to work at that facility? Then she asked me yo recall a situation when I had to think fast under pressure, what was it, and what did I do in that situation? She asked me if a coworker told me that they were doing something wrong at the hospital, what would I do? She also explained that I would get mostly surgical patients and wanted to make sure I was comfortable around blood, and opened bellies, colostomies, etc because I'd get alot of those.

Thanks Jadu, and the same to you! I know it's tuff but nothing we can do but keep trying.

I had my second job interview (first one was July 7th) since I graduated nursing school in may. I felt really good leaving this one. I interviewed for a medsurg/oncology position. I was interviewed by the recruiter and by the Nurse manager on that unit. I felt they went really well. I interviewed with the nurse Manager 2nd and at the end of the interview she said "excellent interview". I was happy! I really hope that I get this position. I've put in over 100 apps and only the one interview before this one. The recruiter said that they will be interviewing this week and she will let me know something next week whether I get it or not. She said if they hire me, I will start orientation on October 1st because she doesn't think they will reach a decision in time for me to start the orientation that's next week. I mailed out thank you cards to them as soon as I left. Wish me luck everyone!! It's tough out there for new grads, especially ones without any prior clinical experience like myself.