TheBean

I can see both directions, but I am much more right brained than left. After watching her go around and around, I'm getting a little motion sickness.

Lime up the behind. He explanation was that he slipped in the shower.

My friend has a condo in Columbia Heights and it'll be available for rent on August 1. She says it's 1 mile from WHC, and accessible to both green and red lines. PM me if you want more information.

I love my Dansko Professionals, but recently I've been wearing shoes from http://www.theshoeguys.com

1> How many times did you Apply to Nursing School?? One Time 2> Was it for an A.A, BSN, LVN/LPN? BSN (second degree) 3> What was your GPA??? My undergrad GPA was a 2.0, but I had graduated 10 years before applying. My pre-req's were a 4.0.

I used to work in animal welfare, and one of the risk factors to hoarding was working in a "caring" profession - nursing was one of them.

I have to agree- every city has it's negatives. My friend was in her last semester of nursing school at UMD in Baltimore. She and her husband kept waking up to dead people in their window well. No lie- stab victims, homeless people, you name it-- if it was dead or dying, it landed in their window well. After the first couple of times, they accepted that it was just their part of the city.

That's right! I got myself all kinds of turned around :nuke:

A friend of mine recently got married and moved in with her husband. She has a condo in Columbia Heights that she's looking to rent out. I think, if I remember right, it's about 3 miles from WHC. You can email me or PM me, and I'll put you in contact with her.

Before I started nursing school, my husband was a grad student and I was in the sole breadwinner. I worked in animal welfare--translation: the bottom of the barrel in non-profit work. Not only did I put hubby through grad school, but I bought a house, paid off the car, and we had cable too. Go me You can do it. The starting salary of a nurse is more than twice my salary was. You just have to be very careful of your finances...and, as BlueRidgeRN said, have reliable birth control. It already sounds like you have a good support system. Good luck! :redpinkhe

A 3.2 undergrad is a pretty good GPA. I made it into my program with a 2.0 undergrad (yes, I graduated by the skin of my teeth), but when I returned to take my pre-req's my GPA for those classes was a 4.0. Much of it will depend on the program that you're applying to. One school in my area was *very* concerned with my cumulative GPA and would not take into account any mitigating factors and did not care that it had been more than 10 years since I first got my BA. Some schools were only interested in the grades of my pre-req's. You should try to speak with someone at each school to find out what they evaluate your application on. Good luck! :nuke:

My friend has a condo in Columbia Heights. She doesn't love it but I think it's fine. She's also a little bit of a princess. Columbia Heights in is transition and heading for the better. They're putting in a Target there, which will only improve the area. For a while, if you wanted to do any shopping, even for staples, you would have to leave the neighborhood. If you're ok with a neighborhood in transition, it's a great place. Just bear in mind that it won't be as "pretty" as Dupont, Logan Circle for some time.

The Delta Society was the agency that I had my dog certified through. As for bringing your dog to your workplace, even on your days off, it might be a bad idea. While you are on shift, you have your scope or responsibilities, and they are to your patients. It might also be a healthier alternative to get out of your routine setting and bring your dog to another establishment on a volunteer basis. My dog worked with patients in a PT setting. Most of the people she worked with were recovering from strokes or other injuries. Some people respond better to animals than they do to people alone.

Item number 1- you're an adrenaline junkie. Go for the EMT. As an EMT, not only did I work in EMS, but I was able to get a job as a tech in the ER.

One of my favorite neighborhoods in DC is Woodley Park. The zip code is 20008. It's where the National Zoo is and is about 3 miles away from WHC. It has very much a neighborhood feel, very pedestrian friendly. It's quieter than Adams Morgan or Dupont - more young families, but still very hip. Also, Logan Circle is a very pleasant area to live in. It's 20005. It's also very neighborhood-like, with art galleries, Whole Foods, and a lot of local foot traffic. My friend lives on Church Street there and she loves her neighborhood- she feels very much a part of it and safe. Welcome to DC!

I'm there now and I love it! I'm an older second degree student (I have a BA and several professional certifications in my previous field) with very high expectations of any academic setting that I'm in. There may have been some changes to the Marymount program in the last couple of years. In my research of nursing schools, I spoke with hospitals that I hope to work in. They all had high opnions of the nurses that come out of Marymount. As a current student, I have found my professors to be knowledgeable and inspiring. So far, all of my profs are still in the field and very dedicated to the profession. As for the cost- I don't think that it's that bad...but then again, in agreement with the above poster, everything is expensive here. Even the local community college costs a few thousand. At Marymount, my class sizes are small, resources (like lab time) are available, and professors accessible. I feel very supported here, and to me, that's priceless.

Are you looking to live in the district? Or are parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland workable for you? Also something to consider are the hours and commute times. Rush hour in DC can turn a 10 mile drive into a 2 hour ordeal. 20878 isn't bad, but the commute up and down I-270 can be a real bear. Not knocking the North Potomac (but really it's Gaithersburg) area. I grew up in that area and felt safe and nurtured, and had a great public school education too. Each zip code has it's own merits and it all comes down to what your priorities are. Also, the cost of living can be drastically different from even street to street within a zip code. If you let us know a little more about them, we can narrow it down better for you

I was in the same boat as you--got my BA in 1997 and switching careers. Had my local community college been better organized, I would have stayed there and gotten my ADN and then done the RN to BSN or RN to MSN program at the state university. It's so much more economical in the long run. Would you consider starting the ADN program and transferring out if it isn't suiting you? Something else to consider: when I was looking at scholarships, there were a fair number of them that supported ADN to BSN.

Noooooooo!! It will make you crazy. The commute to DC is horrendous. I used to live in Greenbelt (Just a few miles north east of the district and on the BW Parkway) and the commute was beyond painful. Depending on traffic, it could take 2 hours to get to WHC from where I used to live. From Baltimore, it could take half a day.

I quit smoking 7 years ago, after smoking for 13 years. I didn't use the patch, gum, or anything. Just did it cold turkey. I'll tell ya- it was really hard at first. Busy hands helped but one can't always keep their hands busy. Going out with my friends was really tough, since I smoked a lot with them: Someone is late- light up a cig; drink in one hand, smoke in another. Also, waiting at a light in my car was tough- what does one do with their hands when you're just sitting there? Once I realized that smoking for me was more of a means of displacing my anxiety, I was better equipped to handle not smoking. When just telling myself to stop didn't work, I had my handy dandy little back-up: I had a small jar of cigarette butts in water that I would open up and sniff. :barf01: That was discouragement enough.

Coworker/classmate stink can be a touchy issue. I found that straight and to the point, prefaced by something positive about your relationship with them works well. I once had a lab partner that stank big time. I agonized over how to tell him--didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I was getting nauseous and close to losing breakfast. Finally, I bit the bullet, pulled him aside one day and said, "Dude, I love workin' with ya, but you're kinda stinky." He took it really well and problem solved. I think we've all been in that situation where are nostrils are just saturated with a stink and we don't notice it anymore. That's where he was, and he was really glad that I said something.