Enzo10

Hello and congrats to all of the new students! I am in the current AE class and I live in Raleigh with my husband but stay in an apartment during the week with 2 other students in the program. This setup has been great for a few reasons: when I am in Greenville I can focus soley on studying, I have a built-in study group/support system for getting through this year, and I don't have to come to class exhausted from getting up at 5 or 6 am to commute here. I have driven in from my side of Raleigh before and it takes me about 1.5 hours. The days that I have done this I have been SO tired because we review so much material at such a fast pace in class that you are mentally drained, I cannot imagine driving back home each night. Last Spring people accepted in the Raleigh and surrounding areas got together to discuss the program and at that time a lot of us planned to commute, since then only 2 commuters are still driving in everyday. The two moms who still commute get a hotel every now and then (before a final or when we had clinical rotations out of town). The last part of your summer sesson, the capstone portion, can be done in your hometown IF the instructor can get it set up. I am hoping this will be the case for me as I am tired of being away from home! I met one of my roommates through the ECU CON exchange site and one of them on this website. I am lucky to have become good friends with them and I encourage you to start communicating with your classmates, you will spend a LOT of time together over the next year and it really helps me to come "home" to people who know how hard it is! If you are set on commuting, you could probably get through it for the Fall semester, I am just not sure about the Spring, the schedule is so much harder. Let me know if you decide to get an apartment as I scouted all of Greenville for a safe, affordable, and convenient location and let me tell you some of them you DO NOT want to live in!! I would be happy to give you some ideas! You can email me for more info on any of this. Out of curiosity, where are you driving from? Good Luck!

Hey, I had a 3.3 undergrad, 3.8 masters gpa, I have almost finished my masters in Nutrition and I worked as a Nurse Tech for 6 months. I think the main thing that is beneficial is showing that you are capable of handling difficult fast-paced schoolwork and experience in the field of nursing. Let me know if I can help at all with any further info!

Yay OBX! Let me know about the link for people to talk to others about rooming/classes etc (I posted on one site from the nursing page, a few other people have posted too, but I haven't been to the site recently). I have been talking to a girl who accepted also about going down to g-ville and looking at apmts-let me know if you are interested. Looking forward to meeting you soon!

Hey OBX, sorry I have been out of town for Easter and busy with my Midterm for the extra class I am taking...anyway, I know you have a tough decision to make. I also went to the Duke Info session but decided that the amount of debt I would take on with the degree I would leave with seemed like a bad deal compared to the ECU situation. Even with the sign-on bonuses you still have a large deal of tuition to pay back after taxes. Also, I know that I want to go into an MSN setup (I worked in the hospital as a nurse assistant and had the first hand experience) so the logical choice for myself was to go into a combination program since my goal is to be in advanced practice nursing. I also probably feel more comfortable with the AE program because I have a friend who just completed the 1st part of the program and is very pleased with the program/administration and feels she is equal to her peers in her first year of nursing (meaning that like every other 1st year nurse you are learning the ropes for a while and trying to figure out what to do when new situations arise). Also the NCLEX passage rate for the ECU program was VERY high given that the matriculants are not all coming in with a BS in science. Those and other reasons are why I chose the ECU program. I don't think you can go wrong either way, if I were you I would assess my personal goals and first instincts and decide where I would want to be in 5 years and which path is the best for you--it may be the Duke route or it may be the ECU path. Hope this helped-keep me updated! I am so excited about the registration--crazy that we will know the schedules so soon! I have to start checking my ECU email!

YAY!!!! I am so excited! OBX--are you going to accept-let me know!? Congrats to everyone!

Good luck to both of you! I think being chosen for an interview is a huge deal because they get so many applicants for the few spots-congrats on that! Keep me posted, I will be thinking of ya'll!

I also got my BS in Biology in 2004, I am taking one prereq at WakeTech that I didn't have. I want to get an apartment in G-ville for the first year and then do the 2nd part from Raleigh too, I think it will be too much to commute everyday. Hope you get good news from the mailbox this week! Let me know!

I get the same feeling about the program--it seems like they want you to be really into the MSN concentration you choose and they seem to want to support that choice-we will see though. I live in Raleigh (well really Morrisville/Cary)-but pretty much the same. What is your BS in? I feel pretty comfortable with commuting mostly to g-ville, I may get an apt to share through the week though.

Hey OBX, I have a friend in the program who said that it is not that they don't let you go into CRNA but that they want you to first do the critical care nursing, for example I think if you did the RN segment then worked in an ICU and took classes for the clinical nurse specialist and applied to the CRNA you could get in possibly. I don't know for sure though. I do know that to get into any CRNA program it takes a year or two of experience(prob more from what most ppl tell me) and a BSN so you might as well do the clinical nurse specialist in the mean time--it will let you be more of an expert in the field which would help you to be a better CRNA one day and give you an edge when applying to school for CRNA--this is just my 2 cents worth. You should contact the program director to get more info. The admin is lacking, I often emailed several times and then found that calling the college of nursing and telling them that I cannot get anyone to return my calls/emails in the AE program worked best. I also just kept on emailing everyday until I had a response. They notified me via mail on the exact day that they said I would know by...it really stressed me out bc I was sure that they would send something a few days before the cut off date, so don't worry if you don't get anything until that exact day. GOOD LUCK on your trip to the mailbox...by the way my letter was a thin envelope with just a one page congratulations letter. I was sure it was a rejection bc of how thin it was-they send the other info a few days after. Let me know if I can answer anything else!

Thanks! I am really excited--not sure yet which MSN concentration, looking at FNP or maybe even Nurse Educator. I need to do a little more shadowing/discussion with people in those fields. I am sure that your interview went great, it feels like so long before you find out, but March 15 will be here before you know it. Keep us updated!

Hey! I just got into this program...Is anyone entering the ECU AE program this fall? Any alumni of the program? Thanks!

Hey! I just saw your post, I was just accepted to the ECU-AE 2008 program!! I applied early admission in November and found out on Feb. 1st. Good luck with everything--let me know if you have any questions.