taffy48

Hi, I will see you all at orientation this month. I live in the Austin area and am a single mom with six children. Four are adults and two teens at home. I will be working 40 hours a week. Does anyone have any advice?

Originally Posted by TexasRN2be You can take them in any order after anatomy. I took anatomy during the summer; physiology and pharm in the fall, and micro last in the spring. I had all of my coreqs done except for humanities and nursing skills at the time of my application, but they were completed last fall before I started nursing school. If you have any specific questions let me know. So, I see you posted this a LONG time ago but I do have a question that you might be able to answer. I will be done with my prereqs summer '11. Am I able to submit an application before my prereq are finished? I was hoping (although I think I prob wrong) that I could submit my application March '11 so that I could poss be accepted for Fall '11 since all of my classes would be complete July '11. Can I submit the application early or do I have to wait until I am completly finahed and poss get accepted for Fall '13? I don't really know how that works. I would just check the web site to see what is says about that. I was pretty sure all the classes had to be taken for them to consider the application. The only two I had left in the spring were the skills class and Human Development. I got As and these classes counted for the final total. And I got in on the first try. Not everybody did get in on the first try. That summer I tooK BSN transfer courses like Human Nutrition, Sociology, Human Pathophysiology, and I took a CNA certification course, and medical terminology. As the semesters progressed, we lost a few students, gained some new ones, old ones got put back on a different track altogether or just had to repeat a class or semester. It is very gruelling, and you MUST committ to helping everyone you can as much as you can for the sake of your classmates. The I am out to get you mode does NOT sit well with nursing students. Before you start Level 4 take Kaplan or Hurst Review before the semester starts. Use this to refresh from as you go along and you will feel confident taking the NCKEX fairly quickly. Buy the Saunders REview book and READ IT. Brake it down on a study schedule to work on on it. I did this plus I bought the Kaplan book that goes to the on line review course. I ended up over over studying. I finished with minimum questions, and then it shut off done. So you don't know if you passed of failed. I felt confident I passed and so I Passed on July 8 and have my licence. Big advice for level 4, get all you paperwork there EARLY. for me it was a money issue that I did'n't get my nclex review course receipt over earlier enough and by the time was ready to go, there was only one day left of interviewing and they had overbooked. They didn't take me because their time was very rushing and they were very unfocused about my application and resume, they hadn't even read iw when they were interviewing me. Secret to great interview is get al paperwork done EARLY. they are doing it different for this time and I am hooping weigh less competititvie. Last time 800 to 900 applied but about 80-100 students got in. so that means that 720-800 are told sorry we have no room for you. The key is make it personal with the hiring manangers when you go to meet them at the meet and greet open house. Bring lots of resumes. I just didn't have the money/time to get it together when it needed to be done. The advice is sign up for NCLEX prep in Christmas break. Then you will have all your paperwork early and maximize chances of being interviewed by hiriging managers. About one third of our class of 30 did get in, a couple went to Saint Davids, one went to Austin STate Hospitial for Mental Health, some people went to nurisng homes, and others to nursing rehabs. I am shooting for the big gold. I am tyring to get into CommUnityCare , they pay @10K more than hospital and have M-F 8-5 hours with big government benefits. I have lost of NCLEX prep books to sell, hardly used, like new, didin't really use disc, and didn't mark up book with pencil or anthning. I got max score with test before it shut off and passed me! Lots of texts at all levels for sale not marked up in great condition. Write me what you are interested in and make me an offer. Also I have 5 sets Landua Scrubs size med, and siz med petite pants elastic waist. Also lab coat size 12. Taffy48

I finished the hybrid program. Working a lot is really difficult to do AND be successful because there is just massive volumes of work involved. The clinicals were like 6:30 to 2:30 or 1:30 to 1:30 to 8:30. It varies, and it is possible to swap with classmates to try to get a location/time/dates that work better for you. There were 12 hour shifts in pediatrics, but most of it was early morning. There are some Saturdays, and there were even some as far as San Marcos. The lab coats you only wear over your street clothes to go the day before to pick a patient. If any one wants to PM me I have multiple scrubs sets and a lab coat with the patches for the program. Good luck. It is very difficult to find a job in Austin as a new Grad. Saint David's has 1000 new Grad applications and "not much left" for openings. Seton had about a 10% acceptance rate for the Versant applicants. But the current drug book at the Eastview Book Store. Do NOT loose the little CD inside, this will be very handy.

I don't know how it is for experience nurses, but for new grads it is dismal here in Austin and I would NOT recommend relocating here. Saint David's has 1000 Graduate Nurse applications and "just about nothing left" for job openings according to the Nurse Recruiter I spoke with last week. I know for sure about 10 people that got into the Versant program at Seton, and 2 people that got into Saint David's that already worked there during nursing school. Other than that that is pretty much it. I put in 200-300 applications in four months and do not have a job. I am about ready to give up.

Starting Level 4 this Spring and will graduate in May with RN. If you have any questions about the ACC program, let me know and I will try and give you an honest answer. Be extra prepared for clinical. Have a pocket reference guide. Study your notes. Bring everything you need and even extra to clinical. I always brought an extra stethoscope, extra pen, batteries for pen light. I even picked out an "extra" patient to write up the day before in case my patient was dischared. Did this extra preparation pay off? You bet. And I always shared with my classmates. My class mates were thankful when I lent my stethoscope, or my clinical preparation when I didn't need the extra patient. I feel that if we are going into nursing we should want to help people ESPECIALLY our fellow nursing students. Who else is going to help us out if we don't help each other? Do you think my classmates know who to go to in case they need something they forgot?

Good Luck to All of You. I am just starting my last semester (Level 4) of the ADN program. I started in Fall 2008. I will be an RN in May. I did this as a single mom with 6 kids, only 4 at home now. If I can do this so can you! You will go through 8 reams of paper and 8 printer cartridges every semester. Definitely keep refilling the ink cartridges, I go to Walgreen's for mine. You will study like crazy and your GPA will be down the tubes anyway. I had a 3.8 and a BS in Molecular Biology and 8 years experience as a genetic engineer, and this program KILLED my GPA. You will make great friends because you will be thrilled just to pass!

I was referring to the Nursing Program. They have aggressively hired a lot more faculty. I am told that maybe two or three years ago, the wait list was three years! Now the goal of the Nursing Program is to have people in the first or at most the second semester they applied.

I just started Orientation this week to work as a GAIn student in RRMC as a PCTII. Not sure of the pay rate yet. Initially before the interview, they were saying they will only hire you if you have finished a semster of nursing school. I am just getting started with the Fall class. I did become a CNA over the summer, so they took that and will let me go PRN around my class schedule. Wish me luck working this all out around the classes and the six kids (and the little dog too).

Hi, They have expanded the program to try and accomodate as many applicants as possible. This fall, they took about 105 out of about 140 applicants. I got in on the first try. I had all pre reqs and co reqs and a 3.75 GPA.

I am a 48 year old student with a family who is thinking about getting into a second degree program. My degree was 25 years ago, so any student loan money I took out has long since been repaid. What grants and scholarships are available to someone like me?

Millipede, Can you tell me the good points and bad points about the Texas Tech 2nd Degree Program? I have completed everything but the Pathophysiology. What is the time commitment? Is there any flexibility? Is this doable for a Mom with three elementary school aged children? What do you wish you would have known getting into this? What is the reputation the graduates of this program have with local area employers? How many hours a week is the time commitment? What do you think of the instructors? Is this program insane or are you able to have a life and take care of your family commitments too? How do people finance this if financial aid won't kick in anything but loans for a second degree? What advantages are there to having this degree vs and ADN at a local community college? Thanks.

Millipede, Can you tell me the good points and bad points about this program? I am in the Austin area and am thinking of applying on Sept 1 for the Spring Class. I finished my CNA, took Med Terminology, and I have everything else. I just need Pathophysiology in the Fall which I found as on line class and I will be set. Can you tell me what your schedule is like, how good the training is, how do you finance this program if financial aid doesn't cover a 2nd degree, how many people are in the program in your area, what do you think of the instructors. What points about this program do you recommend? What do you wish you knew before you started and what advice would you give to incoming applicants? Thanks

Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to do the Austin Community College ADN on line program? What is the time commitment? What days and hours do I need to arrange for child care? Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to do the Texas Tech 2nd Degree web based program? What is the time commitment? How insane is this, if you have kids and alot to take care of at home?

It took four months to notify for provisional acceptance from the first day applications were accepted. Depending on the class size, this may or may not be high enough to get in. I had a 46 rank with a 3.7 GPA, and I was 95 out of I think a total of 104 or 105. So I barely made it in. They notify you with a provisional acceptance email, and then you accept or decline. From there you are notified that you must complete the Nursing Skills class before you can enroll. I just got the follow up email about the background checks, scrubs, on line module testing, etc etc etc and orientation. Good Luck.

I am an ACC Nursing Student, just got accepted for the Fall 2008 class. Question: do I need to keep my Anatomy, Physiology, or Microbiology books for the program, or can I sell them and not miss them. They were very expensive and I could sure use the $. Barbara