MZTwin

I'll check for differentials later, but UMMC starts new grads at $24.15 per hour. This is current as of this month.

Blueorchid, What Blueeyes said about the groups is correct, except there are 4 clinical days now. Although it seems like you have a lot of free days it's not really the case. There is so much stuff to get done that it feels like you are flying by the seat of your pants. However, I worked and survived. In my opinion, you need to give yourself as much free time that you need to do well, which varies with different people. One day a week doesn't seem to bad, but it depends on what else you have going on in your life. Send me a PM and I can give you some more specifics -MZTwin

Lonestar88, The answer to your question is yes and no. Specifically, the Maryland Board of Nursing decides which nursing program courses are considered equivalent to Nursing Assistant Training programs. So depending on which school you are attending the exact length of time and courses may vary. If you goto the MBON you can view exactly which courses would satisfy the requirements. http://www.mbon.org/cna/approved_na_training_programs.pdf If you can't find it then let me know what school you are at and I'll try to check. Hope this helps, -MZTwin

Greetings FutureNurseSaga, I would like to second what Fallon said. Although everyone's situation is unique, I wouldn't suggest taking A&P over the winter or any other condensed format if it's not just a refresher. However, I do agree with Jules in that if you study hard enough it is possible to get an A. The problem is that, although you may get an A, it's a strong possibility that you won't retain most of the information. Currently I'm at UMAB taking PathoPharmacology, which is a 5 credit class, and the rest of the first semester courses. The majority of people in my class are having problems understanding the material in PathoPharm, primarily because of the amount of information we are given on top of needing to remember A&P. In my opinion, which you can take with a grain of salt, us students try to "knock out" the pre-reqs a little too quickly and don't really understand the material to the extent that we need to make our subsequent classes easier. Although everyone always says this, nursing school is hard and it's a LOT of information. It not rocket science per se, but they give you so much information at once it becomes hard to catch it all. My suggestion is to take it slower if you can and truly put the time in to understand the concepts, however sometimes that's not always possible. Good Luck, MZTwin

Agrippa, I currently work at a hospital, specifically the ED, in registration. I must say that the experience I have gained is priceless. Specifically the interaction with patients when they are sick. It's one thing to deal with people when they are happy but another when they are sick, cranky, and wonder why the wait is 5 hours. But I must say that I still agree with Jules and Clhrn. I intentionally searched for a job in the hospital to be closer to patient care. However, the pay was almost the same as what I was making anyway. I don't think it's best to take a job in the hospital for peanuts if you could have made more elsewhere. It doesn't help you when, on top of nursing school, you have to work 4 days when you could have worked 2 at a higher paying job. Or even if you don't plan to work at all during the program, having some extra money saved up won't hurt. Bottom line is. Sure the extra experience is great, but even with the help you will still have to study hard and do a lot in the program, and most of it takes time. My advice is to do what ever you can to make sure you have enough time to study, make care plans/npa, goto open lab, study some more, and most importantly rest so you don't go crazy. Good luck MZTwin

Beth89, I don't think retaking Chemistry would hurt you in the admissions process. However, I do agree with Jules. You should speak with someone, probably Amanda Barnes, to see if retaking it would really make a difference. I think that it would depend on what the rest of your grades are like. If you have all A's and only that one C, it may not matter. But if you have Mostly B's and this C brings your GPA down, it may be worth it. I know that I had a C in Pre calculus that I took about 6 years ago, but all my grades in the last two years were A's and 1 B. Although retaking the C would have brought my GPA up to a 4.9, Amanda said it wasn't really necessary given my other grades. Also, it would depend on how competitive the other items in your admission's packet was (i.e. Essay, References, NET score, etc...) - MZTwin

Good luck on your Interview Dolce. I don't believe you being an RN so soon will be a problem at GBMC. I currently work there in registration, and am mainly in the ER. Their pediatric department is great. Also, the Peds department contains an ER side and an Inpatient side all in the same large area. So the same Doctors and set of nurses can end up working on both. I believe they actually need some techs, and several of the staff (Tech & Secretary) are in nursing school.

Hey All, I'm starting University of Maryland's Tradtional Program in the fall, and I was wondering about the quality of UMD's administration. I have been speaking with a few people and they give me the impression that UMD isn't very organized. I was curious if anyone else had any experiences (positive and negative) in their program. Thanks

dolcebellaluna, What area/specialty do you work in at GBMC? What do you like/dislike about it?

Yeah, the nursing packet is taking forever

For the first year there isn't much clinical, as opposed to CCBC who starts clinicals right away. Although I haven't started yet I know people in the program. When I just went to the Fall 07 pdf. I found a clinical day under NURS330 (Adult Health). The hours where Mondays, 2:00-4:50pm. Granted, they may change, But I don't think they vary too much. In the third semester I saw clinicals for three of the classes. In fact, a comment that a friend of mine in the program said was that those last two semesters are insane because of the class/clinical schedule (i.e a large class+clinical load).

clhRN2b2010, Since I don't start until the Fall I don't have firsthand experience about the clinical schedule. However, I did look at the Fall 08 lecture schedule and the fall 07 clinical schedule to get an idea of what to expect. The link below will take you to the class schedules at UMB's website. Hope it helps http://nursing.umaryland.edu/admissions/schedules.htm

CCBC definitely requires you take the ATI RN predictor exam. I personally know people who have to take it tomorrow.

clhRN2b2010, There is more general math on the NET. The algebra part came at the end of the math. It was just basic algebra, like what you posted. In fact, for me the algebra was the easiest and the fraction/percent/decimal conversion stuff took me longer. They will ask stuff like "7 3/4 is 25% of what number" or "Convert 128/25 to a decimal" Definitely the hardest part is the first 2 sections (MATH and then Science Reading Comprehension). As the test progresses you get more breathing room, as far as time, to answer the questions. As I said it's not necessarily "hard" but the time definitely made it stressful and like a race. As far as your recommendation letters go, I would go ahead and submit the personal reference in addition to the academic ones. They will accept more than the two required and read them all. But don't submit too many. Amanda said to make sure to pick people who will sing your praises. MZTwin

Hey Lonestar, I just checked online and I got in for UMB. I remember checking it like you and it just saying "Completed ready for review". So I decided to quit checking all the time :). But when I checked today it said "Application Status-Decision Made" then on the next line "Decision: Admit-Institution" I would call and speak with Amanda Barnes at UMB and ask her. It sounds like they may be still reviewing your app -MZTwin