jjsrn1

Jefferson School of Nursing is not a four year university-it's an upper division school. You have to complete 2 years of nursing pre-requisites/basic undergrad coursework at a college or university and then transfer to JSN your junior year. Since you are a high school senior you may want to consider applying for the PACE program (an advanced admission program) if you are committed to Jeff. It's an excellent school. Good luck!

Congrats to those of you who were accepted into FACT! I remember being in your situation five years ago and feeling ecstatic once I received the letter of acceptance. FACT was such a great experience for me. I found it to be a very challenging, yet rewarding program with excellent instructors who care about your success. You will learn A LOT and will leave FACT feeling ready to conquer the NCLEX. You will also be well prepared for your first nursing position. Good luck to all of you! You will do great! :)

I graduated from Jeff's FACT Program in 2011 and I really loved my experience! The instructors I had were excellent and they really cared about making sure the students succeeded. There were a lot of opportunities to get involved on campus, i.e. JeffPeds Nursing, Leadership Live, representing nursing students on school committees, etc. Jeff also has an emphasis on interdisciplinary education, so there are opps to do mock codes, attend grand rounds, etc. with other health profession students. I had great clinicals and was very well prepared for my first staff nurse position, though I've since moved on to nursing administration. I love Jeff so much that I became a Jeff student again in Fall '14 - DNP Program :) Trust me, you will NOT regret going to Jeff!

I'm also an MPH/RN and will be starting a BSN-DNP program this fall. I'll be concentrating in community systems administration instead of becoming an advanced practice nurse. In my program, I will have to take master's and doctoral classes and will end up earning an MSN in the process. I hear you about not wanting to earn another master's degree, but it seems like taking some master's classes on your way to a DNP is unavoidable. The good news is that having an MPH will definitely help you gain admission into a graduate nursing program. Good luck!

Congrats on your decision to earn a graduate degree in public health! I received mine in 2007 and I've found it to be very useful in my career (community health nursing). Best of luck!

In nursing school I used the Littmann Classic II SE in navy blue. It was a good steth for school. However, after graduation I received a Cardio III in plum as a gift and I now use it at my new job. Very high quality steth. I love it!

I get paid in my current residency position. With that being said, there are some programs that do not pay residents.

I graduated from the FACT program this year. I loved the program!! The faculty is very supportive and you learn so much. They also really prepare you well for the NCLEX, so stick with their NCLEX Plan for Success because it really works!! I passed NCLEX on my first try and will be beginning my career in pediatric nursing tomorrow. I would recommend the FACT program to anyone!! If you guys have any specific questions about it I do not mind answering them. Good luck!

Hello Itri4vt! I will also be starting the Mary Bridge residency on Monday. Looking forward to meeting you!

Due to the economy, I don't know any places that accept new grads "without hesitation." But from my research, many hospitals in the Puget Sound area do hire new grads. A few have actual new grad programs, while others will just hire new grads into a position. You will usually see something like "New grads are welcome to apply" in the job announcement. Seattle Children's did have a few new grad positions open when I checked last week.

I have the third edition. It's such an awesome book! It helped me score over 1000 on the Exit HESI. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

JSN announces the RWJ scholarship in August and will invite only FACT students to apply. To be eligible you have to be from a racial/ethnic group that is underrepresented in nursing or come from a disadvantaged background, demonstrate financial need and show academic strength. The award is worth $10,000 and requires you to attend a scholar group once a month. The Dean's Scholarship is automatically awarded to eligible students upon matriculation and is based on academic merit.

In a typical week, you will have lecture on Thursdays and Fridays for half the day. Your clinicals may be on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Most of the time you will have clinical two of those days (12 hrs each day). For your OB and Community Nursing rotations you may have 3 days of clinical (8 hours each day). Then you study in between as much as you can, but do take breaks! Your mind and body will need it. The best time for breaks is after exams. For example, we just had three exams today. I plan to relax the entire weekend :) Overall, I feel that having a balance is most important: school, volunteering, relaxing/hanging with friends. And yes, they do strongly encourage FACT students to volunteer in addition to the vast amount of studying and work required. Everything is doable though, you just have to find your own routine.

Hi! I'm currently in the program now. Do not expect for them to give you a full-year calendar on your first day or during your first month. In fact, don't expect it ever. At one point, they were giving us monthly calendars but then that stopped. One reason for this is that everything is subject to change. Also, know that your 'breaks' are not really breaks, except for the two-week summer break you will get in August. You will most likely be studying for exams during your break that are planned for as soon as you get back, which is what happened to us recently with our winter break. Due to the structure of the program, it's really hard to schedule anything extraneous. They remind us constantly that by being in the program we have agreed to give up one year of our life...consequently, they will not make any changes to accommodate you unless there was an emergency. Just an FYI. However, it looks as though you should be ok since the wedding you need to attend will be held at the end of May and your grad date is the 22nd.

I feel like I don't have a life in this program either, but it IS accelerated and the instructors constantly tell us that we got what we signed up for, lol. However, I do make sure I work in breaks here and there, because if you don't you will have a mental breakdown easily! Usually, Friday and Saturday nights I do nothing or go out with friends. Other days, I try to study during the day to free my evenings. But when it's test time I go into lockdown! lol With my study schedule, I'm doing really well in the program. But everyone's study schedule is different....whether you need to study more or less depends on how you learn best. Congrats on your acceptance and good luck!!

The main reason I decided to go for the BSN is because I know eventually I want to practice as an advanced practice nurse, for which a BSN is required. As well, many major hospitals in my hometown and the city I am attending nursing school in are only hiring BSN prepared nurses. At one of the hospitals where I have had clinicals, the ID badges do say BSN or ADN. But that hospital too will soon hire only BSN prepared nurses, starting next year.

Sorry I haven't been doing a good job of keeping up with your questions. FACT is keeping me quite busy! But I am now officially halfway done!!! :) I have an Itouch and it works well for me. I do not have my phone with me on the floor since we can't make calls on the floor. However, there are some students who have the nursing software installed on their smartphones and it works for them. Clinical instructors do not care. Overall, it's whatever you feel most comfortable with. I wore the elastic Landau pants for my first rotation...and then that was it. They were way too uncomfortable! I bought some drawstring pants, navy blue of course. Keep your questions coming! :)

Everything that AtomicWoman said is true! Be sure to relax and have fun before the program starts because there will be little free time. I don't yet have any friends from other programs, but there are opportunities to get to know other people via on-campus organizations and events. Most people are friendly here. As far as rotations, so far I have been at Jeff twice and Pennsylvania Hospital. My next rotation is at CHOP (can't wait!!!). You will need to buy the iTouch yourself (if you buy online via Jeff there is a small discount)...or if you have a blackberry or a smart phone you can simply buy the nursing software and install it into your device.

I live in Orlowitz, so I don't know too much about Barringer. But I hear it's nicer. Orlowitz is "okay." I live in a 1-bedroom by myself and I like it. It's typically quiet. Mostly a mix of med, pharm, and nursing students. There aren't any first time undergrad students because to start at Jefferson you have to be at least junior status. Living in either Orlowitz or Barringer makes you central to everything on campus, which is really nice, especially if you need to go to the library late at night. Some things I dislike about the building: the elevators take FOREVER to come (and there are three.. most of the time anyway, if one isn't out of order), the basement where the laundry room is has big creepy roaches, and sometimes late at night the fire alarm goes off for no reason (usually isn't triggered by a person). Someone asked about the typical FACT schedule. For the most part, expect to be in class all day on Thursdays and Fridays. You will have clinical two days a week (Saturday-Wednesday). Each clincal day is 12 hours, from 7am to 7pm. That leaves you with three free days each week, which is not bad. You can expect this type of schedule from May through early October. It changes slightly after that point. For example, I'm currently taking two classes: Management of Childbearing Families and Nursing Informatics (online), so I only have class for half a day on Friday. However, I have my OB clinical three days during the week from 2pm-10pm. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! :)

I'm a current student in the FACT program and I echo what AtomicWoman said. Be prepared to get very little sleep, as this program will keep you EXTREMELY busy. But make sure to plan study breaks so you won't feel totally burned out. Also, expect not to have much of a social life if you want to be really successful in the program. Overall, FACT is very doable. The faculty is also great and supportive of their students. Congrats to all those who received acceptances and good luck to those still waiting. :)

Yea, I also agree that it depends on where you live. More and more major medical centers in my state are either requiring a BSN or strongly preferring a BSN. So, an ADN won't go too far, except maybe if you wanted to work in a nursing home.

cacurlytop - I will be starting the FACT program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia this month. I was accepted into other programs, but they were MSN only and did not allow me the opportunity to pause and get work experience as an RN before continuing onto the Masters courses. It can be debated about whether you need both a BSN and MSN. Like you, I was also concerned about looking overqualified with an MSN if I wanted to work as an RN first. But, overall, I don't think it matters.

The nursing programs that we have been describing are in the US, not UK. :) Hopefully, one day this "accelerated" concept will spread to more countries/continents.

Cacurlytop: There are different "entry-level MSN" programs. All of them average between 2 and 3 years. However, some offer a BSN and MSN degree, and others offer only an MSN. If getting a BSN is important to you, you might want to apply to a program that offers both. I am starting one of these programs shortly. After 1 year I receive my BSN and then sit for the NCLEX. I can then either choose to continue into the MSN year or take a leave of absence and work as an RN for a maximum of 2 years. My ultimate goal is to become a Family Nurse Practitioner and possibly become certified also in Oncology. Many NPs I've shadowed and talked to strongly recommended working as an RN for awhile first. During this time, you gain more of an understanding of what nursing entails and develop more advanced critical thinking skills that are necessary to work in an NP capacity. They also told me that I would be a more competitive applicant for an NP position if I had RN experience under my belt. This may not be true in all areas of the U.S., but in my region this seems to be important. I know that you are more interested in CNL so this part may not apply to you, but those are my reasons for selecting an accelerated BSN/MSN program. Good luck to you! For those of you wanting to view a list of schools that offer entry-level programs, check out http://www.bestnursingdegree.com/programs/direct-entry-msn/. This may not be a complete list, so I encourage you to visit school websites to double-check.

That makes sense. I used to have a smart phone, but I'm not very fond of them so I down graded. I also didn't want to pay extra for web access each month. Therefore, I'm stuck getting a pdd. I ordered the iTouch yesterday. I hope it's a good product.