Fenway1

Hi - I would order the regular because I wouldn't want to risk them being too short unless you always wear a petite. If they are really long, you can always have a dry-cleaner take them up if necessary. But the best advice is to search around the website. The website should have sizing information somewhere where they give you specific information about what size to order based on your height and body measurements. Good luck!

GoVeg, it's an adult floor. I went to the August 15 event met with 5 representatives from a variety of adult floors. There were lots of peds units there but I was only interested in adult so that's where I spent my time.

I am still in the hiring process doing all the paperwork, background checks, etc. It is at Columbia on a neuro floor and happened very fast. I got an email last week inviting me for an interview, had the interview this week and got a call the same day offering me the job. Two bits of advice: first of all I thought I had done horribly with this nurse manager - she gave me no positive feedback, I felt I didn't answer her questions well and I had no hope she would call but I was wrong. Two managers told me they would call and never did. So you just never know. So don't give up hope. And secondly, if you don't live in NY get your license endorsed now if you haven't already. They want you to bring the original copy of your license when you go for your interview. You won't have time to get it endorsed if you wait until they call. It took me a little over two months to get mine endorsed.

Hey, just want to say don't give up. They called me and I got a job there.

Yes, I did find a job. In the end I did put my last position on my resume as I had worked at that company for 7 years and held three different jobs there. When I interviewed, the nurse manager asked me a lot of questions about my former job especially about supervising people and getting along with people. She could not have cared less that it was 17 years ago.

Good luck KLW96! That's great! Please let us know how that works and what you decide to do. GoVeg - I too, just got the same email and thought maybe that was the end of the road for me. But KLW96's experience gives me hope. Guess it just takes time.

I went to the August 15th event. Still haven't heard anything back even though two managers said they'd be in touch. Has anyone else heard anything?

pink_zebra, what did you end up doing?

I will be graduating with my BSN in May. I am close to 50 years old. I have a previous Bachelor's degree with a Computer Science major from 1987 and an MBA. However I have not worked in 17 years as I have raised 3 children as a single parent while working on my BSN for the past 6 years (four years part-time, two years full-time.) I have no recent nursing experience although I was a nurses aide for two years almost 30 years ago. That is my only relevant nursing experience (other than clinicals). In addition, I spent one year in a full-time volunteer position in a homeless shelter about 25 years ago. It was an intense experience where I actually lived in the shelter and worked directly with the homeless as a case manager for 40 hours/week without any pay. So my question is, do I include any of this previous experience on my resume? My last position before I left when my I had children was as a Systems Analyst, which was a computer job where I did not interface much with other people and which was not related to nursing at all. I am at a loss of what to do. If I put down the nurses aide experience, I have to reference that it was in 1983-85, which is probably about a decade before the other new grads I will be going up against for jobs were even born! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Sherri-Thank you so much. This is exactly the type of info I was looking for. I have promised myself that I will be ok with my gpa going down as well. I just don't want to have a nervous breakdown in the process. I am very organized and a Type-A personality and like you, I know I will be on top of all my work. But I still want to be a good mom. Have to find that balance and stop putting too much pressure on myself. You sound like you are doing a great job. Congratulations on your success!

Purplcav, I don't have anyone driving but we are within walking distance of school and stores and they have been pretty independent this way for awhile. I have some good friends who have offered to drive kids anywhere they cannot walk. My prereqs are done but I have to take 2 courses in summer session to make up for "core classes" I am missing. Both are history classes and I'm not worried about those. Thanks for your advice and good wishes. Good luck to you too!

Thank you Emmiesmom!

I just want to say thank you to everyone. I officially accepted the full-time college and registered yesterday for fall classes. I'm pretty nervous but I know it is the right decision.

Oh, also the other school would be part-time because they start nursing classes sophomore year and you take 2 or 3 nursing classes a semester while still taking other elective classes. I have all the elective classes done and only need the nursing classes.

I prerequisites I took were General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Sociology, A&P 1, A&P 2, Chemistry, micro, and biochemistry. I also transferred in college courses that I took 25 years ago. I had taken a stats class back then which I needed as a prereq and they took it even though I took it 25 years ago! I still have 3 "core" courses that I am missing that I will need to do this summer and next. I had enough credits to transfer in as a junior and get approved to start clinicals in Sept. At this school only nursing classes are taken Junior and Senior year - 4 each semester. That is how it is full time.

Some background on me: I am a single 46 year old mother of 3 teenagers (all in high school). I just got accepted to 2 nursing schools after spending 3 years doing the pre-requisites. The school I did my pre-reqs at does not have a great reputation and I have not been happy there. However, the advantage to that school is that I would go part-time but it would take me 3 years to finish. The other school I was accepted to has an excellent reputation. If I go there, I will have to go full-time and will finish in 2 years. I met with the nursing advisor there yesterday who impressed upon me how much work it will be. I really wanted to do the full-time program because I have been so unhappy at the other school with the quality of the profs, disorganization of the program, etc. But the advisor really scared me and I am really afraid I won't be able to handle a full-time program plus maintaining my home and being there for my kids. I've maintained a 4.0 until now but that was only taking 1 or 2 classes a semester and I had to put in hours of work to do that. Being older, I don't learn as fast as I used to. Please, any advice from current students especially older students juggling family responsibilities? Is a full-time program plus family stuff doable?

I have just been accepted as a transfer student into Ramapo. I was also accepted at Dominican in NY. At Ramapo I would be a full-time student taking 4 classes/semester and finishing in 2 years. At Dominican I would be a part-time student taking 2-3 classes/semester and finishing in 3 years. I like the idea of the part-time schedule as I have 3 teenagers but I think Ramapo has the better program. Can anyone provide any insight into how manageable the Ramapo nursing program is? Advantages, disadvantages and schedules at Englewood vs. Valley? How much work and studying is involved? I am a good student but I'm worried about whether I can handle the full-time program. Thank you in advance!

You have to know all the systems. Know the organs associated with each system and the purpose/function of each organ. Know how blood flows through the heart. Know the chambers and valves. Know general anatomy of the major organs.Are there any labling problems? No. At least I didn't have any. what about cellular organelles,Yes! Know the organelles and the function of each punnett square, Yes any balancing chemicals questions?Yes. Tip-If you are having trouble balancing, look at the answers provided and try to figure out which one is balanced. My weakness is science and I'm worried because there's a lot to cover in the study guide(ati version v). Yes, there is a lot in the study guide but it gives you a good idea of what is on the test. There is a lot of information to know. No way to get around it but to study. Also, make sure you know mitosis/meiosis very well. Also, you can get a very good idea of what kinds of questions are asked by doing the practice tests. If you get something wrong or don't understand something on the practice test, try to learn it. Even though you will not see the exact question asked on the test, you will most likely see the material on the test or the question asked in a different way. Good luck!

I took the test 3 weeks ago. My answers are for the computer version of the test. 1. Before you begin the exam, you will have a few minutes to practice on the computer get used to "navigating" within the exam. I got a few practice questions to answer and got a feel for using the computer keyboard. I found this really helpful because I was able to get comfortable with answering questions and also saw how I could flag questions, skip them, go back to them, etc. 2. Within each section (math, science, english, reading) you can answer the question, skip the question, or answer the question and flag it to go back to later. When you finish that section, you have a choice to: go back to review all questions, questions you have skipped, questions you have flagged, or a specific question number. 3. There is a timer at the top of the screen so you can see how much time remains within that section. When time runs out you must move onto the next section. However, if you finish and have time remaining you can either go back and check any questions you wish or you can opt to finish that section and move onto the next. If you do move onto the next section, you cannot go back to the previous section. If you still have time left in a particular section and choose to move onto the next section, the computer will prompt you by asking you if are sure you want to move on so you can't mistakenly go onto another section. 4. No calculators are allowed. I hope this helps.

I just took the TEAS 2 days ago. The answer to this question is no, you may not get a whole number when you divide but you will get a finite number i.e. a number that does not go on forever. Overall, the math is very straight-forward and I did not feel it was tricky. I started studying about 5 weeks before the test. I ordered both the ATI book and the McGraw Hill book as well as the 2 online tests that you can purchase from ATI. As soon as you order the online tests, you have access to them. So before I even got the books, I took one of the online tests. When you take the on-line test, you get a print-out of your score in all sub-categories. That provided me with an idea of my strengths and weaknesses. As with most people, science was my weakest area, especially life science (I got a 40% in that area.) The ATI book came very quickly and I started studying. I didn't study every day but probably 3 days/week 1-3 hours at a time. After studying a couple weeks, I took one of the ATI practice tests from the book. Then I studied some more and took the second book practice test. A week before I took the TEAS, I took the second on-line test. In my opinion, the best way to prepare is with the ATI book and tests. When I took the practice tests, if there was something there I did not know, I learned as much as I could about it. There are so many great sites on the web that can help you. I particularly liked http://www.Brightstorm.com for Biology, as well as http://www.khanacademy.org. Personally, I didn't find the McGraw Hill book too helpful. The practice tests the McGraw Hill book provides, especially the science tests, are much less difficult than what you will see on the test. The ATI material will give you a VERY GOOD IDEA of what the actual test is like and the types of questions you will see on the test. I thought the on-line tests were a bit more difficult than the book tests but all of them helped me in my preparation and there were some topics that I saw in the book tests that were not in the online tests, but were on my actual test so do use both types of tests to prepare if you can. As far as what to study, search this site. EVERYTHING you need to know for the exam is covered here. There really were no surprises and there was nothing on the test that I was completely clueless about although, of course there were some questions that I did not know but for the most part I was able to rule out an answer or two and make a good guess. The ATI book will prepare you very well for Reading Comprehension, Math and Grammar. My test was set up exactly like those sections from the book and there were no surprises. As someone said in another post, study how to do work-rate problems in math. That was not covered in the book but I did have one of these types of problems on my exam. As far as science, you do need to supplement what you will find in the book. Everyone tells you to know Mitosis and Meiosis very well. LISTEN TO THEM. Read MakaylaD's post a few before mine. She does a good job of telling you what to focus on in science. I would just add to study basic chemistry including bonds and balancing equations. Also, people mention that they end up doing much better on the actual test than they do on their practice tests. That was the case for me, so if you aren't doing as well as you'd like on the practice tests, don't panic. I ended up doing really well and I hope you do the same. I wish you all good luck!

Elizabeth would be too far, but RCCC is only about 30 minutes from me and I hadn't even thought about it. Thanks, you've been very helpful.

I went to see a guidance counselor this week. You are right, DaddyO--the minimum required GPA to apply is 2.5. There are 3 pre-requisites for the program: Intro to Chem, A&P1 and a math class. However, the guidance counselor told me that just about everyone does almost all the required course work before they ever applying to the program. Those are all the courses you mentioned DaddyO--2 Psychs, Sociology, Microbiology, A&P2, 2 PE requirements, 2 English classes, a couple Humanities electives. That way when you get into the program you only have to complete the Nursing classes. My college credits will take care of a few of these, but I still have 6 to complete. Seems like a lot of work with no guarantee you'll be accepted, but I'm going to try. Thanks for your help DaddyO.

I agree. In my case, I was very interested in attending the ABSN program at Dominican College in Blauvelt, NY (just over the Jersey state-line). After they reviewed my college transcripts, they gave me a list of 8 prerequisites I would have to take before entering. Four of the prereqs were sciences and 4 were psychology classes. Because the psych classes had to be taken sequentially, it probably would have taken me 2 years to finish just the prereqs for the program. I can get an ADN faster and for a LOT less money. With 3 kids to worry about as well, it just makes sense to me. If I were a lot younger and had no other responsibilities, I'd definitely go for the BSN. But for my life now, the ADN makes more sense.

I am very interested in attending BCC for my ASN in nursing. The Bergen Comm website only talks about requiring prerequisites CH100 (intro), BIO 109 (A&P1) and MAT 032. But when I was looking at the posts here people talked about a lot of other prerequisites they were taking for BCC. Someone mentioned taking microbiology before applying. Am I missing something? Also, how difficult is it really to get in? I keep hearing conflicting things--for example one person said you need a GPA of 4.0 and while someone said admission is entirely based on the test they give. I already have a Bachelors and Masters in a different field with good GPAs, but have been out school and the workforce for years. Well, actually just started CHM100 at Bergen last week. Also, last question--Would you recommend the program? Thanks so much for any advice you can provide.

I've just recently found this site and what you are all discussing here is my current dilemma. I have a BS in Computer Science and an MBA. I am 43 and have not worked in 12 years (raising 3 kids.) My dream is to become a nurse. I have already started science prerequisites. Big dilemma--ABSN vs. ADN. For me, I think the ADN would be easier to achieve because the workload wouldn't be so intense. I still have to be around in the afternoons & evenings for kiddies. Is there a downside to doing an Associates vs. Bachelors? I know the Associates would take a little longer. Is anyone aware what the pay differential would be? Anyone have any experience with Bergen Community? Any advise would be much appreciated.