Meredith09

hehe, I looove you mamma! funny to see you get your panties in a bunch!

holla, c! i say that cuz one of my peeps in the enp who has gone through the fnp portion already said its kindergarten in comparison to acnp :-) i didn't say the others were easy...

VERY FEW actually fail out. And quite frankly those students needed to go--they are the ones who are horribly unsafe in clinicals, are just lacking common sense, or don't give a crap. You clearly don't fall into any of those categories! The fact that you care about not failing out tells me you will make it if you want to. The professors are very helpful and DO care about your success. They will always help you out when you need it...even if you may not realize you need help just yet! Definitely hit up the open house if possible. LMK if you need anything else, k? M

STA- I'm not in PMH (acute care myself) but my closest friend in the program is psych. Psych is fairly competitive, but definitely not the most competitive. I know two other people in the program who were social workers before they came into the program, one of them is in psych and works psych triage in an ED. Honestly, having been through the prespecialty year, I can tell you that it is intense, but doable. Specialty year (especially for ACNP and PMHNP) is MUCH more intense. Some of the others have it a bit easier. It's not easy, but if you're interested, I would suggest you apply, or at least come to one of the school's open houses if you can and get some questions answered.

Rock on Clifford!

Totally understandable. Wait another 2-3 hours, and then try again. In the meantime, do something nice for yourself!

Try the trick again... I think the good pop-up also says "our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this examination [insert something here about contacting your board]. another examination cannot be scheduled at this time."

Thanks for the congrats, y'all, and here's a toast to all of your success stories to come! *wine

I agree with all of the above posts! Kaplan wants you to aim for 60% on all Qbank questions; you're doing just fine. I practiced those questions ad nauseum and it was the best prep ever. Took NCLEX just a few days ago and passed in 75 questions. Seriously, I thought NCLEX was easier than Kaplan questions! Don't overdo it--stop studying two days before the exam, take yourself out to dinner, a movie the night before or whatever you need to do to relax. It's magic, I swear! You'll do great :-)

I PASSED!!

Finished in 1:20, 75 questions. not bad at all! Did the PVT and got the good pop-up-- so far it looks promising! good luck to all.

Took NCLEX-RN today at 2:00 CST, finished at 75 questions around 3:20. Got the good pop up when I got home about 5:30 :-)

Good luck everybody! I'm taking mine tomorrow!

@Kate- Sorry I'm late getting back to you- haven't been online in a while. I'm guessing you should have info on them by now though. I seem to recall they were posted online last year, but I'm not totally sure. @molls- you need shoes right away because you are required to wear the exact same uniform in lab as you are in clinical. I don't really know about the Crocs. I know they told us all/ mostly white full leather upper, closed heel. From what I know of Crocs, that can be hard to find. Danskos are pretty popular around here, but bottom line, long-wear comfort, support, and traction are the most important features in a good clinical shoe. Might I also suggest you look into a good Littmann stethoscope and a nicer penlight--both of those you get from Vandy in your lab packs are CRAP. Holla at me if you have any more questions.

Heart- PM me and we'll talk! Most of what I know from my first year here won't apply to you, so let me know what your specialty and background is and I'll try to answer your questions :-)

Checking in- y'all have been awful quiet!! How are my future fellow 'Dores doing?! We are 1 week away from being DONE with classes for pre-specialty year! Then it's on to Boot Camp. I'm excited--gonna be on a trauma surgical stepdown unit at Vandy (my happy place!) If you've got questions, keep em coming. I'll do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction.

Yeah, they're only here for about three weeks, then they die. the larvae chill out underground for the next 13 years...and then we start all over again!

Cicadas. These only come once every 13 years, so don't worry about them. We actually had a kinda rough winter this year--had several snow days, and I remember one particularly scary commute home that turned my 15 minute drive into a 3 hour nightmare. But that kind of weather is rare here. Just be warned that they are not well prepared to manage the road conditions when that wintery weather does strike...that's why it was so nasty last winter. Thunderstorms can be quite nasty in the summer particularly, and of course there are the tornadoes to contend with. Despite what people might tell you, these can strike any time of year. Have a contingency plan for severe weather--I personally have a NOAA weather radio, but I usually only plug it in when we are expecting severe weather. It comes in handy when the weather gets an attitude.

Definitely take it! I had two semesters of rather intense patho before I started my bridge program (not mandatory) and I promise you it gave me a great advantage over my classmates who did not have a similar class... plus, this is tough material that takes a while to master, and the more exposure you have to it, the more likely you are to understand and retain it. just my

White scrubs are for St. Thomas- yes they suck, but I had an excellent clinical experience at STH that more than made up for it. Regarding the dress for class-- most anything goes, including gym clothes. I know plenty of people that show up to class in gym clothes daily. So long as you are relatively clean and aren't letting anything hang out that shouldn't, you'll be fine. It does tend to be absolutely freezing in the lecture hall though, so even in summer you'll see folks bringing in jackets to class. Regarding white all-leather shoes...just suck it up. At the end of a long day in clinicals, you won't care what you look like, and I would strongly suggest that you stick with all-leather uppers because the first time you spill something like urine, vomit, or blood on your shoe and it soaks through that one little patch of mesh....you'll be cursing yourself. Keens, Nurse Mates, Sketchers, and Dansko's are all popular shoe choices. Navy blue scrubs with the vandy patch sewn onto the left shoulder are standard attire everywhere except STH. They'll also tell you to wear a white undershirt beneath the scrubs, but honestly this is not evenly enforced among clinical faculty. The only time you'll really need to have nice business casual clothes is for picking up your patient assignment the day before clinicals, and also for some community health activities. Sorry for the short and choppy answers here- please let me know if any of you have more questions for me. MaineMan88, Medvision, and Mammac5 are also Vandy students here on AN.

You do not have to travel down hillsboro pike to get to vandy from bellevue. every single morning I take 40 to 440 and get off at the west end exit- much faster. There's also about 3 other ways to get to and from vandy from bellevue. without traffic, it takes me less than 15 minutes to get to school.

Molls, You do have access to the same stuff that the undergrads do, but there are a few stipulations that come with it. The gym for instance limits you to four visits per week, above that I think they charge you a fee (?) Kind of silly, but I've always just gone walking/running around campus, which is a very popular activity around here. I believe you can get a season pass to football games for around $25-- could be wrong on the price but in any case it's cheaper than paying for tix game-to-game like an outsider would have to do. The counseling center is 100% free! We're told nursing students are their biggest client base, lol. As far as the program goes, it is accelerated; you're essentially taking a full load of traditional-style nursing courses plus one extra each semester, and cramming in all the clinical hours (hospital and community health activities) that are required by the powers that be. We take the NCLEX in September or October, and I'm told Vandy has an excellent first-time pass rate, so statistically their students must be prepared for it quite well-- I have no concerns about passing it. It's a bit difficult to gauge the "readiness to practice" factor in terms of the specialty year since we haven't started that yet. I would imagine that all the specialties would be ready to practice upon graduation, however, in my specialty in particular (Acute Care) I think it would be difficult to get an NP position straight out of school with ZERO staff nursing experience; thus, I am planning to work as an RN for at least 1-2 years after I graduate to get more comfortable with the job, etc. I think you'll find that you are much more respected and trusted by your colleagues as an NP if you start out with some staff nursing experience. For some of the other specialties more focused on primary care, I don't think you'd have any trouble finding a starting position as an NP, as they are in high demand, and don't necessarily have to handle the higher-acuity patients. Make sense?? Hope this helps, but let me know if you have any further questions. Back to studying...

Kate, Yes, I would definitely recommend the Bellevue area. Check out the Lexington, the Madison, Grande View, etc. If you cruise down Old Hickory and Highway 70 in the Bellevue area you'll find plenty of places to look at. I would probably stay away from the Mission Bellevue Ridge though (ick). You'll find rent to be in the $750 plus range, which might sound a bit high until you see what some of the lower rent places in Nashville look like Let me know if I can help you out with anything else.

Mef, et al: I was one of the panelists at the open house this weekend. Any further questions for me that you maybe didn't feel comfortable asking in person? Feel free to ask. I'm still here for yall if you need anything. Best of luck to those still waiting to hear from VU. -M

Chellentn, I'm gonna give it to you straight: CHIN UP ABOUT BEING WAIT LISTED! I was waitlisted for ACNP last year, and I'm a current Vandy student now. Now is not the time to give up hope, I promise you still have a good chance of getting in. I would drop your admissions counselor a quick email to reiterate your great interest in the program and offer to give any more info on you that they would like, then leave it at that. They are wanting to weed out the ones who don't want Vandy as their first choice, so (without making a pest of yourself) just check in with them every now and then- say, once a month or so. Big hug for you, and don't get too down on yourself. The game's not over yet-- you're just in overtime now!