keatonhoyle

I applied in July and interviewed in august

From there they are probably like $3 a day total. They vary from 25 cents to 70 cents but there are three from that part of town to VCU each way. 6 Total.

those areas are fine just remember that they're a solid 25 minutes from VCU plus tolls.

What streets are you talking about when you say north chesterfield?/

I bought the Princeton Review Book and literally went through the entire thing for about 3-4 weeks of total studying. I think I ended up buying some of the other subject specific GRE books as well just for practice questions. I focused zero time on the writing section and mostly the math. I went into the interview cold, with no preparation other than writing down questions I wanted to ask. It was VERY relaxed, i interviewed at 2 other schools (rush and oakland) and VCU was the best interview by far. you do take a written exam but if you pass CCRN it's a lot more basic. I did CCRN, CMC, TNCC, NRP, ACLS, PALS. My boss is awesome and she did not give me any trouble, i also got rec's from my CNO, a co worker, and an intensivist that i work with. Feel free to PM if you have more questions or want more details.

Hey everyone! My name is Keaton Hoyle and I am going to be in your class as well!! I grew up in Richmond and went to VCU for Nursing...let me know if you guys have questions...which I am sure are plenty. A couple things - the best place to park for school is the 8th St. Deck. You can get a parking pass for something like $150 per semester, or pay 3.50 per day and its about a 5 -7 minute walk to class, and even a little shorter to the hospital. When we do clinicals at the local hospitals not named VCU - Henrico doctors' (where i work now), chippenham, johnston willis, etc... parking will be free and easy as those are all in the suburbs. A little background on places to live - In the downtown area it's divided up into basically three major areas, The Fan, the Bottom, and Church Hill. Well, and Oregon Hill. You can also go a little farther west to the Museum district and the near west end. The Fan - The Fan is west of the hospital and it's mostly really charming row houses that are built 1875-1950's. They are older, larger, and moderately priced. Best bet in the Fan is to shack up with a roomate or two because these houses are mostly 3-4 bedroom, but there are smaller ones. You're just going to have to pay for it The Bottom - The bottom is near where all the bars are and a lot of restaurants and everything. Mostly here it's apartments and you'll pay more per square foot but the places are smaller than the Fan. A lot of it is old factories that they've converted into apartments. You may hear people talking about safety, but other than the occasional car being broke into (which still is rare anymore) it's not a bad place to live at all. Church hill - Church Hill is going to be your cheapest downtown option, and includes really old row houses that are more wooden style 1900's whereas the fan is more brick and masonry. Church Hill became the ghetto for quite sometime but is now coming back pretty strong with VCU / MCV students and a lot of people renovating. As long as you stay south of say...clay st and no farther west than Chimborazo park. If you have kids I would not recommend this area. Oregon hill - Oregon hill is south of the financial district (kind of in between the medical center and the fan). It is in the middle of a major renovation - lots of people renovating very old early 1900's housing. If you can find a recently renovated house for rent this is an awesome spot to live..it's near the river, a couple blocks from the recently built VCU gym (which is awesome!) on cary st, near class (you can ride your bike to class in 5-10 mins), and you can get a great deal on rent. I definitely recommend Oregon hill IF you can find a nice place. It's hit or miss. so those are the closest places to live near school. If you want to live in a more suburbial and cheaper area and willing to make the commute, I would recommend not going south (where i grew up ) because of toll roads and its VERY ghetto just south of the city.. I would recommend near west end, forest hill park/westover hills, lakeside/staples mill, anywhere in the west end, or mechanicsville. I don't know much about mechanicsville because I never go up that way, I've always lived in the southside or west end. Anyway I hope you guys find this helpful and I can't wait meet everyone!

im nervous tho i hope its not one big awkward situation

I'll be there.

Easy, this is getting worse and worse with all these programs having doctoral programs (pharmacy, physical therapy, nursing, nurse anesthesia), just change the official title of a real medical doctor to "physician".... as in. "hello, im physician jones." instaed of dr. jones. problem solved.

Wow! i gotta say...i am a male nursing student starting this summer ..i better be careful!! you all are brutal. im definitely going to keep all this in mind when i start.

Kira If you create your login name for VCU and look on blackboard there are answers to a lot of your questions. Winter break is about 4 weeks. http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/calendar/ac_fullViewNew.asp?aYear=2009&aSemester=1 And there is also a tentative schedule here: http://www.nursing.vcu.edu/students/schedule/summer2009_027.xls Hope that helps a little

Of course it counts haha. Does anyone know how many applied compared to how many got accepted?

My Reasons: Originally interested in medical field in general, wanted to be an anesthesiologist. Found out about nurse anesthesia and almost dropped my undergrad degree at Virginia Tech to do that instead. but decided to wait it out and at least try for med school Shadowed and applied to med school, didnt get in. Applied to nursing school, got in. Here are my reasons I am happy with how everything worked out 1. Nurses are the actual go getters and do all'ers which fits my personality. 2. Nursing requires both brain and brawn which is what i want. I didn't want to sit at a desk all day. 3. Nurse anesthesia offers better hours, better lifestyle, but still a great salary. 4. My job security will be fantastic. 5. I work better with women than I do with men. I am not gay but men intimidate me slightly in the work place. 6. I do not have liability insurance like doctors do. 7. I get to interact with patients on a more personal level 8. My best subject is science and i live for science. 9. It's challenging can't think of much more. My only hesitation was being a male nurse. but once I get over that insecurity I think i will be totally happy.

what kind of stethoscope are u gonna get

i just realized thats a lot farther than a 45 minute drive. eek

Yea that sounds like a difficult decision. A 45 minute drive isn't the worst thing though, it sucks but it's not impossible. I plan on staying on campus after class to do my work anyway because there is too much going on at my house to get any good studying done. You could always just make a day out of being in richmond everyday like its' your job, and if you are too tired or have to get up really early then crash with your friend. Still a hard decision though. You'll figure it out!

I have lived here all my life except for the 4 years I was in blacksburg. I am probably going to continue to live at home to save thousands of dollars in rent but if I can't study or decide I can't take it anymore I am probably going to get an apartment. I would never live downtown though. It's really expensive for what you get. What about you?

I am pumped as well! got into VCU w/ cheercml

Congrats to both of you. I hope i'm not the only guy, phew

I had a 3.65 and i got into VCU Accelerated

I got in!!! Couldn't be more excited! Anyone else hear yet?

Whitney, I had a question about pre-req's. At Virginia Tech for my major we could either take Microbiology or Cell and Molecular Biology. Cell and molec was supposed to be the more rigorous version of microbiology. I was wondering if that counted toward my microbiology pre-req or if i have to take microbiology this spring. I have signed up for it but I don't want to pay for it if I don't have to, obviously. Thanks!!

Yea that what I applied for too. I don't know if I should be doing this but I am banking on getting in cause I haven't applied anywhere else. But there is nowhere else in Richmond to go but like bon secours or John Tyler but I want to go to a really good school. I thought about applying to Hopkins and Emory but they are both so expensive that I just can't justify going to either one. they are both around 16,000 a semester..insane. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with my life if I don't get in. I graduated from VT last year and had to take a year off cause i couldn't finish all my pre req's in time. So i've been waiting forever already, I just want to start school again. Keaton

I am getting really anxious. But knowing for sure that I will be waiting until early February to get notified helps a little. That way I can rest easy until February and then start worrying. Are you going for Accelerated BSN?

Whitney, You mentioned that VCU has already started the decision making process. Do you all send out acceptance/rejection letters on a rolling basis or do they all go out in February? Thank you! and sorry for being so ancy about this.