jjlaman

Sorry, this is why I am going to deal with just one person. If I responded to each and every person that asked me for copies, how long do you suppose that would take me to do? I just don't have the time. When I served as student nursing association president, I got a hold of alot of stuff through various sources and shared it with alot of people (and I am still providing for those in other levels). At one point, I held a meeting and brought with me 60 copies of one program just to hand out. Think of how long that took me to do. Things we're different when I was a student as I would be on campus just about everyday but I am sure you can understand that now that I have graduated, I have other things going on in my life that take priority (I am still preparing for my NCLEX). Once I get with Eddie, I will provide him with the copies as long as he replaces my disks. From that point, you will have to get them from him and copy them (thats what us fellow students did, passed good stuff around). Other things he will receive from me will be through email that he will have to download and some he won't receive until he has completed each level (no reason to hand out level 4 stuff if you havent gotten through level 1 yet). I actually have alot to go over with him when we meet up and I am sure he will share this information with the others in his class. Very good piece of advice: spend time in the nursing computer lab and befriend those in other levels. You never know what they can provide for you.

BTW Eddie, if and when we do meet up, alot of the info and material that I let you in on is going to become your responsibility to share with your classmates as you see fit. I just dont have the time to deal with each person individually. We will talk later about it but alot of the videos and programs that you are required to watch, I already have them on DVD and depending upon whether you provide me with blank DVD's, I can provide you with the videos so that you can watch them at home rather than on campus (They cannot be signed out and must be watched in the library. Dont ask how I got them :wink2:). I also have a few of the NCLEX review courses (including the ones on the computers in the nursing computer lab) on DVD as well. I am more than willing to help but it is on you to want it. Just keep me informed as to when we can meet up.

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I just saw this post. The books can wind up being as expensive as the course itself (thus why I am never selling any of them). I wouldn't advise anyone to sell their books either. I remember some people after getting done with level 1, sold their books back only to realize that they needed some of them later in the program (duh!). Some of the optional books are not worth the money and others are. The campus book store was always to slow for me. I always went directly through Elsevier for my books (that is who they get them from). Just search around for the best price. The bookstore NEVER gets things in on time and if your anal (like most nursing students and nurses are :)) you will want to have your texts before classes start. You all have started using a different text than the one I had in level 1 but if it comes with an optional study guide....buy it. It is always helpful. Eddie, I will let you know when we meet up what books are good and which ones are not. Will also fill you in on the right study guides (some of the Professors have preferences and others that teach different levels take their lectures WORD FOR WORD from particular study guides- helpful study hint wouldn't you say?).

That sounds about right. I was one of those attending the nursing pinning ceremony last Thusday and as the former President of the Student Nursing Association, I can tell you that this is the norm for each entering class that is entering level 1. For one reason or another, it is common to lose close to 20% of new entrants. They either fail (the material is not easy and you are learning a new language on top of that- medical terminology) or they quit because it is not what they expected. Don't let those numbers discourage you though. I am sure that those numbers are in line with other degrees as well. Not everyone goes on to complete a program of study they enrolled for and they go on to something else. I will say this, anyone with the determination and drive can and will get through the program if that is what they trully desire.

Excellent topic you have brought up! I have been feeling the same way. Tonight is my pinning ceremony and I just feel drained. I worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get through nursing school. Now I am feeling as though it is such a monstrous accomplishment but I dont know what to do with myself. I find myself (for the last 3 nights) waking up at 2:00 AM after going to sleep at 11:30PM, and can't get back to sleep (Happened again last night and I've been awake since. Probably wont try and sleep again until I get back from the ceremony this evening). My wife and I sacrificed alot to get me through school and she will not even be attending the ceremony because she has been offered the overtime (We really need the money. She is a 20 year NICU RN and we can't afford to give up that kind of cash when offered.) My parents are deceased so essentially I will have noone there for me to celebrate what is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. I can't stop thinking about my HESI exam that is coming up and the NCLEX shortly there after but find myself completely distracted now when trying to study. I was so looking forward to graduating but now that the day has finally arrived I feel as though it is a letdown. Hopefully these feelings pass soon because I really need to focus on my NCLEX and get a job.

I forgot to even mention the Hurricanes, lol We had friends that moved down to Florida a few years ago even after I told them what I thought about it. When I mentioned Hurricanes to them they replied "Oh we aren't worried, we live in West Palm Beach and they don't get hit really at all." After laughing inside I just "Well OK, sounds like you guys have your minds set". One year later, he loses the roof off his house twice from 2 tropical storms and while replacing it the 3rd time he got hit with his 1st hurricane and lost the entire house. They couldnt take it anymore and decided to move back to New York. The housing market was going through the roof at the time and he couldnt even afford to buy back the house that they sold because it was so overpriced. They had been renting for a couple years after that and just bought a new home a few months ago.

I am about to graduate nursing school next week and my wife has been an RN for almost 20 years. We live up in N.J., but long before I met my wife, I lived in Florida after getting out of the military. I thought that I would look for a change. I grew up in NYC and wasn't in any rush to get back to there. Needless to say, after trying to make a go of it for 8 months, I had to get the heck out of Florida. The "Right to Work State" is just miserable when it comes to wages. I was doing fire sprnkler work that up north is a union job bringing an apprentice $20 an hour whereas in Florida they considered me lucky to be making $7.50 (1994). If you complained, they would just fire you and hire an illegal Cuban to do your job for less. I myself didn't find anything any cheaper. Everything is geared towards tourism and they price accordingly. Even at the supermarket, nothing was cheap. I thought my home expenses would be cheaper because my heating bill would be lower but you spend so much money keeping the air conditioning going that it actually cost more. I spent alot of time in the desert with the Army but Florida was worse. The humidity was killer. I also didnt like and still do not like the water there at all. Not just the drinking water but the shower water. After going through desalination, it leaves your skin very dry. As for people saying that Floridians have a poor IQ I have to say this, my experience with people that actually we're born and raised in Florida is that it is no different than anywhere else you live. Just a different culture. Poor is poor. Difference is that if you live in say Brandon Florida (outside of Tampa), the poor live in trailer parks rather than a big city housing project but everyone is still the same. Just trying to make ends meat and get by. I really didnt like the fact that you could live yourself in a rather pricey home in a so-called good neighborhood but literally down the raod have a trailer park with people with trailer park mentality living not all that far from you. I hated the driving. Really hated it. You want a gallon of milk? Well, hop in your car and drive for 20 minutes to go get it (not like living up north in that aspect at all and its even more hellish when stuck on the highway behind a 70 year old doing 40 in a 55). You have to drive to everything (think of that little added expense with the price of as today). Unless you considered Shamu fine art, there really wasn't a whole lot to do culturally unless you wanted to go out of your way to find it. granted, I did love the beaches (until a jellyfish wrapped itself around my leg) and from where I lived, I could see the Space Shuttle launch while sitting in my backyard, but overall, I wasn't very happy and after 8 months I had to get out of there and bring myself back to New York. Whats funny is that for the past couple of years my wife has been harping on me to move someplace warm (even though I am the one that deals with the snow, lol). Now that I am graduating, she doesn't care about the loss in her pay (which will be around 25% if we we're to move there) because our combined incomes will still be more than what it is now and we could sell our house here and get a mansion down there. Regardless of how I feel about Florida, she keeps pressing me about it and I worry that in the end I will cave and just be miserable again. I think that my kids would really enjoy it though as they could be outside most of the year and have alot more activities to do but I just don't like it myself. We go down to Disney every year and I just consider Florida a great place to visit but not to live.

Sorry guys but lets take a step back and take a breath. Dont let me get you nervous before you've done anything. You have to remember. Class and clinical is only 4 days a week. That gives you 3 days a week that you know you can study and get your work done. Being in the evening program is a little bit of an advantage. Level 1 (semester 1, which consist of Pharmacology, Physical Assessment, and Basic Concepts) is the easiest level you will deal with and not to get you scared or worried again but level 2 is when you get slapped with a dose of reality about just how much work you have in front of you. That said, because you start school in the spring, you have the entire summer to read ahead and prepare yourself for level 2 (which consists of GI/GI and Cardiac). Level 2 is when the workload gets tremendous. Alot of material in a very short amount of time and you will have mutliple care plans, assessments, process recordings and other projects that are piled on top of that. Being in the evening program you do have a slight advantage. You will have already completed all of your pre-requisite courses and don't have the additional course load of having to deal with A&P, Microbiology (which if you didnt complete already would have to be done during the summer between levels 1 and 2), and such. The people in the day program have it much worse. Although alot more in the day program don't work, their course load doesn't just consist of the nursing classes. I have seen alot of people fail out of the day program not because they failed a nursing course but rather didnt maintain their GPA by getting a low grade in A&P or Micro. IMO, nursing school is basically all about time management. If you can learn to manage your time to get your work and studying done, anyone can learn the material. If I, with all of the problems I had going on in my personal life throughout the program (death in the family, wife out of work due to complications of pregnancy, 3 other children to worry about besides the newborn, bankruptcy, foreclosure headache, and on and on, lol) anyone can. I am not the only person that faced adversity like this. I am just trying to point out that no matter how hard things might seem, it is possible to make it through nursing school regardless if you stick to it.

Well try not to fret and remember what I said. The amjority of people in my graduating class worked all the way through the program. Your just not going to sleep much or have any social life, lol You will give up television pretty much entirely (unless its to watch a video for school) and whatever free time you do have is spent worrying over your next exam. Nursing school is what it is though. An extreme course load with no room for getting lax but anyone that pushes and applies themselves, will make it through.

You will also hear from many a Professor that if you currently are working, it is strongly advised that you don't, lol. The program covers alot of material in a very short amount of time (we take the same exact NCLEX exam as those that have completed 4 year programs) and like me, you can plan on many nights of very little sleep. While in my class, there are very few of us that didnt work throughout the program, the majority did work. I do think that I might point out though that those that have failed out of the program, are those that did work. It can be done regardless of whether you work or not. It is just going to require alot of lost sleep, less time with the family, and an eventual ulcer, lol

Thank you very much Crissy and good luck!

Class on lecture days can range from 6:00PM-9:30PM (which for the most part is adhered to but you will have some classes that run late) and on clinical days can go from 5:30PM-10:00PM (but depending upon your Professor and location, can go until 11:00PM and with driving distance, you could be getting home quite late).

I can receive and read PM's but cannot respond to them yet.

got your pm. i guess i can't reply to it because i haven't thrown up 15 posts yet but i will be waiting to hear from you as to if and when you would be interested in meeting up.

Congratulations! Getting accepted is the first step. I dont have all the free time in the world but if your interested, maybe we could meet up one day on campus and I could show you the nursing lab and you can start the computer programs that will need to be done (videos and programs on the computers that assist you throughout the program). Let me know if that is something you would be interested in as I will more than likely still be on campus over the winter break so that I can study for my NCLEX. Sacrifice galore is what nursing school at our age is all about. I have 4 children now. Had 3 when I started the program and then had to leave for a semester because my wife had difficulties with her last pregnancy. Financial hardship is an understatement. With one income in the house, it has been more than rough (I am actually seeing a lawyer next week to avoid foreclosure on my house and file bankruptcy. Had a death in the family and a bank problem that led to a missed mortgage payment. Nothing but misery since then but hey, I have graduated and our monetary situation is going to improve greatly.) but we have kept our heads above water. I myself catch the most hell from my military friends. I am a former Army Ranger and never hear the end of the "Focker" jokes. They like to kid that "not only can he kill you with his bare hands, he can revivie you after the fact and start the torture all over again", lol. Anyway, let me know if you want to meet up and we can exchange contact info. BTW my name is Jeff

The NET and Accuplacer are 2 entirely different exams. The NET includes science and A&P whereas the Accuplacer is just Math and English. If you we're to ask, it is the english that gets most people because for some reason, today's high school graduates know spell and grammer check on their pc better than they actually know the english language. Math is math. You either know it or you dont. It wasnt hard at all on the accuplacer. I ahd been out of school for more than 10 years when I took the accuplacer. Only thing I did to prepare for it was a little brush up on my algrebra (I already had another degree and thus had already taken numerous english and writing courses.).

ok, as far as employment goes, after you complete level 1 (1st semester) you are qualified to work as a cna (certified nursing assistant). depending upon the facility that you are seeking to work at, they will grant you a waiver for the cna course and you will just have to take the exam for certification (it is extremely easy). during level 3 (3rd semester of nursing), you would apply for internships for the summer (if you started in the nursing day program, nursing internships really arent an option because you will be in school without a summer break in between levels 3 and 4. the night program starts in the fall and thus that is why you have the summer available to you for internships in between levels 3 and 4.). once you are in level 4 (semester 4), about midway in the semester, it is adviced that you would then get your resume together and start sending out letters of introduction to places that you would be interested in applying for employment after graduation. really, i think your one step way too far ahead of yourself with this question. you will learn alot more about this process, completing your resume, interviewing, and possible areas of interest, in level 4. spanish can always help (sure can't hurt) but it is not necessary. i took spanish a while back with the same logic. dont remember barely any of it (haha) but there are interpreters and interpreter services available in all medical settings anyway. your masters question, icu or any particular unit is necessarily essential. you have to remember, some people go straight through school, one after the other, without ever having even worked in a clinical setting. as far as what area you would be accepted in upon your graduation? that depends on the facility, their needs, and whether they are willing to train you or not. the professors will advise you that med-surg experience should be your first destination so that you can get your basics down and fine tune your assessment skills but again, it isnt necessary. they will train and orient you to whatever you are hired to work in (my wife came straight out of school and went straight into nice- neonatel icu, i will be going into or). you will find out that most people in the evening program are people with other degreees (i already had a business degree as well and decided to change careers). i may be 36 years old now but was nowhere near the oldest person in our class. have you aplied for and been accepted into the program yet? if so, when will you be starting?

sorry, lol guess at some point i maybe should have pointed out that i was a male. here is some info for you on the difference between intern and externships: an externship and internship are relatively the same but an externship can be an unpaid position. it is usually for the purpose of you learning (such as a doctors externship). an internship is normally done not only to fulfill your needs to learn but to fill a hospital needs as well. if you we're to work as an intern during the summer for instance, you would be working under the supervision of an rn and basically work in the capacity of an lpn. it provides the hospital with cheap staffing and provides you with an opportunity to learn while earning a few bucks (the pay is around $15-17 dollars an hour depending on your facility.) you are required to spend part of your 40 hours per week in instruction in the hospital but when you graduate, they are more likely to hire you since you completed their internship and now know the hospital. as for clinicals, the professors would not even tell the patient that you we're male or female. they would just ask them if they would mind having a student nurse for the evening. i never experienced a patient refusing me because i was a man. as long as you are professional in everything you do and say it doesn't make a difference. things we're rather dull in ob/maternity as we we're not permitted to do anything (understandable but a complete waste of time on mine and every other guys part in the program- doesn't make sense for a guy to be there if he can't assess but that was what they wanted from us). my graduating class actually has alot of men in it (all things considered). we will be graduating i think it is 9 men out of 60. considering that the entire nursing profession is about 93% female, the fact we are graduating 15% men is rather high.

As far as the job search goes, I am lucky enough to have a wife that has been a nurse for 20 years and I have offers within her facility already. No real search has been needed. Summer internsips can be applied for when you are entering level 3 so that you can participate during the summer. They are extremely competitive to get into as well so it is best to apply early. I am sure you will receive information on them when you complete level 2. As for the clinicals, I myself have been to Valley hospital, Hackensack hospital, Pascack Valley hospital (before it closed), St. Josephs hospital in Patterson and Christian Health Care. There are other facilities that are used as well but I only took part in the ones listed above.

i will be graduating next week and now am staring the joy of the hesi down as it is required for me to take the test before my school will authorize me for the nclex. trying right now to build up my 15 posts so i can get my hands on suzannne's tips. for me right now, i am not overly worried. i figure that i have gotten through the hard-part. i know what i know and have a strategy for studying that saw me through my program and besides, not that i want to but even if i fail the hesi, i can take it a million times and it has no bearing on my degree. i will have graduated anyway and know that when i do pass the hesi that for the most part, i wont have anything to worry about after that. something like 96% of people who pass the hesi go on to pass the nclex. i try to do everything with a positive attitude (i think that is what has gotten me this far in life ) and i look at the hesi as an opportunity to really find out what i know and what i need to focus on.

i will be graduating next week and now am staring the joy of the hesi down as it is required for me to take the test before my school will authorize me for the nclex. trying right now to build up my 15 posts so i can get my hands on suzannne's tips. for me right now, i am not overly worried. i figure that i have gotten through the hard-part. i know what i know and have a strategy for studying that saw me through my program and besides, not that i want to but even if i fail the hesi, i can take it a million times and it has no bearing on my degree. i will have graduated anyway and know that when i do pass the hesi that for the most part, i wont have anything to worry about after that. something like 96% of people who pass the hesi go on to pass the nclex. i try to do everything with a positive attitude (i think that is what has gotten me this far in life ) and i look at the hesi as an opportunity to really find out what i know and what i need to focus on.

Your accuplacer score should have a percentile ranking. When I got in, it took a 95% or better to be considered and due to the fact that so many had applied, there we're people turned away that scored higher than that.

Hello all. I am currently in the evening nursing program at Bergen Community College and also served as a past BCC President of the Student Nursing Association. I will be graduating next week but have no problem whatsoever answering any questions that I can. For those wondering about the Accuplacer exam.....it is not that hard. Basic math, algebra and english. What gets most people is the essay. Know how to write one (beginning, middle, and end summary with appropriate content in each- grammer and punctuation do count) and be prepared for any off the wall topic (mine was "If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why?"). The program is extremely competitive (when I enrolled, something like 800 people we're turned down) and is extremely grueling once you enter it. If anyone has any questions just feel free to ask.

Hello all. I am currently in the evening nursing program at Bergen Community College and also served as a past BCC President of the Student Nursing Association. I will be graduating next week but have no problem whatsoever answering any questions that I can. For those wondering about the Accuplacer exam.....it is not that hard. Basic algebra and english. What gets most people is the essay. Know how to write one (beginning, middle, and end summary with appropriate content in each- grammer and punctuation do count) and be prepared for any off the wall topic (mine was "If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be and why?"). The program is extremely competitive (when I enrolled, something like 800 people we're turned down) and is extremely grueling once you enter it. If anyone has any questions just feel free to ask.