YBklynRN

I have one or two printed scrub tops that bought and can't use and don't know what to do with them. If you are interested and live near NYC, let me know.

I know the feeling, I didn't pass my first NCLEX either, but passed on my 2nd try with 85 questions after reviewing material I did not go over the 1st time around. (see my reply to mellee in "trying to prepare to test for 3rd time..." ) It is tough, but take some time off for grieving (I took 2 wks off and it helped) before you hit the books again. BTW, I only used Kaplan NCLEX Review (main source for studying) and Lippincott (just to check on my weak content areas). Good luck!!

I took the NCLEX 2 times: first on September, and second time on November. The first time I stayed the whole 6 hrs and answered 168 questions. I remember it being tough and me not having the slightest clue for 50% or more of the answers. Some questions, I did not even understand what they were asking me!!! The second time around, I passed with about 85 questions in about 2 1/2 hrs (I was trying not to look at the counter so I would not get distracted by how many questions I had answered and still had to answer). I walked out of the exam feeling these set of NCLEX questions were easier than my toughest practice questions and that I had done well, but did not want to get my hopes too high though (just to be on the safe side). I think these NCLEX questions were equally as tough as the first time around (I may have gotten even more tougher this time because I was answering them right), but I think I this time I was better prepared to answer them because I reviewed material that I did not review the first time around. Our school included the NCLEX preparation course from Kaplan. I know it co$t$ "an arm and a leg" and by no means am I trying to advertise for them, but I felt reviewing their toughest set of questions helped me pass my NCLEX the 2nd time around. It really made a difference! The thing about Kaplan is that it gives you really tricky questions filled with facts that you might/might have not learned in nursing school or in your practical experience, and sometimes these are the deciding factors in helping you answer some of the tricky questions. Some of these facts sometimes makes you wonder: "And how am I supposed to know this???" but I guess that is why they give it to you, so that if you did not know that before, NOW YOU KNOW! Kaplan might also give you similar questions with similar multiple choice answers, but there might be one differential factor that might change the outcome of the question. In other words, it makes you analyze the reason for choosing a specific answer and forces you to read the question reeeaaally carefully! The week before my 2nd NCLEX, I reviewed the questions I had the hardest time with or did not understand and the material that I felt weak on. I think this was crucial to help keep things fresh in my mind. They tell you stop reviewing the night or days before the exam, but for me it ALWAYS help to review up to the last minute (I even reviewed stuff the morning of the exam!) but that works for me and I do not suggest others doing it if it does not work for you. Anyway, I hope this helps. I know it is a tough exam, and each time you fail it takes something away from you. You feel lousy, you can't concentrate, and it becomes very difficult to study each time around because you no longer have the desire to, but have faith. Keep your chin up and your hopes high. You will find a way to pass!!

Before taking pharmacology and pathophysiology, it would be a good idea to check with the schools you are interested in whether they will accept the credits from another school. Sometimes they compare the syllabus from their program to other programs, and if they are comparable, they might accept the credits, other schools might be more strict. If you have the time and the money, I think it would be a good idea to take the missing pre-requisites for the other schools you are interested in so you can apply to them. For ONLINE BSN programs, check Stonybrook in NY. I met an NP who did their online program but do not remember much of what he said about it. I think he did both BSN and Masters with them. He did not complained, but at the same time I did not ask much about the program. The only thing about online programs is that you are detached from other more experienced people, so unless you have access to RNs who can share their experiences and explain things to you, it might not be as good in terms of gaining insight into nursing. But then again, you can just try to network more with nurses in clinicals or online (or at hospitals). As for NJCU, "214 people inquired" I think the key word is inquired as opposed to applied. For $27,000 a year, it's worth the shot. NYU and I think Columbia have accelerated RN programs if you are willing to deal with the high co$t$. Have you considered Drexel University in Philadelphia? Their accelerated program is only 11 months and I think their tuition for the program is about $27,000 too. I am not sure if they will let you take less classes. Call and ask them. Yes, things are rough, but they will get rougher once you start your program because this takes a lot of time and energy from you. Nursing school in general is very tough because of the overwhelming amount of info you have to learn AND RETAIN for use later on, and because of all the written assignments (not only papers, but care plans and school projects) that take precious time away from studying (and sleeping, above all , but when you enter an accelerated program, this becomes more intense. I found that I really liked what I was learning (at least most of it) so I did not mind sacrificing my time (also my beauty sleep and any vestige of social life I had) doing this. (Would you believe me if I told you at times I enjoyed reading my textbooks? :) I just hated taking exams Hopefully it will pay off. :hrnsmlys: If you feel the same when you open your nursing textbooks, I say do it and keep trying. Go to any hospital and talk to nurses to get some insight into the field. If you like what you read and hear from nurses, keep trying, don't give up!

I am not sure if you knew this before, but in this program you: 1- will be sitting in with about 150+ other students (maybe even more than 200?) in each lecture class which are power-point led. 2- will be mixed with traditional students, in which case you will obviously be at a disadvantage because you will have less hours of sleep and more work to do (because you are taking 5 classes, as opposed to 4 or less). This might affect your GPA (for obvious reasons), so be prepared to put in a lot of hours in school work. 3- I heard it is difficult to switch to other nursing programs, so do your research and decide. I do not know much about how their MSN program, so I cannot advise you there. Hunter (and BMCC) are supposed to have pretty good programs, but it is extremely competitive (cheap and good, how can you beat that?) because they only have a limited number of seats (hunter has less than 80 seats, I think) and they require that you take one or two semesters there before you apply to their nursing program, so if you did not do that, you can forget about them. They also have a high GPA requirement that changes based on the applicants for that semester you are applying, but my guess is that it should range from 3.5 to 4.0. Well, at least this was the case about 3 years ago. I tried to enter Hunter and BMCC, but my GPA was not high enough to meet these requirements, and I did not take any classes in Hunter before trying to their nursing program because the classes I needed (pre-requisites for nursing) were always full. About the debt after school, I guess it might depend on the hospital and when you apply. I have not heard of any hospital in NYC doing this, so I am not sure if that even exists here, but for those who do, I think you might have to apply before graduation. Given the current market conditions (recession??) and the many existing nursing programs in NYC from which students are graduating, the job market for nurses is starting to get saturated with new grads, and New York is becoming a very competitive market place for NEW nurses. If you are planning to get work in more needy states, their hospitals might be able to offer you assistance repaying your loans. As for the money, this is something that can be taken care by federal and private loans, unless you think you might enter into financial difficulty during your nursing program and have to drop off from the program in which case you might be able to work it out with the lender. You can always try to apply for scholarships to lessen your tuition costs. Hope this helps. These comments are based on my own experience, but maybe others might have something different to say. Good luck in your studies!!