lnzywilson

Don't freak out too much about the laptop situation... You only need the laptop for testing purposes where you install "Lockdown" browser that prevents cut/copy/paste functions within blackboard when you take online exams. The HESI/Evolve program is almost identical to that.

She lied... for the 08-09 school year we had 80 and we are down to 64 in the last term... About half of those dropped before class actually started and the other half either failed or dropped out after first term...

So last may, they bumped up the scholarship deadline without notifying people... so make sure everything is done and ready to go by the first day of orientation. Also have an interview outfit picked out- it will be a panel/group/individual interview.

Hey guys, I bought a mac after the first accelerated semester- they didn't come out with a HESI clause until second semester... and I just rent out a computer to take the HESI tests with. No big deal... they also have computer labs so you can take the exam on as well. Also, if anyone is going to park on campus at the SONHS, I have a parking pass that expires Aug 15, 2009 and would like to sell it to another nursing student. FYI, the summer term parking is about 7$ a day or 200$ total, and you have to buy a new pass when you get back from the Aug 1-27th break for the new school year. Please pass the word on to anyone interested in buying it or other nursing/housing stuff I have. I will be posting on craigslist I think...

The main thing to consider is how OHSU accepts students. I believe it's 70% GPA, and 30% essay and Letters of Rec. I didn't even apply to OHSU after being declined from Lane Community College's nursing program, and I was 1 term from graduating from OSU. LCC denied me based on my merit points, which are strongly affected by GPA. In June 2007, the average acceptance GPA to a community college was 3.92. On the other hand, I was accepted to an out of state accelerated program without interview. Go figure! Looking back, I had a pretty good experience at OSU, but it was hard competing for my grades against 500 students in anatomy compared to a 50 student community college class. If you are dead-set to get into ANY nursing school of your choice, I would attend community college to maximize your GPA.

They provided us with a HESI book free of charge. HESI is made by evolve/elsevier and most of the nursing books used are from the publisher evolve/elsevier/mosby because they provide the pre-made powerpoint lectures as well as the testbanks to accompany them. It's like a big monopoly within nursing schools. You are lucky if the teachers pre-read their exam/quizzes to check for mistakes. I had never heard of this before nursing school- but i guess it's common. That's why UM was close to losing their accreditation in 2007 because students got their hands on these materials. I hope since then teachers have smartened up and pull their questions from a variety of sources.

The summer session runs the full 10 weeks. Classes are considered summer I and summer II. Final exams are considered the HESI ( i didn't have a HESI for pathophysiology or for research) and they are given during the final week schedule. My final in patho was a comprehensive exam, and my final in research was a paper. Final exams are held in the Nursing Building, and during the time stated on the syllabus. I don't think they follow the university schedule, but I have also been too lazy to look it up. Last term, my peds HESI was on a saturday while the other HESI's were on the previous wednesday and then the following wednesday. For the combined classes (peds/OB and Psych/comm) there will be a HESI for each section (1 for peds, and 1 for OB).

As of right now, I don't know yet. Supposedly they are having open labs this semester to try and help us prepare... Chad is the person who basically taught us pathophysiology because I had Diego Deleon, and he would skip over 15 slides because he "didn't have enough time," and Chad might be giving a May refresher course to those who stay in Miami, but all the documents are posted under blackboard so I am not sure how beneficial it will be. Other students from other schools recommended the Kaplan course, and it offers a guarantee which makes it sound like a good program. For pathophysiology, we used Essentials of Pathophysiology, Porth 2ed. I think that book has changed since then. This book sucked, and I read it for the first 4 weeks and then stopped. For pharm we used Drug Therapy in Nursing, Aschenbrenner 3 ed. This book was good, but it listed every side effect for the drug in no particular order (you think they would list the most frequent first and then the life threatening ones, but i don't think they did). Plus, I had Kauschinger who gave very throrough lectures, so I only used it to read for quizzes on when she hadn't lectured over the material yet.

BH8844, Yes, I think 600$ a month is unreasonable for rent. Miami is expensive to live in, even in the ghetto. You have to evaluate how close to school you want to live, and how much time you want to spend in traffic. There are cheaper areas the further out you get, but it takes longer to drive, and rush hour can be a real pain. For me, I would rather pay more, and get to sleep that extra 30 minutes than to spend it in traffic. My typical summer day was a 4 day week, with an optional Friday open lab that I always went too. Classes went from 8-4, clinical was 630-230, and we had a 4hour simulation lab. Open lab was a typical 2 hour time slot, where most people stayed for 3-4 hours to try and relearn the material for the week. Winter term: 2 days of class, and 3 days of clinical. Classes were 2-3 hours each, simulation lab was 2 hours, and clinicals varied depending on site. MedSurg was 630-230, and Ped/OB was 630-1230. The reason to go so early is so you can get out early and beat the traffic, which never happens! Don’t get caught up on how my schedule is, and what to expect because it can change. I can tell you guys that your schedule will probably be different from ours, because our schedule was different from the last. Our simulation schedule is different this term (spring term) from last term due to feedback. We have a full day of simulation twice a semester instead of coming to campus after class for two hours 4-6 times a semester. You do not have class the same day you have clinical. You might have sim lab on the same day of class, but scheduling can vary next year. It’s not that the days are terribly long, it’s just that they take a lot out of you. You are always lacking sleep, and then running on adrenaline all day wears you out. Finding time to study takes discipline. The stress can get to you, I thought Fall term was the hardest (so far) because you had quizzes/tests/something due almost everyday in class, and then you had to do client sheets with research about the disease, etc. due for every clinical. Having a good computer is key, especially a lightweight computer! I thought a PDA was very helpful so I didn’t have to bring the big drugbook to clinical that never fits in a pocket. UM changed their policy midway through the year about their laptop requirements stating that their final exam HESI program wasn’t compatible with Mac’s, even though they were fine in the beginning of the year. Go figure. By the end of the school year, you will have learned a great deal of patience and not to let things stress you out because it’s pointless to get worked up about them. NOTE: Most all lectures are in powerpoint format, and if you prefer to takes notes by hand, I would invest in a laser printer that prints fast. UM doesn’t offer free printing anymore, they offer UPrints and that lasted one semester for me with all the printing I did. Keep track of your immunization records, CPR/BLS because they can expire without you realizing it! Tb testing is every year for nursing students (might switch to every 6 months, but who knows). My first term of books for summer was $700 after buying books through amazon.com and Half.com. What we did was get a group together to buy the bookstore mandatory bundle and then share the discs (the school didn’t know that the summer books cost over $1000 if you bought them new through the bookstore, so anyway to save money will help). If you have a MyUM account you can look up the classes: Summer: NUR 307- pharmacology NUR 304- fundamentals, Clinical for this class NUR 315- health assessment, SIM for this class NUR 314- pathophysiology (15 credits) Fall: NUR 308- Adult Health II, clinical for this class, SIM for this class (2-4 times throughout semester) NUR 400- Research, online class NUR 318- Peds/OB, clinical for peds, clinical for ob, SIM for peds, SIM for OB (2-4 times throughout semester) (19 credits) Spring: NUR 411- Adult Health III, clinical and SIM for this class NUR 417- Psych/Community, clinical for this class NUR 450- Role Transition, clinical for this class (21 credits)

Ali, Having a family will be very difficult for you. Especially a three year old. I hope you have a strong family network, because trying to leave school at school will be impossible. You run at a high stress level at all times, and trying to cook a family meal every night can be stressful. In the summer session, there are 4 classes total (15 credits), 1 clinical day, and 1-2 days of Simulation. Classes are 4 hours long with 15 minute breaks. In the fall, there are 3 classes (19 credits), but you might be able to drop NUR 400 Theory/Research if you can prove you have taken it un undergrad with a syllabus from the previous class. If you aren’t from S. Florida, you must know that this is a Spanish speaking culture. Take a refresher course. For your first term, refresh on pathophysiology. Buy nursing review books that help you with standardized questions. UM uses standardized questions for most of the tests, and for the HESI final. My reduced nursing tuition was $11,000 per semester ($33k total), the tuition is rising for the next accelerated group. I did not apply for the scholarship, as I do not plan to stay in florida. There was a 2 year commitment for our class, I believe there is a 3 year work commitment now. If you were from Florida, you could apply for the Succeed scholarship, and I believe there was one other $975 scholarship due in September. Other than that, there was very little I could apply for. I took out private loans through Sallie Mae and federal loans through Stafford. UM does not offer Perkins loans to post-bac students because they are given to freshman first. I wanted Perkins loans because there is a federal program that pays a certain amount off the loan every year if you are in the medical/teaching/police workforce. Remember that there is a cap of $23K in federal loans for undergrad, and the ABSN is an undergrad program. Because of my previous degree, I could only take out a certain amount before I had to go to a private loan. My loans will total $37K and I am charging a lot on my credit card. I had $5k saved up, and I went though that the first term. All I can say is SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!

UM is very well respected. But as will ALL accelerated programs (I have a friend who just finished at Regis University), there is a problem with administration, coordination, etc. You can apply without finishing all of your pre-reqs, but you had better be in your last semester of undergrad, have a killer essay, and outshine the med-school students who decided to do nursing.

I would recommend doing a 3-4 month summer lease if you are unsure where you want to live. That way, by the time your lease is up, you will have made some really close friends and can decide if you want to move...etc. Then you can decide to stay on your own, move out- whatever, because it's easy to like someone on email and then not like living with them. Alot of houses in Coral Gables (2 miles from UM, 4 miles from South Miami Hospital, 9-12 minutes from Jackson Memorial at 630am) have an Efficiency type setup where they converted their garage into a cottage and rent it out. The gables are very safe for the most part. If you do this, I would only recommend something that is separate from the house. The nightlife that isn't South Beach is located in Coconut Grove, and it can be very useful to have a place in that area (but you need to travel there first to see where the safer parts are, you will understand when you drive through it...you drive through a predominantly lower SES black neighborhood and then there is the bar/restaurants and on the other side are bmw's). I wouldn't recommend living closer to one hospital only, becuase UM doesn't guarantee locations to ANYONE. I am in my last semester, so any questions, feel free to ask me as well!

If you are going to live in S. Florida, you will need a car. There is no way around it if you live in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is the metro that runs by South Miami Hospital (part of Baptist Health), Doctors Hospital & University of Miami Hospital (University of Miami), and Jackson Memorial... but as a 24 yr old female, I would not feel safe hoping on the metro with the hours that RN's work. Biking isn't really an option with the hussle and bussle traffic. You will have to rule out safety VS cheap location. My advice would be to move down here, and get a 3-4 month 'semester-semester' lease to see the neighborhoods you like and to get the feel of everything.

I think I need to call them and get more information. When I looked at the "FY 2008 Awards by state" on that same main page http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/loanrepay.htm... Oregon was on the list of receiving funds so I assumed it would work. I hate reading through all the fine print! Thanks though. Hopefully they respond soon!

I am set to graduate May 2009 from an accelerated BSN program, and am moving back home (Eugene) and am hoping to find work at Riverbend, Peace Health. The postings that I saw on the website most have 1-year minimum experience, including the ICU interniship within Peace Health. Has anyone completed the Corvallis SHS Critical Care Internship and have opinions on it? Competitiveness? Working at Good Sam? Has anyone applied for the Nursing Education Loan Repayment (NELR), been accpeted and have a list of hospitals in the Oregon area that qualify? Anyone qualified for other forms of loan forgiveness programs in Eugene/Springfield/Corvallis? Anyone recieved sign-on bonuses in these areas as a new grad? If so what was the contract terms? Many thanks in advance, if anyone has questions about relocating to Miami I would be more than happy to help!