akijitsu

Revolution, Let me mirror your (unspoken) frustration that our economy/scoiety does not allow one to move easily from one field to the other. I had an excellent job in the allied health field that was high in skill and most people would consider it "above" nursing (I wouldn't say that, but it did pay a lot more). Anyways, I worked during the day and got my ADN at night. I'm now working full time as an RN and part time in my old job. This part can be done. Here is your problem. When you come out of school, you will not really have the skills to work alone in a high acuity setting (Such as the ccrn type situations you would need to enter a CRNA progam). You will need at least a year of full time RN work just to be semi-autonomous (this is coming from someone with a LOT of high level experience). I don't think you could get someone to hire you part time as a new graduate into a critical care setting.

Do the instructions say to do it like that? (put in your essay on the analytical?). I'm sure it does not matter one way or the other, but I think this is actually a VERY old data entry for the GRE. There is a column to enter your % for that third category (analytical). This harkens back to 2001 and earlier when there were three scored sections and you could get a max score of 2400 (now its 1600). On each section you were scored 0-800 and got a percentile rank for each one. I know because at first I entered my old score, then tried to add my new one and it wouldn't let me. I had to delete the old one and replace it with the new one. I think we hear about interviews after the deadline...does anyone know if this is correct?

I am about to complete my application to Baylor. Did anyone notice the online Baylor app seems to be quite "old" The GRE portion asks you for a three part GRE score (GRE's haven't been scored on 3 parts since about 2001), and there is no room to put your written score (or whatever they call the essay). I can't recall what else seemed outdated but there were a few things... to those who applied to other schools, are all the online app's as lengthly as Baylors?

I would do as the earlier poster suggested, but, as soon as you are enrolled in nursing classes (anything that starts with your schools nursingprefix), even if it's just a required prereq, like nursing as a career, or pharmacology, I would look for a job as a student nurse. if you can afford to take the time to work while in school, student nurse would be great. you get practical experience, you are free to ask lots of questions, and if you are at a place that you like, more likely than not, they will hire you when you graduate.

Lilly, I couldn't agree more that an NCLEX first time pass rate of 60% is too low. In fact, I know someone who went from HCC to the school you speak of, and he said he didn't even have to crack a book to get a B. Meanwhile, he was doing all he could at HCC and wasn't even passing! From the statistics you mention, your school sounds like a good one. They don't loose very many people start to finish, AND they have an excellent first time pass rate! I'm sure you know what I mean when I say it that a school that accepts 100 qualified students (as an example), fails 90 of them, graduates ten, and then has a 90% first time nclex pass rate, is a really poor school! While not exact, there are lots of schools with the numbers similar to the ones mentioned above!

Lilly, Definetly be aware of the graduation rate, the nclex pass rate does not really tell you much. The BON standards are the same for all schools in Texas to retain accrediation, and that is an 80% first time pass rate for the NCLEX. This, unfourtunately, is the ONLY method the BON uses to evaulate schools and it is totally inadequate when used by itself. HCC, for the past 5 years, has been very close to 95% NCLEX first time pass, and they are graduating about 50% of their students. Some other schoools are graduating only 15% of their students and have about the same pass rate on the NCLEX, which to me indicates they are doing a poor job educating their students.

Midori, I am going to try and make the meeting. mike

Howdy all, Since my other forum didn't work, we can all meet up here to discuss our status. We are especially looking for info on how many didn't pass after the new test requirements were changed. Also, info you have on the next test day, etc, are welcomed. Get this thread going.

I'm graduating in a few days from a school here in Houston. I think the main reason they want HESI is to make sure you will pass NCLEX and they won't have wasted time on you. They may also use it as a scoring tool. If you are coming from out of state, you may want to take and pass the NCLEX, then apply for jobs.

Txgrl, I tried to pm you but your inbox is full.

The evening group, who has mostly full time workers, graduates about 1/3 of the group the first time through (if you fail a class, stay with it and repeat as needed! almost everyone who fails makes it through as long as they don't drop out). if you have a job that is inflexible, you will have a hard time, as many test and clinical sites start at 2pm. (yes that is the evening group). there are only limited weekend slots available. this semster, there were NO pediatric clinicals available in the evening, so you just had to do a day clinical. I'm sure it was hard for a lot of people who were working. many people leave their jobs and get jobs as student nurses at hospitals where they would like to get GN/RN jobs when they are done.

If you are thinking about applying until after you are done with pharm, you can go ahead and apply and they may take you for the fall after you pass pharm (if they have spots, they soemtimes still have openings at the end of the summer). go in to the office and talk to someone about the next hesi. there is a meeting you have to go to before they will talk to you, have you gone?

Yes, I'm sure you can get a job with no experience. Be sure to tell them you are either a nursing student or a pre-nursing student (depending on where you are at the time). If one or two places say no, keep looking. There are lots of openings, just convince them that you are good and you will stay there at least 2-3 years and then you hope to work there as an RN. mike

I was just wondering what everyone felt of their own study habits. What are they and do you think they help or hurt you? Unless I get up early to study, I can only go in spurts of 30-45 minutes, then I have to get up and do something else for 15-30 minutes (Water the plants, feed the dogs, etc). I'm not sure if this would be a detriment if I was in a harder program. In my classes now, a B is not too hard, but an A if awfully difficult. It takes about 5 hours of study time to get a B on each test. To get an A, I need to do about 20-25 hours per test AND get lucky (in that the test questions are well written, that they actually test over what was on the syllabus, etc). I've heard people say they study 8am-5pm straight in anesthesia school... who here studies that way?

another thing...if you think you are going to get in, go ahead and start the hep b series, they let you know you need to have it finished by a certain date, but they tell you too late since it takes 6 months or something like that.