csulliva

In response to some of your questions: After the first year of the program (starting in the fall of the second year) I think the classes are designed to meet only one or two days/evenings a week to accommodate work schedules because most people work at least part time as an RN to gain experience. I think you have to fit your clinical times in there on your own and generally students take about 12 credits a semester after the first year. It is pretty much expected that you will work as an RN during this part of the program as it would be hard to be an NP without having first been an RN. The first 12 months are full time class and clinical with little time for anything else. - Do you get to pick which clinic time you would like (i.e. late or early)? Yes you get to pick your clinical sites, you have to work that out with your classmates. I'm not sure what the clinical schedule is for next year though, assuming it's the same as last year half of the class had days (7-3) at a nursing home and half had evenings (2-10) in inpatient rehab first semester. January break we all spent 80 hours on a med surg floor including some weekend shifts. Spring and Summer semesters may include weekends and/or evenings for things like labor & deliver and pediatrics where there is only one floor and they can't accommodate too many students at once. These are shorter rotations though, only for about a month so it's not bad to deal with weekends/evenings for such a short time. - In a general format, how does the weekly schedule during the first year breakdown? (i.e. Monday: class morning to afternoon, Tue: clinic hours starting at 7am, etc) All I can tell you is my experience from this year, but they work out clinical spots based on what is available from the floors at the hospital and they are always changing so it's likely it will not be the same next year. Some clinical rotations involve weekends and evenings, and I have no idea what the class schedules will be for the fall, they will probably be posted on the registrar's website by early April. We had classes all day M-W-F and clinicals T-Th first semester, then 80 hours clinical for 2 weeks over January break. Spring semester is different, less class time and clinical rotations that are shorter. Right now we have clinicals Mon and Tues (7-3:30) and classes all day Wednesday. This schedule changes at the end of March though and then clinicals change to some days some evenings, various days of the week. Summer is pretty full too with about two or three full days/evenings of clinicals and one or two days/evenings of classes. It definitely takes up a lot of time and there is not a whole lot of flexibility, but it's only like that the first year. Many people in our class have children, and all of us have lives outside of school, and we've made it through so far. As far as chances on the wait list, I really have no idea what to tell you. I think at least like 4 or 5 people from our class came from the wait list, but it all depends on how many people decline their acceptance offers. Good luck!

VTgirl82- I would recommend taking the online anatomy course and the biomedical science class if you have the option. I did this last year after considering taking them elsewhere, and biomedical science was definitely the best course I could have taken to prepare for the program. It was basically like anatomy for MEPNs, tailored for exactly what you will need for pathophys in the fall. Though I think a cadaver anatomy course would be awesome, it's usually not an option over the summer. Also, because it's fewer credits than most A&P courses, it works out to be cheaper tuition. Last year having taken the summer course it was also really nice to know some other MEPNs prior to the first day of classes in the fall. That's my opinion, but I think I would have struggled through pathophys if I had just taken physiology at a community college. I'm not sure who's teaching it this summer. For those of you on the waitlist, last year they pulled extensively from waitlisted candidates. If you haven't heard anything yet you could try calling the graduate college and they might have more info. Otherwise you could try calling the nursing department if the graduate college does not have info. Good luck, post if you have more questions about the program.

No problem, I hope you guys find out admissions decisions soon! My first semester clinicals were in inpatient rehab, evening shift. There are 14 in our class so 7 of us were in rehab and 7 were at a nursing home during day shift. I really liked rehab, the facility was really well run and most of the nursing staff were awesome teachers. My classmates at the nursing home had completely different experiences. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages, but if I had to choose a site again, I would definitely choose rehab over the nursing home (I think most of our class would agree on this choice). For the pre-licensure year (first year) all of the clinical placements are taken care of, and most are in Burlington at Fletcher Allen, except for possibly the community health rotation. We just had a meeting yesterday going over what the next 2.5 years hold for us, and as far as I can tell, it is up to you if you want to pursue a clinical rotation somewhere outside of the area. The department of nursing needs to set it up for you for insurance reasons and some locations may not work out, but I don't think it is a problem finding clinical placements for the graduate level clinicals because you work directly with an APRN preceptor, not under a clinical faculty member. There are not really any grants or TA/RA positions available the first year of the program but they generally will allow you to take enough federal loans to live on for the year. You can check the VSAC website for more info about possible scholarships etc. There may be more opportunity for aid after the first year though once you are actually enrolled in the APRN portion of the program. This reminds me I need to fill out my FAFSA and look into this all for next year, thanks! What I like best about the program: for the most part the nursing faculty at UVM have been really great. I also love that we get so much clinical time right from the start. Things that could use improvement: there seemed to be a general lack of organization about what we needed from the start. Little things like not having a designated clinical uniform to order, etc. Hopefully they have these things worked out a little bit more for next year's class. We ended up choosing maroon scrubs. Clinical hours in the first year... lets see, you get two 8 hour shifts per week the first semester starting at the end of September going until early December, plus we had 2 hours of post conference each week. Also you spend the first 5 weeks or so in the lab learning what to do before you get to your clinical site. Then you do 80 hours on a med-surg floor during January break. Two 8 hour shifts a week for the spring semester, and this summer we still have to complete psych, peds and community health which I think are three 8 hour shifts per week for about one month each. Clinical faculty to student ratio for our class was 1:7 because there are 14 of us. I think they may take 16 next year so it may be 1:8 for next year. Hope that was helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Hey UVM applicants, I'm in my second semester of the MEPN program this year. I was accepted last year in early February. I think letters went out at the end of last week to this years applicants. A lot of our class was accepted off the wait list (some even as late as August) so if you get wait listed don't think it's the end of the process. There is a lack of info about the program available on the website. Overall I'm really happy with the program. It's still new so there are inevitable bugs to be worked out, but our class has tried to put together a list of useful info for the next class... hopefully it makes it easier. If you have specific questions post them here and I'll do my best to check back. One thing about being a MEPN... free time is scarce! Good luck :)

Hi Michelle, I live in Montpelier so I'll be commuting to Burlington for the program. I've been up here for about 4 years now and I love living in VT, I actually lived in Manhattan prior to moving to VT (I really miss the bagels). Burlington is a great city to live in and there is also a pretty good bus system if you were thinking of living outside the city. Let me know if you have specific questions about neighborhoods or towns you were looking into. Colleen

Hi Michelle, I'm going to be one of your classmates at UVM! Looking forward to meeting you. Colleen

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I got accepted to UVM's MEPN program and plan to attend. Anyone else out there decide on UVM? I'm completely switching careers with this move to become an NP but I'm really excited about it. I'd love to hear from anyone else in the same boat. Thanks!