briang30

Hi 42Nurse, Are you applying to UMASS Worcester? I am graduating from there this spring. If the process hasn't changed since I applied, they could easily interview out into March and April, depending on the quality of the applicants. Hope this is somewhat encouraging.

It's part of the job.

JTN, You probably have more healthcare experience than most applicants. My experience consisted of 3 months of volunteer experience in a hospital. Now, after completing the first year, I have job offer as a per-diem nurse at my internship site. You should be fine. Like Jalin said, focus on your application and essays. Why do you want to be an NP? Think about any unique experiences in your personal or professional life that put you down this path. If you get an interview, they are pretty straight forward. I didn't find mine to be intimidating in the least. Also, don't forget to study for your GREs. There is not formal cut off, but shoot for at least 1000. Brian

Yes, it is a requirement for this program that you have a BS or BA in some subject, obviously not nursing.

Congratulations everyone. Labs are every other Thursday. Days without classes are not necessarily "off". Expect to be reading and studying most weekend and evenings. That being said, do take time for yourself or you will burnout very quickly. Someone in the admissions office may be able to put you on the right track. I know that several of my classmates live with medical students, so there is definitely some kind of resource out there. If you happen to be on campus, people often post ads for roommates and rentals on some of the bulletin boards on the first floor of the school.

Congratulations on your acceptance. You are basically in class 7 - 8 hours twice a week, including 1 - 2hours for breaks. Clinicals are from 6:30 - 2:30, but you're typically on the floor only from 7 - 12:30, depending on your instructor. You may get our 10 or 15 minutes late, but you can pretty much count on getting out on time. Days and times may change for next year, based on feedback from current students and the availability of faculty. There are some other posts, maybe in different threads, with more specific details. If you can't find them, let me know and I will be happy to fill you in. The material learned during the first year is the equivalent of the last two years of an undergraduate nursing curriculum squeezed into one year. It's not that it's hard, it's a lot of material. So the amount of time you spend studying depends on your learning and studying style, whether you want to pass or get straight A's, and how much time you have available. After you get a few exams under your belt, you'll have a better idea of how much time you need to spend studying. However much time that is, leave some time for yourself and/or your family. It's healthy. There is not a lot of paper writing the first year. Maybe one 10 - 15 page paper each semester and a few 2 - 3 page papers. Most of the content comes from data you collect during your clinical rotations. The school should send out a textbook list in July. I suggest buying them online, much less expensive than buying them from the book store. You may also want to ask if any student are selling their textbooks, many do. Hopefully this does not come across as condescending, because it's not meant that way: I completely understand your desire to understand the workload for next year, but it's March. There will be plenty of time to stress out in the fall. Enjoy the time you have now with your family. If you have the time, you may want to go to another info session. There are usually 1 or 2 first year students there. Please also feel free to write if you have any other burning questions.

Congratulations JB. See you in the fall

Enjoy the tour. You may be there while the 2nd year students are there for their Advanced Assessment class. You definitely passed through a checkpoint, not everyone gets an interview. Just be yourself. Someone else recently posted some tips on interviewing, good advice. Best of luck.

To answer a few of the UMASS-Worcester questions: UMASS GEP accepts 32 students per class. Classes start August 16th this year, and you will be in clinicals by the first week of September, 2 days a week. Two more days a week in class, and lab every other week. Your clinical location depends on which class you are doing clincials for. Each lecture class has a corresponding clinical class. Most of the clinicals are in the Worcester area, UMASS University and Memorial. There's a rotation in Milford and one in Marlborough. A few others as well, but not everyone goes to every location. There's an info session tomorrow night (Thursday) from 5:30 - 7:30 if people have more questions. The professors and a few students will be there.

Hi ilovemountains, Congrats on your acceptance to UMASS Worcester. I'm in my first year there. If you have questions about the program that haven't already been answered, feel free to ask!!

UMASS Worcester has been interviewing candidates. It's rolling admission, so they let people know anytime between December and April, depending on the number and quality of applicants. It probably can't hurt to call or email if you haven't heard yet.

I would start by looking at the hospitals where you did your student nursing. More specifically, the floors where you worked. They know how competent you are and if one or two of the nurses remember you, they may be able to convince the hiring manager that you (hopefully) know your stuff and should wave the "experienced nurses only" requirement. If you had a chance to meet the nursing manager, even better. Along a similar, path I would try reaching out to alumni of your program. Although they may not know you personally, they may be able to offer you tips on how to navigate the system. If they do good work, the nursing manager may be more flexible on the experience requirement when hiring new grads from the same program. Just some thoughts...

Can't you also ask the doctor if you can cut the patch in half?

I checked out Findercheapers.com yesterday. A huge help, chopped another $150 off my total in much less time than if I had done all of the searches on my own. Thanks!

Spreadsheet is the way to go. I would also make sure you have a column for when each item is due and a column where you can check off that you have completed or submitted that requirement. On my computer, I created a nursing directory. In that directory I kept my master spreadsheet and other documents. I made a separate directory within the nursing directory for each school I applied to. If you are going to be looking for scholarships and grants, I would use the same methodology to track those as well.

We just recevied our book list for the fall semester of GEP 2009. There are a lot of books that are recommended but not required. Of the people who have been through the first year, are there any recommended books that you found not to be useful, or did not need at all. Trying to whittle down how much I spend on books this semester. Thanks.

Thanks for the tip, I will check out some of those other sites.

I just got my book list for my first semester of a direct entry program. The list price for all of the books (required and recommended) is $1,100. Being new to nursing, it's hard to tell which of the recommended books are really needed, and which are just nice to have. Just going to Amazon.com, I got down to $860. Fortunately, it looks like a lot of these books willl be used in the spring semester and beyond. I am going to try to buy some used to save more. I feel your pain!

I just bought a pair of Dansko Sawyers. Highly recommended by the uniform store where I bought them. They are slip-ons and come with arch support that is removable if you want to use your own. So far, so good.

Hi Lauren, I have an Electrical Engineering degree and an MBA. I worked as an engineer and in several hi-tech marketing positions. My GPA was over 3.0 and I broke 1000 on my GREs. I also volunteered in an emergency department for a few months before and during my application. However, I wouldn't stress too much on what your major was or was not, or what your work experiences have been. The program is looking for people from a variety of backgrounds who can draw upon their unique life experiences to benefit them and their patients in their new career. Be honest with yourself and in your application, and you will do fine. If you can, I strongly suggest that you go to an information session at the school. You can check the school's website for when the next one is. Good luck! Brian

I was 33 when I decided to switch careers and started taking pre-reqs. I just started my last pre-req. I will be 35 next week and starting a 3 year direct entry MSN/NP program in August. I do know that a 51-year old accoubtant was also accepted to my program.

Thanks for your thoughts. It is encouraging that the faculty has an open mind and listens to the class' concerns. Is that an accurate statement? Enjoy your break.

It was a few things, some of which have to do more with my situation than the school itself: I applied to UMass ahead of the deadline and was accepted in December. They only give you 2 weeks from your acceptance letter to accept. MGH does not send out acceptances until April. I suppose I could have paid my deposit and waited to see what would happen with MGH. At the time I was working and planning to work through most of the summer. I was not sure if I would have been able to complete all of my pre-reqs in time for MGH, I did not know if I would be able to place out of any. Probably could have done it if I really wanted to. MGH also costs almost twice as much as UMass. Big reason. I live in Natick, so commuting into Charlestown would have been tough. Getting to Shrewsbury and Worcester means I just drive down rt 9. When I met the professors at the UMass info session, they seemed to be more passionate about the school than the professors at MGH. UMass has a smaller class size, which I hope will translate into more attention from the instructors, which is probably extremely important in a direct entry pathway. Don't know if any of these reasons will help you make your decision, but that's how I made mine. Feel free to ping me with any other questions.

Congrats Bitizi. I will be attending UMass this fall as well, but for the acute care track. The only information I received about financial aid was a letter directing me to their website: http://umassmed.edu/financialaid/index.aspx, but I was accepted in December, so maybe it's a different process at this point. You are responsible for filling out and submitting the forms on your own if you haven't already. You might want to consider getting a head start on the forms now. If you have any questions, the people at the financial aid office are very nice and extremtely helpful

Hi all, I am starting this fall, 2009, in the Acute Care track. I am interested in hearing how the program has met or has failed to met your expectations. Is there any preparation you recommend ahead of classes starting on August 10th? Thanks.