mmt4

Thanks. I was kind of curious who would be in the class with me (as in what intended majors). Your info helps. I am taking chem 110 and Psc 101 (distance) this term. Four kids 12 and under and I am already tired every day without taking any classes, and my husband travels for work a lot (one of the reasons I decided against nursing). This should be interesting!

What Chem do you have to take? I decided against Nursing and am taking Chem 110 so I can apply to the CLS program and I have been trying to figure out who else has to take that class. Way back when I went to college the first time, the equivalent of that Chem 110-111 sequence was required as part of the pre-nursing track.

Definitely check the box indicating you are applying for a limited entry program. I think the credits coming from a known, in-state school will help you a lot. I had a bunch of old credits from out-of-state (and I would not have even submitted that transcript for eval except I needed the old Math and English, and a few of the core classes) and the transcript eval took the entire 10 wks, possibly more. I had to print out my DARS and read it a few times to fully understand what I was looking at. I think yours would go a LOT faster. I have to submit a new transfer credit eval request b/c one of my transcripts had a class in progress (I have no idea why considering I had already gotten my grade and my copy of the transcript had the grade on it) and I did one more class over this past summer that had not been completed. I should be submitting those in the next week or so - just waiting on the transcript to arrive before turning in the form. I will try to remember to come back and let you know how long it took.

Good luck to all of you - hope this week goes by quickly. And for anyone reading this but still needing to take pre-reqs next term for applying next year, the Spring 2011 schedule lookup is now available so you can start planning out your course selections. Priority Registration starts the 12th I think (I can register on the 15th)

mangoey - Once they have your unofficial transcripts they can look through them and let you know what else you might need. That was part of the telephone call I had with an advisor. The TEAS was pretty easy (considering you have taken college math, english, bio, A&P, etc.... probably not so easy for a new HS graduate). I'd review the general science section because it covers a broad spectrum of topics and while it is not high-level, if you have not taken something like earth science in YEARS, even the simple questions may stump you. But, because the TEAS is pretty easy, you don't want to screw it up. I bought the McGraw Hill study guide for Nursing entrance exams and used that to prep for it. I got a 94 overall score - I did it at a Pearson testing center and was able to work straight through the exam without waiting out each timed section and was done in an hour. Good luck with your application!

wow that sounds pretty painless. Are you taking it as a UNLV non-degree student? I'll have to check how difficult (or not) it is to get registered and take the class there vs. taking PSC 101 at CSN.

That is the whole class? I'm going to have to look at UNLVs schedule. I am likely still going to need NV constitution for my alternate plan and I was just going to take it at CSN distance ed next term. Would have taken it this term but for goodness sakes, they are taking forever to evaluate my transfer credit and I could not register without transfer credit for Eng 101. That is an interesting format. I assume you have to write a paper and turn it in by a certain date after the weekend class sessions?

My husband went to Town Square the other night and liked The Yard House (I think that is what it was called). So there are places off the strip that are fun. Town Square looks like a nice place to go hang out.

What is annoying about the strip ... #1 is the traffic. Don't go near the strip unless you have to. We got off at Tropicana and parked at NYNY which is right there at the exit and my husband was like "well that is as far as I ever want to drive on the strip to have to park to go to the strip". Las Vegas is a sprawling western city. Subdivisions and shopping centers abound. I have been here only 6 weeks so I can't give a full review but sprawling is a very good word for it. The school district has as many students as the entire city of Albuquerque had when I first moved there in 1992. It kind of reminds me of a much much bigger Albuquerque, but the culture is definitely different.

Wow lucky you guys. My transcript eval was logged as received on July 20th, and I am still waiting for my eval to be done. (I have a bachelor's degree and am not applying until spring 2011 for fall 2011 so maybe that is what is taking so long). At this point, all I care is that it is done before registration opens so I can register for the rest of my pre-requisite classes this spring.

I think with the cost of USN the applicant pool is substantially smaller than for CSN and NSC. I have a 3.73 and got a 94 on my TEAS and was pretty much told as long as I get my app in early in the rolling admissions cycle for the ABSN I was rather likely to get in. I don't think I am going to be able to do it though with their random clinical schedule. That may be off-putting to other people as well, further reducing the applicant pool. I really like the block system though. If I did not have kids I'd be considering it for sure. My husband is active duty military and getting a nanny to cover the random hours when he is away and regular daycare and afterschool care is closed would just bankrupt us. I just got a mailer from them about the open house and it was pretty tempting (the ABSN is 14 mos).

Hi 1mac - It was not a full interview. It was more of a screening at first - she wanted to know why I was interested in the program, how I felt about the online format for the didactic portion, etc.... Once I gave logical and intelligent answers (LOL) to the questions, she moved on to reviewing my transcripts with me and letting me know what else I needed to apply/enroll. She also answered my questions about the format/schedule and the clinical hours. I suggest if you are given the opportunity have them explain how they get clinical hours for their students. It sounded to me like it is difficult to get slots so they take what the hospitals can offer them (and remember nurses work 24 hours/7days), which makes it somewhat unpredictable for the students (I think you may get a month notice before your clinical block starts what the hours will be...I don't know if that is going to work for me at all unless I get a nanny, and I don't know if I want to pay for a nanny esp paying the tuition for the BSN on top of it.... I really like the block/hybrid format. I am applying to their Pharmacy program as well. PharmD is my first choice. I want to eventually work in epidemiology/public health so either way at some point after getting the health science degree (of nursing or Pharm or something else applicable) and working in the field, I will add an MPH to it. I just took the TEAS today at the pearson testing center downtown. I would suggest taking it at USN or another school if you can. It is more expensive to go to Pearson. I was trying to get in to take it before I moved to Las Vegas,and no schools where I lived before administered it, but there were no test dates available before I moved. If you do take it at Pearson downtown, parking is free on Saturday, and the test center is nice, air conditioned, and well set-up with carrels for each test-taker. I went to an 8am session and traffic was fairly light and parking was a snap in the garage attached to the building. The commute down to Henderson (Im going to live up on the base) is not going to be fun at all but I have been learning the commute to anything in Las Vegas is not quick and easy.

The first cohort is October. I know they are waiting for some approval for VA funding for their ABSN program b/c I mentioned using some GI Bill money to help offset tuition. They have four starts per year for the ABSN. What I have also learned is clinical hours are very sketchy as far as planning ahead. The hospital determines what is available so it could be really any shift. What I like about USN is the block format. I am actually applying to their PharmD (Pharmacy) program if my PCAT scores come back with a respectable number, but I am also being realistic. I have to live in Las Vegas so if I don't get into Pharm school, or cannot finance it (if you think their BSN is expensive, check out the tuition and fees for the Pharm D program), I have a back up plan. I cannot afford to have my heart set on any one program or specific health career.

thanks. Yeah I was thinking of part time as well. Four kids.... and I have to see what my husband's work schedule will be like when we get to LV this summer. We don't know how much travel his job will be (seriously, whether he will be gone 1 mo per year or 10-11 mos per year, we don't know!). All I know is it won't be deployments, just a lot of little trips here and there, but I don't know how much of his work can be done in the local area and whether he would be home at night and on the weekends. I guess I will know in the next few mos and I can get a clearer picture. I'd probably have to hire a nanny b/c of sick days and school holidays that don't match with the college calendar. I have talked to my husband about it all and we are discussing plans. I'm being flexible within limits - I have four years in LV to get done before we move again, likely to somewhere I won't have such extensive educational opportunities.

Way back when I was in LPN school (that one semester) we started our clinicals in a LTC caring for the residents who could not do anything for themselves at all, so turning q2h was the first thing we were told we had to be sure of. I still remember my instructor walking down the hall calling to us :"If its 10am, I want to see your residents turned facing the window" - the facility had it set up so the patients that needed turning q2h were all on the same "turn" so it was easier to determine if it had been done. I don't know if that is a common practice across facilities?

I am trying to figure out what the different programs have for their clinical hours. I know that certain areas, like community health. are going to have different hours than a regular hospital shift, but I am just trying to get a general idea of who has the 12 hr clinicals and who has the 8 hour clinicals, in general. I know that the 12 hrs shifts will better prepare me for working 12 hr shifts, but I also am going to have a difficult time, at the time in my life I will be in school, not being able to pick up my preschool aged child until 730 pm from daycare. Not that any centers would likely take him from 630am til 730pm anyway (IDK may have to add the cost of a nanny or home care provider who will do extended hours on to my student loans - I know I am going to have to shell out $$ to get 13 hours of care like that). My older kids could swing it getting off the bus and having my oldest hold down the fort with a neighbor next door in case of emergencies, but obviously a 13 yr old cannot pick up a 4 yr old from daycare and get him home. (and don't ask what I am going to do once I graduate b/c I am taking that challenge on once I get there!). So what I do know is USN does 7-7, in blocks so you actually do at least 2 of those 12 hour shifts per week, maybe 3?, during your clinical block, NSC accelerated does 7-7, CSN does 8 hr but its random chance whether you get morning or evening, and the part time CSN does Saturday (not sure if they are 8 or 12?). Any input? Thanks

Good luck! I thought there was another thread about USN on here that talked about interviews. You might try looking again - it did not have interview in the title but there was a discussion somewhere in the thread about USN interviews. I think I remember them talking about there being a few people (faculty, current student, and someone else?) and they got to tour the school as well. I think... I have a telephone advising "interview"(?) next week. I think its more of an appt? I have to give them my unofficial transcripts to review. Did you do one of these advising sessions? The man who set my appt told me to set aside one hour for it. I have no idea what is going to take up the entire hour as my transcripts are being faxed for review this week so they can look at them ahead of time. Any idea? Mine is for the new ABSN but I am not sure if I would prefer that or if I would rather do the 18 mo program. I am mostly hoping to find out what, if any, pre-reqs are left that they need, and the general format of the program (since it is part online and compressed I am assuming it is a little different from the 8-3pm M-F classroom hours of the 18 mo block program, though still retaining the block format).

Well, I am not in yet, but if you look at the curriculum you will see that you rotate through various settings as a student so you will probably spend time on medical and surgical floors, possibly do some basic skills at first in a nursing home, and you will also probably do clinicals in peds, OB (labor and delivery, postpartum, mother-baby...), mental health, possibly community health, and at the end (I am not sure if every school does this but a lot do) you can do a preceptorship in an area that interests you if you can get a slot - I assume if there are a lot of students that want the same area, you all probably will be competing for it. Once you are finished, it is up to you where you want to apply but the job market and how willing you are to be flexible or not will dictate where you end up working.

Hey guys I am doing a telephone "advising" interview - the appt where they go over your unofficial transcripts to give you an idea of what should transfer and what else you may need to take, and where you can ask questions about the program. This is not the actual program interview you do after submitting your application. The guy I talked to to set it up said it would take an hour. (this is after faxing them the unofficial transcripts the week prior). He made it sound like a hybrid of an interview and an advising appointment, but I was under the impression prior to his description of it that it was more of a personal informational appt to help plan out the year and the application process. Now I wonder if I am going to have some interview questions thrown at me (which seems odd just b/c I have not even applied yet). Have either of you done this and did it take you an hour? I don't have a whole lot of questions besides confirming the format of the program and the basic schedule, and I would assume it won't take long for them to tell me I need the NV constitution requirement and Eng 102 (and me to ask which CLEP exams count for that b/c I already have a BS and I would rather clep Eng102 than take it since it was waived by my undergraduate institution), and whether the rest of my credits are "young" enough to count. Thanks

Where I moved after college (my husband is in the Air Force) the hospital system in our small town used RNs to do the community health classes and outreach. There really was not a whole lot of opportunity there - where I live now, which is where I got my degree, there are 3 health systems, several non-profits like American Lung Association, a larger Red Cross, bigger health department, etc... I did not know you could apply to be a nutritionist at WIC without having a degree in nutrition or I would have tried that. That is probably a good start for someone with a health ed degree I tried to get any and all jobs related in the slightest to social services/community and public health/health sciences in general and the closest I got was I worked as a lifeguard for a couple of months, and worked filing records in a medical office as a temp for another couple of months. I had a nursing home offer me a spot in its on the job training course as a CNA, $6.25/hr to start. I thought about going back for a MSW and being a medical social worker but the cost/etc... was a bit prohibitive and I would not have been able to finish it anyway since we moved less than 2 yrs after we got there. I'd say you need a few things for a comm health degree to work: being in the right part of the country - I hear the west coast uses people with the certified health educator credential and health ed degree more than other regions who prefer RNs, doing co-op or internships in college and staying in that area to make use of of your networking contacts, and consider getting a Master's to help set yourself apart from other applicants. Good luck! I would say the degree is more focused on community health than you would get in a BSN program but the RN credential would have helped me considerably - I think it is more valuable than the comm health degree if you were to choose one or the other, but definitely a good combination if you have both.

Thanks for the inspiring words Jennifer. I left the pre-BSN track the first time in college to major in community health education (boy do I wish I had known back then the BSN was exactly what I really needed). Now I am considering going back for the BSN and eventually pursuing a MPH and working public and community health. I think I would like the school-age population the best, but really, the whole field of public health is interesting. At this point I really have zero interest in hospital nursing and have been doubting whether that would make me a "real" nurse or "worthy" of taking a spot in a BSN program. Your words are more helpful than you know.

no no...the accelerated is 14 mos not 18 mos. Its a new program. labs are in person. Only theory is online. You go to the lab for scheduled labs and to the campus for exams and presentations. Clinicals are, as usual, in local hospitals - according to gabby up there, St. Rose, though I am sure that could change depending on how often the contracts/agreements come up for revision. I assume b/c the theory is online they are cramming it into an overlap with the labs and possibly the clinicals. I have my pre-reqs done as far as what USN requires so that is not an issue at all. I think the overall tuition in 14 mo vs 18 mo is the same at USN.

is there any way you can schedule yourself not to work the night before clinical? This way you could get to bed by 830/900 and get up at 330 and get to the hospital at 5. maybe even a half-hour of prep, get up at 4. I think you should embrace the suck and get through these next six weeks however you can. A previous poster mentioned office jobs and I think that is great idea. Medical offices hire LPNs to work as medical assistants sometimes, and what they do is what you mentioned what you wanted to do. The pay will not be as good as LTC or hospital, but I am sure it will be better than what you could get if you did not finish. work for a while, then decide if you want to change careers. You may just be having some "real world is almost here" jitters.

I had a fellow classmate have the same exact problem happen after a long exam in Growth and Development Across the Life Span. She managed to catch herself about halfway to the floor b/c the desks were set up in columns so she was in an aisle between two lines of desks.

OK thanks for the info. I got an email back asking me for more info and a time to set up a (telephone) appt. I haven't yet responded b/c I am trying to figure out when I could talk to someone on the phone (my 4 kids are out of school for the summer), and, really, I was thinking more of next year's class than this year's, just to give me time to settle in to LV and build a support system for childcare, etc....(my husband is military). The price sounds higher than their 18-mo BSN but I would have to go check - they have tuition for the regular BSN on the website. I had kind of figured the clinicals would be 3 12 hour shifts per week just because I looked at the contact hours listed in the curriculum and most if not all of the clinical block hours are listed in multiples of 12. Do you know if they still do it as a pure block where when you are in clinical block, that is all you do, like in the regular program where it is sequential blocks, or do they overlap didactic/lab/clinical blocks? Hmm. Considering all of that I will have to weigh the 18-mo vs the 14 mo option. I am not in that big of a hurry to save 4 mos, but the online portion sounds appealing - I won't live as far away as you, but I will live up on Nellis AFB, which is at least 30 min, more like 45 min, from Henderson. Add in dropping kids off at daycare/school/etc...and the 14-mo hybrid is appealing, even if it means more compression and acceleration. You have given me some things to think about. Thanks. I am also planning on applying to their Pharm program (Pharm is my first choice, but I am also interested in Public Health, so BSN is my alternate). That is a shame they don't have an agreement with anything near you for clinicals. I think in the Pharm program, for P3 (third year) rotations, they can be done out-of-state.