bowlofsurreal

I totally understand and like all the other posters feel your pain. My program also has a 85% B and a 93% A. Our exams are 50 questions, so to get an A you have to miss 3 or less out of the 50 questions answered. It's painful, and as an A student coming into Nursing school, grappling with the potential for an 8 unit B on my transcript, definitely stings. I'm only 6 weeks into the first semester and am really trying to let go of the GPA anxiety, but still am studying like a demon to try for the A. I guess as the semester goes on I will either see how unrealistic it is for me, or see the level of work it is going to take to get there... good luck to you and hang in there

I can totally relate! Also, not as bad as my first day and me calling my clinical instructor in to listen to my patient's lungs because I thought I heard something adventitious. (I was hearing her bowel sounds because I was a bit low on her back.) :)

Yeah, I'm not messing around about those codes! So much more to deal with than chasing down books or codes. I ordered my books last week. Just waiting for financial aid to kick in... Now that we have our first reading assignments I wish I had my books now! :) I did order NUR 150 and 135 books and a study guide for 111 through amazon (as well as some NCLEX rationale books). They are having a promotion where they give students free prime membership for a year (just need to sign up using your school email account). Prime lets you get free 2 day shipping. I am a amazon junky and already paid for prime, which they refunded to me once I signed up as a student.

I did this for this semesters classes. I clicked the button at 10:01 (got my classes), by 10:05 the classes I wanted were filled. Craziness! Thanks again for all your tips! Did you happen to take Medical Spanish? I'm thinking of taking it and it sounds like I might be able to use it a bit at Culmore.

Hi, I start the RN program at NOVA this fall. The first semester the staff assigned my clinical rotations--after this semester I will choose my sites based on preferences (day, time, clinical site). The first year the clinicals are 1 day a week and the second year you can have one 14 hour shift or two 7 hour shifts. I live in Arlington and this first semester I have a rotation in Manassas for 4 weeks, another in Reston, and the final one is in Falls Church. I have a list of locations for this semester, but I don't think it is a complete list of all the clinical sites used but I will post it here for you to give you some idea: Culmore Network Clinic Franconia Family Resource Center Greenspring Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Inova Fairfax Inova Mt. Vernon Inova Commonwealth Center Loudon Free Clinic Manassas Community Network Clinic Manassas Long Term Care Facility Prince William Hospital Reston Hospital Virginia Hospital Center Hope this helps and Good luck! :)

I love the idea of this bottle, but am always worried about the reusable straw. Do you put it in the dishwasher? how often do you clean it?

I start at the end of August. We have a skills lab once a week the entire semester. The first four weeks we are there for 3 hours a week, after that we go to 2 hours a week and start clinicals.

My program only allows 1 set of stud earrings, too and that isn't just at clinical. The expectation is that in lab we dress the same as if we were at the clinical site.

Thank you!! My prime was almost up, great not to have to pay that $79 for a year.

I took Pharmacology online last semester as I wanted to have all my program corequisites done prior to starting my program in August to lighten my load so I can continue to work. I found Pharmacology somewhat difficult because a lot of the names of drugs aren't named in a way that elicits an association with what the drug is treating. In addition, it was a bit of information overload. I got in the A in the class but I worked pretty hard to get it. I am a pretty independent learner, and often prefer not to have classes with lectures because I often don't need them if new non-book material isn't presented. With Pharmacology however, I sometimes wished I had the classroom to ask more questions, or have lecture to reinforce drug classes and disease associations. It is also the only class that I wish I would have waited on to have some connection to actual clinical practice (I think working with patients would have reinforced a lot of the common drugs). Good Luck with whatever you decide! I think it comes down to what kind of learner you are and how heavy of load you have with other responsibilities.

I was in the second orientation :) And as far as the codes they put the fear of god of me. I think the book rep spoke longer than anyone else as we all had tons of questions about the books (all of us trying to figure out a way around the required package). I NEVER buy straight from the bookstore, EVER, but am considering it this time. I am thinking I might just suck it up and buy them all via the campus bookstore because it seems there is a lot of electronic content we are going to need for simulations, lab, etc. as well as test prep. I don't want to buy blind, or hassle with getting the wrong codes (and having to re buy) or buying everything piecemeal. I'm stressed enough over finding the right bookbag :) Plus, we won't have a complete list of what we need until we get our syllabus and I believe we have to come to NUR 111 with some reading completed. I don't want to start the first day behind. My understanding is we are buying almost all of our nursing books this semester (someone said 95% of the books), and that is the only thing that is making me feel a little better in the face of sticker shock. And I'm beyond excited for the first day of classes, too. (Though a bit overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, and everything we need to buy and the life changes coming up). I am trying to figure out how to get organized now so I am not overwhelmed. I had CPR on campus today and spoke briefly to a wiped out looking first semester nursing student who expressed complete exhaustion, lots of stress, and difficulty getting all the reading done (gulp).

Flames, Thanks again for being a resource for us! Can I ask you a couple more questions? --Did you have to take HESI every semester? I have seen some programs on allnurses require a minimum score each semester to move on, and some require a minimum score to graduate despite class performance. Do you know what NVCC requires? --What recommended texts did you get besides NCLEX review books? THe bookstore has about 10 listed ranging from study guides to Davis Lab Results, etc. was wondering what you found useful. --How do you feel having an ADN degree vs BSN? Do you think it is any issue at all? thanks!

Thanks for the info, Flames! You are the third person I have seen in the past couples days mention to get Saunders right away. I was just looking at it on Amazon last night and am now definitely going to purchase it. Do you have any other study tips/suggestions for study aids? As far as the preceptorships, are those paid or unpaid and are they in specialty areas? thanks again for your info! Kris

Hey Guys, I got my letter today!! I'm super excited, was so afraid as I didn't get into the accelerated program in April and when I saw another thin envelope in my mailbox my heart dropped.... As far as the link on blackboard: the letter clearly says not everyone will see this link yet--so don't take this as an indicator that you are not in the program! They are currently setting up the online orientation board and technically (according to my acceptance letter) it won't be available for a week or two. We will receive email notification when we are to access the site. In terms of stats, I don't think mine will be helpful indicator of anything, but I will share as someone asked. I have a 3.9 cumulative, scored over 90 on all sections of the TEAS, don't have another degree and have all the co-requisites finished. I know someone else who has the link on Blackboard (still waiting on her letter) who has a 3.4 and all the co-reqs finished as well. I also know last year they took almost everyone who applied including foreign students, and 2 from MD, but this year they had a ton more applications for 150 ish spots. I really think the nursing dept needs to publish these stats somewhere because I feel like the only way to get this info is through the grapevine which may or may not be very accurate and having this information (at least for me) would have been helpful in making decisions about other schools to apply to, etc. Hope this was helpful in some way? Good luck to everyone! and I hope to see more celebratory replies re: the arrival of those letters! Kris

I'm sorry to hear about how you are struggling! I am hoping to start an ADN RN program in the fall (am waiting to hear back any day now) and seeing how much folks are struggling to find a job post graduation is disheartening! I wish you the best and hope you find something soon.