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I was reading back through the recent posts and just wanted to comment for what its worth. I went to an information meeting with you know who (can't post names but the same person everyone else speaks with in the nursing office) months before I applied to the program and was told directly the summer 2010 nights/weekends would be at Deerwood. Others were given the same information. Upon accepting my seat in the program, I was shocked at orientation to discover our group would be at north campus. I guess my point is you cannot believe ANYTHING you hear on this website, or from FSCJ, even straight from the nursing office. They are less than helpful with information and WILL NOT give you info (for instance saying the letters won't be mailed until a particular date when they know for a fact they went out in yesterday's mail, etc...). I'm not sure why this is the case, but its how it is. Don't expect to be able to plan for anything in the program- you have to plan on being very flexible and go with the flow or it will be a very frustrating 16 months for you. I'm finishing up term 2 and have slowly learned this the hard way! :) Best of luck to everyone, try not to get too caught up in what everyone is saying and just take everything you hear with a grain of salt. :)

The only grades that matter are your pre-reqs for the nursing program. If you failed a history class, it won't matter one bit. I failed an accounting class which lowered my GPA but it didn't matter since the nursing department only looks at the grades from your pre-reqs needed to get into the program.

I'm 99% sure it was multiple choice. We've taken so many tests since then it scares me to say for sure. I know the dosage calc was NOT multiple choice.

I'm pretty sure that was the number of questions last term. It wasn't hard- very basic med term. You guys didn't have to take it on the first day? Lucky you! :)

I think you can pretty much wear what you want, but totally agree it is FREEZING in the classrooms!!

They both work- it doesn't matter since they do go in the front pockets of your uniform top. (I think one girl put hers in her pant pocket)

I had a million questions too! For the record, it does seem to change from semester to semester, but at least for us, we were on the 7th floor. You go directly to the floor to get your assignment- it is posted at the nurses' station. (You will learn all of this during orientation before clinicals). The evening classes usually ran pretty close to the full 3 hours- more than once we got out late in one of our classes, but sometimes finished early in others. You get a lot of breaks- almost every hour for 5-10 mins, so it goes by fast really. Also, pharm & concepts are hybrid, so you don't have class every week. Its not 50/50 though, so you are in class more nights than you're not, but the nights you do have off are a HUGE break! Its so nice to have a night off every now and then! The care plans are tough to get used to. Much of it depends on your patient and how many meds you have. That part takes the longest. The first night of care plans I think most of us were up 1/2 the night. It got easier after that, but I think the first week or two it was a 6 hour ordeal. By the end I could do it in under 2 hours. Obviously this varies from person to person, but the consensus the first day of clinicals that most people didn't get more than 2-3 hours of sleep. The first week, we were paired up two students to 1 patient. After that, we had our own patients but were paired up on paper so that if we needed assistance, we had a partner to help us. Its basically getting comfortable touching the patient, speaking with them and doing a full assessment. LOTS of bed baths, linen changes, water/ice fetching, etc... You will pass medications, give injections, possibly start an IV. My best advice for the first term in the hospital is to get comfortable touching people, cleaning them, get used to poop, look for opportunities to help the nurses, observe them, learn from them. I got to start an IV because I asked "Do you have anything exciting we can do before we leave today?" and she said "Want to start an IV?" Don't be timid, try to keep in mind the only way you will learn these skills is by doing them, and take every opportunity possible to do them! Most of the time the things we did wasn't always even on our patient- we would follow the nurse and get to help with other patients. Also, we learned A LOT from the ACPs on the floor. They were very helpful in giving us a heads up about our patients and how to move them, things to be aware of with them, etc...I have other advice about your instructor too- I am pretty sure you have the same one. She is wonderful, but you can't ask dumb questions, you need to read the syllabus and course calendar and pay attention to the things she says because she is not nice when you ask something that could have been answered by looking at the schedule or paying better attention to her. Hmmm... not sure what else to say. If you have any other questions, ask away! :)

If you have the same professor I had this term in nights, with clinicals at Baptist downtown, she had our assignments ready at 12pm. I don't think it will be any earlier.

It has nothing to do with Amazon. Its the new way FSCJ will be dispersing financial aid. :) Every student at the college, financial aid applicants or not, should be getting one.

One of our 1st term instructors had terrible reviews as well, and honestly she wasn't 1/2 that bad. I strongly believe its what you make of it! You'll be fine! :)

You don't need them yet. Really you can do without the dosage calc book too if you print all of the materials from nursing tutor and study them and do the practice. You can even google concepts you're unsure about. I would wait to see if you can get Worksource! :)

All of our instructors lectured in class using the powerpoints. Most of us printed them to take notes on, but I wouldn't think you would need an ipod or computer in class unless you want one. Also, I never had any issues looking at my phone during class. They are annoyed if its ringing or vibrating, but no one ever said a word to anyone about having one out in class.

You could save your money on the Taber's dictionary. More than one person told me it isn't worth the money but I didn't believe them and bought it anyway. It sits unopened on my desk. If your budget is an issue, you can easily skip this one and google anything you need a dictionary for.

Just keep telling yourself you will be a nurse in the end! :) I have to do that EVERY DAY dealing with FSCJ. It doesn't get better dealing with the nursing department unfortunately... BUT we will do it for 16 months and then we will be NURSES. :) Hang in there!!

It is VERY easy. The powerpoints are very clear and to the point and really all you need to study. The book is nice to have extra practice, but the nursing tutor has extra practice too and after the first dosage calc test I never picked up the book again. I think most of us agreed that we over stressed/obsessed/studied for the tests on the first day. I left feeling so relieved and a bit silly for over thinking it so much. I promise you will be just fine!! :)

The day program has Baptist Beaches as a choice. We're pretty limited at night with just 2 options.

At our orientation, the day students each drew a number from a hat and based on that number were called up in order to choose their section. So you have the list of sections/schedules and decide what you want, then hope your number is low enough and you get the section you want. For nights/weekends, you draw from a separate hat of 24 and get in a line to choose your section. The nights program is together for all four lecture classes, the only choice you have is clinical site/instructor. For us it was Baptist Nassau or Baptist Downtown. We've all had great experiences so far! :)

Not at orientation, it is on the first day of school, along with a medical terminology test. They are incredibly easy. The powerpoints and practice for the dosage calc makes it VERY easy- and the med term test is very basic- if you took A&P in the last decade, you'll be fine! :)

Yes, the uniform tops have to be from Meridy's. They have blue piping on the sleeves, are tailored and zip up the front... not a regular white scrub top. As unflattering as I imagined them being, they're really not that bad! :)

If you don't have insurance or you have a high deductible, the northside medical clinic does everything listed in the packet you need health-wise, and its barely $200. I think it might have been $220? Physical, titers, shots, drug test, etc... I didn't have the best experience, but MANY other people went there and it was fine. They couldn't get my blood, and when I ended up going to my regular doctor for the MMR titer, the person who put the orders in did both types of immunity testing and it ended up costing me $380 just for the MMR titer!! AAHHH! I would have rather gone back to the northside clinic to be stuck 7 more times for that price! They don't do appointments though so you might try to get there first thing in the morning to avoid a long wait. The stethoscope they recommend in the packet is insanely expensive and from what I was told, you're not trained enough to fully use it anyway. Most people in my class have cheap ones and they work just fine for our needs. If money is an issue, you should check out WorkSource- you might qualify and they pay for EVERYTHING. I did most of my items from the packet in one day. It looks overwhelming but really its not! :) Congrats to everyone!! Its non-stop excitement and craziness from here on out! :)

Congrats everyone! Such an exciting day- it makes me smile to imagine you guys jumping around squealing like I did when I got my letter. :)

They haven't sent e-mails "in a time crunch"... we got our before 6wks- no time crunch there. It may not be until the 1st week of August, but I'm still hoping you guys hear something sooner! She would give the standard answer even if she knew e-mails and letters were being mailed tomorrow!!!

I would highly recommend buying your white pants locally so you can get the style you want and the right fit. You don't have to have special pants- whatever plain white scrub pants you like will work. Same thing with the khaki pants- you don't have to purchase them from Meridy's. Also, I'm not sure when you will wear the lab coat. If its cold outside maybe? You can't wear it for giving patient care, and we weren't told to wear it over our blue polo and khakis like I heard, so other than cold weather, I'm not sure what the point of it is. If you really need to save money you could skip this item. Also, you don't need the white uniforms until almost 1/2 way through the term. We needed ours for the sterile technique simulation 2 weeks ago- which was the first time it was needed- so week 7 or 8. It only took a few days for most of us to receive our uniforms in the mail. Also, the pocket protector, hemostat, ruler & scissors can be purchased at the place you get your skills kit, the FSCJ bookstore, etc... I think they're even cheaper than Meridy's.

The cutoff for summer was around 197. If you don't have close to 200, you might want to retake some pre-reqs to up your score. But its very possible to do well on the NAT and end up with 200 points! :)

You buy the books each term, but term 1 has quite a few books you'll use throughout the program. So it is very expensive, but not near $1200. I think the box was under $700, then there are a few extra required books not in the box. One book I think is absolutely worthless is the Taber's medical dictionary- you can google anything you would need to look up in it. I can't see it being worth the money at all. Another option is to buy your books used. The access codes for Evolve everyone talks about is mainly for the case studies and HESI quizzes, and they give that to you at in info session in the first few weeks of the term. The other access codes I haven't needed at all yet. So you might be able to get everything MUCH cheaper than buying the box. The Dosage Calc book you might even be able to get away without, since the nursing tutor community has all of the practice you need (unless you really need a text and LOTS of extra practice)... I'm NOT a math person and I haven't used the dosage calc book. The powerpoints & practice problems are exactly what you'll see on the tests for dosage calc. That's my 2 cents... :)