scrapworking

Congratulations! I'm doing the exact same thing. Just going for it... Hope you accepted, and would love to hear how it's going. Best wishes!

Look into some of the brick & mortar universities near you. I was surprised to find that one of the universities near me offered a MSN-Informatics totally on-line that was similarly priced to Chamberlain. You also have to consider the "extra fees" that the for-profit options tack on. Yes, Chamberlain seemed less, but add up the "hidden costs" and it's nearly the same. And, for me, I feel more comfortable knowing that if I need assistance, there will be someone near-at-hand to help me. Also, I feel that my resume will stand out a little bit more with my MSN from a well-known and respected area university.

In case anyone decides, like I did, to go get the ati Dosage & Calculations materials...there are no instructions on how to get to the material after you "order it" in the on-line store! I immediately emailed them and here is what I was told on how to access/locate the material: "Dosage and calculation is a tutorial and to access this module you will go to my elearning. From here you will click on the my tutorials tab and a list should populate for you to choose dosage and calculations to click on and then view your available topics to study from." And you also need to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player installed. My laptop crashed 3 weeks ago, so I hadn't gotten around to reinstalling everything yet (initially, I was half tempted to toss it out the window and buy a new one!) so, I had to add that to my list. Direct Loans: I don't see it in WISE yet, but I submitted mine late. Since I was coming from another college, I where it was just automatically applied for at that school, I forgot about applying for it! I really don't expect to see anything come through until the end of August/first week September for me. Hope you hear something soon! Yaz - I don't see any changes in WISE to my Pell either. Plus the $$ for the clicker subscription wasn't on my worksheet, so I left a message at CC to get that added on but it doesn't look like it has been done yet either. Did you call Friday?

Same here. I'm going to have to crank it up tomorrow after church. Well, after a nap, after church!

I certainly felt like throwing up last night - I got overwhelmed when I printed out the course schedule! Like, there's no way I'll be ready to do THAT on a real, live person!!! What was I thinking?! BUT today, after going through everything, I feel like it'll be all right. They really seem to care and that they want us to succeed. I think it'll be overwhelming again, at times, but we just have to remember we aren't alone and we aren't the first to feel that way. So, I'm back to being excited again! And yes, tired too...from lack of sleep last night (too amped up to sleep) and from anxiety off/on through the day. Tomorrow should be better! Jenn - I get the Borders coupons too, but rarely use them. LMK if you want me to send them to you...along with your email address (via PM). Ah, more reading to do...

Can you PM me with who you talked to in Financial Aid? The WIA caseworker (who is working with all of us w/ WIA & Sponsorships) I met with yesterday, told me tuition came out of Pell... I much prefer the caseworker's way!! Regardless, I finally got books and some supplies yesterday after getting everything redo in Pasco county. Bookstore was out of clickers, Dosage book, and I need to wait for shoes to come is so I can check sizes. I had the course manual already.

Wow. Hope we don't need those materials right away! Let us know what you find out on the Pell/WIA thing r/t tuition, please! Can you try on the uniforms to find out what size you need? I don't remember seeing a "dressing room" where you might do that in the bookstore. Sooooo ready to get started already!

Advice? Mmmm, don't do it?! Sorry, but it's a ridiculous amount of money for what you are getting. Besides training as an LPN, your books, supplies, uniforms, etc. (I realize it's an all-inclusive price) you are paying for convenience. You get in quick/no competition, you don't have as many hoops to jump through, virtually NO pre-requisites (which means you'll likely still incur a lot more costs going after your RN later), etc. But check the contract. It is likely that you will find that if you don't finish (for whatever reason) you will still owe them ALL the money. They are in business to make money and they can't do that without filling seats - be careful of the sales pitch and do your own research, don't take their word for it! (Also watch out for Galen School of Nursing...their program may be great (not disrespecting anyone here), but same kind of pricey!! For contrast, the LPN program at pTEC (Pinellas County Tech College... Pinellas Technical Education Centers) costs about $3,300 - $3,500 total. They accept the Pell. The 2-year RN at PHCC is just under $6,000. Huge difference!! My advice - Keep searching until you find a reasonable program in your area...they are out there! Good luck! Sharon

Sheila is no longer working at Career Central. Everything got dumped in Belinda's lap...she's doing as much as she can as fast as she can. Some of us haven't even gotten disbursements for books, let alone anything else! Try Belinda tomorrow...she was out of the office all day today. Hang in there...

You aren't/won't be alone!

Yeah, a new thread! Still fighting with Pinellas WIA, just for information/status...and have had enough, so I'm going to just start over with Pasco. Waiting to hear back from Sheila. Would love to get together Saturday, but my family has other plans - it's my birthday. Have one for me!!

You are not alone!! From the course handbook, it looks like we are all over the place in the Fundamentals (Potter & Perry) book in the first and second weeks. First day is "Class Orientation" and we have no required reading, just bring the course manual. After that it's 1-3 chapters/day. Other than that: Busch Gardens tomorrow, dive trip Sat/cook-out Sat night, tubing on Rainbow River Tuesday, Venice Beach another day next week, and then my birthday the 21st. Yeah, I'm cramming in as much FUN as possible before it's time to buckle down! No stressing allowed between now & then! (I'm trying not to anyway) Hi Evansmum!

@ wannaben... I don't see why not. As long as you are in a legitimate nursing school program, are able to perform the skills required, and are allowed to work in the US, you should be able to. Maybe call around. I know these opportunities are not advertised much and you usually learn about them through your nursing school, so try there too. Good luck!

Absolutely volunteer while doing your pre-reqs! Sure, it's nice to get paid but if you don't have any medical training, you don't qualify for any positions. I volunteer on the CCU floor of my local hospital and have learned a lot just keeping my eyes and ears open. This experience may even help you get into nursing school (depending on the application process). After acceptance into NS, the CCU DON was very enthusiastic about accommodating my schedule if necessary, and said that they valued my time on the floor. Check the hospital you are thinking about volunteering at. Ours has on-going training classes for CNA/PCT's that they pay for/put you through in exchange for a time commitment to work for them. This may or may not be compatible with your school schedule, but it may be an option if your facility offers it and you find that it's something you'd like to do. I start nursing school in 12 days. About a month ago, just after being accepted into the nursing program, we had the opportunity to interview for a hospital internship (they help pay for school, give you a paying job while in school and when you graduate, you work for them for set amount of time). (This is at a different hospital from where I volunteer.) The interview went exceptionally well, due in part to my having the knowledge and experience of what actually happens on a hospital floor. Knowing what the job entails, etc. They also told us that any medical experience, including volunteering, will count towards determining salary when we start our student nurse externships after first semester. And that will certainly all help and make you more valuable at the RN level. Good luck!

So...go to the bookstore for "expenses" worksheet. Fax to WIA/Career central people. Go to Business office. Business office gets okay from WIA/Career Central for funds/to release funds. Funds go on card. Back to bookstore to purchase. Something like that? I'm thinking this is 2 trips for me. At least. Thanks Yaz!!