TristanT

Start networking on day one and work at a hospital at any cost--even though you will surely burn out putting the 500-lbers on the commode... . Otherwise you are at the mercy of your clinical preceptors to get your foot in the door. I was not lucky--h...

The GEPN program will cost well over $100K when you factor in living expenses--you will not be able to work at least the first year and a half, certainly not full time. You can get loans for all of it plus living expenses. I doubt you will receive an...

I am not a happy UW MEPN alum, and I can't think of anyone in my cohort who is particularly happy with the program... I do know quite a few unemployed MEPN grads (or MEPN grads who went back to their former occupations because the job market for nurs...

I just moved out of WA state (for a job) because there are no jobs in the Pacific Northwest for RNs without connections. And I mean even RNs who are flexible in terms of unit and shifts. It's all about who you know and the HR folks and recruiters are...

Less. It can be a little more, counting in shift differentials=more for working nights, weekends, holidays. My classmates and I have made between $17.50-26.00/hour as new grads, but the high end was always accompanied by no benefits nor any guarantee...

I recently moved to CO for a new grad job in a hospital. (And I am not making $25/hour...) But coming from the West coast, where there are ZERO hospital opportunities, I am eternally grateful for my job. Seriously, Denver is a veritable Boom Town in ...

I did not know that. Interesting. Maybe WA state also has good preventive health + maternal health programs--although it sounds like that's all going to get the axe in the next state budget :-(

Just a warning: Many of the Seattle NICUs have low patient censuses, e.g., UW and Evergreen. Nurses who have worked at these facilities for many years are having trouble getting hours. I've heard there will be some NICU openings in Portland, OR this ...

The only hospitals in the Seattle/Tacoma area that offer residencies are Providence-Everett; Northwest (they offered 4 places in the past year--just to give you an idea about numbers); Tacoma General; and Overlake. Despite what the Web site says, Ev...

Starting wage is $21-28/hour. But the job market in this state for new grads is very tight, especially if you have no hospital experience (and/or did not do clinical rotations out here, a.k.a. you have to know somebody). If you do have hospital exper...

No, GEPN at UW is not worth $20K more than SU. (I say that as a UW alum.) Either way you will be laughed out of HR if you have an advanced nursing degree but you never worked as an RN. And unfortunately there are no jobs for new grad RNs. We are star...

Does anyone have experience with the residency program at UCH? (Admission for the February cohort ended last week.) They seem to have a variety of openings, but I am wondering if they only accept new grads from the Denver area or is it a national can...

I can't speak for the person who started this thread, but the CNA horror stories I heard had less to do with dreading bodily fluids and everything to do with burning out from a low-paying job where you are treated like a servant--you'll get plenty of...

Evergreen is a great hospital, but yah, their HR department is very firm about not hiring new grads. Not even new grads who did clinical rotations there. Providence is a different story. I think the general consensus is that the Providence recruiter...

I graduated months ago from UW. And I started looking for a job last spring, before I graduated. I had pre-nursing school med office experience, and I will say that this is the ONLY thing that has gotten me the interviews I have been offered. It's j...

The market is glutted with new grads coming out every quarter. Every person in my graduating class who is now employed got the job through his/her senior immersion. But not all of us lucked into being a senior on a floor that was hiring, so the marke...

Even if you have the grades to get into nursing school... consider this: You will have an even more difficult time getting an RN job without the CNA (or MA or EMT) experience. I didn't do the CNA for the same reasons=horror stories, low pay. Now I'm ...

"many many positions..." I'm calling BS on this post. There are no jobs in LTC or ANYWHERE in Washington for new grads!!! We should all be on the pre-nursing school section of this site right now dissuading the poor innocents from even attempting t...

Is that the one where you have to get hired at an eligible place of employment (usually working with underserved populations) and then apply for student loan repayment? I know a couple of people who have attempted that program and have been rejected-...

I only qualified for loans as a second-degree student in nursing school at UW. There aren't any jobs for new grads in the NW. You may want to read some of the other posts on this site and re-think career direction. I know that many, many, many of u...

"BSN grads are the only new nurses who don't talk about money..." --uh, what is there to say? Pay is based on seniority: Period. And P.S. you get FIRED for talking about salaries in professional corporate America. I'm one of those completely screwed ...

Shoreline has the best reputation in the area. They have a point system to get in. Central is "first come, first served" admissions for all who are qualified. North is great for prerequisite classes, but I think they just re-started their nursing pr...

Remember to dry your hands thoroughly after hand washing. A number of people I know got dinged on that. But it is not a difficult test if you've studied. Good luck!

"It sounds like perhaps you should spend some time as an RN prior to attempting to switch gears too quickly." Right. Problem is, hospitals aren't hiring new nurses--at least out West. I'm about to jump ship to technology myself.

Any advice for a new grad RN? I just want to cry every time I come to this site and see folks who are still in nursing school and have NO CLUE that there aren't a-n-y jobs waiting for them. I have applied to probably hundreds of jobs in Washington a...