Kelly2010

This holds true no matter what kind of nursing job you want to get- network! From your professors, to your clinical instructors to your nurse preceptors, I cannot stress the importance of networking. I am a recent graduate from the Houston area and the majority of my classmates, including myself, got their jobs through networking. Always be professional, always be eager and always be on top of your game. You never know who you will come across that will be able to help you get a job. As far as applying to different schools goes, I chose four different schools throughout the state of Texas that had similar prerequisite courses. For the most part, I did all of the similar courses before and during the application process. All of the schools were to let me know of my acceptance by April, which allowed me the summer to take any additional courses I needed for that school before starting in the Fall.

Hello fellow nurses! I used to view this website all the time before I started nursing school and after a two year hiatus, I am happy to say I am back! When I first joined AN three years ago, I was a CNA working with Alzheimer's and Dementia patients and now I am a RN who just started my career at a busy level one trauma center. I am so excited about nursing and am thrilled to have been blessed with a job. Do any of you seasoned and not so seasoned nurses have any advice for a new RN? I am still doing hospital orientation and will not be on the floor until next week, but I am eager to excel at my career.

I graduated on April 29th, and took my test yesterday. I would have taken it sooner, but this was the first day available after I got my ATT.

Hey y'all! I just graduated from UTMB's traditional program in April. I just wanted to let you all know that UTMB is an awesome school and you are going to love it!

I haven't met anyone who said they had a bad interview. A lot of the interviewers are the professors we have now and are really nice. They are championing for you to get in. When you go to your interview, dress like you would if you were going to a job interview. While there are several people who interview applicants, you will only be interviewed by one person. I think some of the questions that were asked last semester are posted on the Fall 2012 thread, but I think I remember a few. They are pretty basic interview questions... "What is your biggest strength and weakness?... Describe a time you had to work in a difficult situation and how you handled it?... Why do you want to be come a nurse?... What are your short and long term educational and career goals?"

Am I missing something? Are your arms or legs broken? Did you have some dire situation that needed your absolute, immediate attention? Because that is the only reason why I could walk away from a patient who told me they needed to use the restroom. I just started nursing school and one of the first things we learn is how to care for the basic needs of patients. Have you forgot how to ambulate a patient to the restroom? Are you too good to help them clean their perineal area? Humble yourself. The CNA was totally in the right. There is no reason why you couldn't have helped out that patient, especially when you had the time and energy to track her down and order her to do it. Were you even thinking of the other resident who was sitting in the shower half naked. Does his/her time, comfort, needs, safety, wants not matter? I don't mean to be rude, but I am so glad that I never had to work with nurses like you when I was working as a CNA.

There are clinicals everywhere- UTMB, Ben Taub, South East Memorial, Memorial Herman in the med center, TDCJ in Galveston, M D Anderson, Methodist Main, Methodist-Sugarland, and St. Lukes. If you live on the island, they try to place you on the island, but only ten people can go to each clinical location, so a lot of people who moved to Galveston got placed in clinicals on the mainland. Oh and for those of you wondering about the background check... I would wait until you get your acceptance letter to actually do it. I know yall's email probably said to do it ASAP, but you don't need to do it until you actually get in. I would save the money until you know for sure.

monday- patho/pharm 1:00-5:00 tuesday- intro to nursing 9:00-12:00 and health assessment 1:00-3:00 wednesday- adult i 9:00-12:00 thursday and friday rotate. one week we have labs and the next we have clinical. labs are on thursday and friday from 9:00-12:00 and 1:00-4:00. clinical varies. most people have thursday and friday from 7:00-3:00, however some people have 3:00-7:00. one group got assigned a saturday clinical and will have to go every saturday instead of every other saturday.

The program I am in is four semesters (Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012). It differs from the spring start because y'all will have summer classes, while we have the summer off (Spring 2011, Summer 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012). Notice that we will both graduate in Spring 2012. All of the classes are "face to face." There are no online courses in the traditional program, however I can not speak for the accelerated plan. As stated in a previous post though, the accelerated program is only for those who already have a bachelor's degree in another area. Also, the class schedule for the accelerated program is intense. I believe the program spans for one year and consists of twenty hour a semester course load. I can tell you my class schedule, including labs and clinicals if you like.

117 students were accepted for fall 2010 traditional program- UTMB's biggest class yet. When we were applying we heard of everything from 80 to 100 people would be accepted and it turned out to be much more. It all depends on how many clinical sites they can get and how many instructors are available. The difference between the traditional (sometimes called generic) and the accelerated program is a degree. In order to get into the accelerated program you have to have a bachelor's degree in any other area all ready. Some people who were granted admission to our class were later offered acceptance into the accelerated program even though they didn't apply.

At our opening ceremony yesterday, they went over the statistics of past semesters and said that they were planning on admitting 80 accelerated students into the Spring 2011 program and 60 traditional . Take this with a grain of salt, as things are always changing.

School doesn't start until next week, but thank you. I think that I received an email on the Monday of Spring break and my interview was for Wednesday of the next week.

Most people got the Hep B series in 9th grade, myself included. I only had to get the titer and it came back positive. So to answer your question, you do not need the shots again if you have a positive titer.

You need the Hep B series (3 shots, so start now); a positive Hep B titer; MMR; Tdap; Td; proof of chicken pox or the chicken pox vaccine and a negative TB skin test or negative chest X-rays.

I'm coming from San Jac so it was a bit of a shock when I found out about the cost, but if you're coming from a private university than UTMB looks cheap!