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!

My bill from the school is $3,700 this semester for 16 hours. I bought my books from Amazon for $730. I bought two pairs of scrubs and my lab coat and a few other supplies from the book store and I think it was a little more than $150.00. My stethescope was a gift but that will be around $75. More or less depending on the quality. And then you need white tennis shoes. The price varies on what kind you get. Also you will need a PDA, like a Blackberry, Iphone or Droid. The software for that was $270.

UTMB didn't really share a whole lot of information regarding the statistics of the applicants, so I can't even began to guess what the average GPA was. The TEAS test is a new thing and I don't know how much they use it to select applicants. I know that my scores were in the the low eighties and my TEAS science score was in the seventies. I don't know where my clinical will be and we won't be starting them until the third week of class. They try to place you in the area where you live but it is not guaranteed. I moved to the island so hopefully I get placed here.

Ariess: I am in the generic program. It is a Fall, Spring, Fall, Spring program where we have the summer off. However a few weeks before orientation they decided to give us an option where we could switch to a program that offered summer classes so that we were taking less hours throughout the rest of the program. Than, at the last minute they said that they weren't offering that because some semesters would be less than 12 hours which messes with health insurance and financial aide. But that is UTMB- things are always changing, so you have to be flexible. Quimble: I was really surprised at how quickly people started to find out about interviews. The application deadline was February 15, and the first round of interview emails went out the first week of March. Courtney: As far as advice for the interview... relax. They are so friendly and they are really pulling for you to get in. They want you to make it. Dress professional, be friendly and confident. I thought that the person interviewing me would have gone over my application before the interview, but they don't. When you are in the interview it is time for you to tell the person everything about yourself, because they know nothing. The GPA's really vary. I met someone at orientation who got in with a 3.2 and someone else with a 3.3 and I had a 3.5. UTMB looks at the student as a whole. I think I got in because I had a really good essay and awesome interview.

Hey yall! I am an incoming student to UTMB School of Nursing for the Fall of 2010. We just finished our orientation, so if yall have any questions about the application process or anything than you can ask me. I know someone asked what the class schedule was like. Our first semester we have 16 hours. On Monday we have one class from 1:00-5:00; Tuesday we have two classes, one from 9:00-12:00 and another from 1:00-3:00; Wednesday, there is one class from 9:00-12:00. We don't know our clinical or lab schedule yet, but those will take place on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. As far as how many students will be admitted.... who knows?! Every time someone from our group called up there, they always received a different response. I think we heard anywhere from 80 to 100 and on the first day of orientation they announced that 117(!) student were admitted to the traditional BSN program. They said that was there biggest class ever.

I realize that this is a different situation, but I found this on the TX BON website... "Can LVNs who also hold licenses as RNs still work as vocational nurses? There is nothing preventing licensed registered nurses from working in the capacity of licensed vocational nurses, however, when working as an LVN, they must stay within the parameters of their scope of practice. Exception: In the event of an emergency, the LVN would be expected to function at the highest level of their education (i.e. professional nurse) and their performance should reflect professional judgment inherent in that role." Perhaps the same applies to CNA's who later become GN's.

Perhaps it was because I read about the application process for previous semesters, but I thought UTMB responded back to us pretty quickly. The application was due Feb. 15th and people started to hear about interviews at the beginning of March. I applied to four schools and got my acceptance letter from UT Tyler around the same time I heard from UTMB for an interview. The other two schools took forever. The only thing that was irritating about UTMB is that they did three rounds of interviews a couple weeks apart. They sent out the acceptance letters to people who had an interview when other people still had interview dates scheduled and not all the applications were reviewed. A word of advice.... stay on top of your application! Call and make sure that they have all of your transcripts and other paperwork. Just because you send it, doesn't mean they get it. In any case, good luck! The wait it worth it!

It took me two years to do all of my prerequisite courses for a BSN program. I did it in four regular semesters, with no mini or summer courses. I worked the full time while taking them, too. It was hard, but well worth it. I start my nursing program in August!

I just received my acceptance email from Texas Tech nursing school.

A lot of people, myself included, chose to take the patho class at San Jac because UTMB requires an extra 3 hours of science and patho is one of the only science classes offered that does not include a lab. If you do have an extra biology though, you do not need to take patho. As far as UTMB excepting it, yes. It is not considered a nursing course and I believe we will all still need to take a patho/pharm class during our first semester. Congratulations on your acceptance! I cant wait to meet you in the fall. Let me know if you have any more questions. Also, if you missed it in any of the previous posts, I am hosting a CPR party in May. Love to see ya there. Check out our FB page.

I got my letter in the mail today, but I will be declining. I hope this opens up a spot for one of you! Good luck.