brinkallz

So, what did you decide? I'm looking at YSN now and just wondered what you ended up doing.

Or you could always go to UNC for your BSN and let Duke pay for 90% of your MSN. Also, a great option. Just depends on how soon you want to get your MSN. :)

No problem. If you're going to work at Duke anyway, then I would recommend sitting down and figuring out the difference between going to Duke and UNC. Another reason that I chose Duke is that the tuition repayment is around $30,000 over three years after taxes. I was considering UNC's longer program. (There's no way I could do this in 12 months which is what UNC had at the time, 16 months has been crazy enough.) UNC's program was only about $40,000 cheaper. So after tuition repayment, Duke was only about $10,000 more. And I don't think Duke still does tuition repayment for outside new grads. If they do, it isn't nearly as much money. Duke is where I felt more welcomed and I thought it was worth the extra $10,000. Just something to consider. :)

I am very glad I chose Duke. I also got into UNC, but chose Duke. I'll be honest and say that I'm a little worried about loans, but I'm certainly not the first person to graduate with these loans. My original plan was to start my FNP at Duke pretty quickly after graduating. Now my plan is to work a year before applying to CNM programs elsewhere. I considered starting my FNP at Duke anyway, but that's a lot of money for a grad degree that isn't exactly what I want to do. I ultimately chose Duke originally over UNC for several reasons. At the UNC info session, three different people asked about rate of job placement following graduation and the woman from UNC dodged the question every time. That worried me. Duke's rate of employment has been pretty high for the last two or three cohorts. Plus, Duke is finishing their new cancer center in February and the new Surgical Center in 2012. Both of these are going to open up huge opportunities for job placement (and tuition reimbursement). They will be hiring in waves over the next 18 months or so meaning future classes should benefit, too. I also chose Duke because it is a smaller program with more individualized attention. I went to a huge state school for undergrad and I wanted a smaller school this time around. I don't know if you have a say in your clinical placement at UNC, but you do at Duke. You choose your top 2 or 3 clinical placements each semester and they do their best to place you in your preferred setting. The same thing goes for your senior preceptorship. This is huge since your senior placement often dictates your future job placement (especially for something like L&D). Duke Hospital is more likely to hire you in the same area that you did your preceptorship. I've also never worked with so many faculty who want me to succeed. It's great. At my first school, I never had that support. On the flip side, Duke does have issues of its own. You have to remember that the ABSN program is a relatively young program which means there are still kinks to work out. On the plus side, the faculty want feedback and try to change things for future classes. On the downside, that means each cohort is often the guinea pig for something each semester. I also came to Duke for the community health programs, but those have a lot of kinks to be worked out. Sadly, community health is not the priority that they made it out to be. Overall, I would definitely choose Duke again. It's totally worth the money to me. We'll see if I still say that once I'm paying my loans. With things like Duke's tuition repayment plan and HRSA grants, I know I'll figure out a way to pay them back as quickly as possible. If you have other questions, feel free to PM me. Really, though, you can't go wrong with Duke or UNC. :)

Well, that stinks. I have previous loans, too. Maybe they changed their requirements. Last year, they told me that the MedCap loan didn't require a cosigner because they considered us grad students since we had a previous degree. Sorry, I thought maybe that would be a possible answer. Well, there's still UNC. I wish you the best of luck. UNC is a great program, too. And I have to say that as my graduation from Duke gets closer, I'm really starting to worry about paying back these loans. It'll work out for all of us though. We just need a plan. :)

KCBaby, Did you try calling WellsFargo about their MedCap loan? I was in the same situation as you. My parents are retired so they couldn't cosign and other banks wouldn't let me borrow without a cosigner (despite excellent credit). I called WellsFargo to figure something out. They didn't require a cosigner for the MedCap loan. (Granted, this was over a year ago, but I would give it a shot.) They were very helpful on the phone. Good luck with everything! I'm sure it'll work out!

We have had exams. And they do require quite a bit of preparation. I'm not the type to cram last minute, but I would imagine that would be very difficult for these exams! We had 3 exams last week. One was our full head-to-toe assessment in lab. (We had to assess 11 pages of items on our lab partner straight from memory with no assistance, but we all passed on the first try! Luckily, it's pass/fail and you get more than one chance if you fail.) Pathophys is tough, but it's also a graduate level class. Luckily, I've had pathophys before so the material is at least familiar to me. Mondays - Spanish for some, Stats for others unless you take Stats online. We have open lab from 3-6 so you will probably be on campus anyway to practice skills. Tues - 9-4. Wed is 8 - 2:30. Thur/Fri - clinical 7-3 one day and lab 8 - 2:30 the other day. We had lecture/lab from 8 - 12 or 2:30 Thurs and Fri during the month of September. We also have open lab from 2:30 to 4 on Wed. Your weeks will be full, but doable. Like I said, time management is key. There's a huge amount of reading for classes. I have a large dry-erase 2 month calendar on my wall for major due dates (of which there are many). I also have a regular dry-erase board where I write all of our weekly readings/assignments and when I plan to do each one. I'm the kind of person that has to see everything or I worry that I'll forget to do something. Speaking of which...I should get back to studying! I think my mind is ready for Fall Break to start! :)

I'm sorry the MedCap didn't work for you. It certainly wouldn't hurt to call and ask about options. They offered me 12% with excellent credit and a relatively long credit history though. As for the program, it's great! It is everything I thought it would be. I was actually accepted at UNC, too, and I have no regrets about choosing Duke. It's an incredibly supportive environment. Generally, the profs are doing everything they can to make sure all of us succeed. (which is certainly different from the large state university I attended for undergrad.) It's obvious that they are very proud to be part of Duke and want us to graduate and excel in the field, as well. Having said that, it is an incredibly intensive program. It will take up the majority of your time, but you can still make time for other areas of life. You just have to master time management very quickly! I've been out of school for several years so balancing such a rigorous full course load has taken me about a month to figure out. It's still overwhelming at times, but everyone is overwhelmed at times. I think we're all pretty good at helping each other through the stressful days. I am still in my first semester and clinicals start next week so I can't say much about that yet. Although I do really like my clinical instructor and am looking forward to starting. There are also great opportunities to make connections here...health fairs, guest speakers, clinical rotations, research opportunities, etc. As for apartments, I know many of my classmates are at Evergreens at Mt. Moriah, but that's all I really know. I already lived locally about 30 minutes away so I didn't move.

Hi Everyone! Congratulations on getting accepted! I am currently in the program. (and love it!) I was reading all the loan issues people are having. I just wanted to suggest the WellsFargo Medcap loan. The offers I received from other companies had a really high interest rate without a cosignor, but the Medcap loan did not require a cosignor from me. It's a graduate student loan which we qualify for since we already have another degree. I actually called WellsFargo (almost in tears) because I don't have anyone to cosign and they offered a 12% interest rate originally. The loan officer was incredibly helpful and told me to apply for the MedCap loan instead at a significantly lower interest rate. I was approved right over the phone. I know several of us have this loan so I thought I would suggest it. I think you may have to be a first time graduate student, but I'm not sure. I would just call and see. Good luck everyone! You will love it here!

I am from NC and I hope to never work for the state again. Three years was long enough for me. Now I'm headed to nursing school!

I currently work for the state (only 2 more days-woo hoo!). Our insurance just went up for smokers. In order for your insurance rate to stay the same, you must be a non-smoker or have documentation from your physician that you are involved in a smoking cessation program. The insurance company will be requiring random urine tests for tobacco. I have no idea how accurate they are, but I certainly can't afford my insurance to go from 80/20 to 70/30. Of course, that was all supposed to go into effect this month. There was talk of postponing it. They will also be forcing all state employees whose BMI is above a certain number to drop down to the 70/30 plan within the next 2 years.

Congratulations!!!

I just emailed admissions...and right after I hit the Send button....I got my acceptance email!!! I will be joining you guys in the Fall. I'm so excited that I'm trembling! Now I know how you guys felt in February!

Any fellow waitlisters heard any good news yet?? I'm getting a little nervous. I was accepted to UNC, but am still holding out for Duke. Unfortunately, I have to give my resignation at work very soon if I decide to go to UNC (and the State of NC will not let me resign and then un-resign if I get into Duke.) I'm going to contact Duke Admissions this afternoon to see if anything has changed. I was just hoping one of you guys had heard something! Good luck!

Aww...thanks, Abbie Grace. I haven't heard anything yet. Admissions told me it would probably be after the April 1st deadline before the list starting moving. I'm hoping to hear something soon since UNC is sending their letters out this week. (I received my acceptance letter to UNC's regular BSN program last week and the ABSN letters go out this week.) Hopefully, some people will opt for UNC over Duke due to costs, etc. and the list will start moving. Duke is definitely still my first choice though. Keeping my fingers crossed!!