Dakovich

Its a tough situation, and many people don't realize the hole they're putting themselves in. Especially after the bankruptcy reforms of 2005 these private lenders are/were giving out student loan money like it was candy. They know people have no chance to get away from these loans and they make tons more when someone defaults just like you've seen with the Dr in this article...these companies pray you miss a payment or worse go into default. Along with this, they saturate the market with easy money for tuition so anyone in their mother can "afford" to go to college...increase the funds, increase the number of students, increase demand, REALLY increase tuition to compensate for that increased demand. Not everyone was meant to go to college, and many would be far better off had they gone the trade school route. You ever see how much electricians make?!?! I still get upset that in HS all they pushed was college, college, college on kids.The bankruptcy reform of 2005 was floated on the idea that it would curb bankruptcy abuse, but what it really did was make us slaves to the financial lending institutions. The risk for them dissapeared and they took off on a mission to get everyone they could "hooked" on student loans. You want $100,000 to go to school to get a teaching degree and make $35k/year, no problem here ya go. Want to get a degree in basket-weaving, here's $75k, actually why don't you take another $25k for living expenses so you can focus on those baskets, BAM theres another $100k loan and associated fees collected.

my wife laughs at how I am with my pens...I'm very picky about using Pilot G2's, and when people ask to borrow my pen I get kind of defensive...lol, its a sickness

"Poop is funny" -Frank from Sunny

Pilot G2...best...pens...ever. .07's for index cards and I use the .05's for notes, etc...

Hey Lisa, thanks for offering to give a little insight into the program. I know I have a few questions for you off the bat, and I'm sure plenty more to come, but here are a couple to start: -did anyone find any scholarship/grants in your class? -kind of similar to the first question, but there was talk of Kaledia offering scholarships with the agreement of you working for them for "X"-amount of years...did this actually happen for anyone in you class? have you heard anything about it? -and the big question, whats the talk on job prospects after graduation? I know its on everyones mind so I figured I'd ask. -lastly, do you know a girl named Charlotte in your class? She was from Rochester and I had her in some of my prereq classes last year...she knew I was applying for this year and I thought it'd be cool to let her know I got in. again, thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions.

I'm not yet in my BSN program yet but when I was flying most people, including myself, rocked a sub-$20 timex. Not saying many of us didn't have some really nice watches but nobody would wear those to work. The Timex was inexpensive, lots of functions yet simple, last forever, and if you happen to bust it all you are out is $15-20.

is that a normal route for people? I've heard that at the school I will be attending that those who applied for Pharm but got rejected often end up in the RN program, but I haven't heard of people going RN then Pharm. any input on that?

cool, thanx

thats hilarious, lol

CONGRATS! that's so awesome, equally excited over here! Anyone else??? check your email!

well, just received the news that I was accepted into my program of first choice! I started this thread based on the really bad experience I had during the orientation from my second choice school. First choice was SUNY@Buffalo ABS (accelerated) program, and second choice was a local CC associates in nursing. I hadn't heard from UB and had already been accepted to the CC so I had to go through the steps of enrollment there until I got word from my first choice. Let me say, as can be read in this thread, that the first impressions at the CC program really dissapointed and worried me. I had had pretty high hopes for the CC because it had many Pros versus Cons in my situation, and up until then all my experiences with the general school had been very good. Who knows how things would have progressed if I hadn't gotten accepted to UB and continued with the CC program...that first impression may have been invalidated over time, but what if it was a true representation of the school. I'm not willing to take that chance. I wish it was a harder decision.

GOT ACCEPTED! Recieved an email this afternoon letting me know I was accepted and that official letters/packets would be sent in January...anyone else hear anything???

Last Spring I took: API (lec and lab), Micro (lec and lab), Statistics, Nutrition, and Pathophysiology all at once...and having done all of it together I'd say that I agree with the earlier poster who said AP and Micro kind of overlap in places. To me they overlaped in a way that made it interesting to take them together. Plenty of "a-ha!" moments in one class that would lead to reinforcement of concepts/etc in the other class. I'm not sure you'd get that with Chem and either of the other two courses. Also, I can see taking two of those classes together along with other coursework as being very challenging for many people...be sure you can handle it, don't want to mess up that GPA. I was "lucky" to have been on unemployment last Spring so I was able to really focus on all those courses.

the school I was accepted to has supposedly changed its way of picking students for the program. It use to be purely grades and NET test, now that has all changed. They made it sound like they wanted a little more latitude when trying to pick students they thought would succeed and fit well in the program. maybe they do something similar at your school.

thats what I'm trying to say, makes no sense. maybe a 4.0 in a particular semester, maybe a 4.0 in your program, but not a 4.0 overall if you have anything other than ALL A's, in EVERY class. not to be a jerk, but maybe you're getting rejections for misrepresenting your GPA...again, not being nasty just being honest. That kind of thing will raise eyebrows, which will lead to them to use a fine-tooth comb with the rest of your application...might want to think carefully about that fact. so to end this whole disscusion just answer these questions: 1. do you have a 4.0 overall? (as in every class you've ever taken calculated together equals a 4.0) 2. do you have a 4.0 in just your program? (ie. calculate all your nursing classes together, leaving out other elective classes such as math or english or prereqs, and it equals a 4.0) 3. are you just speaking of a 4.0 in any one particular semester? (ie. for the Spring semester I took 12 credit hours and had A's in every class so I got a 4.0 for the Spring semester) 3.

okay, thanks. I wasn't trying to be a jerk or put the girl on the spot. Its just not a good idea to go around saying you have a 4.0 when you don't. Imagine filling out an application that asks for GPA and you misrepresent yourself by saying you have a 4.0 when you don't. In the same note, a 4.0 is borring. Its amazing, but borring. A 3.98 gives an opportunity for a talking point during an interview..."I see you just missed having a perfect 4.0, what happened, what did you learn from this experience/class, does it still bother you, etc..."

its not in Texas but Cayuga Community College in New York has an online Pharm for Nurses class that does not require you to be enrolled in any other program. Call, sign up, pay, take the class type deal.

even if you had 30 A's and one B its a 3.97...thats a 3.97, not a 4.0. you can never have a 4.0 unless you have all A's. you see my confusion with what you're saying? anyone want to jump in and correct my thinking, please?

I am also waiting anxiously, hopefully we both get good news sooner than later! I haven't had any contact with them besides a similar question to Krisite asking when they would send out letters. good luck, post if you hear anything! -Mark

I'm with the flash card people on this. You've got to know how to study in a way that works for you, period. For me it was flash cards. Its also a skill to know how to make flash cards, I like to keep them simple. Some people will put paragraphs of information on their cards, which to me is no different than reading the book. Break the information down into small parts, and also put some general questions in there you would expect to be asked about that information. I'll be honest, I use LOTS of cards...but, they are simple and uncomplicated which makes them quick and easy to make. I then do a similar thing as stated above where I try to master a small group of the cards, then add more. I also will take the whole stack and go very quickly through them and if I can't answer the card fast, almost without having to think about it, I put those into a stack to the side I call "crap I don't know yet". The stuff I can answer fast I put in a pile I call "crap I know". The key is if I don't know it cold, it goes in the "crap I don't know pile"...no exceptions. Then I rock out that "crap I don't know yet" pile until slowly everything gets put into the "crap I know" pile. Weird, I know, but it works. After all of this I'll go to a group study session to see if I missed anything or if possibly I've gotten something wrong in my solo studying...kind of a fact check. Also, going to your schools "skills center" (if they have one) really really helps out. The school I was going to had a science skills center staffed with a full time professor and similar students to me so it was a great place to ask questions and think outloud. Doing this I aced AP1 and AP2, both lab and lecture. this is great and all, but I will say that I wouldn't have done as well if I hadn't studied everyday( You don't have to study much each day, maybe 15-20 minutes ). If you try and cram it all in starting a couple of days before the test you're screwed, and thats a fact.

I'm confused, I'm really not trying to be a jerk I'm just trying to understand: how do you get a 4.0 having had a B(3.0) in any one class? That B will forever keep you from having a 4.0, right?

I'm going to be professional, I don't know how not to be. I also think that with all the "career changers" with similar mindsets, in terms of professionalism, might just enact the change you speak about Tabitha.

in my previous career they would suggest we file for FMLA (family medical leave act) in instances like this. If you had a persistant condition the FMLA was the only way to avoid getting "dinged" like another poster had mentioned. we wouldn't get paid when calling in for whatever our FMLA paperwork covered (ie you'd have it cover diverticulitis as verified by your doctor) but we could deduct vacation time if we wanted to get paid for the days off.

I was furloughed in January along with 330 other pilots at my company. I've been on unemployment and attending school to finish my prereqs since. Previous to this I was heavily contemplating making the career change, around that same time we were notified of the furlough. So I stuck it out until my furlough date, registered at the local CC for my nursing prereqs, and the day after my furlough I started back to school. In short, being a pilot isn't what you think it is. Those days are LONG gone. I never did it for the money, but the money didn't even cover basic expenses such as the school loans to get to that point. For reference, my first year flying a plane painted with a major airline logo on the side with 50 "Joe Publics" in the back brought me $14,990 in pay. The volitility within the business, and the time away from family really brought that dream to a close. I wasn't willing to trade family time/security for what ultimately turns out to be just another job.

karenchad, at my airline the First Officers are taught to practice "Assertivness with Respect".