SerenePeach

Does anyone know what they are offering for salary at MD Anderson?

That sounds terrible. Makes you wonder about the nearby nursing schools. I attended a grad fair in my city specifically for soon- to- be RNs a few months ago, and most everyone wore suits or business casual. The majority of my classmates who attended were in suits, so professionalism is still alive and out there.

I'm going to tell you what worked for me. I just graduated with my bsn two weeks ago and I had a job offer by graduation, as did many of my classmates. -Keep your grades up. Several hospitals in my area had minimum Gpa requirements for their GN residencies, and you want to be able to apply to all the hospitals out there. Having a higher GPA will at least help you get noticed for an interview.-Become a student extern- I didn't do this because I had a lot on my plate, but many of my classmates did and they got hired onto the unit they were working at.-Volunteer! It shows that you can multitask and that you care about giving back, plus it's fun-if your school has a research class where you can participate in actual nursing research, I would recommend it. I did that as a senior project and it was a great talking point in interviews-mosT importantly, NETWORK! Especially in your last semester. Sometimes it is about who you know and not what you know. Talk to the nurses you do your clinical with,and let the nurse manager know that you'd love to work at that hospital. Treat every clinical you have as a potential interview and always be professional.Hopefully that will help you land a job. Good luck with nursing school!

i'm in houston, texas and recently graduated with my bsn two weeks ago. it wasn't too difficult to find a job, as i secured a job by graduation. i would estimate that about half of my class or maybe even more has a job at this point (our school has a really good reputation in the texas medical center), but there are a couple of hospitals still interviewing. hospitals in this area do tend to hire graduates from nearby schools though, and there are a lot of schools in this area producing rns. the job market is competitive, but i think it's better than most other places.

In my nursing program, most people wore backpacks or tote bags. There were maybe a small handful of people who had rolling backpacks. We really didn't need to bring our textbooks to class, and the teachers lectured from powerpoints that were posted online. All I ever brought to class was my laptop that had all my notes on it, as did half the class. The other half would print out the powerpoints and take notes on it. I really don't think a rolling backpack is necessary unless you plan on staying at school to study for more than one class.

Out of my bsn class of approximately 100 people, there were five of us that graduated with a 4.0. It was tough but certainly doable.

I feel that having both a pinning ceremony and a graduation ceremony is redundant, which is one reason I'm only attending my graduation ceremony and not my pinning. Perhaps if there was some way that they could be combined, that would be more efficient.

I know for sure St. Luke's is 27.50/hr (but they are on the high end), and Memorial Hermann TMC is $21/hr which is bumped up to $23/hr after orientation. I've heard MD Anderson and Texas Children's both start at $24/hr.

Does anyone know the starting pay at Ben Taub?

I was told they would let us know by May 1 if we were to get a second interview, and that the second interview would be a peer interview with the unit.

That is relatively low for the med center. I wonder if that bumps up after you get licensed or after you get off orientation.

Our pinning is first and then graduation is the next day. Both are nighttime ceremonies. For our pinning, we get to wear whatever we want as long as it's "dressy casual". I'm thankful that we don't need to wear any white scrubs/dresses or white hats or anything like that - I like that our ceremony is more of a professional ceremony. I'll be wearing a blue dress and sweater. Our pins were 'donated' to us by our school's 'student services/booster' group, so we didn't need to pay for it. The pinning will have an awards ceremony portion before the actual pinning. Commencement services are the next day and we have black cap and gowns. I'll be wearing a fuchsia strapless dress under my gown.

Has anyone heard anything regarding starting pay for new grads at Memorial Hermann?

I put Critical Care (ICU) as my first choice and Medical-Surgical as my second choice.

Just a heads up...I just got a call to interview with Ben Taub. Several of my classmates got phone calls today, too.