tj87

I applied back where my parents live (UNMC & Creighton), where my boyfriend lives (Bellarmine & UofL), and where my best friend lives (University of Kentucky). Anyone from here receive an acceptance or rejected letter yet? The deadlines haven't been yet reached for most of the schools (only UNMC, UK, and Creighton have been reached). I currently have a 3.1 GPA (was an art major and had NO motivation) with really bad grades my first four semesters of school (I graduated high school May of 2006 and have been taking classes full time for every semester, including summers, ever since). My last two years have consisted mostly of As and Bs with only a couple Cs. My HESI score was an 89%, but NONE of the schools requested it (I was going to apply to a school that required it, but didn't). I worked patient intake the last two summers for an NP and at an MRI facility. I have great references, but only UNMC requests references. I also have volunteered at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for over a year now. Also, only UNMC required a personal statement. Should I try to get a personal statement and references to UofL (first choice) and the others for which the deadline has not yet passed? I'm panicking that I won't get in ANYWHERE! Any advice or info on these schools? Anything and everything is much appreciated!

I live in Nashville and volunteer at the Children's Hospital (which is huge, and more like Disney than a hospital). It's absolutely wonderful and one of the greatest things I've done in my life. I get to lead group activities, go play with children bedside who cannot leave their room, and relieve parents from sitting with their child so they can get a few moments rest outside of the chair in the room, or just get some fresh air. Other times I may just clean toys and separate them based on age group all day, but it's all very rewarding. The other option (for me) was to sit with the elderly patients at lunch or dinner time and interview them about their lives and make books for/with them. I was absolutely torn between the two because I love both age groups. You could check with the emergency department at your hospital; the ED at the hospital I work at has volunteers maintain the waiting area and play with and talk to children while they are waiting. When I was in a smaller town looking for volunteer opportunities I went directly to occupational services and asked them what was available and what I was looking for. Obviously your opportunities will vary depending on the size of the hospital, but you could discuss with them what you would like to do and see if something can easily be worked out!

I volunteer at Vandy at the Children's hospital and parking is free. I think it's free for employees as well. I've never had a problem finding an open spot, it just sometimes takes going up a few floors in the parking structure(s).

I am finishing up the nursing pre-req's and will be done December of this year. I had a different major for the first 3 years of school in which I got horrible grades and significantly damaged my GPA. I could retake the classes, but they are 90% art classes (I was a graphic design major and dealing with relationship issues) and I feel it nearly worthless to waste the time and effort retaking them. Someone suggested to get my ADN and then do the ADN to BSN route because it would be easier to get into an ADN program and prove myself from there. My end goal is to be a CRNA or possibly a NP, and I would like to get there as quickly (and prepared) as possible. I was wondering if it would make sense to do this, or to aim solely for BSN programs. Also, if I did the ADN and then ADN to BSN, how much more (time wise) would that set me back?

I plan on moving to Florida for nursing school so that I can be closer to my grandfather to help him with everyday tasks. He lives in Orlando (by Conway) and I would like to be close to him, preferably not more than an hour away. UCF would be ideal (it's 10 minutes from his house) but I've read they are terribly hard to get in to. I used to be an art major before I switched to pre-nursing and ruined my GPA pretty bad for various reasons. I moved away from the people who were bringing me down and have done well at my new school the last 3 semesters. That being said, I'm hoping to find a BSN program that looks more at prereq grades than overall GPA. I will be done with all prereq's at the end of the Fall '10 semester. I'm not sure how to go about searching for schools since I don't know anyone down here, so ANY help would be greatly appreciated! *and I include Cocoa because my uncle has a place there that I can stay. He also has one in Jacksonville, so any schools in Jacksonville would work too, but that's pretty far away, so not ideal--but an option :]

First off, I have been reading random threads on here and I have this enormous sense of relief to find a community of SUCH supportive people! At this moment I'm very stressed and to see how helpful some people are made me tear up a little! I graduated high school in 2006 and have been in college since. I've been all over the place. I started out at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a Pyschology major. I transferred to the University of Nebraska-Kearney because I was good at graphic design and I was not passionate about much else so I went there because they had a good design program. During these 5 semesters I got horrible grades--due in part to my mentally abusive ex boyfriend trying to get me to drop out so I wouldn't be "better than him" and next in part because of my deteriorating relationship with my mother, who refused to speak to me while I was with this guy (I was young and blind!). I finally met a guy who is wonderful and incredibly supportive of me and my ambitions. His mother, who is a nurse practitioner, took me under her wing. I told her when I was younger I wanted to be a doctor but I knew now I had ruined everything with my previous grades. She told me her story, and it was nearly identical--bad grades and a crazy past (which was very encouraging and inspiring). Skipping ahead, I went through phlebotomy training (in hopes of securing a little experience in healthcare) and shadowed my boyfriend's mother. I also shadowed an M.D. just to satisfy my curiosity for the similarities (situationally it felt identical). Shadowing the M.D. led me further. I sat in on several colonoscopies and spoke with the anesthesiologist, who I found out later was a Nurse Anesthetist. Long story short, I found the one thing I am truly passionate about and it is nursing. I plan to do the two years of nursing school, one year in an ICU, and then the two years for the N.A. BUT I am worried my grades will stop me from even getting into nursing school. A lot of the bad grades come from art classes, which I feel would be very frustrating to retake. I almost feel it would be like spending the day with an ex boyfriend when I have a boyfriend I already love and want to work on a relationship with (not waste effort on the other).. so to speak. Is anyone else having GPA concerns of have any advice? Also, I am looking at schools to go to. I am currently going to school just north of Nashville (at Western Kentucky University), where I transferred to from my 2nd school (UNK). Once this spring semester is over, I have both Anatomy I and II, a Microbiology lab, and Spanish left until I am done with my nursing prereqs--all of this I plan to complete this summer and upcoming fall semester (so I will begin applying for the Spring '11 semester) . My boyfriend and I would both like to live in Nashville when we are ready to settle down, but currently his job takes him all over the country so I end up alone a lot. I am originally from Nebraska and would not mind going back there for nursing school. But my grandfather, who has been more like a father (and best friend) to me, is getting up in age. He lives in Orlando, about 8 miles from UCF. We see each other about once every other year. I would really like to be closer to him so I can help him with things like getting around and grocery shopping. I also always wanted to live in Florida for awhile, temporarily, but didn't know when I could fit that into my life. I feel like those two or so years of nursing school would be the perfect time. But I am curious as to how that would work. If I go to nursing school in Florida would have I to stay for rotations and such for a while after graduating? My main point in the school thing was to ask if anyone knows of any schools around Orlando, as well as anything about them? Another, less desirable option--my uncle has a condo in Jacksonville he said I could live in should I get into school there, but I'm not sure what school he is talking about (I Googled and got multiple results!) near Jacksonville. I'm floundering around trying to get an idea of how difficult it will be to get into nursing school, what I should do in the mean time, and where I should apply to nursing school. Any help would be wonderful! I'm sorry this was so long, I just wanted to present everything in case it helps someone possibly/hopefully give some advice! I'm scared to death I won't get into nursing school!