eazye

hi all, i also got a scholarship of about 10k and YSN and stafford loans. the YSN financial aid office did not receive perkins loan funds but may later, and says GEPN students are first priority recipients. if there are any other single parents considering doing this program, id love to hear how youre planning to handle it, financially...

yeah its crazy expensive to move stuff across country. i have a teenager and pets, so i have all kinds of baggage, both literally and figuratively. :) i'm thinking of just getting rid of almost everything and then pulling a smallish trailer behind my car. but if/when i decide for sure i'm going maybe we should talk because if we found a way to share moving costs that could work. there's some stuff i just would hate to leave behind. what are other west coasters thinking of doing?

yeah if i accept i'll be coming from berkeley. you?

i was told they went out in the mail today...

ok well i just spoke with the financial aid office and not only could they not give me any info about my award, they couldn't even tell me what the standard cost of living allowance is for grad students - a number i need to know as that's the limit on the loans i'll be able to take out - so i can determine if i can support my son and myself. it's amazing to me that they expect a decision before the prospective student has this information, especially considering that many students will have other offers to compare. grrr. so, i've just formally declined. good luck to everyone else! :)

also just fyi to those on the wait list - the acceptance letter said we were to let them know our decision by 2/26. however, i haven't yet been able to get any financial aid info, so i've asked for a bit of extra time. i expect others will do the same, as i'm not sure how we can make this decision without the $$ info. (as i mentioned before, i'll likely decline, but i want to at least feel like i'm making an informed decision when i do.)

they told me they are aiming to get the financial aid letters in the mail today or tomorrow.

i was accepted, and will likely decline. so there's one spot that will be open!

thanks so much, biddy, for taking the time to share your experience. it is incredibly helpful.

yep, i also got into uvm (fnp) and yale (midwifery). i feel like i have a lot more info about yale, mostly because i've actually been there, on interview day, but also just because there's a lot more online. i'm in california and have barely spent any time on the east coast - and i've never been to vermont at all. so it's really hard to feel like i'm making an informed decision. although i haven't seen financial aid offers from either school, it sounds like uvm doesn't have any grants/schlolarships for the first year, while yale does. of course, yale is much more expensive...ugh. then there's the class size - do i want to be in a cohort of 14, or 80? and do i want urban or rural clinical experience...? what are you thinking??

i'm in california and just received a letter this afternoon, so seems like they must have been sent out late last week. thanks, gina, for setting up the facebook group!

wow! thank you SO much for taking the time to answer my questions! this info is really helpful. after work tonight i'll read through it more carefully, and may have some other questions. :) until now all i've really had to go on is my experience trying to communicate with the school - which, other than the interview, has been less than stellar. (i haven't received one response to the several emails and phone messages i've left, over the past few months.) the school should give you a bonus if any of us end up attending - you're a great spokesperson!

hi csulliva, thanks so much for offering to share info about the program! i do have some questions - during the interview they said the first clinical placement is generally a nursing home or rehab center. what was your clinical experience like the first semester? it sounds like clinical placements later in the program can be a bit tricky to find, and/or may be far away. have you heard from students farther along regarding their placements? how are sites selected? does the program staff provide useful assistance in finding these placements? the financial aid office told me there is no aid available to grad students, other than loans. does this sound right based on your experience? what do students seem to like best about the program? what do you hear the most complaints about? two questions i've asked the program but haven't gotten a reply on - don't know that you'll have this info: how many clinical hours are completed in the mepn year? what is the clinical faculty to student ratio? i know you're super busy, and really appreciate any time you can take to answer these questions. thank you!

thanks so much for posting that, lrc13! during the interview they mentioned they would "keep the website updated" but i wasn't quite sure what they meant by that, and hadn't seen anything new posted recently... i applied to the fnp track. i have a ba in community studies - kind of a sociology/social work mix - and worked in a residential treatment program for women with addiction/mental health issues and their children. i did psychosocial and medical assessments there, but have no health care experience beyond that. i also applied to yale and ucsf - i was rejected by ucsf, and interviewed at yale but no decision received yet. i got 1360 on my gre. my gpa was good but most of my grades are in the form of narrative evaluations - don't know how the grad schools quantify those. looking forward to receiving The Letter!

yes, i was contacted for an interview via email on 1/22. i applied to the fnp specialty. maybe they only interviewed for that specialty? or maybe they only interviewed some people? i will cross my fingers for you.