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Hi future students. I'm just gearing up to graduate CU in 5 weeks, it goes by quick!! I never used the CDs for the earlier classes, but for some of your classes later on in the program they could be required. The CDs do have a lot of practice questions on them so if that's how you like to study you may want to get them. For Patho I recommend a great book by one of the CU professors: Handbook of Pathophysiology by Elizabeth Corwin. You can get it on Amazon for as cheap as $5 and it's a very concise, excellent review of patho. I never read the text, I just went off of this book. I would take the medical dictionary back. I bought one and never cracked it open once. That's what google is for :) However, I would HIGHLY recommend a nursing diagnosis book, you'll be doing lots and lots of care plans. Hope that helps.

Congrats on being accepted to nursing school! I am currently in the accelerated program at CU and like Summit said, working part time is doable. I also work 2 jobs right now, I am lucky because both positions allow for flexible hours. I would say at least 75% of my fellow students have a job as a CNA/ACP/nurse extern/etc... right now. Most of these positions require only that you have passed your Med-Surg I class, no CNA license required.

For all of you posters that are on the call list... don't give up hope! I started at CU in Summer 2010 and I too was call listed at first. In fact, lots of my fellow nursing students were call listed. From what I have seen/heard, they usually go through the entire list. It was rumored that for the Summer 2011 class they went through the whole call list and even started calling people that they had originally flat denied. So here's my advice: stay positive, keep your self busy and start weighing all your options. Most importantly- answer your phone even if it's an unknown number!!! When they have an opening they just start calling people on "the list" until that position is filled. No message, no time frame to call back, you either take the spot or you don't. However, if you do miss the call they will just put you back in the rotation, so you aren't totally screwed, that happened to a couple of my friends. Congrats to those that were accepted, and again, all you call listers... keep the faith!

No PDA necessary, thank goodness! The only piece of technology that I bought was a laserjet printer, which are relatively inexpensive and so worth it. There are A TON of things you will be printing out, and having the ability to print things out fast and double sided is key in my view. The students come from all over the place and many commute. I live in Lone Tree which is about a 30-40 minute commute for me, but people drive from Ft Collins, Boulder, Highlands Ranch... If I were you I would look in the Stapleton or Lowry areas, they are nice developments in Denver and a quick commute to campus. I know there are quite a few classmates that live in those areas, the neighborhoods around campus aren't great. After your first semester you will be spending most of your time off campus and at clinical sites instead. Lots of students are at UCH on campus which is an awesome hospital but there are many other options. I am at Porter Hospital in south Denver this block and other students are at Rose, St Joseph's, Littleton, etc- pretty much all over the metro area. It varies each block, at the beginning of the program they have you rank your top 3 choices for each block and you will more than likely will go to one of those hospitals. It really just depends on if there is room for students at each hospital. The first semester classes are pretty large, with both accelerated and traditional students together. There are about 115 of us that started in June and we had all of our classes together. The labs have about 20 or so students in them. Once you get into Med-Surg, OB, etc the class sizes get cut in half. Then there are about 6 students per clinical site. It sounds big but you can get the individual attention you need if you seek it out. Whew! I think that is all that you asked. Feel free to ask anything else that you think of.

Congrats derjac! They say that getting in is the hardest part of nursing school, so you got that out of the way :) I started the accelerated program at CU this summer and I'm really loving it. I don't know if you have this info but I am including a link that lists the schedule of classes you are going to take by semester. http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/nursing/programs-admissions/bachelors-programs/Documents/pdf/AccelProgofStudyJanStart.pdf For your first semester most classes will be 3-4 hours long and meet once a week. Health Assessment and Fundamentals also includes a 4-5 hour lab component. The Professional Nursing class is online only. You will start weekly clinical rotations during the summer. They go over a lot during the orientation day so you can get a lot of your questions answered there. The teachers are awesome and they continually let you know that they are there to help you succeed. Don't be afraid to ask for extra help if you need it.

Not that it really matters, but the nursing program at CU is actually tied to the Denver campus, not the Boulder campus. I am currently finishing up my first semester with the UCD (University of Colorado-Denver) program and I am very happy with it!

I'm thinking that our classes end 7/30. That's what it says on the course schedules and if you look on the academic calendar College of Nursing is in parenthesis after the 8 week course end date. I hope so anyway!! I think we will need a month off after this summer :)

It's great to hear that my fellow wait-listers got "the call". I can't believe that school starts in a month!!! So much to do. I kinda got screwed on scheduling because they were having IT problems so I couldn't register until 11:30 so I ended up with Monday morning lab But at least I'm in school so I can't complain too much. I also live in the Highlands Ranch area (C-470 & Yosemite). I wish lightrail went all the way up I-225 but maybe we could set up a car pool??

I feel the same way! I start classes in June and I am so excited and yet so freaked out at the same time. Nursing is totally different than anything I've done before. Just thinking about all the things I will be learning makes my head spin. I usually have a minor freak out at the beginning of the semester and then calm down after a couple of weeks. I imagine it will be the same in nursing school.

No, they were supposed to send us all of the information on how and when to register as well as info on the drug testing. All I received in the mail so far was the in state tuition information.

Did you get a registration packet yet Stellagirl? The email basically said they totally screwed up the information for registration and need to send out correct packets to us. I got a call this morning from Julie, MUCH more pleasant than the other lady I talked to yesterday. She was calling to see what if anything I got in the mail. I haven't received anything in the mail. So she said she was dropping a new packet in the mail today and gave me a number to call if I didn't get anything by Wednesday. Hopefully I get something before we actually have to register!

Well... I just got off the phone with someone from the Nursing School and she was less than cordial with me! After making me feel stupid for calling instead of just reading the email she said they are still working on it and should get info soon. I believe her exact words were "well if you would just read the email that we sent to you, you would know what is going on." I explained that the email stated the packets already went out in the mail so that's why I called and I got a big *SIGH* in response. She then told me "you can't even register until May anyway so don't even worry about it". Yikes!!! I thanked her for her time and she hung up on me. Must be having a rough day. I guess I will just wait patiently for my new packet and hope I don't run into that lady in the hallways :)

I haven't received mine either but I did get the email. I was going to call them tomorrow to inquire about it... seems like the whole thing is a bit of a cluster right now.

Thanks! I was very surprised to get a call so quick. Another friend of mine who is on the call list talked to an admissions person and confirmed that they will continue to "call around" to all the applicants in the pool until someone answers the phone and accepts. Seems kinda goofy to me but it is what it is. In order to be in the nursing program at CU you do have to have the BLS for healthcare providers CPR certification. According to the paperwork I have they will be offering classes in the first two weeks of classes but I might try to get it done before then... I'm sure I'll be stressed enough in those first few weeks. Other than that I just have to get my immunization records in and get all the other paperwork in.

Hey all- I was on the call list with you but I got a call on Saturday... I might be the girl you read about :) I went to the nursing school yesterday and signed my intent form and got a little info. There is no ranking system for the call list. Basically what happens is they try to fill the open spot with someone who has similar stats as the person that turned down the position. From what I gather they just call around to different people until they get someone to fill the opening. If you missed the call you are not off the call list you just get put back in the random pool. Like you said HghlndsRnch, if you see a call from a number you don't know ANSWER IT!