spearlm1

I took the Family Psych NP certification exam. There weren't very many child and adolescent questions on it (or geri, for that matter) and I don't think they changed it very much from the old adult exam.

This isn't really a large topic but I wanted to warn anyone else about to take the Psych NP board exam from ANCC not to buy the ANCC practice questions. It costs $99 to get 150 questions through the same ANCC website where you book your actual test. I had been studying from the rather outdated review book recommended elsewhere on the ANCC site and from Victoria Mosack's review book, which has a lot of decent practice questions. But I figured the questions you buy straight from the source are going to be the most authentic. I got a third of the questions wrong and got a message from the software: "Passing score: 75%. You did not pass." So I sort of panicked, because I just finished a perfectly good NP program and I had studied more than a little and I usually do well on standardized tests. I did a lot more studying, which interfered with the legitimate Advanced Practice nursing stuff I had planned to be doing with that time, as well as with sleeping. The upshot is that I passed quite easily and I'm not sure that any of the additional studying I did made any difference. Besides which, the practice questions were not nearly as well written or clearly worded as the real ones, to the point that I spent time strategizing how to compensate for their poor test-writing that was totally wasted. There is a lot of bad test prep out there and usually there's no point in complaining about it, but this came straight from the agency that actually gives the real test. It bothers me that people spend that kind of money to be misled in that way.

To activate your uni: Go to http://www.columbia.edu Click "Email and Computing" Click "MyUni" Click "activate a new UNI account" click "accept" both times OR: instead of all those steps, you could just go to https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/acis/manageaccount/create.html click "look up uni" click "look up my UNI" again (yes, again) type your last name in the search box You should find yourself listed with your new UNI (a three-letter code with four numbers, probably). then click "back" three times to go back to the "activate your account" page. Now it should be self-explanatory. I don't really know why all of their procedures have to involve multiply emails and messing around with the system for several minutes trying to figure out which instructions they left out.

I'm an independent student with an Expected Family Contribution of $182. This was my financial aid breakdown (totals for the year): Perkins $2000* Stafford $5,500 subsidized,** $7,000 unsubsidized*** Nursing Student Loan $3500* Private Loan: ~$60,000 CUSON scholarsip: $22,667 That would cover my estimated need, which they put at about $101,000, including living expenses. If you're also an independent student with a negligible EFC and you filed your FAFSA, yours is going to look the same. It is a huge joke that they are "awarding" me private loans. Who will have to pay the loan origination fees and interest that accrues before and after graduation, as well as the principle itself? Not them. Actually, since I have been WORKING MY BUTT OFF since I filed my FAFSA, I am not going to take out a private loan at all. Federal Asset Protection, hah. *5% interest rate, no interest until after leaving school, no fee. **4.5% interest rate, no interest until after leaving school, 0.5% fee ***6.8% interest rate, interest accrues upon disbursement, 0.5% fee

I just got my acceptance letter from SUNY a few days ago (maybe the 16th? crazy busy so I lose track). I didn't turn in my application until a couple of days before their deadline, because I was finishing up some pre-reqs, so I don't think the time that you applied has anything to do with it. They said that they need a $100 deposit which is only refundable if I ask for it back by April 1 - so I assume April 1 was their deadline - but the deadline was not immediately apparent from the letter. Last month they sent me an email saying I needed to send them more information about my sociology pre-reqs. (Can't figure out why they care, anyway). I sent them a load of info from my undergraduate college, but could not get anyone on the phone or by email to confirm that it was what they wanted. I guess it was, since they accepted me. Honestly, my application was really strong, so they might have had less thinking to do about it.

Actually, this year's financial breakdown is: Tuition (including 3% tuition hike in fall 2010): $68,480 Tuition plus fees, supplies, etc.: $74,038 Columbia's estimated cost of living: ~$30k (reasonable if you live like a student) Financial aid: SON scholarship $22k* Stafford loans subsidized and unsubsidized: $$7,500 if you're a dependent student, $12,500 if you're independent Perkins and Nursing Student Loans through Columbia: $5,500 Remaining need: $34,038 plus living expenses. *plus another $11.6k if you stay on full-time for the Master's

Hi, I have also gotten into Columbia's ETP and am trying to face up to the debt involved. As far as housing goes, don't worry. The housing situation is quite different from what it was two years ago, as I can tell you, because I bought a home about 1 mile from the Columbia SON campus a year ago, after renting three different NYC apartments in five years. The SON is in Washington Heights, which is actually a safe, pleasant place to live now. It's very ethnically diverse and different neighborhoods within the area have different feels. In NYC different neighborhoods can be about half a mile apart, so you have some options without going far from campus. Dealing with realtors is also different now because it's much more of a renter's market than it used to be. Don't pay a fee. Just don't. You can get a nice one- or two-bedroom apartment for $1,100-$1,300 a month. Be warned that the two-bedroom probably won't have any more square footage, it will just have an extra wall. That means that if you share, it will cost less than a dorm room, which I think is $700+ per month, plus in a share you can cook. I have a really large room in my home a mile from campus I'm renting for $500/month, but it's harder to find situations like that. It's a better bet to find someone you get along with and look for an apartment together. The cost of living in Washington Heights now is no worse than most major cities and better than some. I went to grad school in New Haven and the cost of living was a lot lower (although that may have changed since 2002) because the town was mostly the university, the nice parts, anyway, so the prices were aimed more at students. If you're considering Yale, that's something to keep in mind. As far as financial aid goes: yes, they probably will want your deposit before they send your award letter. No, they are not kidding. However, you probably already know what your Federal award loans are, and they say the basically give the SON scholarship to anyone who asks for it, which you did on your application when you checked off that you were interested in financial aid. The SON scholarship is $22k for the first year (which costs $74k without it, including tuition and all the fees) and $11.6k for the Master's part of the program, IF you stay in the program straight through instead of taking a year off or dropping down to part time after you get your RN. Sorry for the long post, hope this helps.