kynchanted

Hi! :) As for tips on the whole process, the most important thing (as far as nursing school goes) is getting into a nursing program. Sounds obvious, but if you get selected for NECP but are waitlisted at a school or end up with no school to go to, you can't do NECP (that happened to me in 2010 the first time I applied). My advice to prevent that is apply to multiple schools (my experience is that you are more likely to be accepted to schools that require more for their application process (e.g. taking the TEAS, letters of recommendation, resumes) because they look more at the whole person, unless you have a really high GPA that you can get into school alone on (I was waitlisted at schools that look simply at GPA with a 3.70). Which brings me to my other tip: get your GPA as high as possible. For NECP it won't matter as much but it does for school applications. To clarify, GPA is important for NECP, but I have seen people get accepted to the program with GPAs from the low 3's to a 4.0. As for the NECP application, let your leadership know you are interested in applying and get the word out there. I would tell anyone who would listen what my plan was so they could put in a word for me wherever/whenever it came up. When it comes to writing your letter of recommendation I prefer to write my own and then route it up the chain for editing as those signing off on it see fit. My leadership really appreciated that, and who else is better to be your cheerleader and know all of your accomplishments than yourself? I really can't think of any other tips besides the obvious (good EPRs, pass PT tests, etc.), and every applicant has a different experience with the program; these are just my experiences. We also have a Facebook group if you are on FB...look for USAF NECP. There are NECPers from 2010, 2011, 2012 and hopefuls for next year. There is a TON of info on the site (actually this site gave birth to that one, LOL, so I don't think hardly anyone ever comes to this page anymore). As for colleges, you can apply anywhere that is under $15K year in any state as long as the school has an AF ROTC Detachment or a cross-town agreement with a school that has one. School also has to be AACN/CCNE accredited. Check out this page if you haven't before U.S. Air Force ROTC - College Scholarships and Careers - College Locator - College Locator to see which schools fit this. Most schools will give in-state tuition to you if you are AD mil stationed there (private schools don't have to I don't think, though). You don't have to apply where you currently live, but if you are mil to mil you are taking a chance of being separated from your spouse while in school if you choose to PCS to another location (that's the situation I am in right now - hubby is in LA and I am in MD). Let me know if I confused you at all or if you have any other questions and if you have FB I would definitely check out our page! :)

Yeah OB is what I put in for...I love it (should be finding out soon if I got it and where I am going after I graduate). I am starting my final semester next week...I go to Univ of MD Baltimore (now called UM, Founding Campus) and I graduate in May. I was a 2010 and 2011 NECP select (in 2010 I was waitlisted at the schools I applied to so I had to decline my NECP seat, hence the re-application in 2011). How far are you into the application process?

Hi briannamurph! :) When you are going into your last semester of nursing school, you will get an email from AFPC asking for your base preferences and your nursing track of choice. The choices for new grads are either medical-surgical (medsurg) or obstetrics nursing. Those are the only options I have ever seen offered and from what I hear you have to work in these areas for at least one year before you can move onto the ED/ER or other areas of nursing. Your plan sounds good, but I have also heard that the AF doesn't like people to use NECP as a stepping stone for other careers, meaning they want you to stay a nurse, so I wouldn't necessarily let others know your plan to become a dermatologist, simply because a lot of money is invested into each NECP applicant and the program is to make nurses for the AF (the same holds true for the PA program - they want to keep their PAs as PAs). Those are just a few limited opinions that I have heard on the programs and "crossing over" from one to another. Best of luck to you! :)

Hi! Just wanted to let you know that NTP is actually 11 weeks long in the Air Force (I am in NECP now, just starting my second semester of nursing school). You go to COT (officer training school) for six weeks, then to NTP once you graduate COT (of course after you graduate and pass the NCLEX). :) Good luck!

Hi kwolfe01! :) I was a dental lab tech for 13 years before I was accepted to nursing school and NECP, so no, you don't need medical experience. The most I had was that I was a SABC and CPR instructor, and while I worked in the dental clinic, I worked in the lab, so I didn't work with patients at all. To get accepted into school, you need to have a good GPA and have the prereqs completed. Military-friendly schools are the one that I go to (Univ. of MD, Baltimore) and University of Central Florida. While they are willing to work with you being military, you still have to meet their admission requirements (for example, my school requires you to take an entrance exam called the TEAS, and you have to do well on it). The main thing is to get/keep your GPA up and get the classes done that you need to apply. That's keeping it pretty simple, so if you have more questions please don't hesitate to ask. We also have a FB page (look for USAF NECP) where you will find tons of NECP hopefuls as well as people who are either in the program or who have graduated from it. It is super helpful and is checked more often than this page so you get answers quicker. But again, don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions, and good luck when you do apply! Forgot to add that there are many other schools besides the ones I mentioned, those are just from my experiences. :) I could tell you where to stay away from too but I won't publicly.... :I

Hi eagles01! I am going through the program right now (first semester of it). It is hard! There is a reason that the AF sends us and doesn't make us work while we are here; you don't have time to do anything except go to school and study. I am married as well (mil-to-mil) and it is hard because my hubby's functional manager did not let him come with me, so we are going to be apart for the two years I am in the program. If you have your spouse with you (if they aren't military or you don't have to move to go to school), I think it would be easier if they support you and realize that you really have to devote most of your life to school. I really wish hubby was here to help me with little things like taking the dog out to go to the bathroom or just doing the grocery shopping. So is it stressful being married and going through the program? Yes if spouse isn't with you, but it could be as well if they are with you but not supportive. That is just my experience with it (not having my spouse here). And once you graduate, you will be an 0-1E, so you will be on a higher pay scale than an 0-1. Hope that helps some! :)

Hi loveMI! I have some answers to some of your questions. First, UMSL is no longer a compatible school for NECP (they just changed their BSN program to 2.5 years, and NECP's cutoff is two years). As for online classes, NECP will accept online classes, the key is finding a school that will accept them (all have to be with labs if they are science classes). As for the NECP prereqs, I only took sociology (is that a NECP prereq? I can't remember) and stat online, but they accepted both (as did the schools that I applied to). I took a lot of social sciences and humanities classes online and they were all accepted as well. Hope this helps some. You might want to check out our facebook site to get some more input; I don't think many people check this site anymore since we moved. Search for USAF NECP. There are lots of hopefuls as well as people who are in NECP now and have already completed it. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions! :)

Hi! sorry for the delayed response (I haven't been on here in a bit, nursing school keeps you really busy). UMB accepted all of my classes, but the only ones I took online were stat, government, sociology, and a few humanities classes. I didn't take any science classes online, but as long as you have a lab component to the class, they should accept it. Hope that helps some; please don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions! :)

Hi! Shady Grove is in Rockville, which is about an hour southwest of Baltimore on a map (I have never been there so Google Maps is all I know from). I think that UMB's Baltimore campus has clinicals in Baltimore, but I am not sure since I am going to Shady Grove. Bethesda is actually only like 30 minutes from Shady Grove (again, from Google Maps), so it isn't too bad. If there are Baltimore or DC clinicals, those will be kinda far from my school. I did my prereqs through Pikes Peak Community College in CO and Univ of MD University College. I also did some gen ed classes through University of Phoenix. Where are you stationed? If overseas, UMUC is your best bet. If stateside, you should be able to find a community college in your area that has all of these classes. Classes like stat and nutrition you can take online pretty easily. Some of these classes could possibly be used to fulfill CCAF requirements, but CCAF is not a school itself, so no, CCAF doesn't technically have these classes. I have been in awhile and usually only took one class at a time, so it took a long time. From the time I started taking only NECP prereqs, it took about two years to complete them all. Some classes you can't go right into, that's the problem. For example, usually you have to take general college bio before you can take A&P (it depends on the school). You have to take college algebra before you can take chem usually (unless you can take a placement test and place out of the math class). That's why the classes tend to take awhile. Plus being overseas you have even slimmer pickings of classes than you would have if you were in the states. Hope this helps some!

Hi! That is the tricky thing, finding a school that is completable in two years or less. You will have to drive from UMB to College Park, but you won't have to take ROTC classes there (or at all). You will report there if you don't want to take leave and school is out or when you have trainings to do, so I am thinking maybe once every few months? The other thing is you may need a car because clinicals are all over Bethesda, Baltimore, DC, and a few other areas. They can be pretty spread out from semester to semester. That has even made it difficult to decide where to live for me. I will be attending the Shady Grove campus to try to avoid Baltimore somewhat. But then I have to deal with DC. Last year, I applied to Univ of South FL and San Francisco State U and was waitlisted then denied at both schools. They had my GPA calculated at a 3.70 and 3.66 and in both cases, that wasn't high enough. This year, I applied to Univ of Missouri, St. Louis (got in with a 3.74), Univ of Central FL (got in with a 3.74), and Univ of MD, Baltimore (again, got in with a 3,74). I chose to go to UMB. I also applied to Florida State U and Univ of FL. I didn't get in to either school because they take their own students over transfer students. I followed NECP's guidelines for prereqs and then when I found schools I wanted to apply to, if there were any other extra prereqs I needed I worked on them as well. All schools will require A&P 1 and 2, at least one chem class, and Microbio, so if you don't have these done yet, I would start there. Some schools only require one chem, so I applied to schools that had that requirement because I have only taken one chem class. Most schools have the same prereqs as NECP does, hence the reason NECP requires them. How far are you off from applying?

Hi! If a school's program is three years, then that is pretty much set in stone, so no, I don't think you can ask them if you can take three at a time. I tried to ask a few schools last year if I could double up a semester or take them during the summer and it was a no every time. Schools are pretty structured that way. NECP's guidelines say that the school has to be completable in two years or less, so you will have to look for schools that have their nursing classes in the last two years, three won't work. You are assigned to a ROTC detachment while in school; if the school has a cross-town agreement with another school, then you will report to that school (if it is different than the one you are attending) when you aren't in school (Spring Break, Christmas break, etc.) or to do computer trainings or for PT tests and such. I haven't started school yet, but this is what I have been told from other NECPers who have. You have to drive yourself to clinicals and such (I hope I understood your question correctly). Depending on where you go to school, you will be commuting a lot from school to clinicals and such. You keep your BAH or you can live on the nearest base if you have dependents, so that takes care of housing. I guess you could stay on campus, but in most situations that usually costs more than renting a place (at least it does at the colleges I applied to). Plus if you have a houseful of stuff, I don't think you would want to live on campus in the dorms. Hope I answered it all.... :)

Hi thenameismac! Usually community colleges don't offer Bachelors degrees. If the school says that nursing is a four-year program, that usually means that you complete the first two years of general ed classes then start the nursing program, hence the four years (since it takes 120 credits or so to get a Bachelor's degree). Usually you transfer in as a junior with only the nursing-prefix courses left to complete. With that said, a lot of programs are more than two years, so just be sure to find one for NECP that is two years or less. And if it isn't full-time (including summers), you can always work at the ROTC detachment over the summer or take leave. Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. I was accepted to NECP twice so I know a lot about the process. :)

I sent it to your inbox. :)

Yep! NECP is Nurse Enlisted Commissioning Program. Officers can't apply. You are an officer once you graduate and pass the NCLEX, of course. :) You will see once you join that us military people LOVE acronyms too. :)

Hi! I was told that the military won't accept University of Phoenix's degrees for commissioning, so I would email Mr. B and ask on that one. Try Grand Canyon University too. You will have to check on their tuition, though. I was accepted this year and am also mil-to-mil. We are having a hard time with hubby's DEROS curtailment, and if you have less than a year of school left, your spouse isn't allowed to join you under the join spouse program (FYI). We are fighting this battle right now: he has a DEROS of Oct 2012 and I start school in August. If they make him stay here until then, he can't join me in MD since I will have less than a year of school left, so they will send him to a base by himself to serve an unaccompanied tour, which is 15 months minimum (24 accompanied) before he can leave and re-join me. That will put us apart for 2.5 years since I will graduate and he will have to stay at his new base until he reaches the TOS requirement. That is with an overseas DEROS, though. I would definitely stay in AZ to avoid all of this. The other thing we have been told is that since it is a training program, they don't have to honor join spouse because if you fail out your spouse will have to remain where you were and you will go to another base. And the last thing we have been told is that I chose to apply to this program, so if we are separate, it was by choice. We'll see what happens, but if you can avoid PCSing I would definitely do so. Even though we are meeting our share of resistance, it is still worth it and we are both excited for me to start school. Good luck! :)