SweetINFJ

Wow I live in the one of the bottom 8 states for APRNs, but I'll be making a salary similar to the top few states for APRNs as a female new grad. I got this position a few months before actually graduating. I definitely feel blessed!

From a mass e-mail this morning: "Once again Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has been named among the "Best Graduate Schools" in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine. We are delighted to report that the School of Nursing Doctorate of Nursing Practice Program is ranked No. 10 for the 2017 year. This is the first time that US News and World Report ranked DNP programs. The MSN program continues to be among the top Schools of Nursing. For the 2017 ranking, the MSN program was ranked No. 13, tied with the University of Pittsburgh. To determine scores, U.S. News & World Report uses a ranking methodology for Schools of Nursing, which arrives at a weighted average across eight indicators. Being ranked #10 and #13 for the DNP and MSN program is particularly noteworthy as there are over 200 DNP programs and over 500 MSN programs in the country. The individual nursing specialties of the MSN program received the following ranking: Nurse-Midwifery specialty, No. 1 Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner specialty, No. 3 Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner specialty, No. 3 Nursing Informatics specialty, No. 4 Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner specialty, No. 4 Family Nurse Practitioner specialty, No. 5 Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner specialty, No. 6 We are truly proud of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing's outstanding reputation and is reflective the excellence in academics, research, practice, and informatics that are core components of our school. Thanks to all, faculty, staff, students, and alumni- you are what makes VUSN great!" I'm proud of our school as usual! I'm also thrilled that my specialty (AG-ACNP) soared from #5 to #3 this year!

I've actually been off of Facebook for over a year because of a long list of reasons . From acceptance to enrollment, the syllabus for my classes was available 3-4 weeks before the start of classes. The list of books for the semester was available around June or so. Keep a look out for the "Admitted Students" page update, and look at that page frequently. It kept me sane as far as pre-enrollment requirements go. Last year, it was up sometime around the late spring. I'm looking forward to meeting you as well! Everyone I have met has been courteous, exceptionally bright, and just all around awesome. I love the fact that everyone at VUSN comes from a wide variety of backgrounds and levels of experience. I love seeing people from all areas of the country/globe as well. Congratulations on being admitted! It will be a positive life altering experience.

To those of you who will be Direct-Entry (already a BSN), AG-ACNP, and Full-Time (one-year study), we will be classmates in a couple of classes (e.g. Advanced Health Assessment) in the Fall. We will also graduate together in August 2017, because I'm in the middle of the 2 year Part-Time program. Let me know if you have any questions! Be sure to get all of your student pre-enrollment requirements done early, so that it's done and over with! Also, buy your books as soon as the syllabus is available on Blackboard. There is usually a quiz on the first day of class in some courses.

To anyone who was rejected, don't give up or lose hope in your goals and dreams! My sister was rejected her first time applying to the program (for pre-specialty). She was devastated, because she really wanted to go to Vandy and become a Nurse Practitioner. We encouraged her to try again next year, so she did and was accepted her second time around! She is now an awesome PNP at a great clinic, and she loves her job. She also got her DNP last year through Vandy as well. Congrats to everyone who was already accepted and to those who will soon find out about their acceptance! VUSN is an awesome program, and I've learned so much so far.

Good luck to all of you who applied for the Fall 2016 entry at VUSN! I guess finding out about acceptance into the program varies in time frame from year to year. My AG-ACNP cohort got lucky, because we learned about our acceptance in mid-December of 2014 for the Fall 2015 entry. I'm doing the two year part-time ACNP program, so I will be seeing those of you admitted to the full-time/one year direct-entry ACNP program for Fall 2016. Let me know if you guys have any questions! :)

I had basically told myself that it's impossible to memorize every single detail (especially if it's insignificant), and I read "with purpose." After reading the assigned chapters and handouts for the week, I studied and reviewed what I felt was important and made mental connections between the text and potential real life clinical situations. I visualized a lot of "what if" situations. Finding relevance in the assigned reading helped me retain a lot of pertinent information. I also kept in mind that my ultimate goal is to become a competent clinician someday, and that it's for the benefit of my future patients to work as hard as I can. I was also diligent about my time management. It was crucial to stay organized and constantly plan ahead in order to balance graduate school with work obligations and my general personal life. Otherwise, it would be easy to go insane . Yoga, getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and spending time with my significant other were a few things that kept me mentally healthy.

It's hard to believe that this time last year, I was jumping with joy upon learning about my acceptance into my top choice graduate school-Vanderbilt. I had spent much of 2014 working towards that goal. Fast forward a year later, and I've completed my first semester of ACNP school with a 4.0 GPA! I definitely doubted my abilities early in the semester. I knew it was going to be tough working full-time while taking both Advanced Pathophysiology and Advanced Pharmacology. It was very challenging, but it was also rewarding. My professors were amazing, and I learned so much invaluable information and wisdom. I love Vanderbilt! I am looking forward to experiencing the rest of my ACNP program and becoming the best ACNP that I can possibly be. To all those Vandy hopefuls, feel free to inbox me with any questions! Have a wonderful holiday season, everyone!

I'm also thankful that my school (Vanderbilt-overall ranked #11 and my specialty AG-ACNP-ranked #5) has a 2 year part-time option. It allows me to continue working in a modified full-time schedule (at a nationally ranked Level 1 Trauma Center) and keep my tuition reimbursement benefits. It sure beats being six figures in debt upon graduation. I also personally know of countless Nurse Practitioners who went to school part-time while working and became OUTSTANDING and competent clinicians in their practice. Don't be a hater, OP!

I applied to only one school. I had my heart and soul set on attending Vanderbilt (for my ACNP), and I lucky got admitted and started the program this fall!

Thanks, Commuter! I'm now 1 of 4 nurses on my unit to have this certification.`` On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say the test was about a 5 for me (in comparison to about a 7 for the CCRN). I have been working in a Neuro ICU for the past 4 years, so a lot of the content was very familiar to me. I studied for about a month on my 3 nights a week off of work (about 2-4 hours a day). I printed out a copy of the SCRN exam outline from the SCRN handbook. I took and paid for the SCRN practice exam on the AANN website; it gave me a great idea of how the test would be like. I read "Fast Facts for Stroke Care Nursing" by Kathy Morrison, and I browsed the stroke related chapters in Joanne Hickey's textbook for "Neuroscience Nursing." Best of luck if you decide to take the SCRN exam!!! As of now, I think more than 1,300 nurses have attained this certification, so it's still pretty rare to have.

Commuter, Have you decided whether or not you're going to take the SCRN exam? I passed the SCRN examination yesterday with a 269 (a 200 is required to pass)! It was pretty much a straight forward and knowledge based exam.

Yeah, there's pre-specialty non-RN, pre-specialty RN (RN with ASN), and direct-entry (RN with BSN). Basically those who are pre-specialty go through the "pre-specialty" year first, but those who already have a BSN go right into their "specialty" year. I know. It's totally confusing! :)

For those who like stats and haven't seen this on the VU website yet: VUSN By The Numbers 2014 Master of Science in Nursing Enrollment by Specialty: AG-ACNP- 110 students AG-PCNP- 63 students FNP- 116 students Emergency NP- 24 students Healthcare Leadership- 9 students Nursing Informatics- 5 students Neonatal NP- 28 students Nurse Midwifery- 36 students CNM/FNP-28 students Psychiatric Mental Health NP- 94 students Pediatric Primary Care NP- 82 students Pediatric Acute Care NP-33 students Women's Health NP- 36 students Women's Health/AG-PCNP- 26 students Student Demographics by Average Age: Pre-Specialty- 26 years old RN PreSpecialty- 35 years old DNP- 41 years old PhD- 40 years old Post-Master's- 42 years old (They didn't list a Direct Entry MSN average age). Gender: Male: 11% Female: 89% 479 Full-Time Students 368 Part-Time Students 15% Minority Student Enrollment This is the current class' statistics. I'm sure these numbers will be pretty different by this time next year.

Cdgccrn and sbthomas93, I wouldn't worry too much about your GRE scores as long as the rest of your application looks great! I got accepted into the AG-ACNP program in mid-December with less than stellar GRE scores. I only had a 40th percentile Quantitative score, 54th percentile Verbal score, and 4.0 Writing score after studying a lot and taking it TWICE. I thought the CCRN was so much easier haha. I think the rest of my application helped me out, because I have 5 years of RN experience (4 years so far in an ICU at a top level 1 trauma center), prior experience as a CNA, patient sitter, and hospital volunteer, a 3.7 GPA (4.0 in pre-reqs) at a private 4 year university, and I'm heavily involved in my unit and hospital (i.e. various committees and running meetings). I had great letters of recommendations, and I worked on perfecting my statement of purpose and narratives for 4 months before I anxiously hit submit in mid-October. This was the only program I applied to, and it has always been my dream to go to Vandy for ACNP school. I am also eternally grateful that my amazing employer is going to help pay for the majority of my tuition. I am going to do the 2 year part-time program, so that I can continue to work full-time. I can't wait for August!!! In conclusion, the GRE will not ruin your chances of being accepted unless you didn't try at all and got in the 0 percentile or if the rest of your application is lacking in some way. I hope you guys hear good news soon!!!!!!! ::Fingers Crossed For All::