jjohncar

Correction I her name is *****

The instructors seem much more lenient in the Fall. You will have much more time off in the Fall as well so you will have more time to study for your exams. Just to backtrack a little you will have an online class between spring and summer, but it's easy and only two weeks long- your break between those semesters is also two weeks long. One bonus of the OU program is that you have the opportunity to be ACLS certified during your critical care rotation. You will have the option of choosing ICU, OR, ER, or cardiac step down for your critical care rotation. I enjoyed my time in ICU and the mental health rotation was a nice break from hospital nursing. You will also attend an osna convention in Norman, which is a lot of fun. When the Fall semester is over, you will have an online course to take, again it is pretty easy especially if you work with your group to get the work finished. In the beginning we had 21 students and now we have 19. I know our cohort definitely raised the bar with our GPAs and I think that it will only get more competitive. This is purely speculation but the program might be accepting less students from now on because of issue with students overwhelming the resources within the program and at DRH. I'm thinking that 14-16 students is what they might be shooting for. Anyway, the instructors are all amazing and are willing to do what they can to help you succeed. While they expect you to be flexible, they are flexible as well and will work with you if you have scheduling issues or need to miss clinical or lab days. I can honestly say that throughout my education, my nursing school instructors are my most favorite instructors. And Ms. Cooper is actually awesome. Just some miscellaneous things... you will have ATI testing at the end of every semester. These are mock NCLEX tests on specific subjects that indicate how well you would do in those subjects on the actual NCLEX. Be prepared to do some studying on your own for some of those tests, like nutrition, fundamentals of nursing, and pediatric care because a lot of the material on those tests aren't covered in in your courses. Also, when you get to your floors to do your clinicals be ready for some grumpy nurses with bad attitudes, just keep your head up and do as much as you can to learn as much as you because that's what you are there for. By the end of your first semester you will understand what it means for nurses to eat their young. All in all, I've enjoyed the program and can't believe it is almost over. The last year has gone by so fast. I've learned so much in such a short time and have made some amazing friends along the way. Shortly after I began nursing school and was feeling overwhelmed, someone said to me that being in nursing school was like being up a creek without a paddle but that fortunately I had 20 other people in the boat with me. I couldn't agree more. If it wasn't for my nursing school buddies I would've lost my sanity long ago. Carly-- I know that science gpa plays a big role in the selection process, I think that if you have a lower cum gpa than you would need a higher science gpa to offset that. I know that you definitely need to do well in A&P and micro, I don't think the other prereqs matter as much. I had a 3.25 cum gpa and a 4.0 science. I know someone in our class had the bare minimum cum gpa but a 4.0 science gpa and was accepted. Apparently there is an unpublished point system that they use for selection. **** at OUHSC would be helpful in answering your questions.I hope that helps.

Sweetlo and Carlygh, I will be starting my last semester of the Duncan ABSN program next week. It's a fast and furious program, but definitely worth the time and expense. First, be prepared to be flexible, can't stress that enough because your schedule will change a lot throughout the program- which can be either convenient or not. There is not a lot of time to study for your tests because you will be very busy. The first semester is front loaded, so you will have a lot of tests. Around March or so you will have a test every other week, and your online class should be finished. The content of the material for the tests isn't hard to understand it is the wide breadth of information that you will have to retain, and apply during your tests that will make the courses harder during the first semester. Your tests throughout the program will have between 65 and 75 questions, you'll have between 3-4 tests and comprehensive finals. I suggest taking the time to do the study guides because they will help you immensely. Not all the test materials are on the study guides. A lot of the tests will have questions that aren't in the reading or powerpoint slides, those you will have to think through logically or guess at. A good idea is to form a study group early, this is especially beneficial during the first semester. Once you find a study group you work well with you can work with those people to complete your online class busy work, and do assignments because you will be overwhelmed with busy work, studying, clinicals, papers, and care plans. Your care plans will a take significant amount of time the night prior to your clinicals, during your first semester so be prepared. The summer is pretty intense, you have a test every week plus 250 clinical hours and labs. Acute and Chronic I during the summer is probably the hardest class because there is not much time to study, the questions involve much more critical thinking than rote memorization, and the course grade is based only on 4 exam grades and a comprehensive final, the easiest test is worth the least amount of points. The summer clinical experience is amazing because you will rotate through the cancer center, family practice, hospice, home health, and wound care in addition to your regular clinical hours in OB and Med Surg- this opportunity exists only for ABSNs. The pace slows a lot in the Fall when you will be integrated with the traditional students from both Duncan and Lawton. You have the option of attending either campus. In the Fall, you will do your clinicals in ICU and psych....

oops, drips and gases.

I'm hoping to be a CRNA and it's not for the money. My mom is a retired CRNA and I have never met a person that loved their job more than she did. Growing up, I had the opportunity to be around her practice and see how much her patients (OB type) loved her and colleagues respected her. While she was an advanced practice nurse, and most her job was technical in nature, she always went out of her way to provide the care and comfort of a nurse to her patients and their families. Stressful yes, challenging yes, but worth every minute- so she says. I promised her I was never going to be a nurse, went to college got a B.S. in Computer Science, spent some time as a stay at home mom, and through it all decided I wanted to be a nurse. I'm now back in school in an ABSN program, working my rear off to maintain a perfect GPA in hopes of going to anesthesia school, and nothing has ever felt so right. And it has nothing to do with the money. I want a technical, challenging career as an advanced practice nurse. The thought of titrating gases, epidurals, and intubations is exciting to me. I understand that their are mundane aspects of the job but those stressful intense moments will surely make up for that. I want the challenge, the autonomy, the stress, the respect all while being a nurse and providing the patient cre that only a nurse can provide. =)

To everyone that was accepted,can you please share your admissions stats- gpa, years exp, GRE or MAT scores. I'm very interested in Raleigh School of Anesthesia and would like to know how competitive the program is. My spouse is in the Army and this is one of very few options that I have to go to anesthesia school (without having to live apart). Also, I live in an area where the only hospital within a 100 mile radius is a trauma 3 center. Does anyone know how much that might hurt my application. Thanks in advance.

Hi guys. Congrats on your acceptance. I was just in Duncan today and there is a nice gym at the Simmons Center that is about a mile away from where we will be going to class. If I have enough time that's where I will be going after class.

Congrats!! After I saw your post to the other thread I went to the mailbox to look and my acceptance letter was there. It looks like orientation is January 6 from 9am-1pm. I'm really excited. I was worried about the cpr courses but the letter states that there will be a sign up for cpr classes at the orientation. I was hoping to find someone to carpool with, so I'm definitely interested.

I got my acceptance letter today as well. Carpooling and studying would be great! I'm an Army spouse. Do you live on post or out in town? I live out in town.

I meant, the end of November.

I'm going to have to drive up there as well once I find out. I live in Lawton, OK and I'm having trouble finding a cpr class that I can take between now and the deadline because of the holidays. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go to OKC for that as well. I haven't checked the mail yet but I'm pretty sure there isn't anything there. This has been driving me nuts, I actually looked on the boards and I found a thread from last year where someone received a denial letter at the end of December. Well, good luck to you, maybe we'll get something tomorrow.

I specifically asked about the enrollment requirements because I was concerned about being able to fit in a cpr class, immunizations, and background checks prior to January 7th (deadline listed on website). If you go to the website, select current students->orientation->Lawton/Duncan. They are allowing almost no time to complete the enrollment requirements, especially for those out of state. Plus, I don't want to sped the money on all of these things if I don't end up being accepted. Just as a heads up, if you don't physically go to OKC to get your state background check, it takes about 4 weeks to get it in the mail.

I contacted the admissions coordinator again and she told me that they are hoping to get the letters out this week. Apparently, the board met and the application review needs to be signed off by the dean of nursing. She said that once they get the dean's approval they can draw up the letters and send them out. I was told that we should start looking at the enrollment requirements and start to get the immunizations/ background checks squared away. She also said that they may or may not extend the deadline for those requirements because of they delayed notification.

I just found out from the admissions coordinator that they aren't reviewing applications until December 9th and that we should be receiving letters around the 13th.

I have B.S. in computer science-military science minor. I was a hospital corpsman in the Navy. I spent most of my time at an isolated duty station with minimum personnel so I did a variety of jobs (EMT,ambulatory care, lab, pharmacy, public health) But most of my training/experience was geared towards troop medical care- field and emergency medicine. Very technical not a lot of theory. How about you?