DoulaMama

I am also a 100% custody single mom of a 3 year old, in a masters-entry nursing program (i.e. SUPER accelerated!). Guess what? You have a leg up on everyone else. You already know what sleep deprivation is and you already know how to multi-task. My best advice is to study every night, stay on top of (or ahead of) your work. Find the fastest way to learn information (bullet points in the back of a textbook, youtube videos) or to reinforce information. Force yourself to really sit and think through the information, because regurgitation of material does not work for developing critical thinking skills. Pay 100% attention in lectures and really utilize them as study time. When you get home devote yourself 100% to your child--it actually gives you a break! If your child is going to spend even 30 min. or an hour watching TV, always sit down and use that time to make notecards or cheat sheets for class. When studying, set a timer to study efficiently. Do not study for more than 2 hours at a time (just my opinion). Really break it up. Exercise every day (find a way to make time for it...it has kept me sane!). Try to eat well. The best thing to do with your time before nursing school is DEVELOP a support system (friends, family, COUNSELOR)...get counseling before problems arise, don't wait...utilize school counseling services. You can definitely do this. I hear people in my program whining about it being so hard...and they are single and child-less LOL...omg...don't get me started. I'm doing great in school, I love it. No doubt about it that 100% single parenting is HARD but I love my son and make sure we do really relaxing things together on the weekend.

I am a student nurse in a very competitive CNM/WHNP masters entry program. I LOVE bedside nursing. Bedside nursing has given me a deeper understanding about how the body works that will incredibly enhance my advanced practice skills. I don't just learn about diseases and complications from a book....I see them...lots of them, in every shape and form, every single day. Seeing what can go wrong with the body teaches me how to pick up on subtle cues and develop better critical thinking and intuitive skills. Spending time with people helps me identify changes in their condition. I can't imagine being in a position to have more "power" over care without developing such IMPORTANT, critical, skills... I actually think not having such bedside experience could be really dangerous for my future patients. Another important thing is that women's health really means the health of a family. If you have no direct experience with women, children, babies, partners, it is difficult to be a comprehensive provider. I know that whatever a woman is going through, perhaps even that a loved one is dying in her family, that I have been in a similar experience, that I have been at the bedside of a palliative or hospice care patient and can have a better understanding of my patients' experiences and the impact those experiences have on their health. I know I am going all over the map here with what I'm trying to say....but to sum it up, bedside nursing has been one of the best and impacting experiences of my life and even though I am going to be a CNM I have decided to still hold a medical/surgical bedside position because I love it so much.

*BREAKING NEWS FOR MIDWIFERY MEPNS!!!!* UCSF has just been granted extra funds to ACCEPT MEPN MIDWIFERY APPLICANTS FOR 2012/2013 application cycle! I just wanted to share the happy news as soon as possible (we JUST found out). The application should reflect this change within a few days, I have been told. I am a current MEPN (midwifery specialty) so PM me if you have any questions. Good luck!! And please, spread the happy news!

I got in on my second try to the nurse-midwifery specialty. Here are some stats...My GPA was around 3.8, my GRE math/verbal scores were low (I think combined around 1050 or 1100?-- i took it twice). However, I think my writing was high around a 5 or 5.5-- I am just not the best standardized test taker. I had well-rounded volunteer work, both birth and non-birth related, local and international. I also made the step toward working full-time in the birth community by establishing my own business and have attended a good number of births. I had a good and honest goal statement and personal history statement. Year 1 of my personal history statement talked about life's hardships (but next time I decided nobody wants to hear too many boo-hoo stories...so I tried a different strategy for year 2 and talked about positive things in my life that lead me toward midwifery). In my goal statement I discussed why I wanted to be a NURSE first and foremost. Some advice: 1) Keep moving in a forward direction with your volunteer work... take on more of a leadership role. For example, I didn't just do a few volunteer births as a doula, I wrote curriculum for doula trainings, taught classes, etc.... when your leadership skills are being evaluated, show them that you are a leader and the steps that you take in your volunteer work is just one way to do that 2) If you are going to keep applying if you don't get in, show that you are doing more and diverse things and truly re-evaluate your goal statement vs. just regurgitating the same information 3) If you don't get in or you get wait-listed and UCSF really is your top choice, write them a letter and let them know that you are serious about attending their school. Also, have community members send additional letters of support separate from your other letters. You want to stand out and you want your name known 4) Keep your goal statement and personal history statement short and sweet and to the point! Don't repeat information. I am happy to provide more info around interview time or if anyone wants to PM me. Because of my diverse volunteer experience I had a lot of anecdotal stories to share about nursing when it came time to interview and I found this very helpful in being able to provide concrete examples. Good luck!

It's challenging for those of us on the waitlist, in limbo. I wonder how soon they notify us if a spot opens up? And if people are waiting until exactly March 8th to accept or decline? I feel like if I haven't heard anything at this point, it's probably not happening? Has anyone been accepted off the waitlist yet? I know what keeps me going is that my end-goal is the same, regardless of when I start school.

I'm actually spending the time getting together with friends who I likely won't get to see very much if I start school in June. I thought the interview process was a good experience and really enjoyed meeting all of the other candidates. I'm excited.

Wow, I'm glad someone broke the ice after the awkwardness.... magallanes-- checkered tie, nice. I'm open to saying hi too! average height, long blonde hair, wearing mostly black (dun dun dun), in the afternoon session. I'm no longer certain if I will be able to attend the meet and greet (it is likely that I will be meeting and greeting a new baby since I am on-call for a birth)-- if I do make it I will be some version of a happy zombie roaming the ucsf campus with the rest of you :) Good luck everyone!!!

Education-related budget cuts, particularly in nursing drive me nuts, especially because of the long-term health and financial consequences of such decisions... Meanwhile, I'm supposed to be prepping for my interview, but alas, I am stalking allnurses.com and eating dark chocolate... which, as it turns out, is totally prepping for my interview. I don't know how the rest of you cope, but with all the excitement and nervousness, I need LAUGHTER (and chocolate). anewnurse79-- i am so sorry to hear about that... I hope you can find another path toward your goal! good luck!

I feel excited about the interview and about being surrounded by all of you :) I look forward to meeting new people!

Afternoon session for me :) Looking forward to it!

Congrats dedicatedone, I am also interviewing on the 27th! Anyone else interviewing on the 27th?

January 27th. Normal envelope, by the way, in case anyone was wondering.

Just received my letter. I got an interview! Happy...surprised...happy... I live in a small town south of San Francisco, for reference and my letter was dated December 7th.

I love how I was trying to be all cool not thinking about the letter... but, um, now I really want to know! Where is that letter?! lol

Here goes round 2! About to submit for CNM/WHNP I am *really* really hoping that more students who are parents are accepted into the program this year.

Hi everyone... congrats to everyone who got in for the 2011 class. I can't believe it is almost time to apply again. I'll probably get in, in say, 2020, but it's all good :) I'm actually moving forward with homebirth midwifery and might even be fully licensed by the time I get into UCSF. Hehe. Getting ready to start refining my goals again and sharing the journey with other applicants, hoping to meet some of you this time!

Just found out that I did not get an interview. I'm not disappointed though because I wasn't expecting one. I know I am qualified, experienced, and genuinely passionate, but so are the other 90+ people who applied to the midwifery track. FYI they are taking 8 people this year for the CNM/WHNP track. I will be a cnm one day, just not by 2014, but what's another year or two anyway? For me, that means another year home with my baby and attending birth and postpartum clients so the way I see it is that I get to stay home with my baby longer and get even more experience in the birth world. Good luck to those who got interviews, and to those who didn't, we will likely be classmates in years to come :)

czya-- good point... the good thing about the competitiveness is that I know, when I do eventually get in to the program, I will be working alongside some really amazing people who want to be there just as much as I do -- I can't imagine anything better than working within an environment where everyone is 100% passionate about and dedicated to doing the work that they do; I feel very fortunate (in advance lol). I have actually met a couple other midwifery mepn applicants and they are definitely movers-and-shakers; I told them we might end up in the same class in 2020 :)

actually 1% seems totally believable...sadly... :/

Locked...what a relief :) I'm really curious what percentage of 1st time applicants they take? This would be interesting to know (or, could result in more stressing out lol). Good luck everyone!

Well, I'm still not done with the personal statement... I thought I gave myself plenty of time but I am struggling with how much to focus on adversities versus opportunities... I really don't want to sound like a pity party you know? How did the rest of you decide how much emphasis to put for each? Almost done everyone... I feel like I'm living, breathing, and dreaming the MEPN application -- ideas come to me in the middle of the night "oh! that would sound great on my statement!" --it will be nice to relax a bit after locking the application. The language thing is a whole other pickle... I also don't want to over or understate. I was fluent in Spanish when living in central america and use a lot of basic spanish in my day-to-day life, but I'm not fluent in the way that I used to be...I'm sure with a little practice between now and interviews I could nearly re-gain fluency but I don't want to be put on the spot... definitely let us know about the language portion, thanks!

I haven't seen any guidelines about font, size, borders, etc. but I'm just assuming 12-pt font (any standard type) and normal borders...

Thank you for illustrating some very important points czyja. I'm not having problems with the goal statement, rather with the personal statement (which is supposed to capture your own diversities, adversities, and opportunities that will add to the MEPN program)--for this statement, there are no written guidelines on length but only heresay as to how long it should be. I'm sure being concise is equally important for this statement however. I did want to thank you in general for all of the other ways you have been sharing your advice, it has been incredibly helpful in this process and I really appreciate it.

I feel like the personal statement guidelines, or lack thereof, are very conflicting... on the one hand I keep hearing to make it "short" like a paragraph or so--any word on if it should be double spaced? On the other hand I have seen some sample statements of previous MEPN graduates be waaay longer! I wonder why they don't provide a guideline of page or paragraph length such as the 2-page limit they state for the goal statement...

ju-loy, I didn't delete anyone... I just added her again but with a different e-mail; but now I don't think I can add my last recommender because she is in the system twice...argh...by the way, she checked her spam both times and nothing showed up, so there is definitely a problem here... I will contact the school tomorrow; technology is clearly imperfect...