kazuo1513

That is really up to you.. you could get a job with one of the partnered hospitals and still not get in. I said in an earlier post that this program is getting increasingly popular so more and more employees from partnered hospitals are applying. I would call your advisor and ask what hospitals are partnered for whatever year and semester you are applying. But like I said, this does not promise you a seat in the APBSN program if you work there. I urge you to just keep trying and continue to apply even if you do not get in the first time.

There's no way Children's Dallas can be partnered for the BSN program because the whole point of partnered hospitals are to do a majority of your clinicals there. We only offer Peds and it would not be right for a BSN group to only focus on the peds population for the entire program. I graduate in December.

You have an advantage in knowing how to interpret lab tests and knowing some of the diseases. That will definitely come in handy when you do your care plans but that's about it. If you're expecting nursing school to be EASY for you.. I can't say because I don't know how you will handle it. People usually drop out of his program because they fail the exams. We have to make a 70% average on exams in order to pass the course. This does not include assignments, clinicals, whatever else. The exams have application type questions where there may be more than one correct answer, but you must choose what is appropriate and priority.

The program is 15 months for the BSN program. If they are saying 13 months, they may not be counting Winter break and other small breaks in between semesters. It is 4 semesters straight. Children's Dallas is a partner for the RN-BSN program. I work there.. the advisor told me the same thing. Come to find out, they are not partnered for the BSN program so I had to apply with all the other unpartnered people. Children's Legacy is not included for the BSN program, maybe the RN-BSN.

How it works is.... Say you are applying for the APBSN program and you work at partnered hospital X. Everybody else in hospital X will be competing with you to get a seat in the program. A year ago when I was applying, I was told that they open about 9-10 seats per partnered hospital. If you are not an employee of a partnered hospital, you are thrown into a large pool competing with all of the other people. I know this program is getting more popular, therefore more employees from partnered hospitals are applying.. thus, limiting chances of unpartnered people from getting in. Volunteering does not count. You need to be at least part-time PAID employee when you apply.

I have only HEARD about this program venturing off to Houston as of Spring 2011. I can't confirm anything. Before I started the 3 prereqs, I had a 3.3 science gpa from my previous degree at a different university. Then, I got all A's on those 3 prereqs which gave me a 4.0 from UTA only. My overall HESI score was an 89. I was told not to worry too much about the HESI for UTA, as long as you get their minimum score which was a 75. I know of one person who has been accepted into the BSN program with a gpa of 2.7. I know! I have also heard through the grapevine that other people have gotten in with low gpa's and that there are those that do not get in with 4.0's! It's weird.. I don't know how they decide. We are all just fish in a pool. Do your best and keep applying if you do not get in the first time. A friend of mine had to apply 4 times and retook A&P until they finally accepted her.

Osababi, I do not know how many applicants that take NOW. When I applied in September 2010, they only took 50. 10 students per hospital, only 5 hospitals available. I have heard that they have increased their numbers now because there are more hospitals available for partnership. You can call an advisor and ask how many hospitals are partnered for the january 2012 cohort and then you should get an idea of how many will be accepted. Pharmacology was the hardest for me. So many drugs to remember but take that class very seriously because you will use pharmacology FOREVER in nursing. It will pay off to already know the classifications and what they do when you actually start nursing school. When I took those 3 prereqs with UTA, all of my exams were timed and online, non proctored. I don't know if things have changed so check your syllabus. This program is continuing to grow and improve, so you can take the info that I post on here but please take into consideration that things may be different for you. Good luck!

Hi Amber! Make A's on those 12 classes. There is no interview or even an essay/statement required to get into the BSN program so they base almost everything on your grades. I would take as many online classes as your schedule allows. Schedule yourself as if they are REAL in seat classes.. except you will be at your computer.. in PJs or whatever. Having a schedule will really help you stay on task. If you are pretty computer/internet savvy, you should not have a problem with navigation. Since you've mentioned that you've never done online classes, you may want to take a lighter load the first semester to test the waters. Stay in contact with your advisors. Make A's! Discipline yourself, make a schedule, bond with your computer.

The app to read our ebooks on the iphone/ipad just came out this spring semester. Some of us considered buying the iPad but we realized we were too poor. :) It would be a little inappropriate to carry the iPad with you on the floors... I don't know just my opinion. The iphone/or other pda is more discreet and you can keep in your pocket. I wouldn't jump into buying the iPad immediately.. consult with your clinical instructor to see what they think. Oh and it also depends on your hospital that you do your clinicals at. Some have policies where you cannot use a personal computer while on the floor and since the iPad is sorta new.. I don't know if they will classify that as a computer. I personally would get the iPad just to read the ebooks while I'm on the go. All of my classmates use our phones while on the floor.. and our laptops to read our ebooks. The ebooks are available to read online through a website, you can also download your books directly onto your computer (it's called pageburst and you'll get the gist of it once you're in and all that jazz). The app to read the ebooks can be downloaded onto an iphone, itouch, ipad. :) We were not allowed to pass any meds during psych rotation. I've only passed meds during 1st semester foundations and 2nd semester med/surg. I do not have an actual number of those that are partnered and those that are not.. I roughly estimate that about 1/3 of us are not partnered. I was not partnered and was put into the big giant pool with all the other applicants. There is hope! If you don't get in the first time, try again.. In fact, put in your spring semester application just in case. It doesn't hurts and your name is already in the system. As for the students that sign contracts with their hospitals... Those that are already employed to a partnered hospital and get into the BSN program, CAN sign contracts with their hospital in which the hospital will pay their tuition. In return, they have to do X number of years of work after they graduate. I have to mention that not all partnered hospitals offer this option. In fact, I only know of THR that does this. This is probably because when the APBSN program was brand spankin' new they were exclusive only to THR so that may be where all those old posts come from. My classmate currently gets her tuition paid for by her employer (not naming the hospital), and in return she has to work for them post graduation. I did not have to sign any contracts saying I HAVE to work for the hospital that I am partnered with after graduation. They don't pay for my tuition or anything. Hope that cleared up the contract mess. It's all money talk, really. I am happy to answer your questions. This program can be confusing and they leave very little information for you to really work with. It sucks going in blind.

Hey! I don't mind the questions, ask all you want! For my 2nd semester, we did one month at a psychiatric hospital. We went once a week 7am-4pm. You don't do anything invasive during psych rotation. You practice your therapeutic communication skills.. basically talk to the patients from kids to older adults. Then we did 5 weeks back at the hospital we are partnered on the Med/Surg floor. Med/surg rotations were 2 days a week x 5 weeks. Med/Surg is a lot more hands on and you will learn a lot! We passed meds and did full patient care. We had a minimum of two patients per day and three care plans due each week. Yes, you will stay at the hospital you are partnered with for a majority of the program. Most hospitals don't have a large psych or peds area so they will place you elsewhere. You will likely go elsewhere for your psych and peds rotations. I have not encountered the last semester yet, so can't say. I purchased both ebooks and print from majors. I liked having both because with the ebooks, you could type in whatever word and it will search the entire book. Also, there is an iPhone app that will allow you to read all of your ebooks on your phone/ipad. I was also able to read my ebooks online while at work so that was a plus. Print books are good if you're old-fashioned and need that feel. Oh and I need to mention that you will need an iPhone or an iTouch in this program. A required item on the booklist is this skyscape meds application and it really only works well with the iphone/itouch. They will tell you that it's okay to have a blackberry or droid or palm pilot.. but none of my classmates were able to use it on theirs and ended up getting an iPhone/itouch. or if they got it on there, they had problems. The ebooks are also only exclusive to iphone/itouch/ipad. The skyscape app is under $200 and I thought it was ridiculous at first.. it actually comes in real handy when looking up your patient's meds and formulating your nursing care plan. Esp. when the instructor wants answers to your patients meds nursing considerations and what your nursing diagnosis would be.. and she wants it in like 2 minutes. This app saved my life. lol

Each clinical rotation will be different. Your first semester will consist of Foundations and Health and Assessment. One day you will have skills where you practice what you need to do pref. on a mannequin and practice assessment on one another. The 2nd day of clinical you will be with patients. Depending on which hospital you are at.. you may have the chance to go on various floors and ER to work on real patients and practice your skills.. including inserting foley/cath, drawing blood, taking vital signs. Days typically range from 6am-4pm. You will have a clinical instructor that is from UTA there with you. The clinical instructor will be the one to grade you and clinicals are worth a certain percentage of your grade for your courses (foundations and health and assessment). Don't remember the exact percentage. During my 1st semester, I had 2-3 patients per day but then again, I was only assigned to a floor so I had them all day. I purchased all of my books through Majors Books. Check out this link: http://www.majorsbooks.com/s-27-ut-arlington.aspx For us APBSN people, we get the choice of only getting online Ebooks, or having both eBooks and print books. You can go through that website for an idea of how much books will cost you. You can also get them from the UTA bookstore or by going to majors book store, ordering online from various other stores (ebay, amazon). Just make sure you have everything on the required list. Your first semester will also require a nursing kit which is a backpack full of goodies like an IV starter kit and foley and other things you will be using to practice with. I think it's under $200. Yep, first semester is definitely the most expensive!

Terra, Yes, I do think every semester gets harder. The Saunder's NCLEX book is a great resource that all nursing school students should have from day one. This is an accelerated 15 month program. It is doable and you can manage with little stress if you stay on top of your reading and assignments. Have a planner. I like to use google calendar and have it synched with my iPhone's Calendar as well as my computers. I have horrible hand writing so I digitalize everything. Others have used a notebook planner and that has worked well for them. Once you are in the program, you will have the honor of spending $600++ for books the first semester. Utilize these books.. they will come with a CD with practice questions and other study tips/guides. Utilize whatever the professor and course has to offer.. very rarely but few instructors have supplied study guides, pod casts a day or two before exams, ask questions on the Q&A dicussion board if you need clarification on anything, get to know your other cohort members. Since this is an online program, you will most likely only know the people you have with you during clinicals which are about 10 people. Form study groups, practice NCLEX questions, download NCLEX apps on your iPhone. They're good for practice when you're at work/store/whereever.. they are good practice for all of your exams because I've said this before.. UTA's nursing exams are NCLEX based.

Terra, This is how it has been for me.. I can't say if the schedule will stay the same for the next class. My exams have been scheduled on the same day every week for the past two semesters. The quizzes are usually done online and they can be scheduled on ANY day but they have a larger time frame. For example.. you may have quizzes that are open on Tuesday and they are due by 2359 on that same day and yes they are timed. We take our proctored exams at our clinical hospital whereever we are partnered at. (Where you will do clinicals) It is usually done in the hospital's computer lab. Once you are accepted into the BSN program, you should receive additional paperwork to complete in order to figure out which hospital you will do your clinicals at. I work for a hospital but it is not partnered with UTA. Some of my classmates have never even worked in the medical field prior to starting this program. Hope this info was helpful. Feel free to ask me more questions if needed and good luck on your acceptance!

Kristen, I am going into my 3rd semester of the BSN Academic Partnership program with UTA. I am able to work part-time but my life would be a lot easier if I didn't have to work at all. Clinicals are typically two days a week, 10 hours per day. There are exams and quizzes every week not to mention the assignments, discussion postings, and care plans that are due every week. Deadlines for these can be on any day of the week. There is a lot of reading and studying involved. The tests are NCLEX based and application type questions. They are trying to get you to think like a nurse by involving NCLEX type questions in their exams instead of straight out of the book answers. You will have to take out three days out of the week (2 for clinicals and 1 for your test day). Studying is around the clock and whenever you can. It never ends. It is doable and you will have to be disciplined since your courses are online. How many hours does it take out of your schedule? Well.. if you count in 20 hours a week for clinicals not including driving time, then lets do like 5 hours a week for tests AND quizzes, 10 hours for assignments including discussion postings and care plans and other busy work.. that's 35 hours. NOT including studying time. :-)

Clinical days depend on which hospital you get partnered with. Parkland is usually Sat-Sun.. some other hospitals are Fri-Sat, Mon-Tues.. it all depends! Also, your psych and peds rotation will be at a different hospital so those days will differ as well. For me.. 1st semester rotations were Fri-Sat. 2nd Semester psych rotation was Tuesdays for a month, then back to Fri-Sat for another month for med-surg. All clinicals are in the DAY. Preferably.. 6am-4pm. It is totally understandable that you need to work. Perhaps change shifts or go part-time? It is doable but these clinical days are set in stone! ALSO.. the program includes proctored tests which means you will need one day out of the week in which you are free. For the past two semesters, I have had to keep my Thursdays open because that's when my proctored tests were and the times varied every week from 1000-1700. The nonproctored tests that you take at home are also only open at a certain time. All of the dates I have mentioned may not be the same for you. This is just from what I know from my previous semesters of being in the program. Prepare to have at least 3 days off from work.