GCUJen

Good luck to you! Keep us posted!

Hey Inspired! How was Level 1? :)

Hi! I'm starting Level 3 in the St. Joe's program. As far as the schedule for Levels 1 and 2, they try to keep classes and clinicals to M,T,Th,F. The problem is, you have to be completely flexible in your schedule, but you will have weekends "off" in Levels 1 and 2! (I put that in quotes because all your time not spent in class or clinicals is spent studying.) We have, unfortunately, lost some really great people both in level 1 and 2. The program has been very challenging and also very rewarding. My husband has been very supportive. My life pretty much consists of reading, assignments, and studying!

Congratulations! Trust me, the waiting is the worst part! I am in level 1 and starting my second 8 weeks Tuesday. The first week was really hard to get used to because it is not at all like prerequisites. Where will your classes be? I would not suggest taking both in your first 8 weeks. If you can't take the one in July, then just take it like GCU schedules you. 1st in block 1 and 2nd in block 4. I certainly wish that more people in the program had responded as well when I was looking for information. (Especially when you have 20 chapters to read before the first day of class and no book list!)

This program is awesome and the teachers are great! They said this is going to be our easiest 8 weeks, but it has been pretty rigorous. Here are some things I wish I had known before going into the program. Just a suggestion to everyone, I highly recommend taking UNV303 and Christian worldview before the program. I have a 4.0 and it is really frustrating to have to write papers on "academic success" when I have four nursing exams in one week that I need to study for. What I don't know is if it will mess up your transfer scholarship. I also just found out that there are projects done in the online GCU Communications class that we did not do at PVCC, that we actually need now for our other classes, so all the students that did the online GCU class have it done, and the others have to start from scratch. Another thing is, brush up on your math skills, pick up some books on dimensional analysis, or take a class on med math (if you can get in). You must pass ALL of your med math tests (every 8 weeks, I believe?) with 100%. Our teacher said that usually only 40% pass the first time but she was really proud because all of our SJMC cohort passed!

The only way SJMC will pay a portion is if you either work there or get accepted into the externship program. It is not "automatic". Yes! They do hire us! My instructor said that for hiring they look first to see if you are a GCU student on SJMC campus, and then second- are you a GCU student at any location. The reason for this is they have REALLY high standards. Hope this helps!

Go to My GCU, under the "students" drop down menu at the top, the very last option is "mentoring program". It has the information and application.

I got a list of books from Kristin for the January cohort and jumped the gun by buying most of them. Fortunately, I have 30 days to return! The best place I found to buy Fundamentals by Craven is the publisher's website http://www.LWW.com . When you get there, on the bottom left is a place to sign up for email notifications and you can get 15% off. Then type in the ISBN 9780781780230 and when it opens the page for the textbook, you can scroll down to the bottom for the packages that they have. We will need the text and procedures checklist for sure. I purchased the package that had the study guide and DVD series, as well. My total was $160, but without the DVD's it is much cheaper. (my ) I bought the new edition of D'Amico from Amazon, so I have to exchange it for the older edition. I checked it out and none of the chapters and page numbers matched. I do like the way the new one is set up, so I'm disappointed about that. As far as the ATI book goes, I was also confused about that. They said something about getting it one week to three days before class? Or am I confusing that with something else? Since we have 14 chapters to read in it, I certainly would like to get it sooner than later! I'm glad we have a couple of weeks to read all 32 chapters, but that's only for the first week of school! *panicking* I'm out west, too, but in Arrowhead so not quite as far as you! Thanks for the information about the shoes. I'll have to try those out today. Talk to you soon!

AZblondie, a little overwhelmed? That's an understatement! :) I'm so excited to be on the SJMC campus! I really feel that being on the hospital grounds will be advantageous to our education. I was expecting the worst, so the schedule actually looks pretty good to me! Off by five and only four days a week with no weekends! (yet) It is all over the place, but I figure I'm just going to block out 8-5 M,T, and Th, F to be at SJ's and if I get out early or start later then I'll feel blessed for the extra study time. I know that working full time and going to school is going to be difficult, but I am so inspired by your dedication. Have you signed up for the mentor program yet? I haven't yet, but am planning to do it next week. I'll take all the help I can get! I kind of like the idea of moving around to different areas, but I don't know if I will after we have to do it for a few weeks! I thought the orientation was helpful and a little confusing. I really wish they had handed us a piece of paper and said "Buy these books and Read these chapters". Did you see how many chapters we have to read in ATI? Maybe I misunderstood, but I got the impression that we won't get that until one week to 3 days before class. Thank you for the information on the scrubs! I was talking to my friend that is in the program with us about wearing scrubs all the time or not. After a short deliberation we decided that it's better to be a girl scout and be prepared by wearing them all the time, rather than chancing not having them when you need them. Do you have to pick up your tops in Tempe? Also, do you know what kind of shoes you're going to use? I think I'll stop in Scrubs and Beyond and try them all out. I don't want to wait until the last minute or buy cheap shoes that will kill me after 10 hours. I've asked a lot of my friends that are nurses about shoes and compression hose or socks and they have all agreed that they wish they had taken care of their feet and legs from the beginning. Let me know if you have any more ideas or want to talk about anything!:)

I know how you are feeling! I studied for weeks and did pretty well. I highly suggest the TEAS practice book from ATI. It is well worth the money and you can see which areas you need to strengthen and which areas you will do well on. For the schedule we received, keep in mind that classes change every 8 weeks and the schedule we have now may not be the same for a new cohort. We have NUR209 on Mondays and Thursdays, and NUR206A Tuesdays and Fridays. Start times vary with 0800 being the earliest and end times are no later than 1700 (for now). Also, there is an online class UNV103. This is only the first 8 weeks. We don't have our next schedule yet. There are HEAVY reading requirements before school starts (and during!). Unfortunately, with new editions coming out, etc, they did not hand out a specific book list, which is a little scary for me because I like to get things done way in advance. I really felt comfortable with all of the staff who presented orientation. Everyone seemed very approachable and willing to help. The beautiful part about being in nursing school is you have 30 team mates working together! No more competition because you are already in and you all have a common goal of becoming the best nurse you can be. . . (and graduating). Good luck on your test on Tuesday! Just take a deep breath and realize that you DO know this stuff!

So, what did you think of orientation? Are you doing SJMC or main campus? I wish the uniform shop had been there to try on sizes. I'm taking the drive to Tempe on Saturday just to get everything ordered on time! I hate waiting until the last minute. Sorry I didn't reply to the CPR question! I didn't get a notification in my email. I took my cpr at GCC. (now that its too late!)

I feel the same way! There will be 30 in our cohort. I took COM270 last semester with ---- on campus at PVCC along with PSY230 (stats). Then Patho and Ethics at GCC. Our COM class was broken into four groups with five people in my group. Four of us that were in my group were accepted to the St Joe's fast track! I thought that was pretty amazing. Who would have thought 12 weeks would be so short and yet take SO long!

congratulations! i will also be in the st. joe's program starting in may.