ritcal24

Hi all, I am a new grad nurse preparing to go to the Jan 23 BOLC class and had a few questions about preparing my move. I'm set to report to TAMC in honolulu in April after BOLC. My recruiter said it would be best to arrange the shipment of housing material and automobile before I go to BOLC, but i'm worried about the charge from storing my material too long. I listed my parent as power of attorney of my household goods and was planning on doing so again for my car once I make an appointment with the car transport station. Can anyone share their own experiences or advice on this matter? Thanks so much!

I would suggest that when you do get your acceptance letter to go back to the recruiting (medical recruiting corps, not enlisted!) center. I started my application process when I moved to Maine in May (started classes in May) and I wasn't accepted until the middle of November and I swore in December. Having said that the application process took a good 4-6 months depending on how on top of things you are. You want to get that application in quick because 1. they only have 1 board a year now where they only accept around 10-15 people (don't take my word on this though because it always changes based on the needs of the Army). 2. On top of the $10,000 bonus (paid in 2 $5k payments at the start and then at the end of your program), you get a $1,000 stipend for every month your in a nursing program. You want to get every bit of that if your set on the Army! Even though my check didn't come through until just this February since I swore in/signed my paperwork in November when I got accepted I got stipend back pay for Dec/Jan. What they'll first have you do is take the ASVAB. This is because with the ANCP we get "enlisted" inactive ready reserve to be in the books to get our payments and then get commissioned as officers once we pass our NCLEX. Don't worry much of a stretch on this as its literally just like taking SAT level math and English. Those are the only sections that really matter in your composite score. I picked up an ASVAB for Dummies book and studied for a few weeks and got a 96 (you only need 50, but the higher the better your packet looks). Also try to get your GPA as high as possible before you go to board (most likely later this November). I think their looking for 3.3+ if possible. You'll also have to pass your physical at MEPS, which will most likely be the same time you take the ASVAB. Their pretty chill with officer recruits so don't worry about them intimidating the crap out of you. You'll be fine. Paperwork...just make sure you have your social security card, birth certificate, all transcripts, and other material prepared. I think you also need to prepare three letters of recommendations. Make sure you have your professors write you out an actual letter instead of filling out the Army guideline (it just looks better and more professional) in your school's official letterhead. Then you'll have to fill out I think it was some 56 page monster security application (for all officers) to get your security clearance. You'll have to list former jobs, every address you've lived the past 7 years, and three friends they know you in case they ever need to ask questions about you. Don't sweat this either, nurses only need a secret clearance so their not going to throw the book at you. But down the line if you needed a top secret clearance based on your station they would do a more intensive background check. So I heard that some people can get ALL this done in one month. It took me a good 3-4 months and I'd say I tried to be on top of things as most I could. But I was also taking a crapload of units so I wasn't always so free. I would recommend being really on top of things with your recruiter, if you show them your serious and don't lag with your stuff...trust me they'll pull their weight for you. Paperwork is a hassle because you're going to be filling out a lot of it, but if your heart is set on the Army trust me its worth it. They usually also want you to have your packet complete at least a month before the actual board date so like October if its in November. This is so they could send your packet and make the necessary changes if it happens to get bounced back. Or get any necessary waivers if needed. I'd say it's competitive because they want high scores in both GPA and ASVAB because they have more applicants than spaces, but its also tough because you could get D/Qed during your physical if they find anything off. I hope I answered some of your questions and I'm sorry for ranting a bit. If you have any further questions feel free to ask! Good luck with your school applications and Army plans.

Thanks nurse311! Everything is going great so far. Processed all my paperwork and just waiting for my stipend to come in. Other than that its just trucking through school as usual. I hope you hear back soon and it all works out for you, good luck!

thanks! i graduate next august so its for '12. can't wait to be done

thanks! i hope you hear some good news soon as well from the AF. i was really surprised when my recruiter showed me the final select page!! he didn't know how many actually applied, but i figured there would be a larger amount of students applying after they changed the min to 2 years exp for active duty.

hey everyone! is there anyone else here that was selected for this years ancp? i just found out last week i was one of the 10 selected!! i'm super stoked and excited to see who else got selected as well. also a question for recent ancp graduates i was talking with my recruiter today going through paperwork for finalizing my official acceptance and he told me that we were only required to maintain a 2.5 gpa each semester during the program...i thought it was going to be 3.0 every semester/cumulative. do any previous ancp grads know if its really 2.5? it just seems like a mountain of paperwork, but its been worth it so far. I'm going next week to MEPS to officially swear in. looking forward to hearing from previous or current ancp members!

wow thank you guys for the info and advice! right now i'm applying for on campus housing in the summer so looks like i'll be living in gorham, but I read that the school shuttle to the portland campus doesn't run in the summer. If I was living in the dorms would you guys happen to know which public bus location nearest the dorms/I should take to get to class on time. I think they only let us move into the dorms on the 15th and class starts on the 16th of May so I'll be trying to learn that area quickly. thank you!

Hi everyone, i'm pretty new to this board but I had a few questions about the program. I'll be moving to Maine for the USM ABSN program this May and I was wondering a little bit about the clinicals. Do we start clinicals in the summer session or in the fall session? This is because I'll be moving from California and I'm still debating if I should to ship my car to Maine after I get settled into the program. Also the academic advisor said we'd definitely need a car as our clinical sites could be as far away as lewiston (and I know we're all at the mercy of the program as to where they put us in the clinicals), but I was hoping to hear from some alumni on the clinicals. Were they normally around the portland area or was it common to be sent to far off clinical sites. How many students were usually assigned to a clinical site (just wondering in case people wanted to carpool)? ALSO, I've been looking for some affordable off campus housing near the campus with little success. any help in this area would be greatly appreciated. I don't have enough posts for PMs, but any advice either through this post or email would be awesome. Thanks so much!! looking forward to meeting those in the May program!