alexis87

Hi, My husband and I will be moving to Albuquerque in July of this year (2014). I have never been to this area before, and am wondering if anyone has insight on places to apply for jobs, pay scale for a BSN, what the area is like, good places to live and avoid and anything else that I might want to know before moving. I graduate with my BSN in June from California and will also need to obtain a New Mexico RN license. Does anyone know how long New Mexico tends to take when transferring a license to this state?

Oops I just saw this right now! Hope your interview went good :)

Questioning* not questing lol

I had a 3.9 GPA, and an 80 on the TEAS when I applied. I applied to the winter quarter, and got accepted. But many people are accepted with grades below mine, it is totally doable. If you are questing your grades apply anyway because they have a pipeline program that allows students to complete a set of pre requisite classes at llu and then automatically start the program after successful completion. Also the spring quarter has the least # of applicants so the chances of acceptance are highest that quarter for applicants.

I a student at llu right now for my BSN. If you have any questions, feel free and ask!

I was wondering if anyone who has been a valor nurse could answer a few of my questions I have about the program? I am wondering if you get experience in all of the units that the va offers. I am interested in becoming an ICU nurse after graduation? Is it possible to be offered a job in the ICU upon graduation after completing the valor program? Was it a valuable experience for you?

Glad I could help! I just want to clarify that we are not guaranteed a job after graduation, there has to be an opening on that floor, and we still have to apply and interview, but it helps that we have done our clinicals and practicum at llu, and that we are familiar with the staff and system there, so that's how many students get hired. Plus they have awesome new grad residencies you can apply to also to work on nicu, or pediatric icu and many more (you don't have to be a llu student to apply to these). I think that they look only at your prerequisite GPA, but I am not 100% sure. If you are interested in the program I would recommend stopping by the school and setting up a meeting, they are super helpful and can guide you through your prerequisite course plan. Let me know if you have any more questions and ill try and help as much a possible!

The school works with your schedule as much as they can. The classes themselves are set and are not negotiable (accept for some non nursing classes such as religion and writing, which have a few time options) but the school does let you request a clinical time and location (if there are options for locations). For example this quarter there are students in my class at three different hospitals on three different days. We were able to request the day and hospital we wanted. Most got the day they wanted and some got the location they desired . But all the locations are very close to each other so that is not a big deal. They give priority to the requests who have a valid reason such as child care or transportation as far as I know. As far as the competitiveness, it gets so much better in the program. Since there is no curve on grades, so we are all here to help each other pass the best we can! we will all have study groups, share notes and help each other as much as possible. Now there are always a few people wherever you go who are not out to help their classmates, but it is much less at llu, and the atmosphere is so much more supportive among students. The thing that I noticed that was different here than other schools was that the students who took the classes before me were so willing to help and give study tips and support you along in your class. Hope this helps!

Oh and I forgot to mention, that at llu you are guaranteed the classes you need no matter what, which is such a relief because my whole prerequisite time was spent trying and praying that I get my classes, so it is really nice not to have to worry about that again!

Hi, I am a student at llu right now, so my views may be a bit biased but I love my school so much. The cost is more but it is so worth it, and they give out lots of scholarships to help ease the cost. Since llu also has many hospitals we get the best clinicals (in the llu hospital system), and we never have clinicals on the weekends or friday evenings. We can also have clinicals at the va or arrowhead too, which is nice. Once you get to your final quarter you get to choose a department to work in as a student and most people get hired in that department afterward. It is nice because you get to know the hospital and have three years to make a great impression there for a future job. We also get to use the simulation lab at the centennial complex which is great for learning. The faculty really care about the students including their emotional and spiritual lives. And since they know that we are paying allot and are busy tired students, they feed us lunch almost once a week there and there are also lots of free dinners too! I feel like I made the right choice at my school but there are lots of options to weigh out for what school is right for you. In the end a bachelors is the same no matter what school you went to, and it is a personal choices for what works best for your life. If you have any mor questions about my school feel free to ask, I know the choice is hard so I hope I can be of some help!

Good luck guys! I started at llu last winter so I know the wait can be tough, but if you have any questions about the program feel free to ask. It made me a whole lot less nervous about starting having someone to ask questions about what's was getting into.

oh and you need the nursing skills DVD's.

The test has 50 multiple choice questions. I studied by reading and memorizing all of the flashcards, then I did the back of the book questions multiple times too, until i knew those. Everyone passed the medical terminology test, i am not sure how everyone studied, but that is how i studied. so although it seems stressful, don't worry. Be sure you can look at any prefix or suffix in medical terminology and know what it means, and put those together and know what that means. I think that will help you in the test. Also, i would take the time you have now and study for the math for meds test. You have to know the first 14 (it might be the first 15 chapters, i don't remember) chapters in the book. it is not covered in class, so you are in charge of reading it on your own, i believe that test is the first month of school... Also, if you are wondering what books to buy out of that super long list of books, the most important ones, and the ones you will mainly use, are the fundamentals of nursing, the davis drug guide, and the newman model(read this book before school starts also, class will make more sense if you do), and the math for meds book the first two weeks are very busy, so any work you can get our of the way now will make you feel much better the first two weeks.

Hi, I am also finishing my first quarter. you guys will all do great! you will probably feel very overwhelmed the first few weeks, because you have much more work than normal in order to prepare you for clinicals. Dont get discouraged, it calms down after that. But the best advice i can give you is to not get behind. Always do what is assigned early, do not wait until last minute. you will have work almost every day, so procrastinating can make the first few weeks feel even more overwhelming. Everyone at the school is very helpful, if you have any questions, let me know :)

that was for @missxrara