Denverchick1983

There are a lot of busy NICU's in Denver. Have you tried St. Joseph Hospital? It is one of the busiest hospitals for Mom/Baby. I know most hospitals want nurses to work in the Mom/Baby unit before going to NICU if they do not have experience and then they will start training you. Also, you can try Children's Hospital in Denver, or Denver Health.

Actually this is the official cost per credit, you can link onto the website. http://www2.uchsc.edu/son/sonweb.asp?section=education&LNav=education/LNav/educationLNav.asp&content=education/content/tuition_and_fees.htm However, now there is the colorado opportunity fund which takes off about 1500 dollars each semester. From the website there are 67 credits. This is the traditional program of study link http://www2.uchsc.edu/son/education/content/downloads/TradBSPrgStudy.pdf Also, you have to pay for health insurance if you dont have any and its about 2,200 through the school. Definitely, apply for scholarships through the school and through private scholarship funds, and any emails sent by the school. I have received over 10,000 dollars for my nursing program through different scholarships because I apply to everything! If you want more info just let me know.

Some call us the "grim reapers" :) ... anyways, I also suggest not buying the scrub pants from the school, they are overpriced and fit horribly. The shop across the school on 9th avenue has some nice black scrub pants for around 15.00 and they are a lot more stylish. Also, at Colorado Mills they have cool "Dickies" scrubs.

I am in the traditional 2 year program at UCHSC, but I can share what I know- students in the accelerated program will graduate after 19 months. From what I hear it is difficult but definitely do-able and less difficult than a 1 year program. We are on a block program here so each semester consists of 2 8-week blocks. During an 8-week block traditional students usually have 1-2 classes + a clinical. The accel students will have a semester where they have 2 clinicals instead of one. Most clinicals are 2x a week, so that would be 4 clinical days for accel students. I believe it is Peds and OB that are done the same block but I am not sure if its the same for everyone. Some classes like nursing research and senior classes are offered online. I would have wanted to do the accel program but you have to have a Bachelors before you apply so during the Fall- I got my BS in Spring. Hope this helps- let me know if you have more questions.

I will try to answer your question :) but it really depends on how you study and also what is going on that week in class. I am in a BSN program where you complete pre-reqs then 2 years of nursing school, I have gotten A's in all my nursing courses. I don't study anywhere close to 5 hours a day or even a week sometimes! When you are in clinicals you are able to apply alot of the knowledge you learn in class. In our program we took Health Assessment along with a 6 hour lab, and pathophysiology which was also 6 hours a week for 8 weeks. In lab you generally just practice skills and get tested on clinical skills. Then you will have Nursing Fundamentals with a lab that teaches things like suctioning, IVs, etc. I had to study a lot for pharmacology, but I mostly start studying a couple days before an exam, that is just how I have always studied, but it is not for everyone. Most exams are multiple choice because there are too many students to have essay questions. Med-Surg can be a difficult course and clinical because there is so much to learn. I would say the focus of nursing school so far has been learning the nursing diagnosis process and interventions for a patient. You need to assess your patient and based on your assessment and the pathophysiology of the illness you are going to have interventions as a nurse. If you have any other questions I'll try to help out- GOOD LUCK!!

I am a student at the University of Colorado Health Science Center- there is not a waitlist, but is competitive. You can check their website for details on admissions and pre-requisites. No letters of recommendation needed mostly just transcripts and essay.

Hey girl! I found out last week that I got accepted to UCHSC too :) I am also trying to find out more info about the program. UCHSC is the only school I applied to - so unless I change my life path- I will most likely start in June in the traditional program. My friends cousin just graduated from UCHSC and took the NCLEX and I think she scored in the top 1% and she took a job at Childrens Hospital in Denver- which is a great hospital. I work in a lab on the UCHSC campus- what is kind of weird is the whole school is making a move to Aurora- which is east of Denver. The projected move is set for 2007 I believe ,but most of the research labs have moved as far as I know- so that might be kinda weird if we get stuck in the middle of the move. Apartments are pretty reasonable I think- I know there are some right across from campus advertising for $399 a month but I am not sure if they are studios. The school is in a pretty safe area about 10-15 min from downtown Denver. If you decide to come here definitely email me or message me :)

Hi- I can try to help- I have lived about 15 minutes west of Denver for pretty much my whole life! I am not an RN YET but will be someday. As for life in Colorado- most people really enjoy it here- the weather can be a little crazy sometimes because one day it will be snowing and the next day it will be sunny and about 60 degrees. Traffic can be a pain sometimes depending on where you are commuting to. Denver doesn't really have a mass transport system- although they are building light rail throughout the city. Most traffic is during the usual rush hour so if you have to take highways 6, I-70, or I-25 S/N.. yea there will be traffic, but it is not as bad as California! The cost of living has definitely gone up but it is not too bad. There are nice condos and town homes that are not too expensive. And it really depends on what area you want to move to. I actually read on MSN a nationwide survey that said Denver is one of the safest cities to live in! And whenever people come to visit they always say "how clean" our downtown is. There is a lot to do if your are an outdoor kind of person- great hikes, skiing, parks. Nightlife is alright- most places close at 2am. Another interesting thing- The entire med/nursing school is moving to the city of Aurora and The Childrens Hospital will also be moved around 2007. Housing in Aurora is pretty cheap right now but will probably go up. There are tons of hospitals around Denver and from what I have seen a LOT need nurses. If you want to ask anything else I will try to help- good luck- what kind of nurse are you? Where do you live now?

I was wondering how difficult it is to obtain a nursing license in other states? Maybe I am just confused- but don't states have different requirements? Are there tests that travel nurse have to take or is it just a matter of paperwork?

You should check out a book called "Burn Unit" I can get the author if you are interested- I was absolutely amazed by how much responsibility burn unit nurses have- there are so many factors involved with burns such as dehydration, infection, body temp... TONS OF INFO. It is a really good book to read and shares a lot of stories about patients.

Actually, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do until I was halfway through my junior year! I thought I wanted to apply to medical school but realized my heart was set on nursing- so that left me with about 4 pre-requisites that I needed to complete. I am currently taking Microbiology, nutrition, develop. psych, and intro to sociology- so YES you can definitely work on the pre-reqs- One thing that I should warn you about- I wanted to also do the accelerated program because I will have a B.S. in Biology by May 2005- BUT you have to have a degree the Fall semester before you apply. UCHSC nursing program starts in June. As far as I know- there is no waitlist like community colleges- you are either in or they put you on the waitlist for the current class and if someone decides to not attend they start admitting the waitlisted students, once the class is complete the waitlist is dropped and the application period is closed until the next year. Hmmm tips- the application process is very straightforward- think about why you want to enter nursing, etc and try to dedicate sometime to the community because they ask about that in the essay. If you want to know anything else let me know.

I am so excited because I was starting to get worried. The University of Colorado Health Science Center was my first choice. If anyone has gone through the program or has any advice please let me know. Congradulations to everyone else too!

Hi Ladyraider, To answer one of your questions- there are a lot of programs that are geared towards students who already have a bachelor degree- they are called accelerated RN programs. They usually last anywhere from 1 year- 18 months. There are some lists online, or if you search for "accelerated nursing programs" on a search engine I am sure you can pull up a lot of schools that have these programs.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it! So about how many people are in classes with you? Do you go every day? What hours? Also, I was wondering what hospitals you all do your clinicals in- I would love to work in a children's hospital - do you know if there are rotations at The Childrens Hospital? Thanks!

So, I recently switched career paths to enter nursing- I am hoping to enter an accelerated nursing program. I was reading some previous posts- I had no idea that the waitlists were so long at schools!! I really wanted to get in next year- I applied to UCHSC - is there anyone out there that is currently a student, if so- how is the waitlist there? I have a high GPA, community experience, etc- I have only applied to one school because I thought I would get in- should I apply to other out of state schools?? Also, if you do attend UCHSC- do you like it? What is it like?