Kat5

Congrats, missdeevah! So exciting! The first 20 hours or so are online, so I think you would be fine unless baby comes early =). Up till now, I have deliberately only taken 1 class a semester so I could still have a life outside of school, and it has been very doable. I think most people take Theory or Research first. All of the core courses have online group projects/papers/presentations, which are very time consuming (give me a test any day!), but not extraordinarily hard, if you can write a coherent sentence and can do APA in your sleep! This fall I start my first clinical course (FHN1). The classroom component is still only twice a month, but I have heard from classmates ahead of me that for every 8 hours you do in clinical (90 hours in FHN1&2, 135 in FHN3, and 270 hours in the final semester), you have about 4 hours of paperwork, and the volume of material for each exam is overwhelming. I work part-time, have pretty self-sufficient kids, a supportive husband, and a very flexible schedule, but I am still a little worried being able to keep up. But I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I am excited to finally get to see patients in this new role, so that's what keeps me going!

I am a Denton FNP student, and I took Patho online out of Houston. My understanding is that you have to have a pretty good reason (ie long distance from campus) and it's on a space-available basis - ie, "home campus" students get first available seats. I also think they really want you to stick with your cohort as much as possible. In Adv. Practice Role you come to campus twice during the semester and the group dynamic sets in, and it starts to feel like you are part of something. I took Adv Assessment this spring, and we had class twice a month. I really loved interacting with the professors and getting to know the other students, since I have been taking my core (all online) courses part-time over the past 2 years! Welcome!

I have received this grant the past 3 semesters. It is given to APN students who are interested in primary care and/or working in an underserved area. There isn't a payback or work requirement. At my school, funds are credited about 10 days before the semester starts, and anything over and above tuition/fees gets refunded so you can use it for books, etc. HRSA awards the money to the school and the school gives the funds out, so the only problem I ran into was that last year my school awarded all the funds in fall and spring, so there was nothing left to award for summer school last summer (the end of the financial aid year, I guess) so I had to make other arrangements. You might ask if the funds you receive for spring need to also cover your summer classes. Hope this helps!

The Denton program's clinicals (Family I) start only in the fall.

When I applied I had to apply to one program (FNP) and one campus (Dallas, Denton, or Houston). The first 20 hours are the same for all the NP programs and for the Nursing Ed program. At one point early on I considered switching to nursing ed. I was told I could do it with no problem (fill out a form and have it signed by the program director). However, I'm totally guessing here, but I wouldn't be surprised if you'd have to go through some sort of application process again if you wanted to switch NP specialties. The programs are pretty competitive and space is very carefully planned for each semester (I know because I tried to switch around the order of some of my classes in my degree plan and wasn't able to because there were no slots available).

Nicola30195, just checking with you to see how the class is going. I am taking the online course this fall. Can you tell me the required textbooks? Thanks!

Karen313, Yes, I've looked at the class schedule on Pioneer Portal. From what I can tell, I will be able to keep my job as-is until I get to Adv Assessment. I would like to think I could convince my boss to let me off every other Wednesday, but I'm not holding my breath...=) Almost all the other core classes that are hybrids meet at 5pm, about once a month. I think I will enjoy seeing other students and getting to know profs. So...if I take a max of 2 classes per semester, that will keep me busy for the next year to year and a half. Once I get to Adv Assessment and the clinical courses, I will have to (a) win the lotto (my personal preference), (b) work part time, or © go back to hosp or home care. All for the cause, right? I know that both schools will evaluate graduate transfer credit (I think the max is only 6-9 hours, but I would definitely double check!). It's risky (and a pain - you have to submit syllabus, etc), but if you started one and just hated it, you could at least finish a couple of classes and then transfer without losing too much time. Have you been to both campuses? Maybe that would help. Which one are you leaning towards?

Karen313, Both programs have great reputations. I finished my RN-BSN at UTA and was overall very pleased. It would have been a no-brainer for me to just stay on and do UTA's FNP program...IF I lived closer to campus and/or had a more flexible schedule. Unfortunately, I work M-F (school nurse), and the commute for me would be 2 hours each way, so I didn't even apply. Time=sanity - I can't be wasting it driving! A friend of mine graduated from TWU a few years ago (like me, a former ICU nurse who went into school nursing when her kids got to be school age). She was allowed to complete all her clinicals in the summer and on school breaks. That was the clincher for me! Time, flexibility...can you tell what's important to me?! I also like that TWU requires health promotion/primary prevention, and emphasizes underserved populations. Just more things to throw on the decision table. Good luck with your decision - two very good schools to choose from!

TCUgirl15 and Karen313, I just got accepted to the TWU's FNP program (Denton campus). Well, at least I think I did...it says "accepted" on my Pioneer Portal page, but I haven't received anything in the mail yet. So I don't know if I'm invited to the orientation or not =) Working f/t, kids...I will be going very part-time...2 classes max each semester. It will be very nice to get to know you both!