samdaman

The summer is ROUGH! You're in class for most of Monday. Sim Tuesday. Class Wednesday. Clinicals Thursday and Friday from 7-4pm. Study all day Saturday and then some more on Sunday and take exams pretty much every Sunday.

Haha, Ginerd, I won't be there tomorrow unfortunately. I split up the work with another person so I'll be heading up next week's meet and greet.

So has any of you guys started a MEPN 2014 FB page yet?

Silvia.e - There's a funding seminar that should be held early May. Information about that will come out around March. Just make sure to fill out your FAFSA. starharvest - I wore a suit to my interview, but I'd say dress professionally. You might be doing some touring so wear something comfortable.

Marsharabbit, you're pretty much on your own in terms of lodging and accommodations for the interview. More information means they'll let you know where you'll need to be and the time for your actual interview. At least they should have lunch for you...at least they did for us last year. You're pretty much guaranteed not to see any current MEPNs around during interview days either because we'll all be in clinical sites.

For those of you who got an interview, congrats! I'm helping plan an informal meet and greet for you guys and encourage you to RSVP to the e-mail you should've received with details. I found it to be pretty helpful, especially in terms of housing and a bit of what to expect for the year from actual student's perspective.

mentalhealthadvocate, you should actually try to call in and talk to -----if possible if you don't get an e-mail response...the earlier the better.

@mentalhealthadvocate You can try to switch your UCSF interview date to the other week!

Interviews are typically offered on 2 successive Fridays. This time around it's looking like 1/24 and 1/31. What our upper class did was they held a coffee/bagel thing on the day after the interview in the nursing building so that applicants could meet with current students to ask questions. It was seriously helpful for us and I'll coordinate with my class to make sure we offer the same help for you all too!

Congrats to all getting their letters and getting an interview! I'll keep you guys in the loop about Meet and Greet and Q&A sessions for the days after your interview with current MEPNs.

Thanks for your input all! All your points are extremely valid. Let me address some things... 1. Spanish is NOT a requirement for the FNP. I was ready to dust off my high school Spanish for my interview, but wasn't even questioned about my ability to speak Spanish. I have heard of other years where a portion of the interview was done in Spanish but that definitely wasn't the case this year. Having a working knowledge is good...fluency is even better, but I think as long as you have a heart to serve the underprivilidged, I think that speaks more than just your Spanish speaking ability. I definitely want to try to take some classes to improve my Spanish, but I'll also have many opportunities to practice it once I start working in 3 years. So my point, don't be turned away from applying if you don't speak Spanish. 2. Cost is important...at least the new UC president (Janet Napolitano) is aware of the skyrocketing costs of UC education and I know that everything is being done to make sure tuition fees do not increase! The costs for us has increased over 40% in the last 2 years and that has definitely scared a lot of my class. But you know there's a lot of financial aid available and there are loan forgiveness programs for those who decide to work in underprivileged populations after grad. 3. Don't worry about the whole DNP thing....we're all grandfathered into it for now. An FNP will still be an FNP. I know of people who work as NPs and also pick up per diem shifts. What's really most important is who you know and networking with everyone you come in contact with. Get involved, work hard, and when working your clinicals....people and nurses will remember you and it'll make it easier down the line when you need to apply for jobs. In 3-4 years, there should be a lot more jobs available (as long as RNs from other states don't keep flooding into California to take our jobs!!!). The way the job market is right now just for RNs is still pretty rough. But for NPs...the world is our oyster! Heck, there are even MEPNS who've graduated and decided that the whole NP thing wasn't for them and they just got jobs working as RNs at the bedside! I was kinda concerned about not really getting a BSN, but again....read my point above. An MSN trumps a BSN...and it's MUCH MUCH easier to get a job as an NP than an RN right now! So don't let the naysayer dissuade you. Alright folks. I've got another 13 hour shift tomorrow at 6:30am so I'm out!

Hey guys. In regards to my last post....the odds this year are actually pretty good! My class submitted 600 applicants with only 57 students accepted. So 300 applicants and about 50 spots is way better for you guys! In terms of the concern....fewer applicants means a smaller pool of high caliber applicants to choose from. A larger pool allows the admissions people a better probability of picking and choosing from the best applicants. Let's do the math: Top 10% of 600 applicants is about 60 students. Top 10% of 300 students is about 30 students. By having a smaller applicant pool, you have to then allow less qualified applicants to be accepted. This also increases the possibility of students dropping out due to the chance of not being able to keep up with the rigors of the course. I know there are some major assumptions here...but there's some logic to this all. In a perfect world, all 300 applicants are all great and perfect and excellent students....but I'm sure there are folks who will send in an application that truly don't qualify but will try anyway.

Hey everyone, hope you're all eagerly anticipating an interview letter (in about 1.5 more month). So I just found out that your cohort only sent in about 300 applications which is going to result in only about a class of ~50 students. The downward trend in applicants is a bit of a concern to the staff. Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing why some of you may be detracted from applying this year. Cost of tuition, pre-reqs, economy, lack of interest?

DentHygTurningNP, sorry for the late reply....had finals week and then was trying to enjoy my 2 week "vacation" after the INTENSE summer quarter we just had! Anyway, here are the stats: AGCNS - 4 AGNP - 5 AGNP - HIV - 2 APPHN - 2 FNP - 17 Midwifery - 11 OCNS - 2 OEH - 2 PMHNP - 7 PNP - 5 I got in as FNP. I'm pretty sure our class had a wide variety of stats but I'm sure most of us were above 3.0 GPA. If any of you ever come here for the information sessions they will continually stress that they're looking at the ENTIRE PERSON CONCEPT. While you may be lacking in one area, if you have some AMAZING experience, that can more than compensate for deficiencies elsewhere.

DentHygTurningNP - Current MEPN here, the site will stay "Under Review" until early December or so when they start sending out interview requests via mail. The website is a bit lacking in information but keeps the anxiety up! Once the apps are turned in the agonizing wait begins. n.a.norcal - There's a small group of folks who read through the apps....and usually the person who conducts your interview will have read your entire package. There may be some overlap between goal statement and experiences, but I used it as an opportunity to talk about more of my various experiences rather than re-hashing the same thing. Our current cohort is 57 students, there were like 400 applicants...which is smaller than years past (it's been shrinking by 100 applicants each year), probably because of the drastic rise in tuition fees for the MEPN year (from 36k to 55k!)Hope this helps!