embracechange

Location: Boise, ID Experience: 4 years, RN, BSN Specialty: Perioperative Facility: Large hospital organization Base pay: $30 + differentials OT: time and a half after 40 hrs/week

Congrats nursesarak! Wow.. you'll be starting soon! I was admitted into several other programs and have applied to FAFSA. FAFSA caps out somewhere around $24,000 for me, so the rest of my program costs will be paid for through private loans. I did get a grant and a scholarship through two of the private universities I was accepted into, but I don't know how giving a state school such as OHSU is with their general fund. Did they say they would send you an admissions packet promptly? The admissions packet should have financial aid information or you could also call the financial aid office and explain to them you are concerned about costs. However, being that it is so close to when you will begin, you may need to take out more private loans to compensate for the lag in time that a scholarship or FAFSA may take to get money into your student account. Good luck!

Thanks Aprilshower.emma! Good luck to you, I really hope you get a call!

Congrats Garciwarsi and jessel02!! Aprilshower.emma - nope, no call yet Good luck to everyone waiting! :-)

Congratulations nurse4ev!!! That's fantastic news :-)

berkeleygirl - where did you decide to go? Hopkins?

Thanks for sharing your experience llh5057! Sounds like you really like it and get a lot of exposure to different things. I've also given a $500 deposit for another school, so I'm in the same boat you were. Good luck with the rest of this term! :-)

llh5057 - One more question, sorry! What do you think about the classes you are taking? Are they interesting and do you feel they are preparing you well for your career? Thanks again!

llh5057 - Hi! Thanks for your response! I appreciate having a student's perspective and do have some questions for you. You say the faculty is personable.. do you feel they are very supportive of student success and well organized in presenting material? Where have you done your clinicals so far? Do you rotate through OHSU much? What is your typical week like with your class schedule and clinicals? Is your cohort very happy with the program overall? Thanks again and hope you have a great week!

gwelltravaille - I've decided to attend JHU and will be moving there from out of state. I am paying for school through a combination of federal loans, grants, and mostly private loans. It is a lot of debt to take on, but if you can live frugally for a couple years after graduation and get a job quickly, it is possible to pay it off pretty fast. There are also a lot of scholarship opportunities out there; the sooner you apply the better. Also, there are programs that will help pay off a portion of student loans if you committ to working with undeserved populations for a couple years after school. Good luck to you!

Hey aprilshower.emma - I am planning on attending the ABSN program at JHU that begins in the fall. I'll be moving to Baltimore in 3 months! I'm planning on doing some in depth research about OHSU this week and how it compares to JHU so just in case they call, I'll be prepared with an answer. Have you been accepted to JHU also? Hope you have a great week!

aprilshower.emma - it seems that about 9-10 people just in this forum are waitlisted... who knows how many in total. It would be great to know and yes, interesting to see how it plays out! berkeleygirl - I loved JHU! They offer fantastic programs and seem very organized and supportive of the students... Baltimore is okay, but I think I'm going to go for it! Exciting :-)

Washington89 - I'm about 85% sure that I'm going to choose Linfield. I feel that an accelerated nursing program is so intense already and moving across the country would add too much stress to my life, along with the fact that I will have around $40,000 less in private loans coming out of school if I stay here. I feel that spending $80,000 on a bachelor's degree is a little excessive, especially when I have less expensive options, and I would rather spend more money on a master's/doctorate. Which schools are you deciding between? What did you think about accepted students day at JH? Did you like Baltimore? I'm waitlisted at OHSU also, so keeping my fingers crossed that I may get a call from them in the next month. Good luck in your decision!

alkalinetreeo - I have a 4.0 pre-req gpa and a 3.7 cumulative gpa along with 6 months of volunteer experience at a clinic in Portland. The more experience you can get the better. Also, I took 3 classes over to raise my grades from B's to A's. From the looks of it, a 4.0 pre-req gpa is pretty standard. Best of wishes to you in the future and let me know if you have any other questions!

pnlu007 - Thank you for sharing this information with me about Linfield. I'm leaning towards staying in Portland to attend Linfield. Johns Hopkins is a wonderful school, but it's hard for me to rationalize spending $50,000 more to go there (with moving costs and higher costs of living, etc). I think it's smarter for me to spend less on my bachelor's and then go to a spendier institution for my master's/doctorate. I'm still on the fence though. Tomorrow is the accepted students day at JH, so I'm hoping I will have a better idea overall of what I want to do. If I do stay, I look forward to meeting you also and either way, how exciting to start a nursing program in which we'll be an RN in less than two years! Not to mention, looking forward to a Portland summer :-)