BeccaBSN

Rutgers also offers one, and it also costs a few thousand for 12 weeks or so. No guarantee of employment after, however I've heard anecdotally that many were hired.

Can you drive? Is NJ a possibility for you? I'm a recent (January 2014) graduate; I and many of my fellow new BSN's have found hospital positions in NJ. If you have any connections at all I suggest working them once your BSN is completed. Even without connections I know two people who got hired out of the blue at a large, well known urban hospital after just applying online. Good luck!

Well, I just graduated nursing school and started my first RN job, and I'll tell ya, you still have to move patients as an RN! Fortunately I have CNA's to help me, but there are still lots of RNs out there with bad backs from moving patients. Does your hospital have any mechanical lifters? Most hospitals I've been in have expensive lifting-assistance devices just collecting dust on the floor, stuck in a side hallway somewhere. Honestly I really wish I had been a CNA before/during nursing school because I didn't know anything about hospitals or nursing work flow, and now even as a new nurse I'm still figuring it out as I go along! The learning curve of a new nurse is steep enough, I think experience as a CNA would be invaluable. Good luck in your RN pursuit, and I hope you find a fulfilling position!

I did a 15 month ABSN, which was incredibly challenging with a toddler and a part time job! If I had been younger (I'm early 30s now, was 29 when I started my pre-reqs) I think I would have preferred the 4 year BSN for the gentler pace (summers off!!) and increased clinical exposure. ABSN's don't get a chance to do summer externships (these externships are often KEY to finding a job in a saturated market) and have less time to work as nurse's aids or volunteer with local organizations, etc. Good luck!

I know of at least one hospital that does in fact charge new grads for their "residency", after which they may or may not be offered a job. There are also several in my area that offer unpaid residencies (we're talking months here) after which there is no guarantee of paid work. And competition to get into them is fierce! What a crazy job market.

I literally just received my offer yesterday! So pending my background/references I start in May. I live in northern NJ, the program I went to was in central NJ, and the hospital that hired me is in northern NJ. The good thing is there's a ton of hospitals in NJ and they're not all part of the same system so you can move around until you find somewhere you like :)

I just received my first official offer yesterday! 1) Northern NJ (Greater NYC area) 2) $37/hr 3) No experience, new BSN grad 4) Med-surg I was actually surprised by the #, I had a classmate hired into a very competitive new grad program in NNJ and she's getting in the lows 30's per diem.

I just graduated with my BSN in NJ (January 2014). I have friends who graduated at the same time as me, some with BSNs and some with ADNs (community college program). Only a handful of us have jobs, however among the BSNs - those who have received job offers all were either CNAs while in school or extremely well connected. I know of one ADN who was able to land a job at a very small community hospital (psych unit) after putting in some time as a home health nurse. My best advice would be to work as a CNA, work every hospital connection you have, and enroll in a RN-BSN bridge program immediately upon graduating- I believe that's how my ADN friend landed her hospital job. When I did ACLS I met many, many BSNs who were still unemployed after 6, 9, 12+ months. It sounds like you're on the right track though! Good luck :)

So in the end it was just another set of 4 prophecy exams, similar to but different than the first 4 I took before interviewing. Even so, I'm glad I read over a bunch of nursing clinical skills books before hand, it helped to keep topics/priorities fresh in my mind. Afterwards HR congratulated me for doing an awesome job and gave me all the new hire paperwork. Pending my physical/background check I start orientation in May! Thanks again HouTx!

Thank you that's good advice, I will definitely brush up on clinical management of those common dx! My professor (who referred me to the hospital) says it will be a cake walk but I can't help but worry, lol. Thanks again! B

Hi! I'm a new grad and I have made it through two interviews and a battery of "prophecy" tests, but now I have to pass a hands-on pre-employment "clinical assessment" for med-surge before receiving an official offer from a hospital in northern NJ. I'm assuming this includes med math, maybe PPE, med administration and basic health assessment stuff... but I've been out of the hospital for 4 months now and really nervous that my skills are rusty! I'm gonna skim through my clinical skills book before going in but I was hoping maybe someone here had taken a similar "clinical assessment" and could reassure me that it's not all that scary. Thanks!

Highlyfav,The orientation letter just says to read each chapter of both books and then do the post chapter tests to be handed in during the first 7 weeks of level 1. If you're unsure what tests they're referring too, I would just ask someone at orientation :) I'm still waiting for my books to come in the mail, so you're well ahead of the game!

Yeah, aside from taking the practice test as advised in the orientation letter, I'm not gonna study for the TEAS. It's just supposed to be an evaluation of our current knowledge. I'm gonna spend my time reading the med-math and terminology books required before classes start. The orientation letter mentioned that we would be responsible for turning in the end-of-chapter tests from both books sometime during the first semester do I guess I'll get as many of those out of the way as I can :)

It starts on July 16th and meets twice a week, 6 hours a day for 5 weeks. I have the complete schedule if anyone is interested just pm me. I don't know if I'll be able to make all the sessions but I'll try to make most.

I called to ask for more information about orientation,etc. They sent a letter with orientation time&place as well as instructions on how to log into my umdnj student acct. I had to request nacl info via email since they never mailed it to me. Sleuthing through the umdnj website I was able to find a book list for first semester but I'm not stressing about it yet, surely all will be revealed at orientation!