JillyPlot

I can assure you that your age will not be a problem. There are currently a few people older than you in the program with me.

I agree with moonchild about starting vaccines now. I have some people who were supposed to start this past spring but had to defer to fall because of vaccinations. But, we are required to get the flu shot. One of my classmates who got Guillan Barre from a flu shot was required to get it.

Don't worry about them choosing based on where you live. I'm in the spring 2013 class and we have a TON of people from California and other areas all over the country.

I'm currently in N300 and find it difficult because it is so much material as well as the way the questions are worded. We had what they said were NCLEX style in other classes, but these are different. We also have class 2 days a week and clinical 3 days this quarter, so it is out first really crazy quarter. We're getting through though, and you will too. My suggestion for this program is to get the Saunders book early on and do many practice questions before exams. Before you start, just relax and don't try to study anything.

I don't mean to be critical, but from your post it sounds like you are confusing Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which is the fast day. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, not the day of atonement. I was fortunate that my university is modifying our finals schedule to avoid having exams during Rosh Hashanah. They are ending classes 2 days early to push up finals. We are on break during Yom Kippur.

I've only taken the Fundamentals HESI so far, but I did well on it, so I will offer what I found worked for me as well as many friends. The best thing to do is make sure you are prepared for your regular exams and make sure you do practice questions. I have NCLEX review books and one or 2 HESI books, which I found to be very helpful. Just make sure to read the rationales for questions you get wrong (and even reading the rationales for the ones you got right can help with similar questions).

My program doesn't have a med math course, but we go review in two courses during our first quarter. Every quarter we have a math test on the first day of class that must be passed with at 90 in order to go to clinical.

There are a total of about 130 of us. In Q1 we were split into 2 sections but they split us into 3 sections for Q2 for some reason, which sucks because these people quickly become your family. They don't give an iPod touch anymore, probably because most people have a smart phone or a tablet anyway. I use my iPhone and iPad for everything at school and while I'm out. At home I access everything on my iMac.

We started clinical but only had 3 days on the floor, as we aren't able to do much yet. The only patient care we did was take vitals, bathe patients, and practice assessments. I was fortunate that I was able to help change and clean a wound with my instructor to get a little more experience. I really enjoyed being in the hospital though. This quarter is 2 days of class and 3 days of clinical each week. (At 3 different locations for 3 different classes.)

My first quarter went really well. I got a 3.65, which I was very happy with. I did get a little burned out toward the end of midterms but quickly got back on track after taking the weekend after midterms off from schoolwork. I love it. They are unorganized and some classes can get annoying and feel like a waste occasionally, but it all is useful. I start Q2 on Monday and I'm starting to stress about that because it is the hardest quarter according to former students. Yes we do really have 2 weeks off in September and 3 in December. That's one of the bonuses of starting in the spring. The fall start has a 3 week break and two 1 week breaks.

jl, The ACE program doesn't follow the accelerated calendar. It is the regular quarterly calendar. I started on April 1 and it does look like March 31 will be the first day of class for you.

Yankee, I would definitely contact admissions to find out if they are missing anything from your application. I started this spring and was wondering why it had been taking a while to hear back. Apparently one of my transcripts was lost in the mail or in their office somewhere. I chose to drive it down because I'm just outside of Philadelphia and didn't want it to get lost again. If you can't do that, just call and find out if something is missing. If they have everything, contact Evan Williams as was already suggested. He helped quite a few of us out when we spoke to him. Vld, as you will soon learn, the ACE program tends to be unorganized. However, the program follows the regular University quarter calendar, which can be found on the Drexel website where the calendars are listed. Feel free to ask me any other questions you guys may have. I am on the "break" between the first and second quarter. (The quotes are because it's only a week)

I am currently going to Drexel University in their Accelerated BSN program. It is an 11-month program in Philadelphia.

Our classes are mostly about 70 students, the exceptions being one lecture and our labs. The facilities are pretty nice. Classes are held at the Center City Hahnemann campus. All of your classes will be with the same cohort. The entire class that starts together is split into 2 groups and that is who you will see all the time.

The credits for Drexel are different than most colleges because they have 10-credit quarters instead of typical semesters. The conversion according to their website is 1 semester credit is equal to 1.5 quarter credits, so the 24 credit quarter is equal to taking an 18 credit semester. I'm in that quarter now, at the end of my 3rd week and I will tell you that it is definitely do-able in terms of the workload.

I would suggest calling the nursing department at your school and discuss it with them

Irish, I hear ya on that one! It's the worst when I'm having a flair and trying to make it through classes.

I'm also starting the ACE program in Spring 2013. I know that we can start applying for loans now that we are less than 6 months from starting the program. I'm living at home through the program but I have seen others who plan on living in Stiles (which I believe is the graduate housing) and some other people who are looking in the area near school for apartments and such. I'm not sure the exact pass/fail rate, but I do know there is a decent number of students who have to retake classes which sets them behind as they have to wait to join the next cohort to make up those classes before continuing in the program. I know I couldn't quite answer your questions, but I hope I helped! We also have a Facebook group for the Spring 2013 class if you search Drexel Ace Spring 2013 on Facebook you should find it. Some people on there are talking about looking for housing together.

I'm not sure what that means, but I'm thinking the other courses are higher level than that one. The only way to know for sure whether you have to take it is contact the nursing program and ask.

JBudd, I used the wrong word by saying misinformation. I would give more like the bare minimum and make sure to give No details and sometimes just sort of turn what was being asked into a statement so I didn't really give wrong answers. At times I also would say I didn't have the assignment done yet.

I know you're here to vent, but I had someone like that in my first degree. I began doing my homework in the library and with other classmates. When my roommate asked for my work, I began intentionally giving her misinformation so she would realize I'm not there to do her work for her.

I can't help you figure out what they want, but I applied after the deadline as I was told that is when they begin reviewing applications and have rolling admissions after that, and they obviously do, since I was accepted that way.

I was in a similar situation as you except that I had a degree in education and decided to go into nursing after 5 years of teaching. I looked at 2 local direct entry accelerated BSN/MSN programs, but decided no to go that route because I want to get at least 2-3 years bedside experience before I go into the NP program. I spoke to a few RNs as well as one NP and a few doctors I know personally. They said in order to get the most out of the NP program and have the best prospects for jobs, I needed a few years of experience working as an RN. One of the programs I looked at did allow you to defer your entry into the MSN program for up to 2 years, but who says I will have a job that soon after graduating that I would get sufficient (in my opinion) experience before that 2 years passed. So, I ended up choosing an accelerated BSN program that I will complete in 11 months (I don't start until April) and plan to apply to graduate programs after a few years working. I will be just under 30 when I graduate and hope to become an NP by the time I'm 35, just to give you an idea of my timeline after over a year of researching the best options for me.