Clodhopper

Guys, 'just curious. As a minority, have you felt that maybe being a minority somehow enhanced you getting accepted into Nursing school or somehow maybe received a boost when in school? Gals: Have you ever observed any specific instance or generally felt that men receive a boost in Nursing because of their minority status? Again, just curious.

You also see that sort of thing in other professions where foreign men are employed in a professional capacity. To example, years ago my wife, who is an IT professional, was working on a project that had several Russian contract programmers as part of the team. Early on, one of the Russians brought her a box of unformatted floppy disks for her to spend a half hour to format & ready for use. That is at best secretary work and most pros just formatted their own discs, as the need to do so was never ending if you were actively programming. My wife told the Russian where to stick those floppy discs for a bodily attempt at formatting them. She hated working with certain foreign cultures, as such run-ins would repeat, teaching the imbecile that things are done differently in America concerning the relative status of women to men.

LMAO!

Sounds like a good use of public assistance! Actually help you get back onto your feet, instead of just supporting you.

Just curious. It was told to us yesterday during orientation that 112 RN student candidates were selected out of 1235 applications to nursing school. That is over a 90 percent rejection rate! Is it that comparable to get into other nursing schools?

What did ya get? My school calls for a Sprague 122, which costs around $15. I got a Littman Master Classic SE, with my name on it (theft protection) for $107 delivered from Steeles. It is way more scope than I can take advantage of at this point in time, but that was the point in getting it. I can grow and develop my skills without it becoming a limiting item.

Yup. I distinctly recall a couple of problems that involved selecting the correctly balanced equation.

Hii Chorkle, I actually giggled seeing this 'advice!" Whatever some exotic thing that some scientist has cooked up in a particle accelerator or nuclear reactor over the past 30 years is not going to make a world of difference to nursing. Such exotic elements lasts milliseconds (or less) Back to whether or not you should feel that you should take a refresher in chemistry (I did for human biology, prior to taking A&P I), it come down to how much do you remember/retain? You really do not need to have a heavy duty knowledge of chemistry to get through A&P & micro. You do need to know about ions and how chemical reactions balance and the basics of organic chemistry... very basic stuff. With that, A&P will tie these things together, like how carbs digest into sugars or proteins into amino acids, etc. - my experience anyway.

Hudson Valley Community College, 1st Semester!

Thanks! I'll check them out.

Dude, I feel for you. My situation is similar. I just got the acceptance letter yesterday (was verbally informed a couple days before that). No info as to supplies needed given at all. 'have to learn that from my advisor & given a phone number to set up an appt. Nothing on texts & suggest references either. Oh well... I will stay on it and get all of the unknowns worked out before the end of the month. Have similar confidence in your ability to resolve it before things start. As you experience life over the years, you will realize that few worthwhile things, like getting your nursing degree, ever come about smoothly. You will work though it. Don't stress. Good Luck!

Hi all, It is seen that there are several styles and colors of scrubs available. For you experienced students and nurses, are there any little features that you like to see in your scrubs? I dunno, say real belt loops instead of a drawstring... or some similar thing. I got my acceptance letter late (yesterday) and it does not have any info on this matter as to the style & color my college (HVCC in Troy, NY) prefers. 'guess, I will have to wait until the counseling session that I have to schedule the first thing Monday to learn those particulars. Like anything else, I am sure there are differences in quality & desirable/not so desirable feature in scrubs. What are the experienced community thoughts on matters such as scubs? I am sure some annoying feature can lead to a seemingly longer day than it actually was.

A 50 year old career changer here. I'm switching out of engineering after a successful 27 year stint in it to pursue healthcare, namely nursing. This is something that I have always intended to do, as you only live once & I want as diverse an experience possible. Last spring my son enlisted, leaving my wife and I empty nesters. I took a look around and realized that this was the time to do it. Could afford to take the income hit of going to school & not much working a job, kids out of college & the house altogether, plus, at 50 I still get a good 15 years or more in doing this. The timing of everything was that, if I am was going to switch careers, it would never be better than now to do so. So, here I am! Nursing I & related classes starts at the end of the month. I really do enjoy the surprised reactions received from some when they ask me what I am switching from to nursing. Some are mildly shocked that I am switching from engineering to nursing??????? One time two nuclear engineering students I was co-teacher in a class to actually startled, as in that little jump we make with genuinely surprised, when told this. He He He.

I graduated with my bachelors in 1984 and it was the same way back then with the bookstore overpricing everything. Then there was no recourse, unless you in some big college town that could support an independent college bookstore. With today's internet options abound for finding a more modestly priced book. One thing that drives up textbook prices in the USA is that there are relatively few big publishers and they operate the market like a cartel. Most sell international versions of their texts for up to 75% off the USA list. These have different covers, but are word for word the same inside. I saved some big $$$ for some of my pre-reqs texts going this route. About the OP's query as to whether or not an older version is fine, I bet it is if it is within one version of the current. The schools always list the most current version and I have found that the teachers are usually working out of a text that is one or two versions backs. I have actually been BURNT at times buying the most current version because of this fact. Tables, etc that the teacher may reference out of the older text are on different pages from my text.

Program Type: RN Adjusted Individual Total Score: 84.7% ATI Academic Preparedness Level: Proficient Mean - National: 64.3% Mean - Program: 64.9% Percentile Rank - National - 95 Percentile Rank - Program - 96 Reading Adjusted Individual Score 78.6% Mathematics A.I.S. 100.0% Science A.I.S. 81.3% English and Language Usage A.I.S. 83.3% With these scores I barely squeaked into my school, but did. Life is good!

Since you have no other debt, getting rid of that one would be very beneficial. If you have been on time paying it, you already have a credit history, so paying it off early will not prevent you from building one. It never, ever, counts against you, credit wise, to pay a debt off early. Federal law guarantees that. That said, if you wipe out your savings, you will leave yourself vulnerable for a major expense/crises until you save back several thousand again. While one poster cited coming down with a brain tumor as unexpected things that happen, a more likely crises could be something like "What if your car suddenly dies?" ... or needs a massive repair (mechanics are cash & credit card only). That sort of thing. Because of the need for a cushion, I would just make extra payments and hold on to the savings if it were me. Since you have decent savings, perhaps consider saving less/none right now (leave the $8K alone) and use what you would have socked into savings that month as extra payment towards the loan. It will amaze you how fast a long term debt will pay down if you are just make ONE extra payment a year. If you can swing several extra payments (say, pay 1/3 more extra payment every month), that debt will be done in no time. Another way to look at is this: If the $ for extra payment were just saved, you are making probably 1% interest right now at a bank. The student loan interest is what, 5-6%? Regardless of the rate, every extra dollar you put towards paying off the loan, you effectively make 5-6% (whatever the actual rate is on the debt) in SAVINGS from avoided interest payments, verses the 1% the bank will give you with their savings account. This really works. I paid 3 extra payments a year on a 30 year mortgage (cause I could swing it), paying it off in 12 years and saving over $180,000 in interest had I let the debt run its full term. The benefits of making extra payments lessen with small term loans, like 3-5 year for a car (to the point of not worth it to do), but are very material for about any debt whose term is greater than 10 years.

I start my first semester at the end of the month and have no clue what my schedule will be for the Nursing I class. The school doesn't even bother to list the times in their semester by semester course schedule. You take the lecture and the clinical during the times they assign. 'not sure of any recourse beyond possibly swapping with another student if their times are different, but better for you.

Yup! Whining is whining, regardless of how it initially presented. Some teachers round, some don't. It is a fact of life and their sole prerogative as to how they want to proceed with grades. If you don't like a particular prof's grading policy, then find another or simply 'suck it up' if you cannot... or drop out of nursing....

My elderly widowed mother in law lives in a retirement community and it is pretty much the same way there. The elderly widows far outnumber the guys and compete head on for their attentions... upping the ante all along as to what constitutes 'proper attention' that should be given back to the guys. Life is good for those old men there. :-)

Hi all, new nursing student here. I start at the end of the month. In two years I'll be in the job market and was wondering what I could do between now and then to make myself a more desirable hire - especially since I have no prior healthcare experience. Here are a couple of things I have identified, but would like to hear what others have to offer. * Get as many of those funky letters (certifications) out of the way as you can. For example, I learned that I can get the BLS cert right away and I feel comfortable about not being overwhelmed with the BLS coursework at my stage in training, so why not get it? My college only requires CPR certification to remain as a student. The BLS covers that and more (as in employers require it across the board). * The same seems true for ACLS for many specialties and there seems to be no reason why I cannot get this cert sometime after the BLS course (and probably some more time in school). * Experience. Yep, go pull the local help wanted. Many positions are 1 year min exp. So, how do you get it if you do not have previous time in healthcare? I am thinking of volunteering as a form of extended clinicals if I cannot find something that pays. At least I can probably negotiate which areas I will be able to spend time in. If all that entails emptying bedpans and retrieving used lunch trays, I figure any time is better than no time. Plus, I will be caring for the patients and that is my goal. Any other advice? Those two years will come sooner than one may realize. Thanks

Your girlfriend needs to have more confidence in your relationship. While nursing is female dominated, just about most professions have significant numbers of females in them. Just walk into any office building and look around. Closely working and going to school with females is fact of life, even in male dominated fields. Maybe the response back to her could be "If you are going to engineering school with a bunch of guys, would you become tempted to leave me?"

Where I live there are four nursing colleges, the furthest one being about 40 miles away. When taking prereqs, we students would ask each other about which schools we were applying too. No one I queried was willing to drive to the school that was 40 miles away, even if that was the only one they were accepted to! It is a very good school too.

New member here catching up on threads. I start my RN classes this month and cannot comment what goes on in the clinic. However, I can see parallels from working in a mixed office environment for 30 years. As a group, the females in an office were much more competitive with each other, to the point of being rather vicious at times, than guys ever were. Once it starts, whoever the target of the moment will receive snide comments in front and behind their back (which inevitably gets back to them), incessant backbiting and ANY real or perceived slight or fau pax (say, something trivial as mismatched colors) will get blown up out of proportion. We guys used to joke that you put three females in a room and within a week there will be a conflict underway among them. Just stay clear of it. No good ever comes out of such behavior in the long run and it will suppress your career. As the saying goes 'If you want to wrestle with a pig, you get muddy and the pig has fun." As a male in a female dominated field you also run the risk of being accused of sexual harassment. As an earlier poster said, said females may have laughed at some off colored comment or even initialed the exchange. Later on she gets mad at you and accuses you sexual harassment. It doesn't matter if she was OK to begin with, as the standard comeback is "I was just going along with the social dynamic, but really felt very uncomfortable all the time." Any such accusation could really just be retaliation against you by the person that has nothing to do with sex. Even if its proven that allegation was baseless and related to retaliation, Federal Law prevents the female from being punished. Therefore, she has no risk in paying that card against you. You minimally end up with a notation in your file that you were once accused of sexual harassment. That is useful for mgmt if you are ever accused again - builds a history "where's there smoke, there must be fire" sort of thing.

I'm 50 and just got accepted for the fall RN. When taking prereqs, I was among the oldest ones in the class and if, anything, it is an advantage. As a group, I would say that older students don't stress out about classes the way the 20 something 'kids' do. We also tend to be less intimidated by the profs, as we know they are working a job as anyone else. We would tend to ask far more questions of the profs than the younger set would and profs like questions cuz it shows you are engaged and learning. It was also noticed the profs also tend to treat mature students a bit more like peers than some other kid passing through their class. I had a discussion with a prof one day about these observations and his comments were interesting. His experience was that 'mature' students were much more motivated and did not expect to be 'spoon fed' the material, but younger students tend to expect this. Come class or lab time they were also much more prepared and are seldom absent. My experience. It's been good being a 'mature' student.