FlorenceNtheMachine

You should be a shoo in, I think. It seems mostly whether or not an individual is okay with parting from a RN salary for 2-3 years and living on student loans. It's not easy for everyone to do or possible depending on life circumstance.

Which hospital has more experienced nurses to learn from? If you see a plethora of new grads in one ICU vs another, it may be more telling. I would work in the environment where it seems the friendliest and I could spend years there without pulling my hair out.

Just try to get as high as you can on your BSN. You'll be a great addition it seems like :) Good luck and welcome to the nursing profession.

"You said this is a safe place to talk about unions?" "Administration is getting crafty."

Reminds me of this meme!

The school I go to officially says they don't maintain a wait list but I've read where students have been accepted after being rejected d/t open slots. My school is allotted student spaces by the hospital they are affiliated with and count on a specific number. I wouldn't go to the school unless I was 100% sure I wanted to be there the entire time. It seems like a collosal waste of money and time otherwise. It's a small world and you don't want to put a bad taste in your future colleagues mouth. It hurts their attrition rates too. Anyhoo, if you have good stats and feel like you could get in your local, maybe just wait and earn money in the meantime?

Your experience seems like will put you towards on the lower side eligible applicants. Your poster presentation is great for the resume. Can you join your local nursing organization? Get your ccrn and maybe a subspecialty if you can swing it $$ wise. Start studying concepts of the GRE. Good luck my friend! You may not get in 100% of schools but you have a great chance of enrolling.

I hate weakness/strength questions. Be honest and don't try to spin a strength as a weakness. There's a chance you'll get a no that's not a weakness from someone who isn't feeling it. Everyone has legitimate weaknesses. "I gag when people pop cysts or boils." "I am not great at dropping NGTs on confused patients." "I can't seem to get 22g IVs in as well as larger bore IVs d/t delayed flashback from the catheter."

I'd wait until you are submitting an application to send out recommendation forms to your people. Make it super easy for them, fill out all the info on the form you can, stamp it, etc. However, I would secure your recommendations verbally. Usually, they'll want one from your supervisor, CRNA or MD that can judge your worth, and a professor. Most ad coms realize it may be difficult to get a meaningful school related rec and will sub it. You'll have to ask. If you feel like your manager may not give you a 100% great stellar review, give it to an assistant manager! After 4 years, you've put enough time in to compensate for your orientation. I took my GRE seriously but looking back I could have put more time and effort in.

Duplicate

Make sure you have meaningful references, great GRE (higher than the minimum), and your interview skills should be on point and you'll be a shoe in! Good luck!

When you are new, you miss a lot of subtle clues. That's just how it is until you get experienced. At a year or less, I missed those changes. And, someone a lot smarter than me said "if you think you didn't miss things and let someone die, you did and your coworkers and leads knew it." If a shorter period from BSN to MSN or DNP results in higher GPA or first pass NCE % then I totally can see the logic. But you will be less of a technician with experience.

Ruby is giving sound advice. Get looootts of experience in a bigger icu. The 8 bed icu seems nice to get your feet wet. If you get into crna school you want to be well prepared for any type of patient they throw at you. I still get butterflies when certain patients roll through that door. I've got 3.5 years in a high acuity icu and I still feel uncomfortable with certain situations and need my ICU vets to help me through. Find a nice SICU or CvSICU. That's where I am and I love it.

Anyone still read the boards from this thread? How are you guys hanging? Still in critical care ?

Posts like these can get pretty negative fast. I'll try to be as positive as I can. You feel on the outside, because you are. You are new and feel awkward. I'm very shy initially and really bloom once I get to know my situation. Get to know them, and put some time in. In a few months, you won't be the new guy or gal anymore. It seems like an ego preservation thing, "I won't like them so it doesn't bother me when they don't like me." Hang in there!! It's tough being new.