MichiganRN13

This probably won't help you as I am in Michigan but just to get an idea of ranges around the country I started off at 26.50 with a small shift differential. This was at a small hospital, that seems to be around the basic starting wage here. There are other hospitals not too far from me that start around 29-30 plus shift diff.

I agree with 84RN, the car sitting in the driveway in and of itself would not be a HIPAA violation. If that was the case wouldn't that be true of an ambulance parked there on a call to that home? As long as the person isn't telling the neighbors protected information there shouldn't be a problem.

I have just had one interview with one company but I was told that I will have (if hired) 6-8 weeks of orientation. I can not say for sure that it will play out that way but this seems like a very respectable and well organized company and I believe that unless some kind of special circumstance happens I will have that long to orient. I think it will be with the same preceptor the entire time also. Not sure if that helps but I will let you know for sure if I get hired and go through the orientation period.

A good site I found was highway hypodermics. They have a list of different travel nursing companies and are rated for the services they provide. I can tell you that they usually require at least one year of clinical nursing experience under your belt. Also there are companies out there that are listed with the above website that offer travel assignments to English speaking countries. All the best to you and good luck with school.

I took the NCLEX on Monday and had around 82 questions, tried the pvt got the pop up. Today checked quick results and passed!! Second time for me and I'm not sure what I would have done if it didn't work out. Everyone in my class that got the pop up passed!!

Each class you have to achieve an 84% in order to move on. Clinicals are pass/fail. You can repeat once and then your out the next time. Drug calculation quiz before terms 3,4,5 that you have to pass with 100% or you can't pass meds in clinicals. You can still attend clinical that week but if its your turn to pass meds then you get a zero that day. You can retake the quiz though so you have the chance to pass meds the following week.

I am a recent graduate from Baker and I think that if your talking about 10-15 hours per week then you should be fine. There are times it can be extremely rigorous but as long as you don't put things off till the last minute it is very possible. I myself didn't work but I graduated with some that continued to work full time throughout the program. Congrats and best of luck!!

I'm a new grad in Michigan but I haven't started working yet, from everything I have heard the starting pay for new grads in the Lansing area is around 26-27/hr not counting shift differentials. I believe most places only offer an additional dollar an hour for BSN for bedside positions. Hope this helps, if you know the area in Michigan I might be able to help you with some information on local hospitals. Good luck.

Check out Kaplan nursing and the programs they offer if your not familiar with it. I think I know the type of questions you are talking about and Kaplan could be a big help. My best advice is (I'm not saying you don't already do this) to first determine what exactly the question is asking and reword it so it makes sense to you. Then you need to decide if you need further assessment or to implement something. If there isn't enough assessment info in the question and the assessment in the answer is reasonable then 95% of the time it will be an assessment answer. Plus always remember Maslow hierarchy - physical before psychosocial. Those are just a few things that helped me to score better on NCLEX style questions. Hope that helps, but you should definitely check out the Kaplan site or something similar to get some other ideas. Good luck.

94-100=A 91-93=A- 89-90=B+ 87-88=B 84-86=B- I could keep going on down to an F but anything below an 84% is basically failing. You can have a low grade here and there on assignments and quizzes and test but if your overall grade ended up at anything below an 84% then you failed that class. Do it twice and your out of the program. We also had drug calculation quizzes at the beginning of every term that you have to pass with 100% or you can't pass meds at clinical until that is achieved. Good times!!!!

I realize that many of these posts are pretty old but I felt like I had to respond to some of the information being said on here. I just graduated from the nursing program from Baker in Owosso and it is fully accredited by the MBON and NLNAC. It is a private college so the tuition is more expensive but there is no scheme to it. Of course like any school it has pros/cons. The NCLEX pass rate is very high, generally 98-100% for first time test takers at least at my campus. I believe graduates from this program have as good a chance of employment as any other graduate from any other ADN program.

I agree with everything you just said but as a recent graduate of the nursing program I can tell you there will be plenty more group projects. Usually they aren't worth that much of the overall grade though. Most instructors will most likely tell you that these projects are designed for the exact reason you explained above in order to learn how to learn and deal with conflicts and setbacks in the workplace. I know that if any students were marked down in the peer review then the whole group suffered because they feel the other students didn't take steps to correct the actions of the one that was marked down.

Thank you. My best advice is to make time for yourself to unwind but try to stay on top of things. If you procrastinate like I do it can be very overwhelming at times but I made it so you can too. Also remember once your in the competition is over, some of the best people I know I met through this program and will be friends for the rest of our lives. Oh one more thing if you tend to get hung up on getting 100% on everything try to let that go, it's not impossible to get through with high marks but don't let that distract you from your purpose of being there. Good luck.

That sounds right. Our total points were out of 100 also but I couldn't tell you what my final total was to get in the program as I never found out. I only knew my Kaplan score but when I got in I think it was only worth a total of 10 points. They are constantly changing things though and I just finished earlier this month. Lol

I just graduated from Baker in Owosso and unless they changed the Kaplan those scores seem high. As you will see once your in and are taking Kaplan tests all the time they generally are 60-70. As for the entrance Kaplan that was just one part of the scoring system, I wasn't very thrilled with my score of 67 but was told that was about average. I got in (obviously) on my first attempt. Good luck

I can only go by what is posted on the state website since I am still about ten weeks away from graduation. I have been told by other students that the pay is great but according to the website it ranges from $21-28/hr. which is a little confusing since hospitals around me start around 26-27 hr. if I find any solid information I will pass it along.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I haven't been working while in the program but have recently been in contact with someone about volunteering so hopefully that will help me out when I graduate and may lead to a per diem job while in school.

Hi everyone, I am currently still in school for ADN in about 6 months to go until graduation and I have been starting to research possible new grad jobs. I know that most people have a preference of what they want to do when they graduate and my preference right now is public health nursing. I realize that it is not always possible to start out with what you want and I am ok with that and have been looking around at other potential starting points. After my first med/surg rotation I never thought I would want to do that but I realize beggars can't be choosers either so am willing to put my time in where I can gain the experience required while hopefully furthering my education. As I look around at areas that interest me such as public health, home health, or even correctional nursing the overwhelming response is "get your time in med/surg first", this leads me to believe that is the traditional starting spot for new grads. This leads me to the new grad dilemma, those positions in med/surg in the hospitals around this area also are stating you need to have 1-2 years professional nursing experience.... Any suggestions on where to look next or should I disregard the experience and apply anyway once I get to that point. Thanks for your input.