as_nurse

Hello! Here are my quick recommendations for you... -First and most importantly, cut out all negative thoughts like, "I feel like such an idiot" from your vocab. I know it is a super stressful time right now and so hard not to compare yourself to to others, but give yourself some credit on everything you've accomplished so far. You can do this! -Secondly, 3 weeks is plenty of time to get a lot of studying in so you can feel prepared to rock the NCLEX. I personally found it really helpful to have a calendar with my goals of what I wanted to get through each day. My rough month schedule consisted of the Kaplan test one week, hard core content review (all the Kaplan videos while taking notes in their book) and some questions my second week, and then questions, questions, questions the last two weeks. I would maybe try to do your questions in blocks of 75 questions if you have the time vs. smaller blocks of 25 or 50. That is the minimum you are going to be sitting for so I think (for me at least) it really helped me get into the right mental state of sitting for awhile doing questions. -Also, I do think that there is something to be said for having too many different types of study materials to look at. I know I thought i was going to go through all 4 of my NCLEX review books and key notes from school, but it got too overwhelming. Pick a program that works for you and go with that. For me personally that was the Kaplan program, but again you do what works for you. -Also, don't beat yourself up about your scores. Are they important, yes... or maybe no. I think it is more important that you understand why you did or didn't get the questions right or wrong. I went back through every questions I took with Kaplan and looked up anything I didn't remember. Then I read through the questions again to see how I should have gotten to the right answer. If you are really looking for scores to "compare" yourself with I can tell you it looks like yours are pretty similar to where my scores were to start. I was so frustrated especially with my question trainers 4-6 and initial sets of questions from the q bank because I could not break out of the high 50s despite having scored mid-60s on my diagnostic and readiness exams. The two items that I believe ultimately ended up helping me were 1.) more time/questions and 2.) when I stopped obsessing over my scores and checking the internet to see what my "chances" of passing are based on my scores or what someone else did. I ended up doing 83% of the q bank and all of the question trainers with a 61% average. Did I want that number to be higher, of course, but guess what I passed in 75 questions. For me personally, I thought Kaplan questions were much harder than the NCLEX, but I also thought that I was well prepared. I'm sure there are people out there who don't like the kaplan program for one reason or another, or with higher scores who failed, or lower scores and passed. You can drive yourself crazy trying to find all that information, so instead take care of you. Do what you need to do to feel ready and remember... you can do this! -Finally, take a deep breath before your test - whether it is a question trainer or the NCLEX. Take a moment to just collect yourself. When I felt like the exam was getting away from me because I had a couple hard questions, I started stopping myself and taking another moment to breathe, say a quick prayer to calm myself, and start again. Good luck! You've got this. (sorry that didn't end up being so "quick")

Hey Bnsboy. I connected with my roommate initially through email in January. I got her information from our recruitment specialist (is that still Scott for you guys?!), so I would ask him if anyone else has inquired yet. Otherwise, I know at orientation they started an email list with students interested in having a roommate so that would definitely be an option. Don't worry if you haven't lined this up yet, I know a lot of individuals in our class didn't know their roommates at this time. One other option if you are going to be on campus anytime this spring would be to walk through the school of nursing or school of medicine (etc.) and look for flyers looking for roommates. There usually are some posted on bulletin boards in the buildings you could look into.

Hello Everyone - I'm not sure if Sally has emailed you all or not, but a facebook group has been created to help with the "handoff" from this year's accelerated class to the next one (you guys!!!). It's just another forum to ask questions, give advice, and for current student to sell items. Thought I'd post it on here in case you haven't seen it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/225187247684741/

Congrats on being accepted to SLU! It's currently our finals week, so I don't have a ton of time to write a long response, but if you are anything like I was a year ago, you are super excited to receive any information about the program so I wanted to post a quick note. I've loved the program so far and for me it was the right decision to come here. It has definitely been a busy year, but not overwhelming that you have no time for anything else...so don't let some of the other articles out there about accelerated programs scare you. The link earlier in this thread gives a pretty good idea of the flow of the year so if you haven't already, check that out. The summer is the worst to get through (so far), because it is so theory heavy --- which is necessary before you start doing your clinicals in the hospital, just mentally taxing, especially when it is so nice outside! On the bright side, you will spend so much time with your class this summer and basically have the run of the SON that you'll all become super close. Fall has still been busy, but being in the hospitals is way better than being in a classroom all week. You're schedule here is really dependent on when your clinical instructors are available and/or the hospitals have availability for you to be on the floor. This semester I've done both 6 and 12 hour shifts on weekdays and a few Saturdays. Of course you still have class time as well - but not every day 8 to 4 like in the summer. Whew... this got a little longer than the quick response I was initially planning -- I've got to get back to the books. Let me know if you have any specific questions, and congratulations, again!

Hi Kenz13! Glad you'll be joining us in May - I'll look forward to meeting you then. The orientation was really just an overview of what to expect and a good chance to meet people. So in that regard it is a bummer you didn't know your plans at the time so you could participate, but it's not like you are missing absolute imperative information. If you have any specific questions let us know and hopefully one of us will be able to answer them. They did give us a folder with a lot of information - student advice, equipment, book lists for summer, schedule, etc. I would assume if you emailed Scott he'd be able to send that information to you electronically for you to review. There was also a lot of talk about financial aid - big take away, if you are planning on doing FASFA you should complete for both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 (SLU school code is 002506). If you have specific questions about your package they seemed really friendly and willing to help so I'd just give them a call. As far as the schedule goes it definitely is accelerated, but I guess we all knew what we were getting in to -more or less! =) With the exception of the first week of the summer session, we'll have a test every week - and usually it was like 2 or 3.... We do follow the normal academic calendar for SLU, which you can find on their website, so we will have a break between summer and fall sessions, fall break, holidays, etc. I'm sure they will be very welcomed! As far as people looking for a roommate I know they had a list of emails going at orientation. I believe they were going to email that info out to interested people after orientation and they could really coordinate from there. Again, I'm sure if you contact Scott he could get that list to you so you could contact people. There were several interested individuals, so hopefully that will work out for you. I know I actually found my roommate via email originally provided by Scott back in Feb. so it can work. If you have other specific questions, let us know. Again, look forward to meeting you in May!

My orientation is this weekend. I can't wait!

See you this week at orientation - I can't wait to meet everyone!

Also, I am having the exams for this class proctored by my local university so I don't have to physically be there. I would think most online courses would allow you to do this ad long as it is at a reputable site. All the colleges/universities in my area offer this service free or for a small fee, as do many libraries.

EmmKay: Sorry for the delay in responding. I did have to go through the whole admissions process, but the school was great to work with and super fast. If it helps, I also needed microbiology online. I took it from Delgado Community College (http://www.dcc.edu) in Louisiana. I'm not sure if they have a lab or not. If I remember correctly they do, but my school didn't require the one as a prerequisite, so I'm not sure about that. If this course doesn't work for you try a Google search for one that will. That's how I found both if my courses at smaller community colleges. Good luck!

@EmmKay Everything is online, including the lab. The course does have proctored exams, but you don't necessarily need to take them on campus (I didn't).

I took A&P I online with a lab through eastern iowa community colleges (http://www.eicc.edu) and am taking A&P II through them this semester. They have requirement of biology in college or biology and chemistry in high school within the last five years. I know personally, I had taken AP Biology in high school and received college credit 7 years ago, but they worked with me to override the prerequisite of 5 years after I shared that and my grades in some other science prerequisites. If you are going this route, I would recommend contacting schools you are looking at and make sure this will fulfill the requirements. I know I didn't have any issues with schools I looked at, but every school is different. I think it is a good practice to get into - I doubled checked every course I took for a prerequisite just to be safe.

Hey! Glad to hear from a few others who will be starting at SLU - I'll be excited to meet you all in person. Is everyone planning on going to the orientation? I can't wait to get there and hear a little more about what we are in store for the next 12 months! Also, I won't be able to offer a ton of advice about housing as I'm from out of state, but I was down there a couple weeks ago to look at places and really liked the CWE - for what it's worth. Good luck to everyone with their housing search.

Cerriwin - Thanks for your input. Right now I am looking at the CWE for housing. It seems pricy, but has some amenities being new to the city that I think are a good fit for me right now. I love your advice about buying. I currently own my own place and like that it is an investment every month rather than money out the door, but beyond being at SLU through next May, I really don't know where I'll end up so I'm hesitant to buy. Goegraphy - I haven't heard of any formal programs in place for connecting accelerated students or coordinating living. I know for me, having a roommate is one option that I'm looking into. I actually contacted my admissions counselor and he provided me with the names of some other students who had reached out to him asking similar questions. Right now I'm speaking with one other girl who will be starting the program in May as well and we're looking at possibly living together - or at least in the same neighborhood if we can't find a 2 bedroom apartment we both like. SLU has an orientation for incoming absn students in March where I think in the past students have been able to connect prior to starting classes as well.

"When you believe in magic and miracles...." I have recently decided I want to go back to school to become a pediatric nurse and this post reminds me why I am dropping everything in my life to pursue that goal. Thank you for your passion and insight into the profession.

I'm super excited to start as well and can't wait to meet everyone! I graduated in 2009 with bachelors in Marketing and Management. After working a couple years in non-profit associated with a hospital I realized I wanted to work closer with the patients on a day to day basis. Right now I really thinking I'd like to work with oncology patients or in palliative care, but who knows what I'll be thinking after clinicals. What about everyone else? I'm also taking A&P II and Microbiology during the upcoming semester. I figure it will be a nice warm up act for when I get to SLU. From the thread (which I have read, but thanks Lauren for sharing in case others haven't) it sounds like the summer session is a little theory heavy, but I can't wait. It will be a lot of work, but definitely worth it - it's great to hear employers like a SLU degree. I'm also starting to look at housing options. Does anyone from the St. Louis area have suggestions for good neighborhoods to check into? I'm from Iowa and have only been to the city a couple times so I've mainly been going from what I read online. Any personal insights would be great. Thanks.