sarasays

Anyone want to report back on how things are going so far this school year? I deferred my admission until next fall, but I'm not certain yet what my plans are. I'd love to here how you all like the program though!

Hey Kris, I was also accepted to the Grad Entry Program for Fall 2013. I don't think I'll be attending, but I was very excited about the program and looked EVERYWHERE online for more information... and found nothing! I definitely sympathize. Where are all the current students?

I think you have great chances. I'm actually considering the opposite switch (was just accepted to entry level MS programs; now thinking about applying to DO/MD school instead.. ack!) so I can understand where you're coming from. Don't let your GPA stop you, these programs should be much less competitive than medical schools, especially considering many of the classes your poor grades are in aren't even required for nursing (i.e. physics!). From my experience applying to these programs, they seemed interested in my application as a whole package. Your one year of healthcare experience will still exceed that of many applicants (some who apply with only volunteer hours, which suffices in many cases). I think it is really critical to be able to pinpoint why you want to go into healthcare, AND why you've chosen nursing. The first half of that should carry over directly from your DO application. For the second part, I would suggest some shadowing with a nurse practitioner (as you said you're interested in the DNP... if you're just interested in shadowing a RN, then I'm sure you could set that up). This shows an interest in nursing, and furthermore an understanding of the field. Consider doing some shadowing at a MinuteClinic or something similar if you're interested in family practice. Additionally, if you can't manage to shadow for whatever reason, seeking your own personal care from a nurse practitioner instead of a physician can also serve to further educate you about the profession and show the schools that you really "get" what you're signing up for and how it differs from medicine. I actually talked about receiving care from a nurse midwife in one of my interviews, and it led to an interesting, positive conversation. I hope this is helpful! Good luck to you :) I'm also in Illinois/applied to many of the schools here, so if you have any questions about specific schools I may be able to help.

I "liked" the UIC GEP 2014 page that was set up by the UIC CON facebook account, but there are only 5 people who have liked it (maybe it was you guys!), and there hasn't been anything posted on it yet.

@hopeful, I noticed that, too. I kinda think we should start one anyway, and if the person who works at UIC wants to be added as an administrator later I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue!

I think in order to make a group, you have to be friends with people you're going to add to it at the time you make it...

Rain, at Rush you earn an MSN upon completion of the program, and are eligible to sit for both the CNL exam and the NCLEX.

The person who sent out the email was the same as the person who notified us about interviews, at least for ACNP, if that helps! The "from" line should say her name, not UIC or anything. I hope you hear soon :)

Yes, we were notified by email. Check your spam?

Accepted for ACNP. Katherine, are you certain that you're going to enroll? I'm still weighing my options! For those considering DePaul, I submitted an app for Jan 2014 and haven't heard back yet (my letters of rec are still pending), but I recently went to an info session at Rosalind Franklin, where they'll be offering a cohort (in addition to the one at Lincoln Park) and I was pretty impressed with their program. There's definitely hope yet.

Come on, rain! The suspense is killing me!! I guess I can only hope that we hear back in the next few days so that you'll tell us...

I'm also young (22), but remember that some older applicants may also have just recently taken the science pre-reqs while transitioning from another career! In some ways I feel less prepared than older applicants, who might have more "life experience" to bring to the table, but then of course us younger applicants bring with us different traits and strengths.

@atanas, I interviewed for adult-gero acute care but was in the same situation; there were supposed to be 3 of us but one applicant didn't show up! The lobby did seem like a very busy place though.

Good luck to everyone interviewing tomorrow! I'm so nervous and excited!

@elaurance, the adult-gero acute care interview sign up was pooled with the adult-gero primary care sign up, so I imagine there's roughly half of each (but obviously there could be more acute/more primary, no way to know!). And since it's small group interviews, I guess two timeslots seems kind of reasonable? @rain, The email we received for acute/primary care interviews said "No other interview dates or times will be available and final decisions will be made that week." Meaning the week of April 22nd.