TiredKitten

I'm with the people saying look at the hospitals in your local area. In my state, diploma and associate nurses have no problem getting hired, even to specialties like OR, NICU, and ICU. The hospitals all have new grad orientation programs. Several of the larger hospitals will pay for you to complete the BSN classes if you don't have it. For those of us that did ASN then BSN online, most of universities here require 8-10 BSN nursing classes ranging like nursing Econ, ethics, community health, research, and leadership classes. The straight BSN programs here are mostly set up so you take all the non nursing classes the first two years and then all the ASN and BSN classes the second two years. So a lot of students in my area do the two ASN programs first so they can start working a year earlier than the BSN students.

I had problems with Pearson Vue not being able to email me my ATT. After multiple attempts with 3 different emails, they finally just mailed me a hard copy. By the time I got that, a month had gone by and my classmates had long received their ATT and some had already taken the test. I took mine the first week in August after graduating in May because of the delays. Sometimes people will change their time slot for various reasons, like wanting more time to study, getting sick, etc. You can try checking periodically to see if anything opens up. I did that a few times, but the only slots that opened up were the next day so I just kept my August slot. I don't know how true it is that if you wait you have a higher chance of failing. The few people in my class two years ago that failed were the ones that took it right after getting their ATT. As for SATA, I really struggled with those in school until one of my instructors said to think of each option as a true/false. Once I started thinking like that, I started getting most right. I didn't use Uworld, but there is a thread on here where people were posting their Uworld percentage and how many questions they had on the NCLEX. Most seemed to be posting that they had scores around 50-60% and passed NCLEX with the 75 or a little more. So if you are getting 92%, you are doing great.

Hopefulkim99, your mailbox is full.

Flfuturern, how many of the prerequisite classes do you have finished? The more classes you have when you apply, the higher on the list you will be.

Like I said, the only prereq they require finished before starting is A & P 1. They will look to see which classes of the 9 prereqs you have done. They use a point system that assigns so many points for each A, B, and C, and that's multiplied by the number of credits for that class. So the more classes you have finished, the higher your points. Everyone is ranked by those numbers. If more than one person has the same number of points, they use the total GPA to rank within that point number. So if someone has 48 points but only a 2.7 GPA and someone else has 45 points but a 3.3, the person with more points and lower gpa would be ranked higher. If more than one person had 48 points, they would use the GPA to rank everyone within that number. At least that is how they explained it to us. The school has a tuition estimator if you plug in the type of classes you are taking. It tells you the base tuition plus all the fees. Most semesters I only took the 2 nursing classes (8 credit hours total) since I already had most of the prereqs done by the time I started. I paid some semesters myself and was charged between 2300-2600 once they added all the various fees in. I took the fundamental chemistry and micro classes in the summer and those cost me 1100 each. The intro nursing class that first summer was a 3 hour class that was 800. The school has an estimate of the cost of the nursing books and other stuff for the two years. But expect at least 100 each class. Plus anywhere from 30-60 for clinical sim fees that are paid at the bookstore each semester. Then you have to buy at least one school uniform, get your CPR for Health, and Hep B shots if you don't have them. I paid instate tuition. Out of state will be more. But if you are over 23 and live here 6 months before school starts, you'll get instate tuition. If you wait until you start school to move, you can apply for reclassification once you have lived here 6 months. You just have to do stuff like change drivers license, have your own apartment, and show you plan on staying here after graduation. So you'd only pay out of state for a semester unless they deny the request. Like I said, Arkansas is pretty affordable in terms of living. We were listed in the 6 least expensive places to live on the recent Allnurses survey. Its nickname is the natural state, very scenic with a lot of outdoor things if you like that stuff. Like hiking/climbing mountains, kayaking the Buffalo National River, tons of cave systems like Blanchard Springs Caverns, Hot Springs and its famous bath houses, Crater of Diamond that is the only public mine you can go dig for diamonds and other gems and keep what you find. If you google it, you will see pages of stuff to do.

Jaycam is right. It depends on the school and state for both nursing and being a doctor. In my state, there is only 1 medical school that graduated MDs and their minimum GPA is 2.7. Before I applied to nursing a few years ago, the head of my biology department asked me to think about medical school even though my GPA at the time was just under a 3.0. He said my state is divided into several sections, and is required to accept so many applicants from each of those areas plus so many they can fill from any area. They also give extra weight to females and other minorities, especially if they are planning to practice in one of the areas with a severe shortage. For nursing, it depends on how many applicants the school gets. Someplace like California or other high population areas are going to be harder to get in just because they may have more applicants with great GPAs. My low population state doesn't have as much competition. My program requires a 2.6 GPA with no admission test. They rank the applicants using a point system based on how many of the 9 prereqs are done. Once they get that point score, they use the overall GPA to rank the people with the same point score. With this system, its very possible to get accepted with the minimum GPA and most of the classes finished over someone with a higher GPA but less prereqs finished. And my school must not be too bad. State board shows over 90% of my graduating class two years ago passed the NCLEX on the first try.

Take it online if you do well in online classes. I took a 4 credit hour micro class and lab online and it was so much easier to manage with kids. Most of the people I know recommended online because they thought it was easier than the campus class. I do know our campus class you actually did the lab experiments, but the online version you just read about the experiment and took a quiz.

Hi Hopefulkim99. If you have a prior degree, you probably already have several of the 9 classes required for graduation with associate. And most of the non nursing BSN classes. The only class required to be finished when you start the intro to nursing class is the first anatomy/phys 1. All others can be taken with the nursing classes. I graduated associate two years ago and had about half finished when I applied, but several classmates got in with only the single anatomy finished. Every year is a little different since the makeup of the class changes. Some years most students had all or almost all finished. Other years like mine saw a bunch of students with only the first anatomy finished. UALR does not do a traditional 4 year BSN. Every nursing student is admitted first as an associate degree, and as soon as you graduate in 18 or 24 months with that (which lets you sit for NCLEX to get your RN), you can change to BSN to finish out while you start working or take time off before finishing. BSN is done strictly online over a year or two depending on full or part time status. The associate is either 18 months or 24 months. Both tracks start out together and take an intro to nursing class that first summer plus the fall and spring. The 18 month track then splits off and takes the remain 2 semesters in the summer and fall to graduate that December. The regular track has the summer off and finishes the last two semesters in fall and spring to graduate in May. A lot of us in the traditional track used that summer off to finish the harder classes like chemistry and micro. They offer most of the classes like micro online for nursing students. So be sure to ask for those of you need. UALR doesn't have an admission test. It's just based on GPA and the number of pre reqs finished. GPA needs to be at least a 2.6. Mine was somewhere around a 2.7-2.8 with my 3 years worth of classes for another degree I was switching from. There were people with lower numbers accepted. Makes me thankful that I don't live on either coast where people are saying they had perfect/near perfect GPAs and still wait listed. Arkansas is very affordable for living. You'll easily be able to get a nice apartment in the 400-600 a month range. Cheaper if you go out to the not so nice areas of town. If you go out to the ritzy west Little Rock area, you'll pay a little more. I had several classmates that didn't work and was able to live just on student loans for those two years. And a bunch more that just worked 15-20 hours. A ton of my classmates were from other states not close to here. I'm from 12 hours away myself. But I like it here. Between school and people I've met through my kids, I think I know more people from other states than born here. So if you do come, you will have plenty of new people in the same boat.

I would report it. Don't we as nurses have the responsibility of reporting things? If it was a fellow nurse and her patient, would you hesitate reporting? I would have a problem using a case worker that showed such horrible ethical breach of morals and professionalism. If she is willing to ignore and trample the professional line for that, what else is she willing to do? I second the thought have having your divorce attorney report it for you if you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself.

So what did they say about the watch phones like apple phone?

I'd be looking for another job with better benefits. I've never heard of a nursing job with so few time offs. The place I'm at now you accrue 8 hours of vacation and 8 hours of sick time a month. After you've been there 3 years, each one goes up to 10 hours. Plus you accrue 12 holidays a year that you take when you want. At my previous job, I worked a set Friday-Sunday 13 hours and 20 minute shifts. Everything was the same except my 12 holidays were a day for a day. So I only worked 12 days a month on my schedule. And could take a full month off just on the 12 days of holiday time. Then my vacation time added another couple of weeks. And that left sick time for the rare times I was sick. Even my friend that works for one of the Catholic owned hospitals with campuses across the US said they get over 12 PTO hours a month. The local Baptist own mega hospital with campuses across the nation gives 15 hours a month (200 a year). So there are lots of options for good pto benefits. Plus they both get holidays in addition.

I've heard other states have long wait lists. Some of the schools here might have you on the wait list for a year if you don't get in the first year. But some have no wait list and take everyone that applies. A poster on another thread just mentioned yesterday that she chose to enroll in SEARK because they had no wait list. That's a small 2 year community college with an associate RN program located in the same town with a big university nursing program. So there are plenty of options for cheap schools located in cheap areas to live if you really want it. I went to a university an hour away from that one, and a lot of my classmates lived on their student aid or only worked 10-20 hours a week because the tuition and room/board are pretty cheap compared to other areas.

I had to take a sophomore level or higher stat class for my ASN. Most program around my area require it at the associate level. If you didn't have it when you do a bridge program, you'd be required to get it at that time. I'd check out the BSN program you are interested in and see what it requires. If it's only one class and you don't have to have it for any program, I'd be tempted to get it just to get to list another degree. It might give you an extra edge if you live in a competitive market.

I was originally wait listed the year I applied (2012) as were a lot of others. I and others got a phone call the last week of June saying we were in the class that started July 5. There were 59 of us in that class. So until the class starts, don't give up yet.

If you are willing to relocate to NV for cheaper living, consider something in a southern state or western part of the Midwest. Like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.. Those states may not have as much competition to get into a nursing program as one in a high density populated area. Plus the cost of living is way lower. I went to my local university program, which is either 2 years or 18 months depending on if you did the traditional route with summer off or plowed through. I payed around 2300-2600 a semester. Clinical fees (50-100 a semester), and books/uniforms increased the price, but nowhere near $87,000. My total for ASN was less than $10,000 and I paid another $7,000 for the optional online bridge program for ASN/RN to BSN.