Flyonn

Hey everyone, figured I'd introduce myself as I am applying this year too. I work at a Lvl 1 trauma center in the CTICU and have been there (only nursing job) for 2.5 years. I have my CCRN, 3.9 nursing school GPA, 321 GRE (160M, 161V, 4.0 writing). All that sounds pretty solid I think, but my big issue is that my original GPA from my first bachelors degree (I'm 36yo) was a 2.25 (had to throw in that extra 0.05). I'm hoping admissions will overlook my earlier grades, since I've mainly gotten A's since deciding on nursing, but we shall see. Good luck to everyone!

Hey ckh, I graduated the program in December 2014 and have been working in a level 1 CTICU since. I (and a few other former graduates) have answered loads of questions from prior threads so make sure to give those all a read. If you have more questions please feel free to ask and I'll try my best at answering. Good luck with the application process.

I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone out there was wondering (like I did) on the Q-Review scores, I had 77 (of 125), 77, 88, 85, 89, 78 and passed the nclex with 75 questions. Just thought I'd share for those of you stressing about "are my scores high enough?"

During the interview process they said it was 18 while a GN and intern, 20 when an RN and intern, and 24.90 when out of internship. However, I spoke to someone in HR and they said that starting January 2015 everyone will be at 24.90, regardless of status. So we will see I guess. The HR person said to expect a written offer in 2-3 weeks.

Hey itrust, I was looking through some of your older posts and am I correct that you are from NJ? I was born and raised in Montville (near Morristown) and lived there until I moved to Temple four years ago.

I'm gonna be in the CTICU, btw. What about you?

Hey itrust, I take it from your last post that you got a spot? If that's the case then first off, congrats and secondly, we'll be interns together. I've been living in Temple for almost four years now so if you need any suggestions for housing let me know. Where are you from? Are you a new grad? I just finished my BSN program yesterday and am really excited to start at S&W, it's a great hospital.

Sorry, msg88, I thought I had this bookmarked to email me whenever there was a response, I guess not. The meet and greet was last Friday. Basically there were booths set up for each department and some of the nursing managers were answering questions, giving tours, etc. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, hopefully you found information about it through another source. Did you apply to the internship? Have you heard anything? If so, what department?

Hey allnurses, just wondering if anyone has applied to the Scott and White internships starting in January/February of 2015. Is anyone planning on attending the meet and greet this upcoming Friday?

Congrats SicEm, thats great news! We should try to get our two classes together at some point and we can give you all (can't say yall, I'm from the northeast) the lowdown on what to expect. Priddy, SallieMae offered me 2.25% with a .25% reduction for paying via autodebit...my credit score is around 820 and its an adjustable rate, but since I plan on paying it off within 2 years, I don't think rates will rise that much.

Lele, I (and I think all my classmates) took out loans for school. I think the total program cost is about 23,000 give or take. I personally took out about 40k in loans, but that's cause I used a bunch of loan money for house stuff (can't get a 2% loan anywhere else). I can't tell you for sure how much we spent in books but I'd guess in the 200-300 per semester range. I only bought two scrub tops and bottoms, but I know people bought more. The program also "requires" you to buy a white coat, but honestly, we have worn it ZERO times, so if I were you, I wouldn't buy one. Hmm, in terms of supplies you will need a stethoscope (my wife is a PA so I already had one) and I think those can range from 75-200. Plenty of people had the cheap ones. Other than that maybe a penlight and books, pens, etc. Oh, you will need to buy a medication app for your phone which costs around $125, but to be honest, if you can figure out a way around having to get it, then I'd do that because we almost never use it.

Hey Cinders, I think Kaseyroo address this in an earlier post, probably within the first 10 pgs of the threat, but I'll give it a shot. Clearly this will apply to Dallas and may be slightly different for Austin, but should be close. While I'm thinking of it, one difference between Dallas and Austin is that Dallas only requires morning shifts (7a-7p) while Austin students may have to do night shifts. So to start, yes, the first three weeks you will be doing "Bootcamp" a two credit class where you will spend 5 days a week in a simulation lab learning the basics of nursing like IV's, foleys, suctioning, wound care, etc. Once bootcamp is over, it's difficult to say exactly how many days a week you will be away from home. It really depends on whats going on that week. For example, this week and next I will only be gone one day each week because of scheduling issues with my wife. However, the following week I will be away 5 days due to clinical, tests, sim lab, etc. If I had to pick an average, it's probably 2-3 days a week. Specialty rotations require 45 hours of clinical rotations. It usually amounts to 3, 13 hr shifts and then some hours thrown in for orientation to the unit, sim lab, etc. They usually give you a week to complete these hours, sometimes 10 days. In a nutshell, you are required to do 225 hours of clinicals on your "normal" floor each semester and then whatever specialty clinics you have that semester. Due to the fact that summer semester is much shorter than fall or spring, you have to pack the same amount of hours into a shorter semester and thus will be away from home more each week. Sorry if this post is a jumbled mess, its hard with two sick kids running around. Good luck

Congrats to everyone that got accepted, you should feel really proud as it's a difficult program to get accepted into. For everyone else, keep your head up, try to improve on your weak areas and reapply next year. I know of a few people that didn't get accepted their first try, so it can be done! On another note, when you guys get your book list, if anyone wants to buy my books, they will be for sale...I'll beat whatever price Amazon is selling them...just send me a PM.

They are accepting 15 for Dallas this year. Good luck everyone!

Hey lele, If I may jump in, interviews are for 3 days, so 27, 28, and 29. As for your Teas, it will be a bit on the low side, but I don't think it will take you out of contention. If memory serves from last year, I think the lowest they will consider is a 70 and a competitive score is around an 80. I know of a few people in my cohort that got in the 70's so I think as long as you have other strong points you will do fine. Take me for example, I had one of the lower gpa's (around 3.2, maybe the lowest in my cohort), but one of the higher Teas (around 94). So I think the key is that if you have weak spots, try to stress your strong points. Hope that helps.