anonymouse

:DBaptist Health South Florida. http://www.baptisthealth.net I went thru the scholars program and it was ok. The good part about the scholars program is that you already have a foot in the door at the hospital and it may make it easier to land the position that you want. If you are looking for exposure to the sickest patients and a huge variety then I would definitely go with Jackson. One day there is equivelant to a few months at a BHSF facility! Jackson pays better than Baptist I believe. It is up to you and what you are looking for. Baptist is building a huge new ED and they are hiring a lot of nurses. The training is crazy and overwhelming, but if you can cut it, they will take you. They do hire new grads in the ED as well as ICU, but you have to go thru a lot of training and you have to have a high GPA from nursing school before they will consider you for ICU training. good luck

Im trying to decide between NICU and OR and L&D.

OHMYGARSH!!!!! I've just blown about an hour reading all these posts thinking I was going to get a good idea of salary ranges. Much to my bored delight, I was entertained by the foolishness of some and the graciousness of others. What I havent been able to understand is the argument of posters who state that it is poor manners to ask others what their salary is. Yes, this may be true if you are asking your neighbor, accountant, friend, etc. But this is an online nursing forum that is soley for discussing different topics regarding the nursing profession. If you are curious about a nurse's salary, you dont ask her while standing in line at the grocery store! You come to websites like this one and post your question/survey! That is what the OP did, for Pete's sake! If you are embarrassed or if you think we will figure out who you are, just answer anonymouse-ly! heehee---grammatically incorrect!!!:trout: If it offends you, then you can go on to the next thread! And why were you looking at this thread in the first place??? Ah ha!! Caught you!!! You wanted to see the answers didnt you!?!?$!?!$ $$$ Would that be considered poor manners??!! $$$ I think that these types of surveys are completely valid for this type of website. It offers the chance to get a peek of what's going on around the country. I didnt find salary.com to be close to what salaries are in my area. Btw, I'm still a RN student so my income is negative $5000 to negative $10,000 annually at this point. So, Im glad I was able to get that off of my chest and add some spice to this uh, entertaining and sometimes informative thread. Speaking of chests - It is definitely poor manners to discuss the size of them!!!! Peace PS I love this site. Thanks to all of you who share your knowledge here.

Thanks again for your support. I can see that there are definitely 2 schools of thought going on!! (what an understatement!) I should hear from my school by 6-15. Im thinking I will be completely excited if Im accepted. Hey there is always that chance I wont be. Im glad Im not alone. Thanks for sharing your positive thoughts with me. :icon_hug: Although I dont post a lot on this forum, I do lurk quite a bit and have gained a lot of insight from reading here. [EVIL]And to Nurse Ratchett-- [/EVIL] I sure hope I dont ever have you at my bedside when I get that new spine replacement surgery!

I have a mixture of feelings: So excited that I finally finished the pre reqs and that I did so well. Happy to be at home for the summer with my kids taking it easy. But dreading the thought of the stress of full time school in the fall. Maybe it's just the summertime blues. My husband started his own business and things are going really well for us. I will be able to count on him and others if I need to (carpooling with neighbors, cooking, etc.) As far as having a "calling" for nursing-- I cant say I ever had that. I do know that working for a surgeon for 15 years was the most satisfying job I have ever had. Caring for people, helping people, going the extra mile for the patient and their family was something-that 'spiritual thing' that helped me make the decision to pursue nursing. I always wanted to learn more, and I had a lot of OJT with a very encouraging and enthusiastic boss/doctor. He is gone now, but he was certainly an inspiration to me. When I think of all of the patients and their families that I met through the years and how we were able to help so many of them, I get a 2nd wind. It was only possible for me to pursue school again last year. At first I didnt know if I wanted to be an RN or if I wanted some other allied health position. But after much research - both inside and out - I decided on the RN. It is something that I know I will be able to do. But I guess I am having 2nd thoughts/cold feet/feeling lazy and dissappointed in myself that Im not more excited at the thought of finally being ready to start "the program" When I say -- I cant turn back now-- that is something that I have placed on myself. Im not a quitter and I always tell my kids that they cant be quitters. Make a decision- and stick with it, sometimes you may need to change your plans- but you cant turn back, you cant quit. I have also thought about the student whose place I would be taking. The gung ho student that was born with the "calling" and would give anything to have a seat in the fall nursing term, but didnt study like I did and didnt make the dean's list--am I taking his/her spot? Well, Ive thought about this and Im thinking: No. I busted my butt, if I get accepted, Im going. With a bit of fear and trepidation and, Im sure, excitement. Im hopeful that my feelings of 2nd thoughts will recede and I will conquer nursing school and beyond. But for now, I do have feelings of self doubt. It was nice to read all of your different opinions. And it is also nice to know that Im not the only one with mixed emotions.

I finished my prereqs and applied for the ADN program starting in the fall. I had a great GPA and Im pretty sure I will be accepted--acceptance is based soley on GPA. The thing is, Im not looking forward to it. It is probably a combination of things going on in my life, but I am actually kind of bummed at the thought of starting the program and all the demands that go along with it. Im a mother of two - one in high school and one in elementary, my kids are very proud of their mom, and my husband is super supportive. I havent told anyone how Im feeling. I cant turn back now. Is this normal? Will I be making a mistake if continue on this path to nursing? I havent seen this addressed on this forum so Im really interested to see what others have felt. Thanks

Hi Yuca799, I read your post and wondered if you have heard from MDC if you were accepted. I have another semester of pre reqs and will apply for fall '06. My GPA is 3.85 and Im hoping to keep it up there so I can get in and get in the Baptist Scholars program. Anyway, hope you made it. Let us know. And if anyone else has information to add that would be awesome.

:smackingf Sheesh! This is ridiculous! Katrina plowed thru here on her way to the gulfcoast a couple of weeks ago and left the place a mess! Flooded our garage and couple of bedrooms--about 5 inches of water. Last year it was the same thing- one after another- Not to mention that the eye of a little hurricane named Andrew passed directly over our house some 13 yrs ago... Enough already!!!! I think we should just put the storm shutters up and leave them on till Christmas!!!!!!!! It is like a zoo around here---Miami-- Publix parking lots are crammed and gas stations lines are incredible! I bought a box of cookies and Im just going to eat them- that is my hurricane prep this time.

I would talk to your realtor or real estate attorney. Do your walk thru and closing. Have $5000 held in escrow and charge the seller daily rent until they get their crap out and the house cleaned. Believe me, they will have the house cleaned very fast. If your realtor isnt hip to this and you dont have a real estate attorney--get one! They usually dont charge more than $500. and they will really look out for you. good luck and let us know what happens

Native Miami girl here going to MDC

Im a native and Ive seen incredible changes in the landscape and demographics of this county- some good some bad. Baptist Hospital of Miami is building a beautiful state of the art hospital in Homestead. It is about 30 miles south of Miami. Baptist has a number of hospitals in Miami and they are a great company to work for. Their website is baptisthealth.net-- you can check out the job listings and see the different hospitals. Homestead might still have some affordable housing-but dont wait too long. There is a huge building boom going on there right now. A neat thing about Homestead is you can hop in your car and drive south and be in Key Largo in less than 30 minutes and you feel like you are on vacation. Or you can hop in your car and drive north and be on South Beach or Ft lauderdale in 45 minutes. Since you are young and single that may be very important to you, but I dont do South Beach, I can't handle paying $12 for a drink! Anyway, the hispanic population is most probably the majority here. We have south americans, central americans, people from the islands- you name it we are a huge melting pot of every color of the rainbow. I speak very little spanish and I actually feel somewhat handicapped by not knowing the language. Next semester im going to start spanish class. So that should be interesting for this gringa :imbar . I live in Pinecrest which has become a very affluent area. If you own a 3 bed 2 bath home that was built 30 yrs ago,on a half acre. You could probably sell it for $600,000 - $700,000 and the new owner would demolish the house and build a 12,000 sq. ft castle. We were lucky that we bought our house 6 yrs ago before the market went crazy. We joke that we could make so much money off our house but that we wouldnt be able to afford anything with the money we'd make. If I could pick anywhere to live in the south florida area, I would probably go a bit north of here- ft lauderdale, delray, wpb, jupiter, mainly because I feel like a minority here. I didnt always feel this way of course but times have changed. And because it seems dade county is just growing out of control. But my family is here and my roots are here so here is where I will stay.. :) Good luck to you I hope you find all you are looking for