NurseCrespoEm

I heard that I was accepted into the UMD Spring CNL program at 9:38am and let me tell you Nicole Willhide's voice was the sweetest sound! Congratulations to those who already heard the good news. This will be something exciting to share with family at Thanksgiving. Right? Yay!!

Wildflower13-I was NOT the one with a deferred admission to Spring 2014 already. I was just reading your background and I wanted to share with you that I, too, was a Philosophy major. I focused on non-western political science theory from the middle east in the medieval period. I went to St. John's for 2.5 years in Annapolis, and then graduated from UMD College Park. I had the desire to study old Arabic morificecripts in Beirut. I even met the woman who I wanted to work with at St. Josef's in Beirut through graduate classes I took at UMD with the main translator of both Rousseau and Averroes. I minored in Arabic in the same year they developed the Arabic minor there, 2008. And after travelling to Egypt in 2009 and studying there, I was doing painstaking translations of handwritten Arabic with a colleague right after graduation. I was on this entirely academic career track...But I was always an L.M.T. doing massage work to get through school, and my main fascination has always been health care. I have been a therapist for almost 10 years. So.....After much thought, I decided that would like to be a nurse now. Its pretty simple. I like working with people and listening to them and I like analyzing health problems as well as running around taking care of everything. So...That's me. I've got a family at 35. I don't want any more kids either. I just want to be a kick-ass nurse and step up my caring career a notch. I figure there will be plenty of work in the middle east in health care in the coming years and Arabic will be useful as well as having a cultural competency there. But I imagine you have a lot of experiences that I don't already since you've worked in radiology and in the patient-care system. I've tried to get some more health-care experience by volunteering at Shepherd's clinic as an L.M.T. working with patients coming in without insurance. I think I'll adapt well to a hospital environment, however, because I like institutions and rules, but your work has prepared you for the business and logistics of a unit. I can see why you are an excellent candidate to learn nursing. I'm so used to walking in to a room with a person who needs caring touch and understanding how to treat them from a soft-tissue perspective. I think we'd be able to learn from each other as students together. Anyway, I just hope we both get accepted. -Em

Still waiting...Wildflower I have the intention of going to the financial aid office and applying for any institutional scholarships. Of course the FAFSA is required for any federal aid. I will be applying for graduate loans through the federal government. Beyond that there are a lot of scholarships out there that you can apply to once already enrolled. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has a lot of great resources including a Graduate Nursing Association that you can join that gives you access to podcasts on contemporary issues in nursing. Here is the link for scholarship resources. American Association of Colleges of Nursing | Student Scholarship Programs In the meantime did anyone else read about the camel to human virus leap? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-mers-virus-found-in-patients-pet-camel.html?_r=0

It's only the rest of your life! I am trying to be nonchalant but it is like a big pot boiling away on the back burner of my mind all the time. You know? I am excited for it all; studying, scrubs, hospitalia et al. I'm even excited to meet grumpy people who have been doing this work forever because I think they secretly wish to teach what they know and practice kindness, so I will try to help them by listening. Most of all I'm excited to make a difference to people who need understanding in the hardest moments of their lives; the infirm. I think that I already am a nurse, I just have to acquire the tools of the trade. And so here I am passing the time thinking about who I could be in time....It's going to make such a difference for my family. SO YEAH. No big deal waiting for that kind of possibility. What are you planning to apply for to pay for this program emilie290391? That's what I am focusing on right now.

I would want to be sure that you understand why you want to be in the CNL role for the interview. I was really nervous but I have read up on what I am getting into so just being myself and talking about the real reasons for applying was enough. The writing prompt is general. You will be able to write impromptu answers. It's not like they are asking you to trace a blood drop through the circulatory system or explain CPR policy changes over the years. I think I did well. Good Luck!! I wish I knew how many applicants there are this year but I have no idea. :-) You'll do fine.

Pcrown1, They emailed me with available slots and I picked my top 3.

Interview next week! Anyone else? Tips?

Hi Emilie?, You have to have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in the sciences. If you had a 'C' in chemistry but you have As in everything else then you are fine. Regarding the statement of purpose: The online statement IS the one included in the online application. Good Luck! Emily :-)

Thank you for the reminder about the necessary grades. I should do fine in these courses. I have to take Gen Chem & Principles of Human Growth and Development. I'm wondering how the interview was for you smoup? Was it a group interview for most candidates?

I think that exposure to other cultural practices either through immersion or study is another way for a health care worker to be prepared for anything. While I had the same feeling about "Cultural Competency" as many of you do; that it is basically putting forth stereotypes, I took a month long program immersion in "Cultural Competency for Health Services" in Oaxaca, Mexico while getting my B.A. and I learned so much. We visited a juvenile center, a traditional curandero, a hospital, an old folks home, an orphanage, a young women's program, churches, traditional medicine markets, clinics and more. It was interesting to say to least, to study one of the larger cities in Mexico to get a baseline for how patients with Mexican heritage would have logistically perceived a health care system. Being in Mexico City City as well, and talking with even more metropolitan adults, there are levels of modern care expected that really would not be the same as down in Oaxaca. But none of this really does tell you how much a particular Mexican Latino/Latina would like to be touched, or how Machismo really is integrated into a Latino perspective on pain. Having this experience only becomes a baseline for possible understandings being achieved more quickly between caregiver and patient. For example; in the hospital in Oaxaca it is common for the families to sleep on the floor in the patient's room for the longest time and for them to be responsible for bringing the patient food. This is a pretty big city too but the surrounding areas are extremely rural. In Mexico City, the hospitals have more modern standards of care. One might have an easier time understanding what a patient's expectations are if they are capable of considering stereotypes as possible comfort zones to look out for ahead of time. I think this is probably the best reason to have "Cultural Competency" coursework in health care education. You'd be surprised how many young people lack basic geographical knowledge, or awareness of languages, customs, and religions of the world. It's good to bring any and all these aspects of global life under the umbrella of how to best serve the diverse patients a provider might encounter. While I agree with GrnTea, and the idea that one must ask each patient, and deeply relate to the frustration that there is no way to really know what a garlic farmer in CA and those living in slums of B. Aires might have in common, it is that you are aware of these places and conditions, that makes you more able to communicate with anyone at all. And lastly, the original concern about white culture is an interesting concern but there are so many opportunities to learn about North American life here in North America. See LCD SoundSystem's song "North American Scum" to hear one perspective, or just talk to individuals everywhere around you as though you were an anthropologist. Much of what is to be learned about any people is learned by conversation and stretching your boundaries; going into people's homes and eating with them. White people really are a very diverse bunch especially, as it was said previously, across socioeconomic and geographic barriers. I love this conversation. It is important. :)

Good luck to you both rissykim and smoup :-) Pop in and let us know how your first semester as a C.N.L. student is going. I am personally looking forward to studying pathopharmacology. Right now I am tracking my application documents to make sure everything arrives. My one concern is that I still am taking two pre-requisite courses and I wonder if that really does put my application at the very bottom of the list. I'm pretty sure that they are looking for the whole package. Am I right?

I applied to the UMD CNL program for Spring 2014. I'd like to hear more from other applicants or last year's CNL program entrants. What are your main concerns about admission and what goals do you have going into nursing ? I'd appreciate your perspective pcrown1