tenyearsgone

I had two HR interviews, both with some interesting and tough questions. They said I did really well, had my third with a floor manager at health park, interviewed for like an hour plus, good feedback, no offer. All I can say is be prepared for a lot of tell me a time/scenario questions and emphasize teamwork. Draw your answers from any experiences whether they're clinical or not. I had another interview offer from them but HR blew me off for two months before that and I wasn't happy with them. I think they have hordes of experienced and new grad nurses applying. So, I took a job at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and couldn't be happier/more impressed.

Are you a BSN? Get your license and apply to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. They're magnet and always looking for BSNs.

If you're set on living in Atlanta then Emory would be a fine choice. If you do well in school they seem to do a good job of placing people within their system/new grad programs. There are plenty of hospitals to choose from outside of Emory too. They're a pretty big name in the southeast so if you went to a masters program you might get a couple of nods for recognition or it'd probably be easier to get into their program if you graduated in good standing with them. But it all comes at an expensive price. Honestly though, you can get a nursing job anywhere with a degree from any program. People were impressed with my degree but it didn't help land a job out of state. What really helped was persistence and a lot of luck. Wherever you decide to go, make sure you build a lot of connections and when you find a place you want to work, express that desire and follow through. If you're still dead set on Emory/Atlanta, I'd suggest knocking your prereqs out at CC, double check with Emory that you've got them all, and then transfer directly into the nursing school. I don't know if admissions has changed in the last few years but it seemed like it was pretty easy to get into the nursing program versus 4 years and CC's in the area bc not many people are willing to pay 20k a semester. It's more of a risk this way but I don't think you need the undergrad to get into their program. The rest of the school hardly even knows there is a nursing program and last I checked only like 10-15 students each year from the undergrad go into the program (classes size is around 100).

I'll be making about 22 per hour as a new grad. Not sure how good that is compared to other areas in Florida or other states but from reading these forums I always anticipated Florida pay rates to be pretty low.

I think a lot of nurses who move to Florida usually take a significant cut in pay (and the justification is it's much cheaper to live here). Also, new grad rates on my side of Florida look more like 20-21 per hour.