apriljacklynn

thanks, you too! I'll be seeing you-I'm night shift, as well! :)

Xan22- My GPA upon applying was 3.574, and yes, from Houston but I live out in Katy for now.

I did too! What shift will you be working??

Thank you! Yeah, I guess I just don't want to risk making a bad name for my school/those that come after me. lol Call me old fashioned, but I plan to whole-heartedly accept whenever I do decide. I would just feel so bad/guilty if I accepted then went back on my verbal agreement. But, thank you for the suggestion. :) Fortunately, the other places have been gracious enough to give me more time to think about my options, and I'm in a position where I know I will be more happy with the other offers. Still, TCH CVICU is my #1 choice.

Oh wow, cool! I heard they have ~7 positions available for GNs on that unit. *fingers and toes crossed* I hear you on exhaustion. I ended up having another interview that same day, as well. But I'm glad to say I'm alllll done with interviews. I'm really just waiting to hear back from TCH, and I was hoping we would hear back sooner, like today or Thursday so I can decline other offers. I know the initial recruiter said all candidates will know the status of their applications by 12/12...so we'll see! Good luck!

icecream- what unit did you interview for?? I had an interview on Monday for CVICU. I am so anxious to learn my outcome!

I actually did. Odd story: so at the suggestion of a classmate, I thought I would email the recruiter and see if I was still being considered for a position. I was pretty certain I was not, so I just wanted to be sure to take my eggs out of that basket. She emailed me the same day and said I was not selected to move forward in the process. Cue crushing feelings of defeat. Anyway, a day or two later, I get a call from her asking if I was still interested for LBJ mother-baby nursery. I hadn't accepted anywhere yet so I ended up scheduling and interviewing the following week (this Mon). Not my best interview, so I'm not counting on an offer, but she got back to me! That's great to hear you got an offer at Memorial Hermann! Congrats! :)

Yeah, I don't know. So two classmates heard back for ER, one for women's services, and another for medsurg...all on Friday last week. I haven't tried to email them. I'm trying to stay calm and be optimistic that if they don't contact me, its not meant to be. I think I kinda ruined it by being straightforward in saying that I wanted NICU. IDK why I even mentioned it. -_- Kinda talked myself out of a job, it seems. Bleh. Good luck to you, though! I hope they respond to your email with good news!

One of my classmates has heard back for MedSurg; nothing for me, though.

Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, ER is a different type of vetting process....to make sure we're tough enough. haha I put critical care as my preference, but we'll see how that all pans out. Well, good luck! I'll post if I hear anything.

thank you for posting in here! I have not received any follow up yet, and neither have my classmates. Apparently, it should be by tomorrow, although my interviewers suggested midweek. I suppose we'll see tomorrow! :) What is your preference of specialty?

Awesome! I would try to move this under "Texas Nursing" to get more hits. :)

If you have no experience, you can look into Memorial Hermann Fellowship program. You have to pay to get in, and you get a small monthly stipend, but it gets you clinical experience which could land you a job there or elsewhere after your 6 months of experience. My nursing faculty have told us that hospitals don't want to hire someone who's been out of school and unemployed for >6mos because they might think you've been twiddling your thumbs/losing clinical skills/knowledge even though you might have been sincerely looking for work. :/ This program is great to be able to put some experience under your belt with a reputable hospital and a shot at a job elsewhere (or with them) after gaining clinical experience. I hope this helps! Application is open now and closes soon. :) Registered Nurse Fellowship Program

Hello, all! I am in the current 2014 cohort of this program, and I wanted to take some time to reach out to you. I apologize it is so late, but as you can imagine, this program does keep us pretty busy. I will try to succinctly answer each of the questions you have posted. @Angie:RN: - I believe the school looks for a minimum of 75% cumulatively on the TEAS. A decent score would be >80%, I'd say. - The program is SUPER fast paced. A body system per week fast. Altogether, you're looking at around 20+ chapters of readings per week between all coursework. The first semester is the toughest, as they frontload a lot of the readings toward the beginning of the semester and *sort of* ease up. You can't really read every single thing, but you do your best with the time you have. You must learn to be efficient with your time. - Yes, teachers teach. That being said, this is a very self-driven program. They typically hone in on key points to really understand in class, but they expect you to have read before class so they are doing an actual review and not teaching it all. You have to put in the effort to understand on your own free time. So, yes, you're on your own and they give you which chapters/sections to have read/reviewed. HOWEVER, they are ALWAYS accessible to you via office hours if you are confused or need further clarification or guidance. DON'T be lazy though. You need to show that you have tried to understand/sought the answers in the text, at least. They want to see you take the initiative. If you are completely lost, they are more than happy to meet one on one to clue you in. -This program is 5 days a week. The first semester you have Sim lab Monday, class Tues and Thurs, and clinical either Weds or Fri. The day you don't have clinical is technically "free", but you have assignments, readings, etc to complete such as the VCE (virtual clinical excursion) which counts as the online component of clinical which you get to do in the comfort of your home. -Nursing school exams are unlike any exams you have taken. You are constantly prioritizing care, so all answers may be correct, but you must select the MOST correct or the HIGHEST priority. You will soon come to understand how it works. It's not impossible, just very different. -I don't know how to answer "chance of survival" because that is all up to you. I was VERY hesitant to apply to this program because I didn't know if I was capable of actually succeeding. I'd never taken more than 14 hours in undergrad, so I thought, surely, I couldn't survive taking 20 hours. I was fortunately very wrong, and apparently, did have it in me to do well. -YES, there is time to sleep. You need to take the time to sleep. That's not really negotiable. You do lose 1-2hrs than your used to, but you HAVE to remain functional as we are taking care of people in hospitals! It may seem that you don't have time to sleep, but trust me, you can and MUST. Staying up until all hours of the night isn't exactly conducive to retention of information. Really, focus first on BROAD ideas then hone in on the details whilst studying. -Our spring clinicals were at Harris County Psych Center, Texana and either of two Methodist hospitals; in the summer we went to Texas Children's- Med Ctr, and either two Methodist hospitals for OB and medsurg. This final semester, we are at Shriners, in different public schools for community health, and not quite sure of our placements yet which will occur the last 8 wks of this semester. -Being that everyone in the program already has a bachelor's, this second bachelors is NOT funded by the government. This means you are ineligible for grants. They offer pretty much loans, however, they DO offer scholarships which you must apply for each semester. They try their best to get you some kind of money thru scholarships. That being said, Financial Aid is hard to mitigate, as the office is currently located in Victoria, TX. I have typically not been awarded and funds dispersed until the middle of each semester, I think partially because I am not a Fort Bend resident. Once dispersed, the financial aid package is not really enough to live on. I was able to apply and be awarded for outside scholarships which greatly helped for bills and such. For the most part, everyone in the program has someone to help lean on to help pay bills, be it a spouse, significant other or parent. You WILL need support in this program- financially and emotionally. @Ktrinv: I'm sorry I'm too late to help with the application process. As for the interview, it was an 8-1pm thing for us last year, I think. They divy the candidates into smaller groups which go through rotations of a tour, online component, interview and uniform section. They might change things up, but who knows. As far as the actual year, I am not going to lie- it has been tough. I went Greek in undergrad, and I often equate this program as if I was "pledging" to be a nurse because it is such a time committment. lol Right around the time you get comfortable and you feel like you're getting the hang of it, the next wave of panic and assignments and deadlines comes up. You really just need to maintain your cool, breathe, do what you can, focus on the task at hand and take it day by day. It's the small victories. It's been mentally, emotionally and physically trying- but such is the life of a nurse. This program really captures the epitome of a career as a nurse, as you MUST be adaptable. Personally, I have enjoyed this program very much because I greatly missed being in school and academia in general. It is challenging, yet rewarding how much you see yourself grow. The faculty is EXCELLENT, and they really are invested in our education. Of course, they want to see that you truly care and are trying to find the answers for yourself before coming to them. The worst thing you can do to yourself is do the same thing over and over and expect different results. If you study the same way for two tests and don't do well on both, you can't do well on that third without making a change. Another key thing is you really must follow the Dean's 5 rules to give yourself the best shot of success. 1) No jobs. ESPECIALLY the first semester. You are not setting yourself up for success. This is where it is helpful if you have financial support somehow- spouse, S.O., family, parents..etc since you will no longer be earning income. APPLY for scholarships left and right. 2) No weddings. This is not the year to plan or get hitched. if you must, elope. Go away for the Saturday. Then get back to business. NO PLANNING! 3) No babies. If you're currently pregnant or newly pregnant, you might want to reconsider. Between clinicals increasing, your need to make MD appts and the actual physical exhaustion, this would not be the year to expand your family. There are several superwomen in my class who are mommies (something like 9 of my peers) and they have amazing support systems which have allowed them to be successful. 4) No drama. Dont make drama for yourself, cause problems with your S.O or family, be a negative nancy, etc. Lay low, do your work, be positive, expect good outcomes and make it work. ain't nobody got time for drama. 5) HAVE A SUPPORTIVE FAMILY/SYSTEM. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having some sort of support system. I have an amazing bf who feeds me and chaueffers me since my car decided to die on me 1 month into the program! Being a broke unemployed student isnt conducive to having the money for car repairs + gas! We all have somebody or people who can keep our morale up when we're down and feeling defeated, love us and cheerlead us-and if needed, throw us some $ for lunch. Seriously, food is a big deal. for me, at least. lol Long story short...but still long, this program IS DOABLE. You must have the resolve in your mind that failure is not an option. It is scary. You will have checkoffs where faculty will observe and pass or fail your clinical skills competency. You will get nauseous and freak out. Every. single. time. But at the end of the day, the faculty wants you to succeed, but YOU have to do everything in YOUR power to make sure you do. Mind you, EVERY nursing school will have all these kinds of problems and assignments. This program is just that more intense because they cram a 24month program into half the time, so you're feeling the effects of everything in a bigger way. ALL nursing schools lose students. I don't believe this program purposefully "weeds out" the weak. If you get anything from this post, let it be that YES this program is tough and intense. However, YES it is doable and you must prepare your mind for the investment of this program. It is 1 year of your life, then you get to have a career of never-ending possibilities and the rest of your life. Not to mention the truly great faculty you get to learn from! AND lucky for you guys, the SON is transitioning to be under UH Main's name, so your class of 2015 will get a degree from UH NOT UHVictoria. UH is a tier1 institution, and the possibilities are truly endless with this program and where it's going thanks to that affiliation. I hope this helps!

I was able to find the group after all! Gen182 is correct, for some reason, you need to use an actual computer to get the correct search settings and "search for all groups." I'm sure it has something to do with the applications used on all other media devices, I suppose! :) @Princess1217--I remember you from the morning as well! Sorry I'm all late! Looking forward to seeing you next year and meeting everyone else!! :)