livingston

Hi all, I am being offered a registry position as a psych nurse in Normal, IL (Bloomington/Normal) at a hospital. I am new to the area and I am not sure what is fair to expect. I previously worked in New York City under a union, so I did not need to negotiate. I worked for three years as a mental health nurse in a major hospital on an adult acute care 32 bed inpatient unit that due to the location saw a diverse population from university students and faculty to homeless people and people recently incarcerated. I feel I got a good deal of experience in those 3 years. HR has told me that I will need to negotiate my salary and that the minimum salary for the position (which requires 1 year experience, I believe) is 22.10/hour. The midpoint is 27.62. The position is for a "Nurse Clinician II" on 23 bed inpatient psych unit. I am not sure what "midpoint" means. Where would someone with my experience expect to fall in this range? I am assuming toward the higher end. I was making over 42/hr in NY but I was working full time so that would be the rate if it was an hourly position. If I was doing the job per diem/registry I believe the rate would have been over 60/hr as I had a friend that did that. Sorry for the long post! I hope someone can help! I want to be fair and feel confident discussing this issue. Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

I work at St. Luke's in Psychiatry and we are on 12 hour shifts. They just switched over in March. It's great!

Elizabells, That makes sense. I suppose that happens even at this stage...once a mom, always a mom... (:

thanks nycacoustic, congrats to you too... I will be joining you guys on the ETP forum..sorry I wasn't able to check in until after visiting day! would have loved to meet everybody... I hope you enjoyed it! I loved talking with the current students, but I thought it was weird that the guests were shuffled off on a separate tour...I snuck mine on our tour because I thought were were visiting potential housing sites...we're domestic partners and altho we live in astoria, we were seriously considering moving to couples housing since his job is midtown/upper west side area...we're just not sure we want to uproot ourselves...ok, from now i'll post on the other thread...congrats to all..getting in and finishing up with finals...phew!!

Hi LB, Thanks for your reply and well put advice. It sounds like the program drives you to the breaking point from what I've read in the forums also. yikes..eye on the prize, it is...I am wondering: would you say you are satisfied with the program and faculty and would you make the choice all over again?? I didnt know the little detail about ability to work. i definitely (as most i assume) would like to be working f-t if at all possible that second year without killing myself and program allowing of course. The programs (fnp and ac) are entirely different--it's true. I just recently started to consider acute care after some conversations with a nurse friend who has been in recruitment for some 20 odd years. She was concerned that the job market and options might be limited for fnp's (based on her experience's talking with graduates of Yale's similar program for np's..they were graduating, for example, lots in peds specialty, and at least in CT they werent able to get the jobs in their specialty. Also, she remarked that the training in acute care prepares you for anything and really gives you the confidence to draw from even if you end up working in outpatient or providing primary care ?? I don't know... I know it sounds like a lot of questioning for not having begun the program. My main concern is to try to start with the most likely specialty that I'm suited for so that I don't have play catch up or take extra classes...it looks like from the info i have anyway...that there are some differences even in the first year of classes taken...or is the difference negligible?? thanks again for your reply, lb... i have done mostly reading of this site...i have found this forum so helpful this last year on my journey up to this point... good luck with everything...

LB & Elizabells, i will be starting the ETP program in May. Just got accepted a couple weeks ago. I was wondering if you could provide any info/ opinions about the nature and quality of the acute care and fnp specialties. I applied for fnp, but I am not sure really which direction I want to go. Any suggestions? Views on the running of either program...? Any insight would be much appreciated...Thanks..

I just wanted to add a note regarding price comparison particularly b/t Columbia and NYU...I was heavily researching the accelerated programs in ny around this time last year. I ended up applying to NYU and Columbia. i was accepted to both but Im ultimately going with columbia for a number of reasons, but I can tell you since I got my award packages not to rule out columbia on money alone because their financial aid packages tend to be more generous...(still an arm and a leg, but maybe not the pair of arms and legs you were expecting compared to NYU...the first year is 59 K (for the BS portion), but they gave me just shy of 30,000 in scholarship money, plus they met my need with loans whereas NYU came about 5 K short, even with the loans and my efc is 0. it is the ETP program if you are researching their website..i dont know if thats at all what you are looking for, but just to give you an idea...

hi elizabells, I'm glad to hear your first day went well! Thanks for the financial overview. That is so helpful for me. I finally got a better picture also from talking with someone very gracious with her time in financial aid there. these ballpark figures seemed scantily possible to aquire from nyu.. i had to wait to get my package to know much of anything and so i expected the same with Columbia. so, i was pleasantly surprised. i just attended the info session on friday. wow. I am really excited. I am at a turning point now. I really feel Columbia is right for me. and what a feeling that is, after so much tossing and turning over so many facets and factors. the aspect of simply meeting financial need in loans and grants combined was a huge concern. and it sounds like this is common and possible. that sallie mae signature loan is a big one. and the ability to work after the first year. it sounds like it is even feasible and stay reasonably sane (depending on specialty) to work full time and go to school full time after the first year doing 3 12 hours shifts. that combined with the possibility of tuition benefits at places of work could really help out. so good hearing from you. have you met the other people from these forums that were attending this year too? Victoria and others..you all sound like a fun group of people. i wish i was going this year (of course i have to get in first for next year :) ) feel free to update me on your journey anyway...

thanks for the advice, nyforlove. i definitely will check into volunteering locally. i would love to have the chance to work in different areas and get a sense of the inner workings ahead of time. your advice is just helping me bump this one up on the priority list. i agree--the support here is invaluable...

Hello all, I am new to the forum and wanted to say hi and introduce myself. I live in Astoria, Queens but I am living part-time in CT to finish up a ny cert program for massage therapy. I will say it is great to read from some of you guys who have the very same questions, even those of you who have chosen your school at this point and are just beginning either in June or September. What a supportive network here... I got accepted to the fall nyu program--yay !--non-accelerated tho because i missed the deadline for accelerated. i am deferring my application to the spring because i was recently informed they are starting an accelerated program with a spring start date. But I am also looking at the accelerated Suny Downstate in Brooklyn (from what I've read it is a good program and my financial aid package from nyu is the pitts) I am planning to apply to the ETP Columbia for next May also. I would love if you guys going to Columbia, NYU, and Downstate would keep me posted about your experiences. It is helpful, inspiring, and reassuring to hear from others in this i - dotting and t - crossing phase that seems to get bigger, not smaller as i try to get prereqs that will fulfill each and all, deadlines, etc...yikes! Also, if anyone wouldn't mind sharing with me more about their financial aid packages from Columbia. I want to know if it really could be comparable to state school prices for me as Spaniel was saying. nyu definitely is not. With the loans and scholarship, it comes about 5,000 short a semester of meeting my needs. I dont know, given the availability of funds, which could vary from year to year, how much weight is given to any factor for scholarships and grants. My EFC is zero and my GPA was a 3.7 i think. I dont have any volunteering experience at hospitals but I am a massage therapist, so I do have client centered care experience also. Ok, sorry for the long post, thanks-- Good Luck with school!