GardenofEdith

I took it even though it wasn't required because I did very poorly my freshman year, hence my low GPA. I knew a lot of people would be applying with much better GPAs than me so I wanted to stand out any way I could, even though I agree with you that the GRE is a poor indicator of graduate school capability.

I had a GPA very similar to yours (3.3something). Kick booty on your GRE and you should be fine!

If you want to work in ICUs, then you may want to consider the acute care specialty rather than the FNP. You could get your ACNP and then get a post master's certification in psych. You would have to maintain both certifications, however. My advice would be to shadow both an ACNP and a PMHNP, see which one you could see yourself doing more in the near future, and then later on decide whether or not you want to tack on a post master's certification in another specialty. Some FNPs do get jobs in psych, but in my opinion it is a disservice to the patients. The patients deserve to have their medications managed by someone who has extensive training in psychopharmacology. FNPs do get training in psychopharmacology, but it is no where near the amount that PMHNPs do. I cannot speak to whether or not FNPs get hired in ICUs, but they do get hired in ED.

Thank you so much for those tips, vsmnh2013! They are very much appreciated! What is a typical class schedule during the first semester (or any semester)? I heard from a current student the first 6 weeks are extremely taxing, and to not let it be overwhelming. Also, do students get automatically assigned to random clinical sites, or can students have a bit of a say so (via a ranking system, or whatever) in where clinicals are assigned? I spoke to someone in my desired specialty who had clinicals in a setting I'm not really leaning towards for my future practice, while another student in a different specialty had clinicals in the exact setting I'm leaning towards (if that makes sense).

Congrats on nearly reaching the end of Phase I of the program! What would you say are your top 5 tips for the first year?

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that I had a fairly low cumulative GPA (around a 3.2) but had a much higher pre-req GPA and my last 60 hours GPA was high as well. I scored high on the GRE, worked as a CNA, and volunteered in community mental health.

No worries! I found the Facebook group by searching your name and then looking to see what groups you were in (total stalker status), but at least I found it, lol! I'm Kay, by the way. So if anyone else is having issues, try searching for one of us already in the group, and then look for the group from our pages. I'm sure the initial trouble was from the group being newly created. I am sure it will begin popping up on search soon, if not already.

Looks like posting to this forum gave us all good luck! I'm glad that so many of us were accepted into the program. I'm also having difficulty finding the FB group. Any ideas? I wish links could be posted :/

I would love to join a Facebook group!

E-mails are out! I'm pleased to say I'm in!!!!!!!

I had mine yesterday, and we will all know Monday via e-mail of their decision! I agree that everyone was super nice, informative, and helpful. I really loved how they had students in the current cohort there to answer any and all questions. Everyone had great things to say about the program. Good luck to tomorrow's batch of interviewees.

Congrats on your successful interview! I'm sure you got it in the bag How long was the interview? Did you interview with more than one person?

Does anybody have any insight as to what questions are typically asked in these interviews? I'm looking at past threads and can't seem to find any. I'm just trying to prepare myself with any and all curveballs they may throw!

Hello you all! I also applied to the UAB AMNP Spring 2014 cohort, and I'm ecstatic to let you all know I got an interview! Congratulations everyone!