geauxtigers13

I feel like you wrote this post to me personally! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I'm on track to graduate from an accelerated BSN program this December as my second degree as well. I minored in psych in college and it has always been the one thing I have always enjoyed learning about and have been interested in. I've had many nurses and many of my teachers give me the same advice about working on a med surg unit for at least a year. Reading your post made me feel much better about just going for it and "following my gut" like you said! Do you mind telling where you work/how it's going so far? I'm currently in Louisiana but thinking about moving to Texas, TN or NC possibly after graduation for a few years! I eventually want to go back to school to become a PMHNP and Louisiana doesn't offer many opportunities for that right now.

@Camwill, do you mind me asking which residency program you are attending? I know I'm a few months late seeing this...so how do you like it as of now?

@Longhorn2009, I saw you were accepted into the psych NP track...even though I'm about a year late...congrats! I just read through this thread and am currently in an accelereated BSN program looking to pursue a PMHNP degree eventually after I graduate this upcoming December. I've looked at UT Austin's pmhnp program so I wanted to know what you think of it so far and if there is any advice you would give?! Or even anything you've heard about other programs, etc. Anything is helpful!

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Have any of you started the program so far? I'm interested in applying to their PMHNP specialty once I survive/graduate from my ABSN program this upcoming December. I was curious how it was going and if any of you had any advice on the application process, as well as if y'all looked into any other programs or ones that you would definitely steer clear of! Thanks so much.

Last time I talked to the LC nursing office they said orientation is the week before school starts. I have to take their two online classes this summer, a nursing concepts and a religion class I think? and I got an email probably two or so weeks ago stating that I would be automatically placed into the classes but that I had to pay my fees for the classes by May 16th at the latest. So just wanted to remind y'all to do the same since time flies by! I'm from Shreveport but have been living in Baton Rouge for the past five years attending LSU and working so I'm somewhat familiar with the Alexandria area. I've driven up there a few times to look at housing, etc...from my own experience most of the places online look way better online than they do in person. The Rosewood apartments were in a great location, pretty good pricing too. Not as updated as some people may be used to on the inside but definitely one to look at. I haven't 100% decided on where I'm going to live; I was going to try and talk to a few more people from the area. Just after driving around I saw lots of cute little duplex type housing and places like that (around the main drag Jackson street area in Alexandria that will take you straight over the bridge into Pineville). But as for the Pineville side, I didn't find much at all! If you're going to be moving from far away I would honestly try to contact a realtor and just ask his opinion about different areas of the city and places he would recommend. I did that just to have a starting point and it helped a lot. As for any new info that I've learned as far as the program goes...I haven't heard anything! Sorry for the rambling post but I hope it helped a little bit. It's a huge adjustment just having to blindly find housing somewhere, I couldn't imagine!! Look forward to seeing y'all in August!

I'll be in your class! I went to one of the informational sessions before the interviews and all of that where they just talked about general info etc. about the program...and no there shouldn't be clinicals on the weekend, unless maybe something happens during the week and it's rescheduled or something. I have notes written down but off the top of my head (I may be getting the days mixed up), we go to classes and lecture 3 days per work week (Mon-Fri), and clinicals the other two days. They said each day you start early, but a lot of times they will wrap up earlier on Fridays so that you can start preparing for the next week, and use that extra time in the labs if you need extra clinical practice on the mannequins etc. I also saw your post in the other thread about housing- I'm from Shreveport but currently living in Baton Rouge so I drove through there last month just to kind of scope it out and see what my housing options were because like you I found NOTHING online...and the places that I did find online, when I drove by them in person they were not up to par whatsoever haha. They were just finishing up construction on some new apartments though that looked super nice; I just happened to drive by them when looking for other places. They don't have a website yet though and once I find their little brochure I'll tell you the name of it! I have a few friends from Alexandria so I'm going to keep bugging them about where to live! I just ended up driving through nice neighborhoods near downtown/the LC area and found duplex and townhouse type places that had for rent signs in front of them...that seemed to be the most effective way of finding housing! Of course it was hard to lock down one of those because I was looking so far in advance. Anyways hope this somewhat helped?!

@Loma28, I'll be in your class! Got an email last week saying I was accepted as well! I'm in state so I was able to go to an informational session then an in person interview. I wrote down some details about the program...what we study each semester, class and clinical arrangements, etc... at the info session if you'd like me to message you that I can!

Hey! I've read a lot of your posts and comments here and there and we have a lot of the same statistics..I noticed that you were applying to accelerated programs so you've obviously been accepted since then! If you don't mind me asking, which one did you decide one? I've applied to a few and am finishing the rest of my pre-reqs this spring for the fall '14 start date. I also want to be an NP too, except one that specializes in psyc and mental health. As far as advice for you, my aunt who works with lots of NP's tells me all of the time that even though I may want to go into psych and mental health now, I may change my mind completely once I start doing clinicals and learn more throughout the accelerated program. So maybe the same advice will work for you and you'll be able to find the perfect job that integrates both research. Congrats on getting accepted and good luck to you in your program!

@cadyssa I'm just now seeing your response; I just commented on one of your other posts! I took your advice and did apply...my other post mentions how my application for the priority deadline is due this Friday! Thanks for your help

@medinao and @canursehopeful, I'm going to submit my application for the accelerated program this Friday! (so nervous ). I was wondering if either of you would mine telling me your stats for when you applied? GPA, etc.? Also, how are y'all liking it so far? I came to an information session for the program last month and instantly fell in love with both the campus and how welcoming the instructors were. Lastly, do either of you have any info. about LC's current accreditation standing? I know that the council had an on campus meeting the week that I had my informational session but I was just curious to know if LC was in the clear or not as far as accreditation goes yet! Any feedback is appreciated!

I'm planning on applying to the SELU accelerated nursing program for fall 2014...I just went to meet with an advisor and was told that they just recently changed how they accept nursing students. Instead of looking at your cumulative GPA, they look at your pre-req GPA now and only allow you to re-take one course (like if you get a C in biology and re-take it and get an A the second time so that your final grade will be a B). I was told they decided on this because people were going back and re-taking failed courses multiple times until they got A's and boosted their overall cumulative GPA a lot. She said that the GPA of the last class admitted was lower than previous years because of this switch so depending on how good your pre-req grades are that can be a good thing!

@NurseMaybeBaby, I've read a few of your responses on some of the SELU accelerated nursing threads and was hoping that you could answer a few questions for me! I'm taking the rest of my pre-reqs at Southeastern in the spring and applying for the accelerated program in February for the Fall 2014 start date. I don't know anyone in the program now so I was hoping that you could give me some more information, any information really...how you like the program, clinicals, teachers, etc.

Hey! I've read a few of your responses on some of the SELU accelerated nursing threads and was hoping that you could answer a few questions for me! I'm taking the rest of my pre-reqs at Southeastern in the spring and applying for the accelerated program in February for the Fall 2014 start date. I don't know anyone in the program now so I was hoping that you could give me some more information, any information really...how you like the program, clinicals, teachers, etc.

I'm looking into applying to LC's accelerated program next cycle and was wondering the same about their accreditation and wanted to know if you had found out any information?