sfwhitney

I went to UCSF. I *just* graduate, really. My GREs were nothing to write home about, nor were my undergrad grades. I think I got a 550 in verbal and 720/730 in math. Undergrad I had a 3.0 GPA. Each school likes different profiles. UCSF loves candidates whom love the community and are big public health advocates. Almost all of the profs choose UCSF for its emphasis on community and diversity. Different schools, different themes. You need to dig around to fit the personality of the school that matches you best, in terms of MEPN/GEPN-type programs. RN jobs were a tough find, to be honest. Most of us went straight through to our Masters (NP,CNS, etc) to avoid the market. However, everyone seems to generally be finding gigs as an NP within 6 mo or so. SF is an awesome place to be a nurse, but the market is pretty darn saturated. Again, if you you know want it and don't want the step-up years, go MEPN. The ONLY exception is if you want to be a critical care or inpatient NP. You need floor experience and plenty of ICU time to really lock up one of those NP positions. Soooo... there's my caveat... think where you want to be and then go for the most direct path. I did not have much medical background, but I came from psych. I am in primary care now, and I can safely say that it didn't matter that I lack RN floor experience. Being a med-surg nurse is great, but in primary care APRN-world... not necessary Another very cool idea with your background would also be looking at the occupational medicine world with the animal therapy specialty. There are fantastic programs for that, too.

Get it! No brainer. iPad saved me through clinicals as well! Plus, I could bring the tool easily in and out of the room for patient ed. Also, get iAnnotate on it for lectures (with a stylus)... then a slew of the diagnostics tools. There is a good list of apps to grab on NP Student (Resource Recommendations - NP Student - Pediatric Provider Resources). The Stanford 25 and Murmur thing is pretty great.... then that site itself is good for peds, too. Hrmmm... trying to think what else. Being able to record the lectures on it was great

I really liked Barkley's (Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Live Courses and Home Study Packages | Barkley & Associates) and then I filled it in with the data from NP Student (NP Student - Pediatric Provider Resources - Home). I just passed last month and was baffled by the amount of cross-over on the material. The other thing I *highly* recommend is doing the practice tests. Those saved me.

MEPN programs are very competitive, BUT in the end, if you know you want that route... do it! Now. It is the most effective and immersive type of nursing education, imo. I am in a program now. While it is a hard, the rate of information isn't baffling. In fact, I prefer it that way. You are a smart cookie coming from Cornell. I would guess (knowing nothing about you) that you may want a program that is challenging and gets you where you want to be (as fast as you can get there).