Futurenurse2020

These are the kinds of responses I was hoping for. You are suggesting that quality of life and increased pay will come from being a NP, would you be willing to go through everything it takes to become a np, including increased liability in the role if your pay did no increase? What if it went down, would the sacrifices still be worth it to you?

yes but what is the minimum you would take for the increased role/responsibility? Would it be worth a pay cut because you love the role so much? Would you do it for 25$/hour? 20$? 30$? 15$? At what point would it be worth it to you?

I am curious what the minimum amount of compensation the nurse practitioners here would have accepted for paying more money for education, spending massive amounts of time getting educated, and then taking on more responsibility/liability. Obviously, this will have no meaning unless we talk about NP pay in relation to RN pay. I am not asking what you would expect to be paid, I am asking in relation to RN pay how much more (or less) would you require to be paid for the role change, money sink into education, time sink into education, and increased liability. In other words, what is the dollar figure (in relation to RN wages in your area) that you would rather have not put the time/money into school and continued working as a RN. I feel this information will be valuable for those who are considering NP school but are not sure when it is worth it. Different regions you can expect to make more, or less as a NP. I am excited to see if anyone says "I love this job so much I would of done it for 30k less/year then when I worked the floor" or "after the education/time I put into school, and my increased liability, it would not be worth it unless I made at least 30k more per year then when working the floor." Thanks for participating!

Florida does not have a state income tax

That score would not make it in the last couple years of applicants... Sorry to break it to you but the absolute minimum I would recommend is 356, and even then you may not get in. Also, you honestly dont want to bank on a 50/50, many people with perfect straight A's still dont get in because of the essay. The essay is the easiest part to lose points on. Used to be even people with perfect 360s didnt get in the compition was so tough. Also if your prereqs are too old you may have to retake them anyways. I would visit the main office at the college and get advice from a counselor there. The a's and b's in a&p are good enough as long as they have not expired. Cna experience is great for once you are in the program, but does not give you a leg-up on getting into the program. If you need clarification just ask.

I would like to suggest to all who are admitted, you will definitely want to take supervised practice regardless of if you need the credits or not. The other extra classes are all 1 credit courses, and even though they are nursing school specific, are very easy and I did not get much out of them.

Ill give an example from this (3rd) term. Monday was a check off, this is where you prove you can do skills you have been taught this term correctly. Check offs are scheduled to each individual and was 1.5 hours. Tuesday was care day, which started at 8am and went until 4pm. Wednesday we had 4 classes, started at 8 and ended at noon. Thursday and friday were clinicals. Some groups have one 12 hour shift (meaning they have the other day off) and others have 2 8 hour shifts (meaning they go to clinicals both thursday and friday for whatever they are scheduled.) clinical time comitments vary, first term was thursday friday 6 hour shifts, second term was thursday friday 8 hour shifts, and 3rd term was the first where a single 12 hour shift was possible. You pretty much have very little to no say in your clinical placements/time. They place you as they see fit.

Not to hijack this thread but I was hoping to get zenmans attention in a thread at some point to ask for some advice. Zenman! I am fairly certain I want to persue pmhnp. I am currently in a 2 year associate degree nursing program, my plan is to attempt to get a job in med surg for around a year, then attempt to get a job in a psych setting for around a year then send out some applications. During my time getting these 2 years experience I would get my bsn online. I just want to get the best experience I can to serve me during my career. What do you think? Also do you see any validity/reason to get a dnp instead of an msn?

Thought I should let you all know I did not get my acceptance e-mail until June 7th. Good luck everyone!

I thought I might elaborate on what I meant before I went off on my tangent. The first few weeks of each term is straight lecture which simply put, is brutal. After that Thursday/Fridays are clinicals which for me is much more manageable than lecture 5 days/week. Let me break it down for you another way. Every 2 weeks you have an exam starting on the second Tuesday after the term starts. Assuming you have an average of 2-3 classes per day you would have to be prepared to be tested on 10-15 classes (depending on if you have a skills day.) So that is 10-15 classes you need to be ready for 9 days after the term begins. The next test will be 2 weeks from that point, if I remember correctly it's either the 3rd or 4th week clinicals begins. As soon as clinicals begins you still have the same number of classes/day but 2 days/week is dedicated to clinicals making it less material/test. These are my personal opinions, I'm sure others in our class may disagree with me. For me the first month of the program was the most difficult (so far.)

@mae for me, when clinicals begin it is a relief. The first 2 weeks of the program I had major growing pains. There are many people in the program who have families and bills. It is definitely doable but it is hard and time consuming. You will quickly learn that a lot of very smart people will not make it. Not because they are not smart and not because they don't try but because they don't do well on nclex style questions. I don't mean to discourage anyone but in my opinion you will have growing pains. You will either adapt or you won't. I can say however that I am very happy I am here, it is definitely worth the pain. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

How about I mix this up a bit to get a different question answered, which of the two provides for a better quality of life in general? Holidays, set schedule, family/life balance ect..

I am currently finishing my first year in the chemeketa program, I know for a fact the lowest score was not 346 because someone I know who applied with me got a 354 and did not get in. However I should also add last year we had around 192ish people who took the essay, and I heard that it was 160ish this year. For all of those who get in, better be prepared, it is a very difficult program.

That is great to hear steel, I'll try that!

I was under the impression it is fairly difficult to shadow psych providers because of HIPAA and how secretive people are about psych.