Mia2005

Hi Epona, Ask away... I am a student at Sentara. I graduate in October. YES!! Overall I think Sentara is one of the best programs in the area, and I dont say that because I go there, because it to me a LOOOONG time to adjust to the school. The school at one time was extremely disorganized, financial aid was awful, classes were not organized, it was just a mess. But I must say they have really gotten it together. Nursing school is what you put into it... It is hard, but definetly doable if you put the effort in. I would say the hardest class thus far was 201, which is specialities, and it is hard because you complete this class before you have med surg, and some of the med surg content will be related to what ever speciality you are studying. But after you go through the speciality content it does it easier. Nursing school is hell, but it is worth it. I feel like if you are a Sentara grad you will definetly be more prepared compared to other schools, because you will already be used to the sentara system especially if you work for them, you will learn how to give an excellent report, your assessment will be on point, plus by the time you will graduate you would have managed up to 4 patients and trust me other schools do not do multiple patient management. They have an externship program you can do your senior year to help prep you to go into the real world. When I talk to people from other schools they say I wish I would have went to sentara because yall get so much clinical time. I used to hate going to school, but now I have a lot more respect for the school. I have grown so much in a year and a half, and I know I will be more prepared than other after I graduate. The test are hard, but what nursing test arent, once you get used to the questions, your anxiety level will decrease when you take a test. Just practice, practice,practice.. Do nclex question, be organized, and have a study group, and I used to hate studying in a group, but its less stressful, and the info stays with you more. I do feel like I have been taught the material with some instructors, others, you may have do just do the reading and reinforce what you know with your notes, but for the most part yes they do teach the info, and they reinforce what they have taught through case studies, and nclex questions. I can tell you we were the largest class in the school, not anymore though. We started out with 71 students and we have only lost 6 students, we are going to be the largest class to graduate thus far. You wont fail if you study, and do ok in clinical. To fail clinical you have to give them a reason to say you are not competent. Since I have been in the program only one person has failed because of clinical. You will learn about your meds and be proficient, and feel comfortable and responsible giving meds. They have a 100% pass rate on the nclex exam.. Overall its a good program, it definetly has it corks, but I can guarantee you that you will be more prepared than others when you graduate, and this is coming from someone who hated the program. Hit me up if you have any questions, I dont mind being anyone's mentor

I would do some research.. A lot of military wives are able to get assistance paying tuition.. Check into next step, i know they help pay for your books.. Im not sure where you are but I know Riverside has an evening part time rn program, but its 3yrs... It can be done, you just need a lot of support.

Hi I actually went to Spelman and it was a wonderful experience. The administration wasnt that bad.. So I definetly support Panamama statement... All HBCU's arent the same but they do carry a stigma of bad customer service.

Hi everyone... I currently go to Sentara, and would be more than willing to give you the down low, and answer any questions u may have... I also live in hampton.. but the commute isnt that bad, but u can find someone to car pool with.. I am a 2nd semester rn student who started in jan.. so if you have any questions i can answer them about my experience thus far in the program.. Capribry hit me up any time if u have questions about your classes... are u starting in the fall? are u going for the rn program?

What can I say about Howard.... My experience with them was horrible... I had applied for the Traditional program as a transfer student for the Spring of 2006, because there isnt a separate application for nursing... So after sending in my application, I call 3 weeks later just to make sure they received my application, I find out that they lost it... Mind you I fed ex'd it for the simple fact that I wanted documentation just in case they lost it...So they call me 2 weeks later, after my persistent phone calls and told me they found it...Keep in mind the deadline was Nov 1... They found my application mid Dec...School starts Jan 5th.. So when letters of notification were supposed to come out the second week of Dec.. I was stalking the mailman...Still no letter... So its 4 days before xmas, and I still dont know if I got accepted...So I call back, now they know me by name, and the Admission coordinator tells me that they had to forward my application to the nursing dept...Because now the nursing dept is screening every nursing student that comes into the school, mind you this is something NEW they started this semester.. She said to call back the next day and they should have a decision, but I prob wouldnt get accepted because they are already booked to capacity..But she told me that she could change my major and accept me into the school and once i am at howard for a semester it would be very easy to transfer into the nursing program or I could delay acceptance until the Fall 2006...I was so depressed... Im all packed and ready to go, to find out a couple of days before school is supposed to start...So I call back the next day and sure enough I wasnt accepted because they were at capacity although my gpa was a 3.8. So I call the nursing dept directly and she reinnerated the point that because they had a lot of Katrina students they were now screening everyone who came in, and they would not be accepting anymore traditional students for an entire year... So no one would be able to be accepted into the traditional program until Fall 2007 or so, also because the admissions dept already accepted freshman into the traditional program...Nor were they allowing current Howard students to transfer into the nursing program.. Which I was told by the admissions dept that I could do... But she recommended to me to try and apply to the advance program for the summer since I had finished my pre-reqs, but what baffled me is that she said she would not evaluate my transcript to let me know what would transfer, so that I would know if all my pre-reqs would transfer...And she kept telling me that there are only 20 spots.... I said to the nursing coordinator that that is not what I was told by the admissions dept, and she was like yea, they dont know yet, we are going to send them a email at the first of the year to let them know about our changes.. I was like right...The first week of Jan I got my acceptance letter... And was to threw with HU... Im glad I had a back up plan... So I decided to go to another school, because I didnt want to continue to deal with administration problems.... I guess like HU Nurse said once you get pass the administration you will be ok, because they do have a good program... And I have been to another HBCU before but it was never that bad... So if you do go to Howard, just make sure you stay on top of them, and make sure you speak directly with the nursing dept, because admissions and the nursing dept DONT COMMUNICATE.

Hi HU_nurse, I have a few questions for you in reguards to HU's nursing program, I tried to pm you but your mailbox was full, if you can pm me or email me asap, its really important. Thank you

DiamondRN how long were you an RN, before you became a travel nurse?

Good luck gallagba

Redd3, What part of va are you in?

Hi Charmin, I am applying for sentara nursing program, and have a few questions for you. how long did it take you to hear back from them? I have more in depth questions for you . pm me sometimes please my email address is [email protected]. please email me.

Hi Alnee, Good luck! Im pretty sure you will do well at TNCC and shouldnt have a problem getting in. Dont count out getting a BSN, you could always do a RN to BSN program after grad from TNCC, especially if your grades stay up. Would you ever consider a diploma program? Its so good to talk to people in the area. Keep in touch. Oh, are you taking classes at TNCC this fall semester?

Good luck my prayers are definetly with you.

Hi Princess74, Congrad. on making a decision between an obtaining your ADN or BSN. Let me let you in on a lil secret though...... I am from Hampton Va, and am in kind of the same situation as you.. I want to go for my BSN, but the programs in Va are so hard to get into, but not only that but they only accept one time a year. The accelerated 2nd degree bsn, are only for people who already have a bachelors degree in another subject, so you wouldnt be able to go to TCC, and then transfer to ODU for the accelerated 2nd degree program, now what you could do is this. research the different adn, diploma, and traditional bsn programs. Now what you could do is transfer to ODU once you have taken all your preq, but be VERY CAREFUL, I mean VERY CAREFUL, and make sure that ALL the classes you take at TCC will transfer to ODU. ODU is extemely funny about transfer credits, so just make sure that you RESEARCH everything before you decide on where to transfer too.. If you need help I will help you.. Make sure you go to ODU.com, and click on admission and go under transfer, they have a monarchtransfer guide so it will let you know what pre reqs will transfer from TCC. Now you could apply to ODU for the traditional program once you have completed all of your pre reqs. This is what I plan to do.. I have researched the diploma programs in the area... such as Sentara in (Chesapeake) and Riverside in (NN). Sentara is very good and has a 100% placement rate after graduation and an 88% pass rate on the NCLEX. You can find more info on sentara.com or riversideonline.com. Also there are many adn programs, but the problem with that is they have waiting list that are extremely long. Thomas Nelson, TCC, and JSargent Reynolds in Richmond have ADN programs. But, Sentara nor Riverside have a waiting list. Sentara accepts 2x a year and Riverside accepts 3x a year. That gives you the ability to go into a nursing program right after you finish your pre reqs, instead of waiting until the fall semester, say for instance if you wont finish your pre reqs until the end of the fall semester. But the best thing about going to an ADN or Diploma programs is that they always give you the flexibility to transition to a BSN. You can do a RN to BSN program which you can complete in 3 semester all the way up to 6yrs depending on the school. This gives you the flexibility to work and gain some practice as a nurse and to earn your bachelors degree. Many people have a misconception about nursing, that Bachelors is the only way to really go. But just think..... I am definitly going to get my bachelors because I would never sale myself short. but there is always more than one way to get to a goal.... So if you think about it... the same time it would take you to get your bachelors from a university .. would be almost the same time to get your BSN if you did an ADN or Diploma program depending on the wait and pre reqs already completed, and then do a RN to BSN program. ODU also have an RN to BSN programs. VCU have a very good RN to BSN program, where they have different satellite offices where you can complete the degree within the area, rather than going to richmond to go to class, not only that but you dont have to go to class but 3 times a month. Its always smart to plan ahead because with a university they only accept once a year, and they normally only accept 30 applicants per year. Not only that once you obtain your BSN, you will be making the same as a person from an ADN or Diploma. The BSN, just really gives you the a head start to obtain a management position, but remember you have to have some type of experience to get that position still. So make sure you do all the research first, I am definitely not knocking a Traditional program by any means, because that would have been my first choice, but im going to go to sentara and then do the RN to MSN program to become a nurse practioner at VCU, but there are always more than one way to get to a goal. So if you need any help or have any questions, I have been researching so long, I could probably help out, but dont hesitate to ask.

Well I am in need for some serious help in making a life changing decision. Since I was a small child I have always wanted to be in the medical field. Now that I am 20, and counting, I have found myself lost in the madness on what my career path should be. I started college 2 yrs ago as a biology major, and was just TOTALLY NOT INTERESTED in what I was doing. At the time I was focused on being a doctor as an OB/GYN, because this has always been my passion. Then I changed my major to women's studies with a concentration in women's health, because of the concentration, but come to find out this was a "new major" at my school and none of the classes I needed to take were taught at the school. SO, I moved back to my home state to go to a university at home where I could take pre req for nursing, because my old school didnt offer these classes either. By moving home I decided a good way to get to what I want to do is to become a nurse. No I wouldnt be a doctor, but I would be doing something I loved doing. Now, I get to the new university and Im bored because im not being challenged like I was at my old school. So I began to loose my focus. I applied to nursing school and didnt get in. NOW WHAT? I ask myself. I just have lost my passion and my motivation. Now Im stuck with 2 options, do I go back to the school for 2yrs were I just came from and get a degree I dont know if I would use, and then just do an accelerated program for nursing or do I try to apply to a diploma program and then try to get my bsn after that which is going to take me 4yrs all together? Im really confused can someone give me some advise? I have found people who dont know much about nursing or different avenues to get there are not very supportive about going the diploma route at all. I just need a little support. Scared to make such a life changing decision.