HappyMurse

I don't know the process of moving to the US with nursing licenses and all, but I wanted to inquire for a second...why Louisiana specifically??? Family? Friends? Because there is nothing here but a bad climate, giant mosquitos, corrupt politicians, poverty, and TONS of bigotry and ignorance. I was born and raised here, and I can't wait to get away.

Well, best of luck to you!

If your enrolling in those classes for the fall, you would be applying to get in the spring. I think they start accepting apps around the beginning of the semester, but I'm not too sure. But before you start that chemistry class, make sure your other chemistry classes won't work. Sometimes they can substitute one class for another if the classes are comparable. Like chem for science majors (I think at SELU it's chem 121 & 122 plus each lab) may sub for 107 since 107 is really just a chem review. Oh, and my advice would be to accept whatever school makes you an offer first. You don't want to miss a chance...they're all good schools.

Hey Keylimesqueez. From what I understand it's a cumulative degree GPA. This means that only nursing degree classes are counted, but every grade is counted rather than just your last grade. It used to be that if for example, you took algebra and got a 'C' and later retook algebra and got a 'B', only the B was calculated into your GPA for acceptance...but now they would count BOTH grades. So it's still a degree GPA, but it's a cumulative degree GPA. If you get in, the program is hard, but it is SO worth all the work. Good luck!

Drive to a nearby hotel or state landmark, and look for those kiosks that have all the brochures for travelers visiting. There are always a TON of things in your local area that you probably didn't even know about, and they're usually pretty cheap...also visiting places you would expect an elementary school to go on a field trip to...e.g. the zoo, or state capital or other govt landmarks. Govt places are generally free admission, and it can be a fun day trip, and places a school would field trip to are generally cheap (a school wouldn't bring 60+ kids someplace where admission is $40 bucks a head). This is what my wife and I did all through nursing school, and still do today just for cheap fun:)

Wrote my last post in another thread before you posted the new thread...so to your questions. 1. The GPA cutoff in the past for traditional had been around 3.3 - 3.4, but that was degree GPA, not cumulative. Call the nursing office, ask the secretary...she's very nice. 2. The course load is tough at first, but gets better as you go along. Plus, it's a family oriented atmosphere, as in the nursing students are like family, so there's a GREAT support system. 3. I graduated with someone from NOLA. They ended up getting an apartment in BR. BUT, I also graduated with a bunch from Covington who regularly made the drive to BR, which is close to the same drive as from NOLA. Your first semester is almost daily, but it is gradually reduced as you progress through the program. My last semester, I had 1 day on campus, and 2 days in the hospital. Oh, and they use hospitals in BR, Hammond, and the North Shore areas, so you can get a clinical closer to home. Hope this helps, and good luck!

@keylimesqueez hey, I just graduated the traditional track at SELU. I just wanted to warn you, the program is split between 2 campuses. Your first 2 semesters are in Hammond, and your last 3 are in Baton Rouge. Also, the accelerated track is a BEAST! Many of my closest friends went through it, and many switched to the traditional track after their first semester. Also, SELU now only looks at your cumulative for acceptance. They used to look at only the classes that counted toward your degree, but they changed that last semester. BUT, it's an amazing nursing program, so it's worth all the trouble!

T-Bird78, I had a nursing instructor that told me that he never let other nurses know he was an RN, much less an instructor, when he was in the hospital for himself or family. He said it put too much pressure on the nurse to not screw up, and they would end up screwing up anyway. Since hearing this story, I've had a patient who was an instructor (they literally came through the ER for something stupid right after one of their classes dressed in their school's scrubs and everything) and I now completely understand.

If you only failed clinical, but passed your other classes, then you may be able to do your last semester only having to complete clinical! Trust me, I know lots of students that would kill to have only clinical their final semester. It won't be as bad as you think.

Your last post made it sound like you're very interested in running. So, you're going to need to make a decision...do you want to run, or get through nursing school with your degree. Once you get in a nursing program (after a couple years of pre-reqs), it's going to be difficult to keep up with the rigors of nursing school studies and team sports. Unless you have plans to be a gold medal Olympian, I would recommend making running a later priority and start worrying about your degree first. The scholarship sounds nice, but you have to consider what I said about the time you'll have for team sports. Next, if you want to do the travel nurse thing, you should do your own research, but most of the agencies I've looked into required at least a year of experience. I would focus in the degree 1st, then figure out where you want to specialize and what you want to do with your degree. Oh, and minors help, but aren't always required.

I'm not to sure about your public health questions, but here's some info and advice. First off, I don't know what type of degrees are offered for public health, but most schools offer an accelerated track for students to get their BSN if they already have a bachelors in ANYTHING. I started school with a friend who had a degree in accounting. Next, if your main foul is to get a BSN, you should focus on that. Even if that means doing pre-reqs at a community college to save money and then transferring. Here's why you need to just focus on your main goal. If you just go for your ASN, and make plans to go back later, you'll probably end up getting a job somewhere, and it will either take years before you feel like going back, or you just won't go back. Then you'll wish you would've just gotten your BSN IN 4yrs and be done. I thought about going for my ASN as a quick way to get into the field and make some money, and just go back later. I am SO glad I changed my mind. Nursing school is hard, and wouldn't want to be finishing up one nursing school just to know that I still need to get my BSN to accomplish my goal. Just get it done the first time around, and then look to whatever certifications you want to get or where you want to specialize.

Better to start now and be ahead of the game.

Definitely the older adults for me. I somehow always get stuck with all my older patients having 10+ meds that they want to take one at a time and talk in between...always slows down my morning. Not to mention I feel bad when I rush them because I enjoy talking to my patients.

Frankly, I don't understand deminsional analysis...I use different methods, but it works for 99% of my classmates.

Math & Dosage Calculations for healthcare professionals 4th ed. By Booth, Whaley, Sienkiewicz, & Palmunen. Buy this book. It will help you with dosage. It's a silver book with pictures of pills on the front. It can teach you dimensional analysis, one of the more commonly used methods for dosage calculations. I think it costs around $50, but you can probably find it cheaper on amazon. This is the text my school uses.

That show would flop. People who watch those types of shows are looking for drama...as a man, I avoid drama at all cost, and most of the men in my nursing program do as well, but on any given day at school, you're sure to hear one of the girls b*tching about how some other girl looked at her funny. Lol. Not all females are like this, but a great portion of them are. Sorry ladies.

Oh, the point I was trying to make about the "competitive nature" statement was that you need to express to all of your peers in nursing school with you that once you're IN nursing school, the competition is OVER. Now it's time to help each other make it through nursing school. I he'd that problem with some people in my classes, but they eventually grew out of it.

YES I DO! Start working NOW on study strategies. Most nursing schools are competitive to get in to, and because of that, during your first semester, many students may still have that competitive nature, and not want to help each other. Try to find a group of people you work well with and get study groups going. The biggest thing that will help...well, you know that 10 pound thing buy every semester that sits on your apartment floor and you occasionally use to prop open doors? What's it called...the textbook! Read that! LOL. I've never had to read my textbooks in the past, I've always been able to just use notes from class. Well, the textbook can be helpful. Also, don't feel limited to your textbooks either. If you have trouble understanding something, use the internet...use every available resource you have, because the stuff you're learning will affect someone's life one day. Finally, take breaks! I don't mean like a study break. I mean, every once in a while, take an entire day or weekend as a break from studying and everything about school to let your brain rest. Generally, you come back to your studies revitalized and fresh. But try to find out now how you best study. Note cards? Study groups? Rewriting notes? Mind mapping? Everybody is different. It also depends a lot on how your instructors teach. But you want to find your most efficient study methods now while you have time, because once you're in nursing school, you have almost no time for anything.

Hey there, I graduate in May as well, but I have had LOTS of clinicals at OLOL. The truth is that the working environment varies from unit to unit. For example, I've been on a medical telemetry floor that seriously sucks in every possible way. The RNs are nice to each other, but the CNAs don't do there jobs, and are lazy, putting stress on the nurses. Other units are GREAT, everyone is happy, they do their jobs, etc. So, it's kind of a coin flip. I'm also considering the residency program for emergency services. From what I understand, it's a newer program, but I could be wrong. One of the supervisors the other day told me that it's a good learning experience.

If you've already applied to Nicholls, the just wait to see what happens. If you don't get in, then you could take those last 3 over the summer, and apply to SELU along with some other schools also to try to get in Spring 2015 somewhere. Don't rush yourself. Take this time to work on learning about yourself and how to study...because once you get in anywhere, you'll be studying a LOT. I never learned HOW to study...I've always been able to just go sit in a class and get an A. But nursing school is a BEAST, and no matter how smart you think you are, it's hard and requires lots of studying. I've had a harder time than some through nursing school because I don't know how to study...and that's really tough when you come home with 30 or more pages of notes from one class and you don't know where to start.

Don't feel sad! If you can get in somewhere, don't pass it up! Any nurse will tell you that school is just the beginning...nursing is a career of LIFELONG LEARNING, especially considering how quickly technology and the medical field changes. After you graduate nursing school, you still have a lot to learn no matter where you went to school. I'm learning that now from friends that have graduated the semester before me, and as I'm finishing up my last semester. School is only meant as preparation to enter the field...then you have about a 6 month transition from student to professional as you learn the ropes. So are you currently on trying to get in to Nicholls or SELU?

Hey there. I just wanted to give you a bit of advice. Regardless of where you end up going to nursing school, you may not know if you like nursing or not until you get in a program unless you've worked in the medical field before...and even then, you may not know for sure. I graduate in a couple weeks from SELUs nursing program, but I started with a few people that THOUGHT this was what they wanted to to because everyone in their family did this. One person I was very close to found out she didn't want to be a nurse after she made it through her first semester of nursing school, and went into a depression for a long time over dropping out. She struggled with what to tell her family, and it was a bit of a mess for her. Now, she sees me graduating, and has seen what I've gone through and is so glad she decided to drop out and major in something else. I guess I'm just trying to say, regardless of what your family tells you, nursing isn't the only profession in the world. Now...if you feel like nursing IS for you, there are a TON of ways to get into it. I wouldn't recommend an LPN track or anything else. In the BR area, there are ADN programs, and even still a diploma program for you to get your RN. You can always go back and get your BSN from an RN-BSN track if you need to. Just remember to keep your head held high, and keep working hard toward your goal.

Hi EbonyRNForeman. I'm actually graduating from Southeastern in a couple of weeks, and I might be able to help you with some of the questions you have about the program. To start with, looking at NCLEX pass rates by school may be an okay way to start, but please be weary...there are some schools that have recently switched to a system where they do not award their seniors their degree until they actually pass the NCLEX. It ends up boosting their numbers and makes the school look better. Southeastern is a very competitive program to get into...but once you're in, it is very "family oriented." By this I mean you will start to feel like your classmates are your family. Recently Southeastern has changed the way they accept students though. In the past, like when I got accepted, they based your rank on your degree GPA, so they were only calculating GPAs based on classes that counted towards your degree, and they only looked at the last grade in those classes, so if you failed a class, you could retake it without worry. BUT...now, they look at your cumulative GPA, so every class and every single grade counts. SO, if anyone tells you cutoff GPAs from past semesters, take that with a grain of salt, because the new cutoff GPAs are all cumulative. If you have good grades and a good overall GPA, and you're just looking to find a good program, this is it. I'm not saying any other programs are worse...I wouldn't know...but Southeastern grads are often picked over other schools for jobs because we have a very good program. Our program is also evolving to hopefully educate students better and faster. 2 semesters ago, the program was revised to allow applicants to get into clinical courses sooner in their college education. Not to mention, they have revised some of the classes based on past students' needs and suggestions. The program is still very challenging...most nursing programs are...but it's definitely worth it. SELU is known for 2 things...it's education program and it's nursing program.