Danilu14

Just found out today that I passed my NCLEX RN!! Praise God! I graduated my BSN program May 12,2016 and tested June 1, 2016. My exam shut off at 110 questions and it was probably the hardest test I've taken there always seemed to be 2 good answers to choose from. I did the hurst review and used nclex mastery app and Uworld. I completed thousands of practice questions starting my first semester of nursing school up until the day before my exam. So much hard work and time and effort and I can officially call myself an RN! Thanks all nurses community for all of the support and information and resources! Starting in July I'll be an ICU nurse in the level one trauma ICU where I've been working as a tech through nursing school. 😆

I start my capstone at UTA in April, I was under the impression that there wouldn't be much coursework involved, I thought the main focus was actually just following your nurse preceptor around and finally getting to use some of our nursing skills. We haven't been told much about how the class works or what to expect, I was surprised to see a capstone exam on our exam schedule I'll be following this thread, I'm interested to know what's coming up in my near future. Good luck!

Sorry I haven't been on AN in a while (Pedi and Critical care are keeping me busy!) As #proudtobeanurse suggested work ahead if possible, I always work ahead as much as I can in my down time to get things out of the way if the instructor will allow it. One thing I am loving about pedi right now is that she opened up all of the assignments and I have already completed all of the quizzes and VSIM modules and weekly development assignments for the entire course (it's only 5 weeks long, we are currently in week 1) . I started them before the class opened because she gave us access on our "break" between semesters, and now I can focus on the reading and lectures and passing the exams because all of the busy work is done! For research, in my opinion the workload was heavier toward the end because of the paper and the presentation, but I worked on it a little bit at a time starting in week 2 once I had my topic, and it went smoothly.

Your cohort will be split up into groups of 8-10 students and each group is assigned a clinical site, they try to place you at one of your top 3 choices, but they give special consideration to the partnered students who work at a hospital and there are limited spaces at each hospital. They will tell you at the beginning of each semester what your clinical days will be a few weeks before classes start. The clinical days will change each semester depending on the hospital's availability. As online students I feel like we get the days that nobody else wants, My first semester my cohort was in the hospital on Saturdays and Sundays for foundations. Second semester we just got Sundays in psych and then after we were done with our psych rotation we had Thursdays and Fridays for Med surg. For Pedi our clinical days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Most of these are 10-12 hour days 6:30am-5pm or later depending on your instructor. You definitely have NO say in your clinical schedule. The school has to arrange and ask for clinical days with each hospital and they have to make sure that only one school is on the floor at a time, my clinical site is JPS and TCU, TCC and Weatherford College all use JPS, so each semester the schools have to work out an arrangement and divvy up the clinical days so that we are not all on top of each other. They also give us pretty short notice about our clinical schedule, we just found out our clinical days for fall a couple weeks ago and the semester starts next week. Most of us work and our employers make our schedule 2-3 months in advance so our bosses pretty much hate us, but you are not allowed to switch clinical sites, there are no alternate days. Nursing school is pretty much going to run your life for a while. I hope that info helps.

I took research over the summer at UTA and just finished a couple weeks ago. At first it seemed worse than it actually was, it was a heavy reading load and to be honest I gave up thouroughly reading and re-reading the chapters after week 2, I made sure to know the definitions and major concepts and read the articles and quizlets that she provided and I did fine. The biggest assignment was the research paper in APA format with title page, reference page and 4 resources, but she makes it pretty clear and easy to follow. If you use the example article and use the rubric, you'll be fine. Then you have to complete a visual aid to go with it, basically just copying some of the facts from your article over into a prezi or powerpoint, it didn't take long. Make sure to read all of the media articles that she posts and check out the quizlets that she provides because several of her quiz questions come directly from the articles and quizlets. Also if you have the same professor she gives a lot of hints and info for the quizzes in her OOH every week. It wasn't my favorite class, but it's not too bad, I'm glad it's over! Good luck!

I would jump at a deal like that! I wish they offered something like that in my area... free BSN and a guaranteed job after graduation?!?! I'll be graduating with about $20k in student loans and I'm still 9 months away from graduation, but I'm already stressing about finding a job as soon as I graduate. Sounds like an amazing opportunity, please don't throw it away.

I'm currently a junior in an AP BSN program, in the fall I will be a Senior and will be graduating in the Spring. The program is online and year round so I don't get the summer off, but my assignments and coursework and study time has been mostly easy to manage (not that it's easy, but I'm juggling it all pretty well and my grades are solid, so I think I could handle this). I have exams at my clinical site most Wednesdays and 12 hour clinical days every Thursday and Friday. I am currently ending my mental health rotation and will be starting med/surg next week. I am really interested in applying for an externship that has been offered at the hospital less than 2 miles from my house, I could really use some clinical experience and I would love to work there after graduation, so I also want to make some good connections. I didn't work in healthcare before nursing school so I have no prior experience or connections to help me find employment after graduation. I'm wondering if anyone out there in Allnursesland has successfully tried juggling an externship while in nursing school not on summer break but in the middle of the semester? I'm not sure how they work exactly, will they work with my schedule or is it more like a full-time job? Am I allowed to apply for a "summer externship" even though I'm not on summer break? I don't want to apply if I cannot commit to the program so I'd appreciate any insight or advice. Thanks!

Congratulations! It will be hard but it is doable. The AP BSN program is awesome, I was able to work full time hours and keep up with my 2 kiddos (3 and 6 thank God they sleep through the night lol). My clinicals were also Saturday-Sunday for J1 semester and during the week I downloaded the podcast lectures on my iphone and listened to them while I did stuff around the house or worked out. They open up all of the assignments for that week at the beginning of the week (except for some quizzes) So you can finish as many as you can when you get free time. When I had some down time I would finish as many as I could and work ahead whenever possible so that nothing snuck up on me and I wasn't as overwhelmed if I did get busy later in the week. Definitely take care of yourself and get as much rest as possible with a new baby. Can't stress enough to organized, get a planner and check off assignments as you go and you'll have plenty of doctor's appointments for you and baby in the first months so make sure you keep a calendar, I would be lost without my planner to keep up with my work shifts, dr appointments, social engagements, test days, clinical days and everything else. Good luck, you can do this!

I know this was a while back, but I did end up getting Accepted into UTA AP BSN program at the 11th hour, it was about 2 weeks before the semester started and I was all set to go to Baylor in Dallas which would have been over an hour commute for me each way for the duration of the 2 year program. UTA's program is 15 months classes are online, clinicals and exams are at the hospital. I am able to work PRN and keep up with school, and I have much more time with my two small children. the cost is SO much better than Baylor (I was borrowing $22K for my FIRST semester after financial aid and a scholarship plus $1500 in books), I was able to get back my deposit, return my books and scrubs that I had purchased for Baylor thank goodnes. UTA is about $5000 per semester, but I get financial aid so I'm borrowing about $3500 per semester and they are subsidized loans and I'm paying whatever I can as I go along so I'll be in significantly less debt than I otherwise would have been. UTA's program is excellent, I'm in my second semester. I have an awesome clinical group and all of the instructors so far have been amazing. Just following up in case anyone was curious :) I'm so happy with the way things turned out! I'm Not bashing Baylor it's a great school, this was just a much better option for me.

I'm definitely not an expert, I am also a first semester student but here is my little advice for what it's worth. I just took my final and HESI today. What helped me is taking practice tests and answering questions and READING RATIONALES (even if you get it right it doesn't hurt to read and make sure you know why you got it right) The rationales are key. I've been using Saunders NCLEX comprehensive review and I went over the Evolve case studies that we used throughout the semester. I re-took the exams that are at the end of each section to prepare for my HESI and finals. Practice NCLEX style questions as much as possible so you can get used to those types of questions. It's definitely a different testing style. Practice questions help me to get a feel for what they are looking for, how they word things etc. the rationales help me to go through the critical thinking process and see why my answer was wrong or right. I have the NCLEX mastery app on my phone and I try to do a few questions every day when I'm about to go to bed or waiting for my oil change or waiting in line at the grocery store etc. just sneaking in the practice wherever and whenever. I keep my Saunders book with me all the time these days to study whenever I have down time. There are some good practice tests on mightynurse.com and I also look at quizlet and youtube a lot there are some great videos that explain things like heart sounds and ABG's and just about any area you might need clarification on. Sometimes it helps to hear it from another perspective outside of just the lecture or book. It helps me to watch videos and animations and listen to songs that people make up to help remember some things. There are tons of resources, just find one that works for you. Good luck to you!

I was called off the wait list, I am not partnered I took 2 sciences (AP2 & Micro) & intro to nursing at UTA but most of my other credits came from community college. I had a good score on my entrance HESI and my GPA was pretty good, but I had no special considerations. I didn't get the call until right before the semester started (December 27th and orientation was Jan 12th) and I had like 2 weeks to complete the background check, immunizations, CPR class, and the tons of paperwork before orientation, but I'm so happy I ended up at UTA. So they can and will call you just before the start of classes, apparently many people are not able to pass the background check and complete the pre-orientation stuff so they give up seats at the last minute. Good luck to you!

If you were wait listed dont worry, many people get in to both the in-seat and online programs and have to give up a seat in one of the programs, some people also will not pass the background check or for many other reasons students will have to give up their seat & many people end up getting called off the wait list. I was wait listed and I'm currently about to start my J2 Semester in the AP BSN program. It's a great program enjoy this time before the craziness starts!

I am currently a nursing student in the UTA AP BSN program. If I remember correctly, I believe I submitted my application in August of 2014 and acceptance letters did not go out until mid October or early November for the Spring 2015 start. I do remember that it took a couple months to hear anything back, after I verified that they had received all of my transcripts and I had completed the application correctly all I could do was wait. Waiting is no fun you'll get an e-mail if you're accepted, wait-listed or not accepted into the program. Make sure you can access your MavMail (I have mine forwarded to my personal e-mail account so I make sure not to miss anything), they will only call you if you are wait-listed and then a spot opens up, otherwise they just send an e-mail and once you are accepted you only have a week or 2 to accept your spot in the program. Then comes the fun of submitting all kinds of paperwork to get ready for orientation. It is an amazing program and I have nothing but good things to report about the school, faculty and the nursing program at UTA. Good luck!

I got the call and was accepted into the off campus AP BSN program, I'm so happy!! :)

I was waitlisted and got the call last week. I was accepted in to the AP BSN off campus program as well. I felt so overwhelmed with all of the info I got in one day, and the long list of things to do, but I'm mostly done now, and I'm just excited to start. Congrats to everyone, I can't wait to get started!!

thanks for this! I have 2 small children and I was already feeling guilty about abandoning them, and not being around. I hope I can balance as well as you did!

Thanks for the input! I think I am going to purchase the e-book package and if I decide I want physical copies of any of my books I will buy or rent them as I go, hopefully I can figure out how to use them!

I got my book list today, and we have the option of ordering all e-books for about $600 less than the textbook package, I figure it's a win-win, I can still "highlight" and bookmark and search and all that so it sounds better in my opinion, I have a tablet that I was planning on using for school and I won't have to carry around text books and I'll save some cash, of course I can't sell them back, but I will be using these books for the entire program and beyond so that's fine with me... does anyone have any experience with the e-books? anything I should consider before I buy them?

Thanks everyone! I guess I heard too many "horror stories" you really put my mind at ease

I know right!? I took my pre reqs at a community college to save $$, fortunately I was able to qualify for pell grants that covered most of my expenses, I borrowed about $4k for my prerequisites over the course of 3 years that it took me to complete them, so I'm starting off with minimal debt and hoping not to accrue too much more.

Hi! I'm starting my nursing program in Spring 2015 and I'm worried about getting into trouble with my blood sugar during clinicals. I've heard stores of not being able to use the restroom or eat anything during the clinical shift, and I'm worried that my blood sugar will be an issue. I manage it pretty well but I've never NOT been able to access juice or a snack in an emergency situation when I start feeling clammy and stammering... Has anyone dealt with blood sugar issues during nursing school/clinicals? Will it be a huge problem if I have to get some juice or keep a protien bar on me?

You ladies are an inspiration, I have a 3 and 6 year old and work PRN averaging 24-36 hrs/ week. I'll be starting my BSN program in a few weeks and I know that there are a lot of people in similar situations. At least now I know it's possible!

I'm with you, I was suffering from major sticker shock after I saw my estimates. I wrote a letter to the financial aid office begging for any help since I quit my full-time job and started a part- time job to start this program, and they were awesome at helping me qualify for scholarships and aid through the school. Also I've been picking up shifts left and right & working tons of hours up until I start school in a few weeks to pay cash for my books, background check, scrubs, stethoscope etc. So far I have barely scraped up enough for all of that paying it one item per paycheck... I was blessed to get a few small scholarships and some financial aid and I had to take out a $5k personal loan, but everything else was covered. (out of $27k for one semester at my school $5k is NOT bad) hopefully since I'm now working part time and our income is reduced even further, next year we will qualify for more FA. I'm not looking forward to starting all over again to try and come up with enough to cover next semester! Good luck to you, keep telling yourself that this is an investment that will pay off for the rest of your life!

I have been wait-listed for both, congrats to all accepted, hopefully we will be classmates!

I'm facing a dilemma! I just got notification that I was placed on the wait list for UTA nursing school!! it's half the cost of Baylor where I have been accepted, already been to orientation, and set up my financial aid. At UTA I would graduate sooner (it's an accelerated 15 month program) which means I could start working as an RN and paying my bills sooner. (Both programs start January 2015) AND it's a shorter drive every day BUT I may not get a call, and if I do it could be as late as December Do I accept? Do I go ahead and buy my Baylor books and scrubs and pay the deposit which is required by Oct 15 and stick with the sure thing? Should I hold out for UTA even though it's not a sure thing? What to do?!? Hope and pray I get into UTA or stick with the sure thing?