sohokat

Hi nrhp, See this post for one of my classmate's (p. 11) and my thoughts about the program: https://allnurses.com/online-nursing-schools/suny-downstate-accelerated-929795-page12.html To sum up my feelings: no, nothing has changed. Be prepared to self-teach EVERYTHING and be completely overwhelmed the whole time. However, we have gotten a new professor this Fall who is very on top of teaching and is wonderful and honestly cares about all of us succeeding. She has been a breath of fresh air, and it gives me hope that Downstate will keep hiring more new professors. Through all of this though, I wouldn't go anywhere else. Just keep a good humor about everything, and let the small (and big!) stuff roll off your back. Be proactive about your education and you'll be fine. You will have wonderful classmates to help keep your spirits up. I have friends who have attended NYC and LIU's accelerated programs. They have had similar experiences and in addition are 80K in debt. I think it's the nature of ABSN programs. I really think they should be illegal .

Don't panic about the TEAS. It wasn't a big deal. Just study up on math and english. Remember that SUNY doesn't even look at your science scores. You do get your scores immediately. I took mine at Monroe college in the Bronx and was able to print out my results right there. You have to sign up for an ATI account when you register for the test, and your scores are saved to your account automatically. You can even save it as a pdf and attach it to an email too. When you're working on your application to SUNY, there is a page called "test scores" where you simply enter in your TEAS test numbers. Just to be safe, I think I emailed the pdf of my scores to admissions after I applied. I would suggest starting your application ASAP. I'm not sure when the deadline is, but it took me a few days to complete the application. You can save as you go, so don't worry about needing to fill it out all at once. The website is pretty nice, but the process is VERY time consuming! I was told to apply as soon as possible because there is a better chance that you'll get admitted....and the sooner you'll get an answer. I applied in september and got an answer in late december. It was a huge weight off my shoulders to know I was in! A lot of my classmates applied right at the deadline and didn't get answers until March & April.

I was discouraged by admissions from taking patho elsewhere, but when we actually met for orientation they took everyone's credits. I would just try and take them from a SUNY or CUNY school....just to be safe.

Here's what our schedule was for the first three semesters: SUMMER A (6 weeks) Health Promotion: M & T, 9am-2pm Health Assessment: W, 9am-5:30pm Pathophysiology: F, 9am – 5:30pm SUMMER B (6 weeks) Teaching & Learning (partially on-line): M, 9am-2pm Professional Nursing Development: M, 3pm-8pm OB Lecture: T, 9am-2pm OB Clinical: W & Th, 8am-3pm Pharmacology: F, 9am – 5:30pm Fall 1 Med-Surg 1 & 2 (split into 8 week sessions, so you'll only take one at a time): M, 9am-1:30pm Med-Surg Clinical (entire semester): Th, 8am-5pm & F, 8am-3pm Contemporary Nursing (on-line) Independent Study: Shadow a nurse on your own time Summer A was crazy because of the shock of the schedule and intensity of the program. The Summer B schedule should have been illegal. There was NO time during the week to study, so I was pulling 15 hour study sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. I've never bee more exhausted in my life. Fall semester has been better, but still very busy. If there is ANY way you can take Patho or Pharm or BOTH before you start the program, DO IT!! Your life will be so much easier!

Hi Lana_K, take a look at the long comment that adaniels17 left on page 11 of this thread. I agree with every single word of his post. The program is mind-blowingly disorganized and many days leaves us all crying/laughing/enraged at the administration. If you have a good support system at home and a VERY good sense of humor, you can thrive here. It just takes a lot of practice to let all the bumps in the road to roll off your back. Despite all the crap we put up with, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else. For one, I won't be in debt after I graduate. Two, I keep hearing very positive things about Downstate students getting hired after graduation. Third, and most important, I love my classmates! It takes a lot of time, energy and brains to get int this program, and you can really tell by the quality of people who were accepted. Everyone is from an incredibly different background and they are all the nicest people I've ever met. It leaves me in shock every time I think about how kind and amazing each person is in my class. We are truly one big crazy family and love the crap out of each other. This makes life easier on a daily basis because you will see these people more than your own family and you will have group projects/presentations/papers/activities/clinicals EVERY day and EVERY class. All in all, I really can't stand the way this program is run and I'm still shocked about all the self-teaching I've had to do. But, I have learned an INSANE amount of material in the last few months and think all of this small crap is worth it for the people you get to work with everyday.

Just joined the group! So excited for June!

I was recently a accepted into the accelerated program that starts in june of 2015. I am very excited and can't wait to begin my journey. I was hoping that a current/recent grad could post an example of what your schedule looked like in the beginning few semesters. I've got a 2.5 year old and need to get a head start in figuring out daycare! Any tips for that would be helpful too!

Just took my my a&p 2 final tonight. It was the last prereq i needed for my program. I actually cried on the walk home from exhaustion and relief that the class is finally over! I never studied harder in my life! Fingers crossed for an A....realistically, i think i made a B.

I'm about to take my last final (tomorrow) for A&P II! I'll be all done with my prereqs then!

Hi ShainaZ! I tried not to check my status too often, so I can't tell you exactly how long it took for the application to go to the committee and then back to admissions. I submitted my application in late August and I think i noticed "sent to committee" maybe in early to mid October. I noticed "File returned to admissions" in mid-November. Got an answer mid-December. I expect they have a faster decision process now, since the application deadline has passed. My TEAS score was: Reading: 92.9% Mathematics: 83.3% I actually can't track down my exact cumulative GPA right now, but I think it's in the 3.3 - 3.6 range. I wasn't a great student in undergrad, but scored all A's (except for Micro, which was a B+) in my science pre-reqs. I hope you hear something back soon!

It was through email. I think i noticed the checklist about 3 to 4 weeks before i got the acceptance letter. Fingers crossed for you!!!

Hi sumiink, I was just accepted this week! I still can't believe it!

I'm seeing that note on the application website. Before, it said something like "Application submitted", then "application sent to committee for review" and now the thing about the application being returned to admission. All in green font, right under the date you submitted your application.

Hi Tacokrunch! Did you take the TEAS? Did you apply yet?

Has anyone else applied yet? I just found a change of status of my application. Something like "application returned to admissions after committee review". Anyone else see that?

Did you attend the open house last week? How was it?

Thanks for your vote of confidence! SUNY is my first choice, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They do look at the overall score, but if you do great in the other topics (which I think is very realistic if you read the study book thoroughly) then science shouldn't drag you down too much. It was definitely the hardest section for me, because I haven't finished my prereqs yet. Most of the questions seemed to come from AP2 and focused on circulation and the heart, so it would be wise to brush up on that. There were also a lot of questions about meiosis vs mitosis. Honestly, I guessed (relatively educated...) on nearly half of the science questions and didn't do too bad. The curve must have helped me out. Just a heads up about the application process. It took me about 2 good weeks to get everything completed online and all my docs uploaded. The application is massive! And then I had to wait on my references to submit their portion...

oh yea. I studied for one solid week while I was on vacation from work over the summer and made pretty high marks. I strictly studied from the official study guide. Read it cover to cover. Did both of the practice tests multiple times, and reviewed the stuff I didn't know over and over. I actually did much better on the real test than on any of the practice tests that I took. I would suggest focusing most of your energy on math and reading, since those are the only scores SUNY looks at. Don't stress about the science...its a waste of time and the questions are SO random!

Just thought that I'd start a thread for people applying to the Downstate accelerated program starting in June 2015. Has anyone else applied? I just submitted my application!

Love that reply!

Hi all! I've been working a full-time job in the arts for years while taking one pre-req at a time in order to apply to nursing school. I finally submitted my first application to a program and feel so relieved to finally be (hopefully) starting school next Spring! I couldn't be happier about this career change, but my co-workers are really bothering me. Everyone's reaction about my desire to become a nurse has been "EW! WHY would you ever want to do that! What a GROSS job! Of course, I know very well that they have no idea what they are talking about, but I have to work with these people for at least another 6 months! Any suggestions about how to deal with them?

Hi! I submitted my application a few weeks ago and finally received an email saying my application was submitted to the committee! Anyone else at this stage yet?