curiousrei

I checked with my friend and he said classes have been on Thursdays.

Accepted into PMHNP ? congrats everyone!

I also applied for PMHNP ?

Did the interview take the whole 30 minutes?

Yes, it's considered forensic mental health nursing. We have a state mental health hospital with a "forensic unit" that sounds similar to what you're describing.

Also, Congratulations on getting accepted!

Hello entryleveleverything, I wouldn't trust the dates on Banner for clinical start dates. In the summer, you'll be taking a nursing fundamentals class where you'll do a long term care clinical right in the middle of the term. Half the term you'll spend in the class/lab, and the other half will be spent at a clinical site. All of the long term care clinical sites in the summer will be in Tacoma or Puyallup. All clinical sites are arranged for you (no requesting certain areas), but you can switch with another classmate. We received all our clinical sites for the first year in the middle of summer term. Your fall semester, you'll have clinicals in med/surg 1 and mental health (locations include, Olympia, Tacoma, Puyallup for med/surg... Most of the mental health sites are in Lakewood or Tacoma, but some people in mental health unfortunately received "various locations" which means you may be in Tacoma one day and Auburn or Puyallup on another day). For J-term (January), you'll likely be doing pediatrics either in Lakewood or Tacoma or "various sites" like we did which includes also Auburn and Puyallup). In spring semester, you'll be taking med/surg 2 and OB and community health. The sites here will either be in Lakewood or Puyallup or Tacoma depending on where you're assigned. One of the community health clinical sites is near Seattle though! For labs, it depends on how quickly you sign up. I believe the ELMSNs get to sign up before the junior BSNs, but some ELMSNs that delayed in registering got into undesirable lab times. You'll have a lot of extra time in fall term compared to summer, so you may need to commute down just for a class or a lab. The studying depends on how you study. I'm a slacker and I've been maintaining good, but not great grades. Others that do study hard are likely maintaining great grades. There's A LOT of information in nursing school, but you're not gonna be able to memorize all of it. Just do what feels best for you to get most of the material down. All the ELMSNs have a college degree already, so you're used to studying. Also, remember that though we're going through the pre-licensure program quickly, the classes are geared towards undergrads. Expect the usual busy work that comes with being an undergrad in fall term. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Hello interpreternurse, Send me a PM if you wanna chat about PLU's program :)

Hello Lnelson16, I sent you a message

Hello SB2SEA, PLU does find placements for your clinicals. The sites are generally in the Tacoma area, but some sites are in Olympia and Seattle too. The clinical coordinator will assign you a location, but you're allowed to trade clinical sites with the other people in your cohort. You'll likely receive your clinical assignments for the entire pre-licensure portion sometime in the first summer semester.

I think a lot of people in my cohort originally wanted to pursue the DNP after getting the MSN, but I think now only a few of us are thinking of going for the DNP right after. This program's expensive (~70k+) and you really don't have much time to work in the first year. I heard previous cohorts say the same thing. Generally by the end of the program, you're burnt out, in a lot of debt, and ready to work. I'm one of the people considering the DNP right after, but I feel too inexperienced to be sure at this point. There seems to be a good knowledge+confidence difference between the traditional track BSNs vs the ELMSN group. The BSNs are more confident with their nursing knowledge and skills than our cohort feels. I'm sure it'll even out eventually once we start working though. I grew up near Parkland, so I just moved back with parents to save on housing costs. I know a couple people are doing the same, but most people live a good distance away. I think about a quarter of our cohort live in Olympia, while the rest of our cohort either lives in the Tacoma area or up north near Renton/Seattle/Redmond.

There's been a lot of changes for this year, so we seem to be the transitional group where the professors/administrators are testing out new professors, new clinical sites and new teaching styles. Because of that, I feel like our cohort's experience isn't representative of normal ELMSN cohorts at PLU. Overall, I like how the program is fast-paced. You start at as a sophomore-level nursing student in the summer (but classes are only with your cohort), then you join the junior-level BSN nursing students for fall term, and then you'll join the senior-level BSN nursing students for spring term. It's like you're going through 2.5-3 years of nursing school in a year. I didn't like the classes with the BSNs as much because there was a lot of busy work (it's like repeating undergrad), but it was also nice to get to know other nursing students. You share clinicals & labs with them too, so you get to know the BSNs pretty well.

Hey everyone! I'm currently in the ELMSN program at PLU and I wanted to help answer any questions you might have about the program! I remember having tons of questions about the program and it was helpful to have someone able to answer them. Feel free to comment here or send me a message :)

I don't know about other schools, but I was considering TCC as an option for me last year and I'm not sure you wanna bank on TCC. It's lottery based, so you'll need to be lucky to get in. I mean, you can increase your chances with good grades, etc, but definitely consider other schools too. There's also Pierce college for nursing and I don't think that one's lottery-based, but there wasn't much information I found about it. I ended up getting accepted to an entry-level master's of nursing program. If you get good grades and already have your bachelor's, I recommend that option.

Congrats!!! If you have a Facebook, please join the Facebook group if you haven't yet :)

Yeah, it'll definitely be a busy summer. Nursing16lr told me that there's an exam every week I remember you posting you were on the waitlist. Did you get accepted?

@nikxi36 I actually found the schedule for this summer semester on PLU's banner. It looks pretty brutal. We're supposed to take 4 classes (according to the sample curriculum online) that include NURS 220 Nursing Competencies I, NURS 270 Health Assessment and Promotion, NURS 320 Nursing Competencies II, NURS 580 Advanced Pathophysiology. I found all the class times except for Nursing Competencies II. Nursing Competencies I is from 8am-11:59am on T/W with a lab on T/W from 12:00-5pm plus clinic (assuming clinicals once they're assigned) from 6am-2pm on T/W. Health Assessment and Promotion is on Thur from 8am-5pm and Fridays from 1-4pm. The lab for this class is also on Fridays from 1-4pm (wondering if the class time above is meant for lab). Advanced Pathophysiology is from 5:30-8pm on Mondays and 9am-12pm on Fridays. I'm assuming the Nursing Competencies II will be anywhere where there's a gap in the schedule (probably Monday).

I just created a group on Facebook [search: PLU ELMSN 2016] Log into Facebook | Facebook

@Nursing16lr I was able to get your message. Thank you for the insight. I was a bit worried about clinicals because I won't have a car at least for the first year (parents will be driving me around), but sounds like it'll all be local enough that it shouldn't be an issue. PLU's only 5 minutes away from my house, so I'm really happy that not having a car's not gonna be too big of an issue yet.

@lalalikelife How did you like the two campuses? I actually haven't been around the PLU campus except to attend the information session one evening.

I don't know about the other paths much. But, I did get accepted to physical therapy school last year so I know a bit more about that field. I actually switched paths and got accepted to an entry-level master's of nursing program this year. Anyways, PT is not easy to pursue because you need several hours of volunteering/working/observing a physical therapist. It can't just be any department in the hospital/clinic- it actually needs to be directly near physical therapists. Also, you need to take your GRE (probably required for all the paths you listed anyways), have a strong science GPA, plus you are required to have 1-2 recommendations from current physical therapists. The previous posters mentioned hospitals requiring a master's degree in PT, but PT schools have now transitioned to all DPT (doctor of physical therapy- it's not a Ph.d because it's a clinical degree). The DPT program is 3 years long full-time and I heard it's basically impossible to work at least for the first 1-2 years (consider how you're gonna pay for grad school). One of the reasons why I switched from PT to nursing is because of tuition vs pay. By that, I mean that you will pay a ton of money for PT school (not including living expenses), but the amount you make doesn't really fit how much you pay for school. If you've looked into PT, hopefully you've looked into OT (occupational therapy) too. OT's have yet to transition from master's to doctorates, but OT graduates and PT graduates essentially make the same amount of money. If you're paying extra to get a DPT, you'd think you'd get paid more than an MSOT/MOT, but you don't. I don't think the PT degree is worth it unless you're passionate about PT. It's pretty expensive and it's a heck of a lot more competitive than BSN schools. The thing about MPH though is that I heard that you can get a lot of fellowships/scholarships/work study, so you won't be paying as much to get the degree- but it probably depends on the school too. Honestly, the BSN is a great degree. It's worth it because you get pretty good pay (depending on the area) to how much tuition you paid (assuming you got scholarships). There's also a chance to move up by pursuing a master's or a doctorate in nursing and become an APRN. Anyways, message me if you want more info on PT. I spent all 4 years in college working towards it- so I've done the work and research for that path.

@lalalikelife Looks like lalalikelife got accepted to SU! Congratulations! Are you planning on going to SU then? @ MSNhopeful Did you hear back from any other schools? Are you still planning on going to PLU?

Congratulations lalalikelife! Are you planning on going to PLU too?

I also got accepted into PLU but I haven't heard back from SU's AGNP track yet.

I checked the mail just now and I got the packet! It's almost exactly the same as the e-mail, but it's nice to see a big packet saying "GOOD NEWS INSIDE" And Yay! Looking forward to meeting you in June :)