NinerNurse

Don't do it.. For every thousand you take out now, you'd lose approximately $20000 for retirement (given about 30 years of compounding earnings). Put as much as possible into retirement, take out the loans you need, and pay off those loans ASAP.. You'll be thankful you did down the road

Congrats everyone! I'm coming from Winston-Salem. Originally from Asheville but obtained my BSN in Charlotte and moved here.. Excited to go back to Asheville and I'm sure you all will love it there!

Received the call yesterday that I was accepted to the program! Any future classmates out there?!!

Definitely take the position at the bedside first! Without previous ICU experience, they should give you roughly 8-10 weeks of orientation with a preceptor in order to be a safe nurse in the ICU. The charge nurse in my unit helps out on the floor frequently, and quite frankly, I doubt ANYONE can succeed in an ICU as a charge nurse without at least a year of bedside experience. Plus, most CRNA programs require bedside experience, and time spent in a leadership or management role does not count.

I will also be interviewing on Thursday in the afternoon. Same feelings as you all, nervous yet excited! I'm originally from the area so I have some favorite restaurants I will definitely be checking in at: Papas and Beer (best Mexican food I have ever had) and Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack if you like spicy food and don't mind splurging on the diet every once in a while! Also some restaurants in the Biltmore Park area where we will be interviewing but I recommend checking out downtown as cwnc1987 mentioned. It's a beautiful area! Trying to remind myself it's an accomplishment to get to this point and just to be myself for the interview. Look forward to meeting some of you and best of luck to everyone!