SoontobeRN16

First semester, we didn't start clinicals till week 9, since we had to do all of our clinical check offs. Also, the first clinicals are pretty short only 7-8 hours. Each subsequent semester, the clinicals start earlier in the semester, are longer in length, and more frequent. Our final semester, during capstone, most students only have classes once a week, and have 2-3 12 hr clinicals a week. Some clinicals are on Saturday, but are fairly rare. The only day without guaranteed clinicals is Sunday.

Most classes have a break in between anywhere from 1-2 hours. There are three trimesters a calendar year. Each is about 15 weeks long followed by 2 weeks off. The breaker are in January, may and September

The course load IMHO was tough but not unreasonable. Classes started as early as 7am and finished by 5p, but it wasn't that long every single day. I'm trying to remember back to my first semester. I think we had classes Monday 8-2, Tuesday 8-12, Wed 12-3, Thursday 7-4, Friday 8-12. But the general progression is the first semester you'll be at school the most, and each subsequent semester, you'll spend more time away from school at clinicals. Our last semester, we had class once a week, but had 3- 12 hour clinicals weekly.

The first semester of school is very classroom heavy expect to be on campus every day. As the semesters go on, you will be at school lesson less however, your time will be spent doing more clinicals. Many of the people in our cohort did have jobs however, usually only had time for maybe 1 to 2 shifts max per week there will be times during each semester a little bit slower and then other times that are very busy with projects, papers, and tests all occurring at the same time, it was fairly manageable as long as you have a good time management skills.

Colleen, I just graduated in the first cohort. The reason the DEMSN track is not yet accredited is because CCNE will not give accreditation to a program that's just starting. It takes at least one year for the site visit and another 6-12 months for their decision. With the program being less than two years old, the accreditation should be coming soon. But don't worry, the accreditation will be posted by the time the next cohort starts in January. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out.

In our cohort, we started with 27, lost one to medical issues and 3 dropped down to ABSN. The DEMSN program has higher grade requirements than the ABSN program due to being graduate classes. The clinicals depends on the semester. At first, they are like 8 hours. When you get towards the end, it's 10-11 hours. In your last semester, you have a capstone which consists of 20 12-hour shifts in your area of choice with a nurse preceptor.

Good afternoon. I am in the first cohort of this program and we are set to graduate in 8 weeks. Overall, my personal experience has been great. There have been some challenges with scheduling and communication however I believe these are universal to all programs. The level of preparation has been great. Initially, the program is very content heavy, and as time progresses, the content becomes easier, however, the time commitments become more challenging, as the clinical hours increase every semester. We've been lucky to have great clinical experiences and way more hours compared to other schools in the area. Most, if not all of my cohort already has their first jobs lined up and everyone I know has gotten exactly what they want. It is rigorous and time consuming, but overall we are very well prepared to pass NCLEX. Most of the teachers are excellent and a wealth of info.

The first cohort of the program has one semester left and the second cohort just started in January. So no update on job. However, many of the soon to be graduates have already interviewed and had no problem getting the jobs of their choice.

They do not do a white coat ceremony. Pretty much all graduates of TLU have jobs before they graduate, many on units they worked at during capstone.

In terms of grading, the scale that is used university wide is A = 89.45-100, B = 79.45-89.44, C = 74.45-79.44, D and F are below that. Since this is a graduate program, you must maintain A’s and B’s. You can get one C, however your overall GPA must stay above a 3.0. If you do get a C or drop below a 3.0, you are put on academic probation and have one semester to bring your grades up. If you do not maintain the grades in the DEMSN program, you can always drop down to the ABSN cohort, since their standards are less than the DEMSN program.

It is definitely beneficial to live close to campus all of the semesters, if possible. Even subsequent semesters you will still be going to campus 3-4 days/week. Most of the clinicals are going to be in either SA, New Braunfels, or Seguin depending on scheduling. The school does allow trades of clinical sites as long as someone else at the other site agrees to trade with you at the beginning of the semester.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some things that are annoying or unorganized. However, I attribute most of it to being in the first cohort and not having ironed the kinks out yet. But overall, it is a very positive experience

I have to say, the first semester is the most challenging time wise as all of your class are on campus and you are going every day. The subsequent semesters, your on campus time goes down significantly.

First semester, we had two classes Monday 8-11 and 12-3. Tuesday we had lab 7-4 for the first 10 weeks and clinical for four weeks from 630-1230. Wednesday we had lab from 8-11. Thursday we had class 8-11 and 1-4. Friday we had class 8-11.

Hello all. I am currently in the DEMSN program at TLU and I love it. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.