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@FNPNurseCA, MSN I actually got a credit check from the Department of Education at around the same time as you and I got sooo excited thinking it was a good sign about me receiving this scholarship....but then I realized that I think its a credit check for the Grad PLUS loan that I just applied for haha. Not sure if its the same case for you, but I just wanted to chime in :)

That's awesome @btorok! Can you give us the link to your blog when you get a chance? I would love to hear your feedback on the program :)

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy it! It gave me a lot of valuable insight of what it would be like to work in the hospital.

I had to write a few short essays during the application process, but not during the interview. And I'm not sure if you need to answer first. I read that some hospitals do group interviews, so you may want to answer first for those. But St. Francis had individual interviews.

Awesome @Sig_336! I did the program at St. Francis Medical Center and my interview was fairly simple. I'm not sure if it will be the same if you applied at a different hospital. But they asked me a patient care scenario question, what my educational goals were, why I wanted to be in the COPE program, how I problem solve/work with others, etc. Mostly standard interview questions and it took around 30 minutes. If you get accepted into the program, you will need to get CPR certified and have certain immunization shots if you didn't have those already. Then you do training. Training is 30 hours (3 10 hour days at St. Francis) and then you will complete a written test and a practical patient care scenario test. You need to pass both to begin your shifts at the hospital. The patient care test is the most nerve wracking, to be honest. At St. Francis you were assigned a scenario (bathe a patient, make an occupied bed, take vitals, etc.) right before you were tested and had to complete everything in front of the two people grading you as well as other trainees. My advice to pass the tests is to simply study and practice :)

I have a lot of volunteer experience with my church, including overseas/out of the country volunteer experience. I got healthcare volunteer experience through the COPE Health Scholar program that several hospitals in Southern California have. Some hospitals call it the Clinical Care Extender program.

Hi Sig_336! I had a similar issue with my gpa when I was applying. Obviously if your gpa is on the lower side, you would want to make up for it in all other areas of your application (great letter to the dean, a solid interview, etc). What helped me get a few extra points though was volunteer experience, healthcare experience, and experience working/volunteering outside of the country. I did not get in for the Spring 2017 that I was applying for, but I did get offered admission for the Summer 2017 session. A few extra points can really make a difference :)

If you meant Spring 2018 though, I think you would be notified in May or early June.

You should have been notified already for Spring 2017.

I got bumped to the Summer session, so I won't be starting until May, but I'll keep you postedí ½í¸Š I noticed that too when I was applying...I wish people had posted some updates after they started/finished the program ahha.

Hi Kim! I think when I went to the information session they stated that the BSN portion and the MSN portion are each around $40,000. Those are just estimates though...I haven't done the math haha. I wouldn't put off applying until you get healthcare experience, BUT I would suggest that you get some experience before you start. Getting healthcare experience really soldified my career choice for me because I knew I was going to enjoy it haha. When you're applying though, healthcare experience counts for the same amount of points as any other volunteer experience. So having it would help, but it's not a deal breaker.

Thank youuuu, but I'll probably just stick with Azusa. I already paid for it and bought the book....I'm starting this week I think.

Hey @professionalgal! I just saw your comment and the class isn't showing as being open anymore :/ I signed up to take in through Azusa Pacific University College, but it was expensive!

Hi @Heart20, we applied for a different program than you are applying for so we had a different application deadline. None of us have started yet; the Spring 2017 semester starts in January for us.

I think that there are online classes that you can take, but I don't think they are all online. I'm pretty sure you still need to attend classes on campus.