cn4207

I was always set on FNP due to job prospects, flexibility, etc. but I've been having second thoughts about PMHNP lately. Psychiatry fascinates me and I would much rather focus on one aspect of human health that I'm interested in. What does a PMHNP exactly do? How mentally draining is the job? What are some settings that they work in other than psych hospitals? I'd like to work in outpatient settings if I can, but it seems like a significant portion of outpatient settings for PMHNPs consists of community clinics... And I've heard of some not-very-pretty stories about working at there. (e.g. drug seekers) I would also like to know if psych NP's are required to provide therapy, or if they mostly focus on diagnosing and prescribing. While the study of psychiatry itself intrigues me, I'm not exactly the "therapist" type... I myself have been constantly suffering from Asperger's and social anxiety all my life. (Ironic, much?) Should I stay in inpatient settings if I want to focus on diagnosing/prescribing? Thanks!

I thought most schools give you a second shot when you fail a class for the first time. So doesn't that mean that the earliest a student can get dismissed from a program for academic reasons is after the SECOND semester?

I know that most schools have "two strikes, then you're out" rule when it comes to getting kicked out. But has anyone seen/heard of someone being dismissed after the FIRST semester? What did they do??

There's probably not a lot of pharmacists here, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway... I'm a pre-nursing student and I've been debating between FNP and pharmacist as my end goal for a while now. I've actually been interested in pharmacy since high school, but the level of math and chemistry involved in pharmacy have always scared me away. But what scares me MORE is the skills part of nursing. I am more of a book smart person than a street smart person, and sometimes I feel like I'm clumsy and lack "common sense" when it comes to discerning things using my senses (e.g. sight, touch, sound, etc.) As a nurse or an NP, you're expected to use these senses many times to come up with your own diagnosis, which may go wrong and endanger a patient's life. Although pharmacists can also make errors and potentially harm their patients, I think most of their errors would originate purely from their THOUGHT processes, rather than looking at a patient directly and mis-interpreting something like an NP might. NP's are expected to perform most of the duties of a doctor these days, yet the schooling is much longer for pharmacy (4 years vs. 2-3 years) and the degree granted at the end is HIGHER for pharmacy than that of an NP. (PharmD vs MSN, although it's gearing toward DNP now) What do you guys think about this? Is pharmacy school that much harder than NP school? I was actually wondering the same thing about physical therapy requiring a DPT- Not saying that their job is easy, but I'm just not sure if the level of knowledge and liability that is expected of physical therapists is justified by a doctorate degree. Also, would you recommend NP or pharmacy for someone like me? Thanks.

I'm about to start an accelerated BSN program in a month and I'm terrified out of my wits. It's a 15 month program spread out in 4 semesters. As if nursing school on its own wasn't hard enough, I heard that accelerated BSN programs are practically soul-destroying. Basically, you would live, eat, breathe, and poop nursing and you have to kiss your life goodbye. I heard that many relationships went down the drain during accelerated BSN programs. Is this really the case? I have a friend in MED SCHOOL who still manages to party on the weekends. On top of that, she's even dating someone! Now, that might be partially due to the fact that she is naturally super smart... But anyway, I want to hear stories of people who got through it fine... I don't expect to have much social life, but I just want to get through the program with a sane amount of sleep (~7 hours on average) and maybe devoting myself to a couple hours of Youtube/netflix on Saturdays.... Is that too much to ask?!

Hi guys, I've been admitted to Western but decided to attend another school. Today was the deadline to pay the deposit to secure the spot for the admitted applicants, and I did not pay my deposit. Hopefully, the next person on the alternate list should hear from them soon.:) Good luck to everybody!

I would like to know which program this is as well.

Hi tusnurse92, would you be able to give some insight on this program? How rigorous is it? Would you be able to describe a typical week in the program? How are the students doing with finding a job upon the completion of the pre-licensure portion? I just got my acceptance e-mail today and while I am incredibly flattered, I don't know how I feel about the fact that it's 3 years long for a generalist degree (as opposed to an NP degree) and that we are required to work full-time as an RN for the post-licensure portion. On top of this, I'd have to do an extra year of post-master's certificate for FNP since my goal is to be an FNP, which means it would take me 4 years-and this is assuming that I get a job RIGHT away after my pre-licensure portion and meet my 2040 hour requirement on time to be considered for their FNP program. I'm deciding between this school and Emory, which is only 2 and 1/2 years long and I get to walk out with a bachelor's, master's, AND a certificate in family nurse practitioner with no RN experience required whatsoever during the program. The only thing holding me back from Emory is the tuition, and the fact that it's located across the country. Feel free to share anything about your experience. Thanks!

I'm starting an accelerated bsn program in the summer, and it seems like there is a consensus that "nursing school was the hardest thing that [people] have done in their lives" almost everywhere, whether it be allnurses.com, Youtube, or whatever.... And this isn't just said by some 20-year-olds who haven't jumped through hoops of life. I've heard it from people with biology degrees, MBA degrees, and even lawyers. I even read a comment by a lady who claimed that nursing school was the hardest thing she has done in 50 years of her life, including birthing her children! With that said, I know that it's certainly doable. But I haven't really seen people say this with law school, pharmacy school, or just any other professional school, (except maybe med school) so I'm curious. Is nursing school really that bad, or are we just a bunch of whiners? lol... Any input is appreciated!

Do NOT go by the financial aid website or the nursing website for now; they do not reflect accurate information as of yet. Even the people working at the admission's office themselves do not have an accurate idea of the cost. Instead, they gave me the e-mail address of Katie Kennedy, the financial aid director for the program, and told me to go by her words. I emailed her to clear up the discrepancy between all of these websites, and this is what she said in her e-mail: "Here is a snapshot of the costs for the BSN portion of the program (which you can double to estimate the cost for the MSN program). This is based on students who enrolled in summer 2016 as tuition costs for fall 2017-summer 2018 have not yet been approved. Let me know if you have any questions. Katie [TABLE=width: 338] [TR] [TD=colspan: 2]Summer 2016 Cost of Attendance[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Tuition Expenses[/TD] [TD]$21,000[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fees[/TD] [TD]$105[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Living Expenses[/TD] [TD]$4,867[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Books and Supplies[/TD] [TD]$1,500[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Transportation[/TD] [TD]$0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total[/TD] [TD]$27,472[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=colspan: 2]Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 Cost of Attendance[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Tuition Expenses[/TD] [TD]$43,600[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fees[/TD] [TD]$654[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Living Expenses[/TD] [TD]$14,972[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Books and Supplies[/TD] [TD]$3,000[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Transportation[/TD] [TD]$930[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total[/TD] [TD]$63,156[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=colspan: 2]Summer 2017 Cost of Attendance[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Tuition Expenses[/TD] [TD]$21,800[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fees[/TD] [TD]$105[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Living Expenses[/TD] [TD]$4,867[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Books and Supplies[/TD] [TD]$1,500[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Transportation[/TD] [TD]$0[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total[/TD] [TD]$28,272[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Overall Cost of Attendance[/TD] [TD]$118,900[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Overall Billed to Student[/TD] [TD]$87,264 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] So yes, the amount that is solely BILLED to our accounts is over $87,000 per 4 semesters...without supplies, textbooks, etc. And she clearly stated in the e-mail that we would have to DOUBLE that amount in order to get the total cost of the ABSN+MSN, which comes to over $174,000. I know that's technically less than 180k, but we might as well consider it equivalent to 180k since $6,000 seems like a miniscule difference at this point when the total number is that high.

I'm on the same boat- paid my deposit but having second thoughts. My worst nightmare is failing out of the program with the horrendous amount of loans still left with me. Although it may sound far-fetched and extremely pessimistic, I think this is a very possible scenario for me, considering how accelerated their entire ABSN+MSN curriculum is... I called them and asked if it'd be possible to defer enrollment, and they told me that they can only defer my "application" and not my "enrollment." Basically, they will throw your application into the next cycle and you would have to compete against a brand new pool of applicants again. I asked if it's going to be possible to opt out of just the MSN portion if I ever end up changing my mind about it in the middle of my ABSN program, and they said that they "would not recommend that," since that means I would have taken up a spot of a rejected applicant who WOULD have been willing to go through the entire ABSN+MSN. I then asked if it'd be possible to just give up the MSN portion completely and join the ABSN cohort which begins in fall semester. They said I can't do that either. *sigh* It sucks because I've been rejected from all other entry-level MSN programs so far, and Emory's the only one that I got into....I'm waiting to hear back from one more school that is much cheaper (and closer!) than Emory. But honestly, after all these rejections, I'm not counting on it...I'm also considering giving up on going to a school this year altogether and applying again next year.

aboyd4580, feel free to PM me and I'll give you my e-mail. :)

For those of you who made up their mind about attending Emory, how are you handling your finances? Although their website states that ABSN and MSN each cost $60,000, it's misleading because apparently that cost does not include a summer semester. I e-mailed the financial aid advisor directly to find out that the tuition+fees for the ABSN alone costs $87,000! Double that amount to get the total for ABSN+MSN and you end up with almost $180,000, and that's not even including the living expenses! Yikes. I nearly hurled when I first saw that number. I did not get any merit scholarships, although I did get a few-thousand- dollar grant per year.

I found out about my acceptance into ABSN+ MSN for family nurse practitioner track on November 15th (which was their first "official" admission notification date) and my biggest advice is to APPLY EARLY. My stats are weaker than many others who have been admitted, and I really think that applying early played a huge role in my admission. I believe their application window opens as early as July and they begin notifying applicants as early as August. Since they do not require LORs, you really are in full control of when your application is submitted and ready to be reviewed. Just make sure you plan taking/sending your GRE in advance, since that takes time. When I called last summer and asked them how many applications they received during the previous cycle, they said they received anywhere from 1,000-2,000 applications. But remember, you'd be competing against a number that's significantly smaller than that if you apply early, so do it! With that said, you should know that they can also put applicants on the waitlist even if they do apply early.

My acceptance letter states ABSN + MSN. I just talked to the nursing school today and they said AMSN and MSN refer to the same curriculum but different cohorts. Basically,if you've been admitted into the combined ABSN+MSN program, then the master's portion of your program falls under the "AMSN" category as opposed to just regular MSN. However, it doesn't mean that your track is actually accelerated; you are just in a different cohort than MSN students at Emory who received their BSN elsewhere.