PVAMU Prospective Students (Spring 2013)

futureHOUSTONnurse · Nov 30, 2012

Just the meningitis with the cover sheet that comes with the orientation email.

patty04_17 · Dec 4, 2012

Hey guys, so I'm trying to find ratings for professors and I have no clue what professor teaches what? Do ya'll have a plan?? I just wanna know before I get there at orientation.

futureHOUSTONnurse · Dec 5, 2012

I am more than likely just going to wing it, lol. I am excited/nervous! :|

rumwynnieRN · Dec 6, 2012

I graduate next week (this was the longest 2 1/2 years). Semester 1 instructors are ******* and ******* for theory, and clinical instructors are ******, I think *****also teaches, and some other people, not sure. My teachers from semester one aren't at PV anymore or they switched semesters -- my clinical instructor now teaches for semester 4.

That reminds -- I need to sell my uniforms and parking. The uniforms are expensive (at least the ones they're selling), and there was only one type of parking available for you in the garage.

Good luck -- this will be an interesting 2 1/2 years for all of you.

futureHOUSTONnurse · Dec 6, 2012

Can you specify more on the parking? How exactly do they fit everyone - staff, students, faculty - into one garage. Is it first come first serve everyday?

rumwynnieRN · Dec 6, 2012

You pay for parking, and we share the garage with the UT med school across the street, and also with kindred next door. It's more than enough, and yes, it's first come, first serve. You can get the year parking or the limited one. No one gets the limited on because you would only be able to park after school. The year one allows you to park whenever.

Yes, regardless of when you buy parking, you get the "year" parking, and it officially expires August 31st, but it will go until the middle of September. It does not go by when you bought it (i.e. you buy it in October, it still expires August or September).

Faculty parks in another section of the garage, not where the students park.

And no one really has issues with parking, just that some people park higher than others, and the elevators are extremely inconvenient at bad times.

Bluedolls · Dec 6, 2012

@ rumwynnie congrats on your graduation. Regarding the uniforms, how much does the school sell them for? Also what is your advice for the semester 1 students? How difficult or easy are the classes??

rumwynnieRN · Dec 7, 2012

Thanks. You'll get there in 2 1/2 years too:) The uniforms are overpriced. I really don't understand why they make you buy a total of three uniforms. You wear the white one for semesters 1, 2 and 4, a purple/white for semester 3, and purple for semester 5 (don't worry about the other two uniforms until you get to that semester). This might change while you're there. I'm going to sell my two white uniforms (yes I bought two -- my parents don't have white scrubs, and I can't totally justify washing one pair of scrubs). I remember them being much more than my parents' -- was it $90 for one? Like with the top and pants. I think you can get away with just any white uniform, but some teachers care about you buying it from the bookstore because it's "from the bookstore."

And my advice semester 1 is get your act together now, because once you slip up, it's hard to get back on. The questions in nursing school are different from pre-reqs. They're NCLEX type questions, and you need to be prepared for boards. Don't think you can party on the weekends, and yeah, you should expect your social life to take a backseat. No, not everyone who goes through nursing school has this issue, but even when I went part-time (no job or family, just some of these classes were getting ridiculous), I still felt the pressure. In retrospect, semester 1 is the easiest semester, but it's a struggle because a lot of people have to change how they study. A LOT of people have issues with patho and health assessment. ******* is great when you go to her for help, and don't be put off by her attitude (sometimes she comes off really rude), but she will help you in the end if you go to her in the beginning. I really liked patho, and health assessment isn't that bad, but between those two, health assessment was the bigger issue with me only because they do a head to toe at the end of the semester, and people will freak out.

I know everyone says the beginning of the second paragraph, but there are a lot of people who I started nursing school with who aren't at PV anymore or they failed a semester. They don't take any of it seriously and it bites them back. If you can, break up your semesters. I know people in the class ahead of me who took some of their semester 1 classes in the summer so they wouldn't have the full load in the spring. It's not a bad idea, but if you had issues with patho, you might also have issues with pharm semester 2 so decide what's more important at that time.

And if you have ******* as your clinical instructor, don't let her intimidate you. There are stories about her making people cry at clinical (I had her as my lab instructor for health assessment -- really happy I didn't have her for clinical), but I've been told by some they either said, "You won't talk to me like that," or they just took it and went on with their day.

Oh, and be careful with careplan books. They're helpful, but wait until you've talked with your clinical instructor. Everyone has their own way of writing it, and what works for one may not be true for another.

HouTxNurse832 · Dec 31, 2012

I'm going into semester V this Spring, and I agree with what Rumwynnie said about Semester I. The best advice I can give is stay as organized as possible and to not be discouraged by your first test grades. Nursing school questions are COMPLETELY different from any type of question you will ever encounter. However, they are NOT impossible. Just takes some time to get the hang of it. :)

Health assessment and Patho together can be a little intimidating once seeing the workload, but ****** is really nice and willing to help with whatever she can. I had ***** for clinical (she was awesome), but I do know about ******* and those stories haha. I never worried about who I got for clinicals because the teachers who people told me were "hard" had seemingly "rough around the edges" personalities, but just wanted you to learn. However, everyone's experience is different.

Social life...haha. I'm not going to say it should be non-existent because you should definitely take a break so you won't get burned out. But there will def not be any every weekend partying.

All in all, in retrospect you will wish you stayed in semester 1 once you get to semester 3 and 4 lol. Just kidding.

Good luck. Enjoy guys :)