just finished a job night shift from the worst experience I could ever imagine. It was not for me and management was totally from MARS. Now I am into a totally wonderful position which makes nursing school and every sacrifice worth every second of stress. I wish you the best. Hang in there because a year or two of hell is definitely worth the reward down the road. Your suffering will be well rewarded.
Firehawk, I completed most of my pre-reqs one at a time over the years at HFCC while working. By the time I found this program, I only had inorganic & organic chem and the 3 online NRS classes from OU. I wasn't working while taking those classes because I took a buyout from my job. I was making over $60K but I would rather have job security and work in a field I am interested in. Are you thinking about taking 3 courses in one semester while working? I don't know if I would recommend more than two because it is important to earn high grades for this competitive program. Good luck in whatever you decide.
A spot opened up at Conner Creek this spring so I will be starting early. Hopefully the commute will be better. I'll probably move since the impending road construction will likely destroy any chance of me arriving to class on time.
Well i had this long, elaborate response typed out for you and accidently hit the BACK button, and lost it all. My Goodness. Here's the long and short:
I planned to take 3 courses at a time to get through it as fast as possible (within 2 years for all pre-reqs). I definitely can't quit work until i start the accelerated program, so I will be working full time while taking all prerequisites. I cannot imagine nursing courses being as tough as the Engineering crap I had to go through. I expect nursing courses to be far more interesting, tedious, lots of reading, lots of memorizing. If I am wrong, please correct me. And by no means am I implying that nurses have it easy or do'nt work hard. I know they work hard. I'm jsut saying that the Engineering curriculum I completed was a BEAR and I can't imagine too many things being tougher than that. I took 13, 15, and 17 credits in my last 3 semesters in Engineering and was working full time, and carried a 3.0 or better in those semesters, and that's pretty damn good considering I had ZERO interest in those courses, and hated what I was doing.
I am banking on getting a 3.8 or better in nursing. I want to become a CRNA eventually and I know they only take top students for that program (like 3.5 or better I heard). I expect high grades, no slacking from me. I'm the type that works harder the more work I have anyways. If I don't have enough, I tend to slack.
My main reason for wanting to switch careers is the fulfillment aspect. There is NONE in engineering for me. I have always had this urge to do something to help others, even since I was young. I guess I just ignored that in high school and did something else. I regret it, but having the Engineering Degree has definitely not hurt me either. I am 29 now and the motivation to drive me to do well at nursing courses is the fact that if I don't, I'm stuck in Engineering the rest of my life, and there's just no way I can tolerate it.
So, I'm looking forward to working hard to get into another field with great job security, pay, and infinite opportunities. Engineering is a dying field in this country, especially in automotive Engineering (what I do now).
I know for sure that you will start at about 60K. I graduated with business degree and after 4 years I was making less working 40+ hrs than my friend who got her associates degree in nursing working PART time... I was told that having BSN is even more beneficial when it comes to the compensation. The best thing about it is that it's an amazing, flexible job to have! I am planning to start OU in 2010 so I hope to see you there. Good Luck !
Thank you for the advice. My name is Dave. Keep in contact. If you see me at school then say hi!
I can't wait. I'm super excited to get into something that will give me a sense of fulfillment and purpose in my job. Engineering sucks. You ever hear a high schooler talking about going into Engineering, DETOUR THEM. I had to get something done at a hospital about a month ago and I was talking with the receptionist. Her son was planning to go into Engineering. I told her to talk him out of it. It ain't all it's cracked up to be, and in about another 5 or 10 years, there will be no more engineering in this state.
One more reason I wanted to post about wanting to become a good nurse:
I know what it is like to be the patient. I suffer from Atrial Fibrillation and I've been in and out of ER's a few times. Some nurses are frickin idiots. I mentioned to one nurse this one time that I take in alot of protein and i lift weights. She assumed I used steroids and actually argued with me about it (it ain't like i'm overly built either). I told her she'd better apologize to me after she sees my blood work. Yeah, i just came in because I am feeling like I'm going to die in an episode of Atrial Fib and she starts harrassing me about something I dont' even do.
Yeah, I understand people come in and they lie, but there's no reason to argue. Once you see blood work, it'll spell everything out for you. If she didn't believe me, she coulda just said "ok" and waited for the results. It's Fn ridiculous. People come to hospitals because they are in pain. The last thing that people who are suffering need is someone in their face arguing with them. Boy I'll tell ya...
Anyway, sorry if I am hijacking, but I just wanted to mention it. I would hope that those wanting to become nurses are doing it for all the right reasons. Nursing is such an important job, and can really improve the quality of someone's life. Even if you are just BS'ing with your patient for a few minutes, that goes a VERY LONG WAY.
I want to get into this program but I already have a 2 B's and a C in my prerequisites the rest will be A's, do you think this puts me at a significant disadvantage?
I personally don't....if they still do the rolling admissions you will eventually get in as long as you meet the requirements. However, if they discontinue that, then it may....when spots become limited they go by GPA so then it may be a disadvantage.
Hi everyone, I am new here. I have been reading your posts and have found them to be very informative. Thank you so much. I am planning on applying for the program in May and I was wondering if anyone might know which semester they are currently accepting applications for. I haven't been to an info meeting since last summer, and at that time I think they said it was Jan 2009. Thanks in advance for the info.
I was just accepted to the Sping 09 accelerated program. It is being held at St. John Cohert.
Do any of you have children while going threw the program? I will have a 2.5 and a 1 year old. I am so scared that it will be too much.
For those that are in the program how it is structured? They do not give what a typical semester looks like. Is the third semester pretty much all clinicals? What do you do for the clinicals? Is it hands on?
I was just accepted to the Sping 09 accelerated program. It is being held at St. John Cohert.
Do any of you have children while going threw the program? I will have a 2.5 and a 1 year old. I am so scared that it will be too much.
For those that are in the program how it is structured? They do not give what a typical semester looks like. Is the third semester pretty much all clinicals? What do you do for the clinicals? Is it hands on?
Lisa
There are people in my class at Conner Creek (grad in May) who have children, even small children. They are still in class and passing and will graduate in about 2.5 months. I have 2 girls - 11 & 13. It is absolutely doable. The suggestions I have are - Have your support group ready, whether it be a spouse, relative, friend, whatever. You can have clinicals any time day or night. While most are in the day, not all are and they don't look kindly on you telling them you can't do the clinical because your child is sick or had to be picked up or whatever. There are only so many clinicals and the time in 2nd degree is very tight. They won't reschedule tests for you either. Today, a classmate brought her child to the test. The test was 90 min. and her child looked sick. She left immediately after the test and didn't stay for lecture. I'm assuming she did this because she had no choice (she had never brought her child before) and she had to take the test. But I wouldn't recommend it. Have everything lined up before time and backups available. You may never have to use them but why put more stress on yourself.
Secondly, it helps if you know how you study. I would not be able to study while watching a 2.5 and 1 yr old. You may be different but there is a LOT of studying in the 2nd degree and no matter how much time you have it is never enough. Also, if you know your study habits, it helps. I'm better when I go to the library, even if there's no one home at my house because it's too easy to do other things (like going onto allnurses.com :wink2:) Hopefully you have already thought of this and it's not a problem. Do my kinds miss me? Yes Yes Yes. I spent 2 yrs on pre-reqs and working before this pgm started (left 7am got home 9pm M-TH, studied all weekend) so they haven't seen me a lot for about 3 yrs now. They are REALLY looking forward to when I graduate. However, I'm doing this for them too. My previous career was not secure and I made the bulk of our income, so if I didn't have a job, lots of bills didn't get paid. There were a couple of people that dropped out the first semester because they didn't want to spend so much time away from their kids.
Let me say this though. My husband does a whole lot more with our kids than he ever did. He gets up early and fixes them breakfast, takes them to their different groups, goes over their homework and projects, etc. He is a lot closer to them than he ever was. I don't believe this would have happened had he not been forced to by my not being available. I believe it has been good for my girls. They will always want to see me and be with me cause they see me less and probably cause their girls and dad's not into sappy movies and painting nails. But their father is more a part of their life than ever before. Once I am in the working world again, it will probably go back to the way it was but for now they are experiencing having their father a big part of their life. And, it's only 12 months. You will miss them and probably feel guilty but after you graduate and are working you will have time. Since yours are younger they probably won't even remember the year.
For the other questions (and I appologize for the long post), all the semesters are part clinical and part lecture. All are busy. You will find some are easier than others but everyone is different. The 1st was the hardest for me but others said the 2nd was hardest. Think of taking a 15 week semester and squishing it into 7 weeks. That will be your life for the next 12 months. Clinicals - definitely hands on. The first clinical ever, I shadowed a nurse the whole day but after that you are in there doing everything the nurse would do except IV's, give blood, central lines and maybe a few other things. You will give bed baths, chg beds, do bedpans, give meds, put in foleys, tube feedings, chg bandages, whatever your patient needs. Interesting stuff. You will feel scared stiff the first days and maybe every clinical, thinking you just don't know enough and can't possible do it. People have even thrown up their first day (thankfully not on the patient). You will also wonder, after a couple of months why you were ever scared and thought you couldn't do it because you are doing just fine. You will have a patient thank you for taking the time to talk to them, just talk, because, as a student you HAVE the time to talk. You will see, maybe not in all but in some, that you did make a difference that day. YOU - the new student nurse who knows only a smattering of what you need to ultimately know- actually HELPED someone. And it makes all worth while.
so I will be working full time while taking all prerequisites.
I did this too.
I cannot imagine nursing courses being as tough as the Engineering crap I had to go through. I expect nursing courses to be far more interesting, tedious, lots of reading, lots of memorizing. If I am wrong, please correct me.
OK, I'm pleased to do it. It's not so much that the info in nursing courses are harder than other disciplines (though they're no walk in the park, especially learning meds, side affects, signs and symptom of hundreds of very similar illnesses, the difference between heart murmurs, and realizing that people can die on you). The thinking is different. I come from a computer background but we never did critical thinking like you do in nursing. No matter how much time you have to read/study, it will never be enough. And memorizing? Oh how I long for the day when all I had to do was memorize. Memorizing is the easy part. But what you really do is assess the patient and call upon everything you have learned to figure out what to do. Think of it as a puzzle and you know each piece individually but no idea of what the total picture looks like. You have to put the pieces together. As you get a few of them (which may or may not be correct) you may begin to kind of know what it should be but then someone switches out some of the pieces and the whole thing changes.
I am banking on getting a 3.8 or better in nursing. I want to become a CRNA eventually and I know they only take top students for that program (like 3.5 or better I heard).
I got 4.0's in all my pre-reqs (bio, chem, micro, organic and biochem, A&P). So I thought " why shouldn't I get a 4.0 in nursing too, or at least a 3.8". I have a 3.7 right now but it looks like it may be lower by May. However, I urge you to go for it.
So, I'm looking forward to working hard to get into another field with great job security, pay, and infinite opportunities.
Job security - yes. Opportunities - definitely. Great pay - maybe. However, working at something you enjoy has its own rewards. How many people do you know that can say every day "I love what I do". Couldn't say that for many many years. Now I can. Remember that song "there is a season"? I guess my season is now. Maybe yours is too. Good luck.
KittyKisses
15 Posts
Thank you so much Christina! Once im done with it id love to get some feedback from you, if thats ok.
TY TY TY :)