Rush University BSN program

Trauma Columnist · Dec 5, 2004

Natasha - they have a website...how far are you into the program at Bradley? I work in Peoria and almost went to Bradley. I know several of the instructors.

EvePooh · Dec 6, 2004

I'm accepted to Rush's 4-quarter nursing program which starts in Jan 2005. I don't know how many student are accepted for 2005. but I do know that around 50 students out of 300 were accepted into the 2004 program. Their average GPA is 3.3. They require an interview and a nurse entrance exam(NET) after the interview. I hope these help;)

Jolie, BSN · Dec 6, 2004

I did not attend Rush, but worked there as a new grad and encountered nursing students on the unit. I was very impressed with their program.

I came from a program (at NIU) which was located miles away from the clinical sites. Therefore our clinical time was very limited. We had clinicals 1 or 2 1/2 days per week, up until our last semester, when we finally experienced a full shift on a nursing unit. It was difficult to learn under those circumstances, especially things like prioritization, time management, continuity of care, etc. Also, our instructors were employed by the university, and most had no relationship with the hospitals where we did clinicals. So we were something like guests on the units. The staff sometimes didn't know our instructors well enought to trust them and us with complex patients.

The clinicals at Rush were very different. The students had much more clinical time, and the instructors had dual appointments to the university and the nursing units. So they actually worked part-time on the units where they supervised students. Since the staff knew the instructors, there was very little hesitation to allow the students to care for more challenging patients.

Bradley seems to have a good reputation also. Check into both programs thoroughly. Good luck to you!