Sam Houston State - Spring 2020

Leeodus · Nov 11, 2019

1 hour ago, ras97 said:
Hey ya'll! My name is Rachel and I'm a current RN BSN nursing student at SHSU (Cohort 18). I wanted to give you guys some information that I wish I was given when I was first accepted.
1. The program is 5 semesters total. The first semester you take two nursing classes: Pathophysiology and Nursing Concepts (each are 3 credit hours). Our cohort is 80 something students.
2. Class is only ONE day a week the first semester. Ours is Tuesday's from 1-8. We get an hour long dinner break.
3. There's no clinicals the first semester. If you can make the commute once a week don't worry about moving closer to campus until your second semester.
4. AHA CPR certifications last for two years. Don't get your certification now unless you want to recertify while in the program. I paid around $130 to get mine but I've heard that it can be more expensive based on where you get it done. A professor at my old school taught the class, so we got a discount.
5. You will need insurance for your SECOND semester when you do clinicals. I was able to find free health insurance through healthcare.gov based on income. Your clinicals can be anywhere in Houston but they try to make them as close as possible to your home address (it doesn't ALWAYS work out like that though).
6. Most of the coursework is done in groups. We were able to choose groups in Patho and they were assigned to us in Nursing Concepts. Find a good group and find a study group! Start meeting with your groups and working on semester projects early!
7. We were told to buy new textbooks with codes when we entered the program. However, we never used the textbook codes for online homework or anything like that. I would still BUY your textbooks so you always have them as a reference tool but you can get them USED to save money.
8. Lots of people already talked about Express Family Clinic in Spring/Conroe but I wanted to mention them again. They are super cheap and you can get everything that you need for school done there.
9. SHSU has a great program! It's not easy but once you are adjusted you find your groove. It was a little disorganized at first but now everything is much smoother. The people in your program will become your friends and have your back.
If ya'll have more questions- I'm more than happy to answer them. Congratulations to everyone that was accepted! Ya'll can do this!

Thanks Rachel, this is amazing news. I got in!! I’m excited and nervous as well.
How is the course work the first semester? Did you find it difficult? Not sure what to expect...Also when to we do uniform fitting and drug testing? I hear that’s during clinicals. And any idea about the prices of the books first semester? Thanks a lot for your help Rachel!

ras97 · Nov 11, 2019

The coursework is more than I was expecting for two classes, but it's totally doable! We have 1-2 semester projects in each class that are done in groups. One project is a 6-8 page paper with a video and one is a powerpoint and video combo. There is weekly coursework- it isn't difficult but you have to keep up with it. We use ATI for some of our homework and the school pays for the licensing so we don't have to pay for it.

The biggest thing for people is learning how to study for tests. I would stay studying takes up more of my time than actual homework. If you don't get a study guide for a test, make one using chapter objectives. You have to know the concepts and can't memorize to pass anymore. I had to start reading my textbooks which I didn't always do before in my prereqs. We have some NCLEX style questions but not too many since we're just learning how to think like nurses. I followed the test advice I was given at the beginning of the semesters and have been doing well on tests (they talk a lot about test-taking in orientation).

If you want a tip for something you can do now to help yourself- get brushed up on your A&P knowledge. If you have a strong anatomy basis, you can skip half of the reading for patho chapters because it's just A&P review.

Uniform and drug testing are done towards the end of the first semester. Ours are around Nov. 22.

This semester I ordered all my textbooks new off amazon and paid about $350 for everything (8 books total). The professor said y'all might have a different textbook in patho next semester but we won't know until the official textbook lists come out. I hope this helps! Nursing school is a transition but you'll feel more comfortable once you know what's expected ?

Alira · Feb 26, 2020

On 8/15/2019 at 10:07 PM, Angie_1105 said:
Hello! I’m thinking of applying to SHSU for the Spring 2020 semester as a backup to my main choice. Do they only look at Math and Reading sections of TEAS?
Nursing core GPA: 3.72
Pre-req GPA: 3.77
Math: 87.5%
Reading: 80.9%
no cna
is this enough to get accepted? What are the average #’s that end up getting accepted? Thanks(: &sorry for so many questions LOL.

Did you get accepted? I’m planning on applying for fall 2020 and I got about same score on my TEAS and I don’t know if I should retake it