Seattle U - APNI 2012

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Anyone already applying at Seattle U? Which track? I haven't finished my pre-req's, so I am probably not too competitive this year, but I am going to apply anyway. I am applying for the nurse-midwife track and my background is Microbiology (UW).

Cura, Mz_Marit, Calinca, May, and Lenin:

Thank you SO much for offering help. To answer your question Lenin, I do have have a car and if there is parking at SU then I plan to drive. My priorities are cheap, cheap, cheap (400-600ish?):twocents: as I will not be working (obviously) for at least the first year. I'm coming from Chicago so I know cheap is hard to come by, I assume the same can be said for Seattle. I don't mind a little commute, max 30 minutes. Does not have to be super extravagant such as a place in capitol or first hill. I don't expect to be home all that much and I also like the idea of roommates! On the plane, some guy was telling how awful Seattle traffic can be, he also lived in Chicago and so was able to compare the two, saying that Seattle was 3X worse! :bugeyes: Definitely need to avoid that!

Also, May, paying $3.50 both ways daily is less than ideal. I would like to avoid that at all costs :nono:

Any who, I feel so nervous even talking about living arrangements since we don't even know our fate for the program, however, it doesn't hurt to look ahead, right?!

Thanks again everyone!

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May is completely right about the toll. Not only it is ridiculous for people who have to go from Bellevue/Redmond to Seattle and vice-versa, but now everyone is avoiding 520 and the bottle necks created of people going to I-90 are ridiculous. And I mean, in Seattle, trying to get OUT of Seattle or MOVE in Seattle, it's just a mess at rush hour since this toll started. It reminded me of LA, no kidding. I'm not an expert in Seattle, but I would live far away from these main highways as much as I could. I'm probably taking the bus, (I live 30 min away from downtown, without traffic) that way I can take a nap hehehe!

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Specializes in Adult Nurse Practitioner / Gero NP.

Hi all....good luck with the wait after interviews. There's so many posts here, that I wasn't able to keep up with them, but I will say a few things about what the process might be like.

I know that they typically interview roughly twice as many students as they expect to admit from each track. So...if there are 8 spots for midwifery, I'd expect they'd interview around 16. FNP and AGNP typically are the larger tracks, with around 12-14 each.

I wouldn't imagine that you would hear anything this week. I know they are finalizing decisions this week and making arrangements to notify applicants who will be invited to have a spot and those who are on the waitlist.

Remember: the waitlist is a great place to be. Some of my best friends and some of the most brightest students were taken off the waiting list, all the way up to just before the program started.

I recommend that once you find out if you've been accepted, and you decide to go, I would start a private facebook group for all accepted/attending students to join. It's a great place to find out what's going on, and we've used our facebook page on a daily basis to communicate about assignments, happy hours, etc. We have a couple of students from the year above us in our facebook group, which has really helped a lot. I know a few of the 2011 cohort would be happy to join to give you guys suggestions and help out however possible.

There will be an accepted students gathering that you will hear about if you have been accepted. Several faculty and current students will be there to answer questions.

Ok...that's all, I think. Let me know if you have any other questions!

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Thank you Flaneur!!!

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Amazing advice, flaneur. Thank you!

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Hey I was thinking of living in Renton. Is that a safe area? Anyone know about how long the commute is to SU with traffic? Are there any tolls? Any extra details about the place would be helpful. I know I read some past APNI boards and I guess some of the clinical sites are in Renton. The apartments within walking distance of SU are too expensive for me so I figured I'd try close to some of the clinical sites. Maybe I can at least save on commuting that way.

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Christy, Renton is ok. It has bad areas and very good areas. I can ask my husband when he comes back from Cali this weekend, he knows the area a lot better than me. If you have grade school kids, you might want to pay attention to the school district - there is an area that borders Issaquah that belongs to ISD, which is considered better than Renton schools.

You will find everything in Renton, it is definitely NOT a bedroom community - Ikea, Frys, malls. The OB clinical site is at the Valley Med in Renton, which is really close to Ikea. I had my first child there! It's close to I-5 so that's very convenient too. I would say 30 tops with traffic, if you're driving (but then again, Renton is big). It's definitely convient (maybe not the best, the safest, or the richest) but I have some friends who live there, you can definitely find good places. The whole pudget sound is very safe, so although for this area renton might not be the safest, it's still safe.

I would say Renton would be the further south that I would go in terms of commuting.

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I live in Renton's Kennydale neighborhood (about a mile from Interstate 405 Exit #6) in north Renton.

Rent in this area is amazingly affordable when compared to other neighborhoods in the greater Seattle area.

If a few individuals decide to room together it is likely that you would be able to upgrade from a tight apartment to a house with a yard for an equivalent amount of money. If you have a pet or like to garden this would be ideal.

I would check the bus routes to decide where to rent. There are newer/nice apartment units near Coulon Park that have great lake views and access to what may be the best public space on Lake Washington. Look at units near The Landing (a new outdoor mall development designed with University Village (near UW) in mind, or at the Bristol Apartments (which has a wonderful exercise room (included) and an inviting yoga business and terrific cafe in ground level retail space. There are lots of buses in this area since it is next to Boeing Renton (home of the 737). These units seem to be designed to eventually transition to condo's when the economy rebounds, so they were designed with upscale features like outdoor pools with furnished patios near outdoor fireplaces and nice interior common spaces. They'd cost a fortune if they were near Seattle University, and likely wouldn't be available for lease.

The carpool lanes would make commuting by car reasonable, but Calinca is spot on regarding the congestion on the I-90 bridge now that Hwy-520 is a toll bridge. If you drive by yourself you may try to avoid rush hours to conserve time in your day.

There are several routes from north Renton to SU that allow you to avoid the highways or to use I-5 in lieu of I-405/I-90. One of my favorites is Rainier Ave S to Lake Washington Blvd (nice lake views) to Yesler and then to SU.

If I am accepted to the program, I would be interested in trying a carpool if anyone else decides to live in north Renton.

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To augment what Calinca mentioned about Renton.

The area that I discussed and where near I live has very good schools.

Children in my neighborhood go to Kennydale Elementary (built less that 5 years ago), McKnight Middle School (newer construction), and Hazen High School (wonderful school that also draws from the northern Newcastle (bigger homes) neighborhood.

My neighbors work at Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Wizard of the Coast (Hasbro IT), or other IT companies. Some are in health professions (dentist, dietitician, phlebotomist, geriatric RN), outside marketing/sales, one is a public defender, and another is a Deloitte CPA partner. Several families have homemakers. The common theme is lots of young families with most children in elementary school or younger. One new baby arrived last week and another is coming in May.

Lots of diversity in Renton, so it is wise to ask a local for advice. Our area has very little (if any) crime.

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Cura, Kennydale is definitely a very nice area to live! I have friends who live there.

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I live in Federal Way and commute daily to Bellevue to go to BC. If I got in I would (very happily) consider relocating because the commute for me is terrible, although usually a little better to Seattle than it is to Bellevue. I am probably going to consider finding grad another grad student to live with...although I may have to commute from home for a while. I just want to get in, I think ill do just about any amount of commuting per day to go to SU this year. :)

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Flaneur, Thanks for the post, do you know on average how many people they waitlist in each specialty?

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