St Margaret SON Feb 2011 start?

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So who all in here is applying for St Margaret trying to get in for Feb start?

Already got application in?

Already heard back?

I only just got my application in this past week, so obviously haven't heard back?

If anyone has applied and heard back, how long did it take to hear?

Okay, just got a letter today for all us February starters, that they are having an optional Student Nurse Meet and Greet Day, Tue Nov 30th. Doing a tour of the school, meeting staff and currant students, then car pool to the hospital and lunch there, then shadowing a student. Who all thinks they are going to attend this?

The letter also states that our required Pre-Admission Day is schedualed for Thurs, Jan. 27, so thats when we need the American Heart Association BLS for health care providers with AED course done by.

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Sounds awesome, jguy!! Have fun! Can't wait to hear about it. I am living vicariously through you until June, 20 2011!! Did they mention anything about stethoscope preferences yet?

I start CNA training Monday and I am pretty excited to get some experience since my job now (well today was my last day) or was non-nursing related! :nurse:

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Just droppin' in there to check on my fellow st. margaret students. To you Feb start students..how is your process coming along so far?! I bet you can't wait to start!

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Oh I cant wait to start. We had our meet and greet yesterday. That was very interesting, well worth going to.

Did find out we can have whatever kind/color stethoscopes we want.....so going to order that for son to give me for christmas....lol. I showed him one color i liked.....and he agreed with me, but going to let my sister sit with him without me and he can have final say on color and how it gets engraved (within reason)....but just realized since site im going to order from allows 25 characters and my name is short so that leaves some room to mess around with it.....in addition to my name maybe do like, to mom a heart symbol and then his name or something....im going to suggest that to my sister and let her play with the engraving with him and find out how he would engrave it for me.

Other then that have to get the clearance and background checks done for preadmission date.....and cpr, but i did that last month. Next 2 months will be a nice break once finish my fall classes and am off til end of feb. but at same time i really cant wait to start.

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Hey guys just wanted to wish you all good luck with the program! I was in the 2/09-10/10 class and just passed the nclex this week. If you put the time in and study *a lot* you will do fine. Adult 1 is going to be very, very painful to get through but don't worry it gets better in the 2nd level. Be prepared to say goodbye to classmates who aren't able or aren't willing to put the time in that they need to. Out of 34 original members we ended up with 18 who graduated in October. Your friends and family probably won't understand how much time and effort and sacrifice it takes but keep your head up and know that its all worth it in the end. Don't forget to still have fun when you have the opportunity!

I purchased *all* the books on the list they gave us but really only used a few of them, mostly Black & Hawk. There are copies of most of them available in the library at school as well as the library at the hospital. The most valuable books to me were the care plan book and the drug book since I actually used them. I used the power points for 99.9% of my studying and graduated 4th in my class.

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Hey guys just wanted to wish you all good luck with the program! I was in the 2/09-10/10 class and just passed the nclex this week. If you put the time in and study *a lot* you will do fine. Adult 1 is going to be very, very painful to get through but don't worry it gets better in the 2nd level. Be prepared to say goodbye to classmates who aren't able or aren't willing to put the time in that they need to. Out of 34 original members we ended up with 18 who graduated in October. Your friends and family probably won't understand how much time and effort and sacrifice it takes but keep your head up and know that its all worth it in the end. Don't forget to still have fun when you have the opportunity!

I purchased *all* the books on the list they gave us but really only used a few of them, mostly Black & Hawk. There are copies of most of them available in the library at school as well as the library at the hospital. The most valuable books to me were the care plan book and the drug book since I actually used them. I used the power points for 99.9% of my studying and graduated 4th in my class.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!! WOW! TOP 4!!! Do you know where you are going to be working yet? Did you do the tuition reimbursement?

Thanks for posting this. I start in June. I found this scary 34/18 but also relieved to know that with a will and a way you got throught. Thanks for sharing your study plan, I will take note of that for when I start!! Any other advice is greatly welcomed!

I am mostly worried about the med math exams we have to pass after certain levels of the program. Can you offer any good study guides that I could work on during my winter break?

Thank you and best wishes!!

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CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!! WOW! TOP 4!!! Do you know where you are going to be working yet? Did you do the tuition reimbursement?

Thanks for posting this. I start in June. I found this scary 34/18 but also relieved to know that with a will and a way you got throught. Thanks for sharing your study plan, I will take note of that for when I start!! Any other advice is greatly welcomed!

I am mostly worried about the med math exams we have to pass after certain levels of the program. Can you offer any good study guides that I could work on during my winter break?

Thank you and best wishes!!

Thanks! I've had interviews at a few hospitals now. I'm close to accepting a position, probably this week coming up. Yes I did the tuition reimbursement so I need to put 2 years in at UPMC or pay them back $12k. From what I understand the forgiveness program changed starting with the 6/09 class but I don't know the exact details.

I don't want to scare anyone but I do want to paint an accurate portrait of what to expect. Its a difficult program but if you work hard enough you can succeed. The people who had other priorities, either work or play didn't make it through.

Don't worry about the math it ends up being really easy. They teach you what you need to know and also allow you to use a "cheat sheet" to write any formula and/or example problems you want to have on it for the tests. You also get 2 chances to pass each one.

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Oh believe me my first priority will be nursing school. I have already demonstrated that in my pre-req's!! I am going to be 32 in January so I know what I need to do in life!!!! :-)

Thanks for the pointers, I greatly appreciate every one of them and good luck with your job hunt.

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Wow, 18/34 is a bit intimidating. Do you think it seemed that most that didn't make it were due to not putting it at enough of a priority or overloaded themselves, or more due to it being so hard that some couldn't make it no matter how much effort they put into it?

I know for myself i understand the commitment it is going to be and it is my priority for the next 2 years. I fortunately have most of my family's full support to not work while in school, which will be very helpful. I do still have my son, but fortunately he is old enough he is very independent and understands that I need to study when I need to study.....it will just be a lot more of the time then it has been with prereqs.

I am pretty sure the change with the tuition reembursment program is just that now you have to pay $5000 before anything they will cover, so with St Margaret they only cover up to about $7000 of tuition. I am not sure how grants work into that, if that counts as the $5000 they wont cover or if its $5000 you personally have to pay before they cover anything.

Also at the meet and greet I went to she said they give us our books at the preaddmission day, or will contact us and let us know that we can come pick them up a couple days before that......so I don't know how that will work....it doesnt sound like they give us a book list, which means we wont get the chance to shop around....and it sounds like its the whole package, so we wont be able to buy only certain ones and leave others to use the library. I am not sure.....am waiting to see how that works. I was hoping to have a book list so could get people to get me my books for christmas. Anyone in my family that wanted to get me something could each have gotten me a book. Plus there are often ways to find cheaper ones.....international verions or binder editions or such.

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Oh believe me my first priority will be nursing school. I have already demonstrated that in my pre-req's!! I am going to be 32 in January so I know what I need to do in life!!!! :-)

Thanks for the pointers, I greatly appreciate every one of them and good luck with your job hunt.

No problem! I think being an 'older' student will work to your advantage like it did for me (I'm 37). I know that the lifestyle I had in my 20s would have made it a lot harder to do well in the program. I took 8 years to get my BA from Pitt in the 90s lol.

Wow, 18/34 is a bit intimidating. Do you think it seemed that most that didn't make it were due to not putting it at enough of a priority or overloaded themselves, or more due to it being so hard that some couldn't make it no matter how much effort they put into it?

There were various reasons. Some decided that it wasn't for them after Basic I, some didn't put the necessary time in to pass, some tried hard and came very close to making it but didn't. You are able to repeat one class and still make it through the program. We had 3 students graduate with us who started off in classes ahead of us. Two of our original classmates will be graduating in February due to failing (getting less than a 75%) Adult I.

I know for myself i understand the commitment it is going to be and it is my priority for the next 2 years. I fortunately have most of my family's full support to not work while in school, which will be very helpful. I do still have my son, but fortunately he is old enough he is very independent and understands that I need to study when I need to study.....it will just be a lot more of the time then it has been with prereqs.

Cool, it sounds like you are ready to be successful at St.M then. Some of my classmates have kids ranging from toddler to college age and they were able to make it through just fine. You can do it! I don't want to scare you guys or make you panic but knowing what to expect going in will help you get through.

I am pretty sure the change with the tuition reembursment program is just that now you have to pay $5000 before anything they will cover, so with St Margaret they only cover up to about $7000 of tuition. I am not sure how grants work into that, if that counts as the $5000 they wont cover or if its $5000 you personally have to pay before they cover anything.

Thats still a pretty good deal.

Also at the meet and greet I went to she said they give us our books at the preaddmission day, or will contact us and let us know that we can come pick them up a couple days before that......so I don't know how that will work....it doesnt sound like they give us a book list, which means we wont get the chance to shop around....and it sounds like its the whole package, so we wont be able to buy only certain ones and leave others to use the library. I am not sure.....am waiting to see how that works. I was hoping to have a book list so could get people to get me my books for christmas. Anyone in my family that wanted to get me something could each have gotten me a book. Plus there are often ways to find cheaper ones.....international verions or binder editions or such.

They gave us a list of them on our pre-admission day, maybe its changed. Even though they may have ordered the books for you already you don't have to take possession of them. We wised up for the 2nd level when we found this out and just traded books with each other. We just had to sign a paper saying we refused the book we didn't want. The class will be split in half for Adult II and Growing Family, you take one and then the other. I had GF first and just traded for the A2 book. I didn't buy the PNR book and I didn't need to use the one from the library either.

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Hi all-

Just joined allnurses.com and found this thread. I'm starting St. Margaret in Feb 2011 and am so excited!!!

Congrats to all of you as well! :)

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Also-

Does anyone know where I can get my CPR certification before the pre-admission day in January?

Any websites you can provide me with?

Thanks a million!!

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