Stony Brook Accelerated BSN class of 2013

U.S.A. New York

Published

Hey all! Just wanted to lend my support to anyone else who is applying to SB next summer! It's a grueling process :-)):yeah:

Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
56 more days!
42 days in my book. I'm just wishful thinking for you guys that it will be Feb 15. Cross fingers!
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Well, my husband and I were going to hold out on moving until I heard back from SBU, but it looks like it's not going to happen before my lease is up! So, we're moving someplace in between our works and Stony Brook, so either way I'll have a long commute ahead of me, haha. Oh well. I just got a new (and better!) job, so if SBU doesn't work out, at least I'll have this for now. We're looking at apartments today, yay!

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Hello all! I'm planning to apply to Stony Brook's BSN program this September (for the class of 2014) and appreciate all of the information that has been shared in this thread. There's more info available here than on Stony Brook's website!!

Paco - would you know if any of your classmates were accepted into the BSN program without past hospital volunteer experience? I work full-time, and I'm having a hard time finding a NYC area hospital that has weekend only volunteer programs. I'll probably be able to find some kind of volunteering experience, but probably not in a hospital setting. I'm wondering if that will put me at a severe disadvantage when applying to SBU.

Thanks again for all the great info!

David

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
Paco - would you know if any of your classmates were accepted into the BSN program without past hospital volunteer experience? I work full-time, and I'm having a hard time finding a NYC area hospital that has weekend only volunteer programs. I'll probably be able to find some kind of volunteering experience, but probably not in a hospital setting. I'm wondering if that will put me at a severe disadvantage when applying to SBU.

** I just finished taking my first pharm exam :eek: so I have a little downtime today, THANK GOD! I need it :) ... and perhaps some wine, LOL!

Hi David, good luck in your application to SBU! Good to see you planning ahead :)

I am pretty sure at least 2 of my classmates did not have any past volunteer experience, those 2 that I am thinking off the top of my head anyway. There may be more, but I am not sure of an exact #. I don't think actual hospital experience is important as much as it is in demonstrating to the admissions committee that you are committed to the nursing profession in some way (i.e., what are you doing that translates into wanting to enter the nursing profession?) and can do well in the academic program. You will paint this picture in your essay.

That said, volunteer experience is not a golden ticket to getting in (and as you probably have surmised if you have read my prior comments, neither is having a 4.0 GPA). The admissions committee looks at everything you submit, so you're not just a GPA. In my case, my recommendations reflected a mix of people that could attest to my strong academic preparation for nursing study and my ability to succeed in the profession (with perhaps examples to support these assertions -- I am assuming this was done as I never read my recommendations. But I have written job recommendations for other people and I use examples to back up what I say. To say someone is dedicated without talking about something they actually did to illustrate that is just words). I will probably never know what exactly compelled the committee to admit me into the program, but I was very confident with the people I chose to write my LoR's so I guess that was a plus.

Curious to know what kind of volunteering you were considering. I think you would be OK with a non-hospital site as long as it links somehow to nursing and providing that kind of care to others (e.g., Peace Corps, HIV counselor at free clinic, you get the idea?).

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Thanks for taking the time to reply, Paco! After I wrote my last post I came across a volunteer program at NY Presbyterian (in the ER dept) that looks promising -- I'll email them my application tomorrow. If that doesn't pan out I was thinking I would look into volunteer opportunities in hospice care or nursing homes, or perhaps even visiting homebound seniors at home. My problem is that I currently work a full-time job, from 9-5:00pm Monday-Friday. A lot of the hospitals I've contacted so far are looking for volunteers with midweek/daytime availability. However, NY Presbyterian seems to have evening shifts available during the week (6p-10p), so that would be ideal.

I just noticed on SBU's website that they've updated the pre-regs for 2013 applicants to include Lifespan Development and Statistics (as you said in an earlier post they were going to do!) I'm taking Lifespan Development now through SUNY online, so I'll just have to find a Statistics class to take over the summer.

Nursing will be a second career for me (after 20+ years in the travel industry) and I'm determined to be an RN by the time I'm 45. To reach that goal I'll need to get into SBU in 2013, so I'm going to do whatever it takes!

Thanks again for all the info.

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Thanks for taking the time to reply, Paco! After I wrote my last post I came across a volunteer program at NY Presbyterian (in the ER dept) that looks promising -- I'll email them my application tomorrow. If that doesn't pan out I was thinking I would look into volunteer opportunities in hospice care or nursing homes, or perhaps even visiting homebound seniors at home. My problem is that I currently work a full-time job, from 9-5:00pm Monday-Friday. A lot of the hospitals I've contacted so far are looking for volunteers with midweek/daytime availability. However, NY Presbyterian seems to have evening shifts available during the week (6p-10p), so that would be ideal.

Most hospitals offer night time volunteer positions, although at the major hospitals they aren't easy to get. You have to be persistent and check with the volunteer department often to see if any positions opened up. I have been volunteering at Sloan Kettering in pediatrics for the last 4 years. I go from 6-8 once a week. I love it! Some of the people I volunteer with got in easily and others had to call a few times until they were called in for an interview. People are always leaving their volunteer positions, so spots do open up and if you're persistent, you can find something during the evening hours or even weekends (I transferred to weekends for a while when I was taking some classes).

Good luck with your application! Next year you'll be one of us crazy people waiting to hear if you got in!

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So I had left a message with SB before the holidays asking about when the decisions on admissions could be expected and I know we got the email about it being pushed back to end of Feb.....but I got a call today from an admission rep saying that it will most likely be early to mid Feb, despite what the email said!

Don't want to make anyone more crazy than they already feel, but I wanted to put that out there. To wait another 5 weeks would seriously be torturous and cruel. Anyway - hope this info is good.

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Most hospitals offer night time volunteer positions, although at the major hospitals they aren't easy to get. You have to be persistent and check with the volunteer department often to see if any positions opened up. I have been volunteering at Sloan Kettering in pediatrics for the last 4 years. I go from 6-8 once a week. I love it! Some of the people I volunteer with got in easily and others had to call a few times until they were called in for an interview. People are always leaving their volunteer positions, so spots do open up and if you're persistent, you can find something during the evening hours or even weekends (I transferred to weekends for a while when I was taking some classes).

Good luck with your application! Next year you'll be one of us crazy people waiting to hear if you got in![/quote

Great idea! Thanks for the tip!!

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.

Ignore this message. I can't figure out another way to re-add this thread to my bookmarks. It somehow got mysteriously un-bookmarked :eek:

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Ignore this message. I can't figure out another way to re-add this thread to my bookmarks. It somehow got mysteriously un-bookmarked :eek:

I think it happened with the "update" of the site. I have to look for the thread every time i want to check up on it

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Hi All,

I've been following this thread for awhile since I also applied to the accelerated program and its lovely to see everyone else as stressed as I am :-). I was so upset when I saw that the admissions decisions aren't coming out until Feb, that said.... does anyone know when they are going to announce the 2-year admission decisions?

Thanks!!

B

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With regards to a question posted a couple pages back about hospital experience:

I'm a classmate of Paco's, and I came into this program with absolutely no hospital experience. I think the only thing I had was about 10 hours of shadowing a physician assistant (another career I was looking into). So I wouldn't worry too much about experience. A lot of our classmates this year are coming from completely unrelated careers (teachers, business, even an actor). So don't worry too much about that!

Paco - I was curious to see if you were still posting on here and ended up reliving all the stress from applying. :p Good to see you still helping everyone out! (And I'm assuming you can figure out who this is based on my username...ya know, of your favorite clinical buddies. :p )

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