UALR Nursing Program Applicant 2016

U.S.A. Arkansas

Published

Just applied for the Summer 2016 AAS-RN program. Long wait until March to find out whether I am have been accepted or not. Thought I would get a thread started for this years applicants!

You Guys Check your Emails! IVE BEEN ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!! They sent Email around 1:40 today and I'm just now checking it.

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I just checked classes on boss. They have 20 more spots to fill. Good luck y'all. :) :)

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Well that is good to hear! I called the Nursing department and was told that because I was in a Nursing program previously, that I am last on the list to call...But she did say that they usually go through the entire list! So I am still being hopeful :up:

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Hi everyone! I'm new to this thread :) super off topic but I want to apply for next year. I have a prior degree so I'm hoping to go for a bsn. Any one have advice on how many pre reqs can be in progress during admissions? TEAS scores?

What's the cost of living like in Arkansas? Would I be able to afford a 1bd apt for under 1000 a month?

I'd be moving from out of state all alone and I just want to know how much Saving i should do.

Congrats to those accepted as well as those pursuing other ventures :)

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Specializes in psych.
Hi everyone! I'm new to this thread :) super off topic but I want to apply for next year. I have a prior degree so I'm hoping to go for a bsn. Any one have advice on how many pre reqs can be in progress during admissions? TEAS scores?

What's the cost of living like in Arkansas? Would I be able to afford a 1bd apt for under 1000 a month?

I'd be moving from out of state all alone and I just want to know how much Saving i should do.

Congrats to those accepted as well as those pursuing other ventures :)

Hi Hopefulkim99.

If you have a prior degree, you probably already have several of the 9 classes required for graduation with associate. And most of the non nursing BSN classes. The only class required to be finished when you start the intro to nursing class is the first anatomy/phys 1. All others can be taken with the nursing classes. I graduated associate two years ago and had about half finished when I applied, but several classmates got in with only the single anatomy finished. Every year is a little different since the makeup of the class changes. Some years most students had all or almost all finished. Other years like mine saw a bunch of students with only the first anatomy finished.

UALR does not do a traditional 4 year BSN. Every nursing student is admitted first as an associate degree, and as soon as you graduate in 18 or 24 months with that (which lets you sit for NCLEX to get your RN), you can change to BSN to finish out while you start working or take time off before finishing. BSN is done strictly online over a year or two depending on full or part time status. The associate is either 18 months or 24 months. Both tracks start out together and take an intro to nursing class that first summer plus the fall and spring. The 18 month track then splits off and takes the remain 2 semesters in the summer and fall to graduate that December. The regular track has the summer off and finishes the last two semesters in fall and spring to graduate in May. A lot of us in the traditional track used that summer off to finish the harder classes like chemistry and micro. They offer most of the classes like micro online for nursing students. So be sure to ask for those of you need.

UALR doesn't have an admission test. It's just based on GPA and the number of pre reqs finished. GPA needs to be at least a 2.6. Mine was somewhere around a 2.7-2.8 with my 3 years worth of classes for another degree I was switching from. There were people with lower numbers accepted. Makes me thankful that I don't live on either coast where people are saying they had perfect/near perfect GPAs and still wait listed.

Arkansas is very affordable for living. You'll easily be able to get a nice apartment in the 400-600 a month range. Cheaper if you go out to the not so nice areas of town. If you go out to the ritzy west Little Rock area, you'll pay a little more. I had several classmates that didn't work and was able to live just on student loans for those two years. And a bunch more that just worked 15-20 hours. A ton of my classmates were from other states not close to here. I'm from 12 hours away myself. But I like it here. Between school and people I've met through my kids, I think I know more people from other states than born here. So if you do come, you will have plenty of new people in the same boat.

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Omg! THANK YOU for such a detailed response! Totally appreciate it! I am basically missing all the sciences lol i was a liberal arts major, so the anatomy and bio classes were not required. Can't believe I don't need every prerequisite completed along with a 4.0...I'm from California and pretty much to get into an "affordable" program you need Stellar GPA and Stellar exam scores and you still only have 15 percent chance of acceptance. ugh it's ridiculous!

What is the cost of the RN program at UALR?

My GPA from my previous gpa is what they'll look at? I have a 3.0 so I guess i make the cut as long as I complete A&P I.

I was very scared to move out of state, but based on your description it might not be too bad! :)

And $600 rent! ? AWESOME you can barely rent a room in California for that price.

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Specializes in psych.
Omg! THANK YOU for such a detailed response! Totally appreciate it! I am basically missing all the sciences lol i was a liberal arts major, so the anatomy and bio classes were not required. Can't believe I don't need every prerequisite completed along with a 4.0...I'm from California and pretty much to get into an "affordable" program you need Stellar GPA and Stellar exam scores and you still only have 15 percent chance of acceptance. ugh it's ridiculous!

What is the cost of the RN program at UALR?

My GPA from my previous gpa is what they'll look at? I have a 3.0 so I guess i make the cut as long as I complete A&P I.

I was very scared to move out of state, but based on your description it might not be too bad! :)

And $600 rent! ? AWESOME you can barely rent a room in California for that price.

Like I said, the only prereq they require finished before starting is A & P 1. They will look to see which classes of the 9 prereqs you have done. They use a point system that assigns so many points for each A, B, and C, and that's multiplied by the number of credits for that class. So the more classes you have finished, the higher your points. Everyone is ranked by those numbers. If more than one person has the same number of points, they use the total GPA to rank within that point number. So if someone has 48 points but only a 2.7 GPA and someone else has 45 points but a 3.3, the person with more points and lower gpa would be ranked higher. If more than one person had 48 points, they would use the GPA to rank everyone within that number. At least that is how they explained it to us.

The school has a tuition estimator if you plug in the type of classes you are taking. It tells you the base tuition plus all the fees. Most semesters I only took the 2 nursing classes (8 credit hours total) since I already had most of the prereqs done by the time I started. I paid some semesters myself and was charged between 2300-2600 once they added all the various fees in. I took the fundamental chemistry and micro classes in the summer and those cost me 1100 each. The intro nursing class that first summer was a 3 hour class that was 800. The school has an estimate of the cost of the nursing books and other stuff for the two years. But expect at least 100 each class. Plus anywhere from 30-60 for clinical sim fees that are paid at the bookstore each semester. Then you have to buy at least one school uniform, get your CPR for Health, and Hep B shots if you don't have them.

I paid instate tuition. Out of state will be more. But if you are over 23 and live here 6 months before school starts, you'll get instate tuition. If you wait until you start school to move, you can apply for reclassification once you have lived here 6 months. You just have to do stuff like change drivers license, have your own apartment, and show you plan on staying here after graduation. So you'd only pay out of state for a semester unless they deny the request.

Like I said, Arkansas is pretty affordable in terms of living. We were listed in the 6 least expensive places to live on the recent Allnurses survey.

Its nickname is the natural state, very scenic with a lot of outdoor things if you like that stuff. Like hiking/climbing mountains, kayaking the Buffalo National River, tons of cave systems like Blanchard Springs Caverns, Hot Springs and its famous bath houses, Crater of Diamond that is the only public mine you can go dig for diamonds and other gems and keep what you find. If you google it, you will see pages of stuff to do.

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Thank you sooo much! Suuuuper insightful and extremely helpful info! I was just reading into the tuition and realized non res would be triple instate. Thank you so much for the heads up about in state tuition. I'll have to work things out. I really appreciate your advice! I hope you loved the program I hope i will too (if i get in ofcourse).

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Anymore News .......Anyone? We have about 10 more days left in the month........

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I just got my email..... I didnt make it in:down:... there is always next time, so I will back on these boards again next go round! Enjoy everyone that has gotten accepted and keep us posted on how it goes

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sorry you didn't get in. Good luck with future endeavors! Maybe we'll be classmates. I am looking into Arkansas State U, and East Arkansas CC... No idea where these are located, or how competitive, but maybe you can look into them too :)

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I'm sorry to hear that. You're right there is a next time along with other opportunities. Good luck & Keep faith :)

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