UCCS ABSN 2021

ANeu0321 · Dec 9, 2020

Hello!

I just found this post and I just received my letter today as an alternate. Do you happen to know the chances of an alternate being accepted? I'm not too high on the alternate list but really hoping I might still be accepted.

Thanks for any info/stats you might have! :)

Majotank · Dec 9, 2020

Hello,

I just received my acceptance letter this morning and I’m very excited and relived.

Is there anything you would recommend doing to help prepare for the first Summer semester? 20 credit hours seems daunting for a Summer cycle. Also what is the clinical load like that semester?

Thanks in advance!

Raptorshears91 · Dec 10, 2020

Hey,

I was accepted into the program yesterday as well. It was the greatest feeling to know my spot was solidified.

What advice do you have for study habits/ work-life balance?

Shea Basselen · Jan 23, 2021

Hi!

I was accepted in December. I am very excited. Do you think I will need a vehicle for the program? Also what are the best areas/apartments to live in while going to school? What kind of stethoscope do you recommend? How many people were in your classes? How did you afford the program if you don't mind me asking? Private loans or federal loans?

alpinegirl, EMT-B · Jan 28, 2021

Hi everybody. Congratulations on getting accepted! I'm a current student in the 3rd of 4 semesters in UCCS's ABSN program. I remember being so curious after getting into the program to find out information, and the school really doesn't give you anything until approximately April. So I wanted to make a post here to answer the questions you all have asked so far as well as give an open invitation to ask me any further questions. My school email works best ([email protected]), and if you want to send me your number via email, I'm happy to text or talk, too!

It looks like a lot of you guys are EMTs based off your taglines. I had about 4 years of EMS experience before starting this program, and it has been so incredibly helpful, especially during clinicals. You all are set up really well! One caveat to my answers-I've done this program throughout the pandemic, and it's changed certain things, such as doing the majority of our lecture-style classes online.

1) ANeu0321, I will say for my program, there were about 5 or 6 alternates that got accepted and ultimately ended up in the program. Usually, this is due to people choosing another school that they got into (such as CSU Pueblo) and giving up their spots.

2) Majotank, if you email me, I'm happy to send you the pdf of my Summer schedule, so you can get an even better idea of what it looks like. I won't lie to you, the first Summer is intense. I don't think I've ever been busier or more stressed out in my life...but I also worked full time, so that made it a lot more challenging. Not all 6 classes run concurrently. Pharmacology is the only one that runs the whole Summer. Pharm math is only the first two weeks, Health Promotion and Health Assessment run the first four weeks or so, and Foundations/Fundamentals run the last six or so. All of these classes have a didactic portion. The only two with lab components are Fundamentals and Health Assessment unless things have changed. The only one with a clinical portion is Fundamentals. Clinicals do not start until July, so you can fully focus on didactic work until that point. Note that during the Summer semester, you will always have your weekends free (nothing scheduled on Saturday/Sunday). However, you need to plan for potentially having something going on every other day of the week. Again, this first semester is very challenging in terms of pure amount of material and time taken, but you can do it! You will seriously be thrilled when you start fall semester and realize how little you have to do in comparison ? Push through the first 3 months, and it'll get better. Finally, you asked about preparation. Don't buy all the books. The cohort above you will make a facebook group and post pdfs of many of the books you need so that you don't need to buy them. If I could give you advice, take a vacation before you start. This program is intense, and you'll be studying all the time soon enough. Relax and enjoy the time with family and friends before school starts!

3) Raptorshears91, I'm curious what ER you work in as I'm a tech, too! Definitely talk to the nurses you work with. They'll be a great support system! As I said above, I'm a bit of a workaholic, and have stayed at full-time hours for the majority of the weeks in the program, so I may not be the best person to ask about work-life balance, but I'll do my best! After the first semester, you should have no trouble finding time to hold at least a part-time job or spend time with friends and family. The main thing to be aware of after Summer is that in the fall, every Saturday will be a clinical day. (12 hours). The way I stayed sane during the Summer was to pick one day a week that I had no work or homework (I would get ahead on my homework). I did still have a short lecture or lab on this day generally. I would spend time with my husband or friends or go rock climbing or something I enjoyed. Sometimes, I would just watch Netflix. It helps to have a day to look forward to. The other huge thing I would recommend is find one or two people in the program you can do homework with and rant to and just generally have as a support system. Your classmates are the only ones who are going to understand how busy and chaotic it can be, and they're important to have! The first semester will be a lot of busy work, but most of it is relatively easy to comprehend, especially with your medical background. The second semester has slightly more difficult material that you'll need to study more for, but you'll have a lot less discussion posts, papers, and such. So far, the third semester is similar to the second semester, except even less time consuming due to having 15 instead of 21 credits. This post is getting crazy long, so let me know if I can answer any more specific questions for you ?

4) Shea Basselen, I'm a Colorado Springs native, so please feel free to ask about any specific areas of the city! UCCS has some student housing apartments, and it's a decent area to live in (fairly close to the school, restaurants, and stores) and very safe. In terms of classes, a vehicle wouldn't be necessary. UCCS has a bus that runs all over campus at regular intervals. However, as soon as you start clinicals, you're going to need one (or a very reliable ride). In the Summer for Fundamentals, you could be at any of the four major hospitals in town. For fall MedSurg clinicals, you'll again need to be at one of the four hospitals every Saturday at 0645. Pediatric clinicals are over Winter break and are at the Children's Hospital on the north side of town or at Presbyterian-St. Luke's in Denver. Mental Health clinicals are at either of the two mental hospitals in town or in Pueblo at the state hospital. That's what I've done so far! Unfortunately, you don't get much of a say for any of the above except Mental Health, and the faculty really likes students to gain experience at multiple different hospitals, so you'll likely be all over town. Stethoscopes...I absolutely love my stethoscope (Littman Classic III) and am a huge proponent of Littmans, but if you're looking for something cheaper, many of my classmates are happy with their MDFs. Something that's really useful with both brands is looking for one that has a bell you can flip between adult and pediatric sizes. As far as class size, it used to be 36 students in the cohort. My cohort is the first one to admit 42 students, so I'm guessing yours will be similar! As far as funding, if you are paying in-state tuition, definitely take advantage of the college opportunity fund. I thankfully don't have loans from my first degree, so I had a blank slate with this one. I have paid for it with a combination of federal student loans, some tuition reimbursement from the hospital I work at, a COVID grant from the CARES act, and will be about $4000 dollars short for the last semester that I'll have to take out a private loan for.

So...this was a novel LOL. But I hope there's some helpful information in there for you all! Again, please email me with more questions or post them here, and I'll answer them as soon as I can! Congratulations again to all of you! You're going to do great! Don't forget to take time for yourself both now and in the program ?

Majotank · Jan 28, 2021

10 hours ago, alpinegirl said:

Hi everybody. Congratulations on getting accepted! I'm a current student in the 3rd of 4 semesters in UCCS's ABSN program. I remember being so curious after getting into the program to find out information, and the school really doesn't give you anything until approximately April. So I wanted to make a post here to answer the questions you all have asked so far as well as give an open invitation to ask me any further questions. My school email works best ([email protected]), and if you want to send me your number via email, I'm happy to text or talk, too!

It looks like a lot of you guys are EMTs based off your taglines. I had about 4 years of EMS experience before starting this program, and it has been so incredibly helpful, especially during clinicals. You all are set up really well! One caveat to my answers-I've done this program throughout the pandemic, and it's changed certain things, such as doing the majority of our lecture-style classes online.

1) ANeu0321, I will say for my program, there were about 5 or 6 alternates that got accepted and ultimately ended up in the program. Usually, this is due to people choosing another school that they got into (such as CSU Pueblo) and giving up their spots.

2) Majotank, if you email me, I'm happy to send you the pdf of my Summer schedule, so you can get an even better idea of what it looks like. I won't lie to you, the first Summer is intense. I don't think I've ever been busier or more stressed out in my life...but I also worked full time, so that made it a lot more challenging. Not all 6 classes run concurrently. Pharmacology is the only one that runs the whole Summer. Pharm math is only the first two weeks, Health Promotion and Health Assessment run the first four weeks or so, and Foundations/Fundamentals run the last six or so. All of these classes have a didactic portion. The only two with lab components are Fundamentals and Health Assessment unless things have changed. The only one with a clinical portion is Fundamentals. Clinicals do not start until July, so you can fully focus on didactic work until that point. Note that during the Summer semester, you will always have your weekends free (nothing scheduled on Saturday/Sunday). However, you need to plan for potentially having something going on every other day of the week. Again, this first semester is very challenging in terms of pure amount of material and time taken, but you can do it! You will seriously be thrilled when you start fall semester and realize how little you have to do in comparison ? Push through the first 3 months, and it'll get better. Finally, you asked about preparation. Don't buy all the books. The cohort above you will make a facebook group and post pdfs of many of the books you need so that you don't need to buy them. If I could give you advice, take a vacation before you start. This program is intense, and you'll be studying all the time soon enough. Relax and enjoy the time with family and friends before school starts!

3) Raptorshears91, I'm curious what ER you work in as I'm a tech, too! Definitely talk to the nurses you work with. They'll be a great support system! As I said above, I'm a bit of a workaholic, and have stayed at full-time hours for the majority of the weeks in the program, so I may not be the best person to ask about work-life balance, but I'll do my best! After the first semester, you should have no trouble finding time to hold at least a part-time job or spend time with friends and family. The main thing to be aware of after Summer is that in the fall, every Saturday will be a clinical day. (12 hours). The way I stayed sane during the Summer was to pick one day a week that I had no work or homework (I would get ahead on my homework). I did still have a short lecture or lab on this day generally. I would spend time with my husband or friends or go rock climbing or something I enjoyed. Sometimes, I would just watch Netflix. It helps to have a day to look forward to. The other huge thing I would recommend is find one or two people in the program you can do homework with and rant to and just generally have as a support system. Your classmates are the only ones who are going to understand how busy and chaotic it can be, and they're important to have! The first semester will be a lot of busy work, but most of it is relatively easy to comprehend, especially with your medical background. The second semester has slightly more difficult material that you'll need to study more for, but you'll have a lot less discussion posts, papers, and such. So far, the third semester is similar to the second semester, except even less time consuming due to having 15 instead of 21 credits. This post is getting crazy long, so let me know if I can answer any more specific questions for you ?

4) Shea Basselen, I'm a Colorado Springs native, so please feel free to ask about any specific areas of the city! UCCS has some student housing apartments, and it's a decent area to live in (fairly close to the school, restaurants, and stores) and very safe. In terms of classes, a vehicle wouldn't be necessary. UCCS has a bus that runs all over campus at regular intervals. However, as soon as you start clinicals, you're going to need one (or a very reliable ride). In the Summer for Fundamentals, you could be at any of the four major hospitals in town. For fall MedSurg clinicals, you'll again need to be at one of the four hospitals every Saturday at 0645. Pediatric clinicals are over Winter break and are at the Children's Hospital on the north side of town or at Presbyterian-St. Luke's in Denver. Mental Health clinicals are at either of the two mental hospitals in town or in Pueblo at the state hospital. That's what I've done so far! Unfortunately, you don't get much of a say for any of the above except Mental Health, and the faculty really likes students to gain experience at multiple different hospitals, so you'll likely be all over town. Stethoscopes...I absolutely love my stethoscope (Littman Classic III) and am a huge proponent of Littmans, but if you're looking for something cheaper, many of my classmates are happy with their MDFs. Something that's really useful with both brands is looking for one that has a bell you can flip between adult and pediatric sizes. As far as class size, it used to be 36 students in the cohort. My cohort is the first one to admit 42 students, so I'm guessing yours will be similar! As far as funding, if you are paying in-state tuition, definitely take advantage of the college opportunity fund. I thankfully don't have loans from my first degree, so I had a blank slate with this one. I have paid for it with a combination of federal student loans, some tuition reimbursement from the hospital I work at, a COVID grant from the CARES act, and will be about $4000 dollars short for the last semester that I'll have to take out a private loan for.

So...this was a novel LOL. But I hope there's some helpful information in there for you all! Again, please email me with more questions or post them here, and I'll answer them as soon as I can! Congratulations again to all of you! You're going to do great! Don't forget to take time for yourself both now and in the program ?

This is awesome! Thank you so much. I kinda figured the Summer would be rough, now I can mentally prepare haha. I will definitely send you an email and will be on the lookout for that facebook group. Thank you again!

Shea Basselen · Jan 30, 2021

Thanks for the reply @alpinegirl!! I'll most likely be emailing you with more questions!

Shea Basselen · Jan 30, 2021

Everyone else who was accepted, I am most likely for a roommate for the program. If you guys are interested or know of anyone in Colorado Springs that is let me know! I would prefer to live with someone in the accelerated BSN program.

tasha24 · Feb 1, 2021

Hi everyone! I just found this post and am also starting the UCCS ABSN program this May. I currently live in Gunnison, CO and so I'll be moving to the springs. I would love to find a roommate who is also in the program and therefore wants to live close to campus and is on a similar schedule. @Shea Basselen I'd love to chat about maybe getting housing together! You can shoot me a message or my email is [email protected].

Shea Basselen · Feb 11, 2021

@tasha24 awesome! I will email you ?

kelzu · Feb 12, 2021

Hi!! I am also starting the ABSN program in May. Im also looking to move to the springs and would like to find a roommate! If anyone is interested in chatting some more my email is [email protected]!