UCF Transferring to School of Nursing HELP

CougRN · Oct 16, 2003

My advice is to first get in to nursing school. Apply to only BSN programs and wait until you are accepted at one. Then work hard in nursing school and get the best grades you can. Then go to work after graduation as a nurse in an NICU. There should be plenty of programs at some of the university hospitals in Florida that offer preceptorships for new grads in the NICU. I would plan on 2 to 3 years in the NICU before applying to graduate school. It's such a highly specialized area that you are going to need a few years of clinical knowledge before trying to tackle graduate school for neonates.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Best of luck to you.

vemiliob · Oct 16, 2003

Ok, J.G., probably I'm not the best person to give you an advice. My colleagues of Fl will give you exact information about schools, and steps. I personally started an RN program of three years doing a partial timework from the very beginning, followed by the BSN program of three more years that I did in four. Everything depends on your survival necessity. If you don't have economical problems, I would suggest you to take the long way. Go straight to the BSN (four to five year program). If you already need a job, became first an LPN. However, whatever you decide, think twice about the responsibility of becoming a Nurse. You will be neither a Paramedic nor a Doctor. You will be a person-dedicated fulltime to the care, nursing, teaching, advocating and many more verbs of individuals, relatives and community all. Sometimes all your job consists only in allowing a person to end his/her life with dignity. In addition, for that you need to have a strong heart, a mature mind and a very profound vocation of service. Just think about it and good luck!

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2003

It's wonderful that you want to pursue your NNP license! Good luck!

For now, focus mainly on your BSN. Once you are admitted into and begin that program, then start looking more closely at your options for further education. At present, work on researching all of the schools that you may be interested in that have nursing programs- look at the different pre-requisites, and see how those will fall into place (if they do at all) with classes you have already begun to take. At this point, you do not necessarily need to transfer to another school, unless you:

A) don't get into the nursing program at your current school

or

B) decide you *want* to go to another school and aren't happy with the program at your current school for whatever reason.

If you are content with your current school, and get admitted into the nursing program, there is no reason to transfer- your main goal at the moment should just be working on that BSN and getting licensed as a nurse.

When you graduate with the BSN and pass your licensing exam, you should go to work in an NICU. You can, of course, begin volunteering or tech'ing in an NICU while still in school, or even working as a clerk or nursing assistant in an NICU at a local hospital, but you don't necessarily have to do this either (many hospitals *will* hire a new grad into the NICU with no experience).

Neonatology is a pretty vast, ever-expanding field. You will learn virtually NOTHING related to neonatology in nursing school. You will have clinical rotations and lectures on neonatology, but will primarily focus on healthy infants (ie, newborn nursery or working with babies on a Mother/Baby unit). You may have a brief rotation through a level II nursery in school, and may have the opportunity to do a senior capstone (or clinical placement for an entire semester or prolonged period of time) while in school. Find out which of the nursing programs you are investigating allow you to do this- this will be a great opportunity for you to see the NICU from the inside and spend enough time there to figure out if you actually want to work there and/or pursue your NNP vs. another area of nursing or become another type of Nurse Practicioner (and remember- you're just starting! If I had a nickle for every nurse I've met who wanted to go into one field before graduation and then changed their minds or found their niche LATER, I'd be a rich woman right now. On a yacht. A yacht floating in a sea of twenty dollar bills.).

Getting your BSN will take approximately 4-5 years. You have plenty of time. After your BSN, I would HIGHLY recommend that you work for at least 2 full years in a high-intensity Level III NICU (vs. a smaller nursery- look to Shands, Wolfson, Arnold Palmer, Miami Children's, and AllChildren's first- these are the largest that I know of in Florida and are considered regional transport centers- meaning that they get patients from other states and other areas of the state). In fact, you may be REQUIRED to work at least a certain, minimum amount of time in an NICU before being admitted into the program- many universities require this as a criteria for even letting you IN to their MSN programs. Your first year you will know absolutely nothing. Trust me, I'm just finishing up year 2. You may even THINK you know something, but when that happens, come back here and read this, okay? Ready?

You don't.

Logically, let's look at this: You learn virtually nothing in nursing school about neonatology. You will work at least one full year (and I'm betting AT LEAST two in that large, Level III NICU- if not three or four or more; depends on you personally and how much you study, etc., but ultimately, it just takes time, exposure, and experience) before you are really "competent" in the field of neonatology. The NNP programs are extremely intensive, and you are basically expected to hit the ground running- they can't teach you everything, and depend on your experience and ability to learn to use as a foundation for your Master's degree. A NNP who is as green as a fern can't be depended on to make life-and-death clinical decisions. You, as an NNP, will be working basically in place of the doctor. And THEY go through medical school and residencies/internships/fellowships in the field, and STILL graduate knowing nothing. Okay, almost nothing. The basics.

I am not trying to discourage you- on the contrary...I think that passionate, knowledgeable NNP's are the future of neonatology, and I love, love, LOVE working with ours. They are irreplaceable in my book. I think that if you are patient and willing to do what it takes to succeed, that you no doubt will. However, you're just starting! It's okay to relax a little. You literally have YEARS before you really need to focus on this.

The last thing I wanted to say is this: When you are looking at advanced degrees, you really should be looking at the strength of the program, not the location. You want to find the colleges with the BEST NNP programs, and then go to THEM, not just settle for one because it is in your state. These programs are VERY different- and these are the people who will be teaching you what you need to know. This is important, so when the time comes, ask the NNP's you meet, ask the MD's you meet, your clinical nurse specialists, people on the internet, research school rankings, and factor that into your decision. When that time comes, it will not do you a bit of good to be graduating from a program that has taught you nothing and given you poor clinical opportunities.

Good luck in school! Hope this helps a little. Remember to have fun! (Wait...what's that again?) :>P

NICU_Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2003

Whoops! One more thing! I just re-read your post. Shands is a superb teaching hospital,and they do have, from what I hear, a very strong NNP program at UF. In this case, because your school of choice for the NNP program is so highly redeemed, I'd consider transferring sooner rather than later, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT and the move is do-able for you at this time. Check out the UF program for BSN, call the admissoins office and ask about the senior capstone thing (sometimes you can even do this out of state!), and see which would be better for you. It's usually better to transfer ASAP once you decide what area you want to live in/work in if you're going to be there for a while (and in this case, you'd probably be in Gainesville for about 8 or 9 years if you went to grad school at UF for that NNP program). This way, you'll be very familiar with the school, their policies, the staff, the hospital, and probably other students who may be doing the same thing.

So, I'm amending my first post to say that if you think you'll be staying in FL for your entire education, I'm partial to UF. Of course, you can still move to an out-of-state program even if you go to UF for your BSN! No one says you have to stay at that one school!

You'd qualify for in-state tuition, however, and probably get the hospital to help fund your MSN degree, if you stayed at Shands.

EyesForward · Oct 16, 2003

Hi Jennifer,

This'll be my one morning post, since I have an A&P II Lab midterm this morning!

First of all, hello and welcome, and you will enjoy this board very much where students of all stages are talking about everything from clinicals to social life (lack of!).

To get an introduction to nursing programs, requirements, etc. visit DiscoverNursing.com. There are links to almost all the accredited nursing programs, and you can read about all the different degrees, nursing roles, etc.

To get you started, though, a BSN is typically a 4-year university program. ADN's are alternatives, and are usually 2-year community college programs. ADN programs can do a 'bridge' program after becoming an RN called RN to BSN, which usually takes 1-2 years (I think).

I am a pre-ADN student, and hope to make the Jan. cut, which I should find out today!!!

Good luck!

NYCRN16 · Oct 16, 2003

In order to become a nurse practitioner (in any field), you must first obtain your bachelors degree in nursing. Keep your grades up and you will be sure to get into some program. Keep in mind that applying to a nursing program at another school is sort of a long process, you must be accepted to the school first, and then the nursing. Once you obtain your bachelors in nursing, and before you apply to nurse practitioner programs, most of these programs require at least a year or two of clinical experience before you can start your clinicals. This is a very good thing, because I have heard of some schools that will accept students fresh out of a bachelors program, but the hospitals will hire them only as staff nurses. You will need to get some nursing experience in a neonatal ICU in order to learn about this type of environment, ect. Plus, if you are working as a staff nurse in a hospital, they will often pay for you to go back and get your NP. It is a long and difficult path, but if you really want this you can do it. Good luck!

sjoe · Oct 16, 2003

If your goal is to become a NP, you might also want to look into becoming a Physician Assistant instead, which is roughly equivalent, takes less time, etc.

flowerchild · Oct 16, 2003

First advice: Don't use your real name when you register on BB's.

Second: Take life one step at a time. How do you know this is what you want? You may find that something else is better for you later. Become a RN first, then decide which direction you want to take your career.

Third: Check with your local childrens hospital. ACH in SP had a NNP program that was even available to ASN's a few years ago, I think they changed it to BSN required to enter thier in hospital NNP program.

Good luck to you.

versatile_kat · Oct 18, 2003

jennifer

the best thing for you to do at this point is FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS on your core science classes. You're old enough to start thinking seriously about what you want to accomplish later in life and young enough to be proactive about the pathway! I graduated from FSU almost 5 years ago and am about to start a CRNA program at UNC. If I had known what I know now (mainly about what the graduate programs are looking for) I would have spent a lot more time studying, and a lot less time developing collateral circulation around my liver .

You can look into other schools around the nation that have your NP program and see what they want in terms of prerequisites, but I wouldn't worry about that now. Concentrate on keeping your GPA up so you'll have less worries later when applying to grad school.

It would probably be easier to apply to a graduate school in Florida instead of another state (they like taking in-state students), and even easier for you if you go to nursing school at UF. You may want to take all your prereq's at UCF and then try to transfer to UF (even though I'm a Seminole, they also have a great nursing program) ... but don't give up on school's in other states! They may have an even better NP program!

Good luck and try not to concentrate too hard on things 4 years down the road ... focus on the immediate future!

NurseNancyNP · Mar 1, 2004

Check out UF's con.ufl.edu website. They have RN to BSN-MSN, an accelerated BSN, BSN to MSN and accelerated BSN to PhD programs. Each program that includes earning a Master's degree, allows for your choice of Neonatal NP. They do not require nursing experience for the programs. Contact the program for more info. Good Luck!:)