UCONN cein 2015

Watercolor18 · Mar 13, 2014

Congrats on the acceptance; I'll be seeing you next year then! :) I'm going to be living at home but did go there for undergrad and know a little about local housing. On campus is really difficult to get into because there's so many students but there is a lot of apartments/houses for rent in the area (although I have heard prices can get steep). This website (University of Connecticut | Off Campus Housing Search) gives you a bunch of listings for nearby places. If you're still having a hard time finding places nearby, Manchester/Vernon area or Willimantic might be your best bet, but those are at least a 15 min. drive away.

Ebsteins · Mar 13, 2014

Did you just find out recently or within a few weeks of the jan 31 deadline? Still waiting to hear from that alleged first week of March review.

turtlesRcool · Mar 13, 2014

Keep in mind that you will only have one day of classes on campus. Okay, in the spring, you will have a second day for lab, but that's only 10 weeks out of the whole program.

On the other hand, you will have clinicals two days per week, possibly 3 depending on your placement in the summer/fall. To clarify, you need an average of 21 hours per week of clinicals, so you might do two longer days or three shorter ones. In the spring, you only have two days of clinicals because the lab hours (4 per week) count toward the clinical component.

My advice would be to look for housing closer to where you are likely to have clinicals, since you'll be going there more often. There's no guarantee the clinical placement sites will be the same year to year, but here are the placement sites for Storrs this year so far: Hartford Hospital, Salmonbrook Rehab, Johnson Memorial Hospital/Evergreen rehab, Natchaug Hospital, St. Francis Hospital/Mt. Sinai, Middlesex Hospital. You'll have more housing options (probably nicer ones), if you expand your search area.

In addition to having this site, there will be an orientation in the fall where you will get to meet with others from the CEIN program in Storrs, if you're looking to find roommates. Since the program doesn't start until January, that gives you enough time to search for an apartment, possibly closer to Hartford. Also keep in mind that the CEIN program starts early in January; this year it was two weeks prior to the rest of the campus starting classes. You'll need to factor that in when looking at move-in dates.

Hope that helps.

heb06004 · Mar 15, 2014

Even if you do want to move near storrs, I've been at uconn for the last 6 years for my BS and part of a masters program. I've lived off campus for the last four of those years. There's plenty of apartments about fifteen minutes away from campus that have less college population and don't have the steep prices. You can also use rent.com to find places that will be less college population oriented rather than using the uconn off campus housing site.

JasonPB22 · Mar 18, 2014

Well I'm late to this party but I will be applying for the 2016 CEIN. From what I've been told, there's no point applying if you miss the January deadline. I'm going to finish my pre-reqs over this summer and next fall and be completely ready to submit my app for the Jan '16 deadline.

I'm also applying to St.J. and Quinnipiac, but UConn is my first choice - I did my undergrad there!

turtlesRcool · Mar 27, 2014

Why would there be no point in applying after the January deadline? I submitted my application at 4:58pm on the day of the August deadline. And I still had to take a prerequisite in the fall. And one of my transcripts went missing (ironically, the one from UCONN that literally had to go from next door), and had to be resent. And my resume didn't upload properly with the online application, so I re-sent via email a week later when someone contacted me to say it was missing. And I still got in. They really do reserve a portion of seats for each review date.

turtlesRcool · Mar 27, 2014

heb06004, have you really considered the other sites? I don't know where you live, but depending on where you are, Avery Point or Waterbury might work. Waterbury has clinical sites in the Hartford and Middletown areas, even over to Manchester and Farmington starting next month. I know Avery Point students have had placements in Manchester, Colechester, Middletown, and even Hartford. As I wrote in an earlier post, the distance to clinical sites is more important than the distance to the campus because you'll be going to clinicals more often than to class.

I've got the list of clinical sites in front of me for behavioral health right in front of me (we start in May), and Storrs has placements at Middlesex hospital (Middletown) and St. Francis Hospital/Mt. Sinai (Hartford) while Avery Point has placements at Ct. Valley Hospital (Middletown) and St. Francis Hospital/Mt. Sinai (Hartford). In fact the Storrs and AP students are at SFH/MS on the SAME DAY. Waterbury students will be going to Manchester Hospital, Ct. Valley Hospital, and UCONN Heath Center (Farmington) for Mental Health. Also, one option for the Pediatric rotation over the summer is to go to the soccer camp at Storrs, and I know some students from Waterbury get this placement (and get to sleep over in the dorms due to the commute); I'm not sure if AP students have this option or not, but it seems likely.

I'm not saying that a longer commute is fun, but weigh the extra 30-60 minutes it might take you to get to class in Waterbury/Avery Point once a week against the extra year you'd have to wait if you insist on Storrs. There are some people this year with insane commutes (Litchfield to Stamford - yikes!) who are making it work. At least one person has downloaded the pharmacology lectures to his iPod, and spends his commute listening to the lecture. I can relate to your circumstances as I, too, was originally focused on one particular campus because every other campus is well over an hour from my house, and I cried when I was admitted to my second choice campus. But then my husband pointed out it was only for a year, "you can do anything for a year," he told me. Then I investigated the clinical sites, and realized it wasn't as bad as it first seemed. So I pass on my husband's advice: you, too, can do anything for a year.

heb06004 · Mar 27, 2014

Thank you for all of your insight turtlesRcool! I put AP as my second choice. I live in Ashford which is literally 7 minutes from Storrs and roughly an hour and 10 minutes to AP. I know if I get into AP I will have to do some soul searching before deferring a year to be in Storrs. It's a big decision especially if I'm not earning any income - every mile takes dollars away from being able to afford food and housing.

And although I don't agree that there's no point in applying after January, it is obviously harder to get into Storrs as a top choice after January. I have been told by the people in admissions that Storrs fills up by the June admissions, and that the only way to get in that campus if you are reviewed in August is to hope for a drop out. I'm guessing you got very lucky turtlesRcool, but they've told me multiple times that spots there fill up by June (so clearly they don't reserve a number in each campus for each review, unfortunately :/).

turtlesRcool · Mar 28, 2014

Yes, spots in Storrs usually fill up by June. The folks in admissions do keep a percentage of seats open, but not a percentage at each campus. Wish they did! Usually Storrs fills up first, then Waterbury, but you're in luck if you want Avery Point or Stamford. Fortunately for me, Storrs is nearly 80 miles from my house, so I'd much rather be on another campus.

You're right that finances can get tight with such a busy program, but gas money shouldn't be the make it or break it point. According to Mapquest, it's about 45 miles from Ashford to Avery Point, so 90 miles round trip. I'm not sure what you drive, but my car gets about 25 mpg, so it would take 3.6 gallons per trip. I paid around $3.70/gal last time I fueled up, so using that figure, it would cost me a bit over $13 each day to make that commute. Your figures will be somewhat different, but as ballpark figures, $26 for the first 10 weeks (two trips per week), and $13 per week after that should be manageable. Also figure that you save on parking (you'll save about $100 not getting a permit for Storrs).

I know we are "strongly discouraged' from working during the program, but I'd say about half my class works. It's not ideal, but if you don't have another major responsibility (like small children), you should be able to manage a few shifts a week, even if it's just waiting tables or babysitting.

I'm not sure what your current job is, but most of us anticipate a better salary than we currently earn once we become RNs. To me, it's worth the upfront investment to start working as a nurse a year sooner. I don't know the financial details of anyone on here, so maybe you really can't find an extra $13 per week for gas, and if you can't, you can't. But before you decide that another campus isn't workable, consider what the obstacles really are. Try to separate the practical obstacles from the psychological ones. Just from personal experience, when I was accepted to a campus more than an hour from my house, my first reaction was, "Great! Technically, I'm accepted, but practically, I can't go." Then my husband calmed me down, and I was able to move through the initial "I can't" to figure out ways I could. Certainly there were practical obstacles, but my biggest obstacle was thinking I couldn't do it.

I really hope it works out for you!

Ebsteins · Mar 30, 2014

Got an acceptance letter to Storrs yesterday ! (3/29). The admission committee must have met again after all. Good luck to all !

karmstrong3 · Jun 15, 2014

Any idea when our Fall orientation will be? Also, the Storrs 2015 class should start a Facebook group for an easier way to ask questions, etc.

C7H1O4 · Jun 21, 2014

Congratulations on all the acceptances. Happy to hear Avery Point doesn't fill up too fast because that's my first choice. I put my application in last month and have one more class to finish this summer. Anyone else applying for Avery Point as a first option?