UCONN CEIN 2016

sbran0017 · Apr 7, 2015

I had my application submitted by the January date. Talked to them recently and was told that "due to the high volume of applicants" my application just simply did not get looked at because they "ran out of time." I asked if this had to do with the fact that I am currently enrolled in 2 prerequisites (I was strongly encouraged to apply for the January review and was assured that being enrolled in 2 prerequisites in the spring semester would in no way count against me) and was told that my outstanding prerequisites had nothing to do with it and the committee just did not have enough time to review all the applications. I offered to submit my midterm grades (two A's) and they seemed uninterested. How do they make decisions about who to admit/reject if they dont take all the applications into consideration? This seems pretty sketchy and bizarre to me.... To say that I am confused would be an understatement. Anybody else have a similar experience?

heb06004 · Apr 8, 2015

sbran0017 - I was told I had to apply in January if I wanted Storrs, and that it didn't matter if I was still taking classes - they would still look at my application. I applied in January and heard in September after the August review. I offered to give feedback about the aspects of the program application that were confusing, but so far I haven't met with anybody. From my understanding they literally put your application to the side if you haven't finished the prereqs yet, and will then reevaluate your progress next review cycle.

DavidChen0811 - If you go back a few pages you can see some thoughts on the program from myself and another student. We're one week away from finals (eek!) of our first semester! Your class day is dependent on what campus you're enrolled in. For AP we have classes on Fridays in the spring/fall semesters and Wednesdays during the summer semester. You get 4 clinical choices per clinical rotation, you rank your choices, and then the director picks where you go and if other students want to switch with you you have a week after choices are determined to switch. So far the options have generally been two day clinicals and two night clinicals (no weekends...yet). First semester you have lab 1x a week based on which clinical you're in. After first semester you only have 1 lab day per rotation for simulations. Honestly, I live right next to Storrs and would love to be going there and saving on gas and time, but I don't mind going to Avery for the main reason of parking. My first degree was at Storrs and I still work there. Relying on the parking lots on the edges of campus and taking the buses is a nightmare (not to mention parking costs an arm and a leg!). I'd never saw AP prior to orientation in December, but so far it's not bad. We have a full sim lab just like Storrs does and parking is so nice in comparison! The program itself is the same for each campus, and you all get the same syllabus and some of the teachers are the same, so I wouldn't say there's a disadvantage to being down at AP.

Challenger0811 · Apr 8, 2015

Wow thank you so much that's some very nice information thank you much appreciated. Another big concern is earning a income during the program, is there enough time to have a job on the side that won't affect my study efforts in class? What do people you know in the program do to support themselves for the one year they are in the program?

Watercolor18 · Apr 17, 2015

Wow thank you so much that's some very nice information thank you much appreciated. Another big concern is earning a income during the program, is there enough time to have a job on the side that won't affect my study efforts in class? What do people you know in the program do to support themselves for the one year they are in the program?

Honestly that really depends on your ability to retain information. For the first semester, you have 1 class day, 3hrs of lab on a different day, and 2 days of clinical. That leaves you with 3 full days of nothing. Now to give you an idea of workload for those 3 "free days": 5-7 chapters for fundamentals, 2 chapters and readings for the grad class, 2 sim programs weekly (45min-90min each), videos with online quizzes (this ranges between 3-7 videos depending on the week), an online quiz in fundamentals and the grad class, at least one discussion post, sometimes an ATI test, and the big projects through the semester (Nurse Practice Act Paper and at least one full care plan). I work one 12hr shift a week and budgeted for a day of me time, but that means you're working your butt off the rest of the week. I think a few people are working up to 21 hours a week but they say they get overwhelmed sometimes. One person though is working part time and has been doing amazingly well (high A on both the midterm and final). If you're already at the job you'd like to work at during the program, my suggestion would be ask for the first two weeks off so you can get a handle on how much work it is and how much effort you'll have to put in and go from there. They could be completely changing things next year anyway and the workload might be totally different.

turtlesRcool · Apr 21, 2015

Wow thank you so much that's some very nice information thank you much appreciated. Another big concern is earning a income during the program, is there enough time to have a job on the side that won't affect my study efforts in class? What do people you know in the program do to support themselves for the one year they are in the program?

How much you can work totally depends on your study needs and the job you have. I will say probably about half of my class worked part time during the program. If you work, you really need a flexible job that will allow you to schedule your shifts around your nursing schedule. Waiting tables and bar tending were popular options, as they allowed people to work after class or trade shifts with co-workers. We also had quite a few people working as CNAs/PCTs in hospitals. The thing about those aide jobs is that there's usually a FT or nearly FT orientation that goes along with them to start, so it can be tricky to get a job like that if you don't have one prior to beginning the CEIN program. I will say those working as aides got jobs really fast (as in, they were hired for a February start before they graduated in Dec) because they already had an "in" with their hospitals.

What doesn't seem to work as well are jobs that require significant prep, heavy thinking, or a rigid schedule. You can probably work weekends, but don't bank on it because sometimes there are weekend clinical placements. You do get to indicate your preferences, but if no one wants the weekend clinical (and in my experience, the weekends were the least popular), you might get placed there.

The other half of the class relied on savings, loans, and/or family support for the year. I didn't work (hooray for savings and a working spouse), but I have young children, who took up far more time than a job would have.

You also need to decide how much of an achiever you want to be. If you get into the program, you're probably used to As. But then comes the reality that you're in a class with people who are ALL used to As, and some of you are going to get Bs or sometimes even Cs. And despite that, my class had a 100% first time pass rate on the NCLEX, and those who got jobs first were not necessarily the academic superstars of the class. You just have to do your best to find the work-school-life balance that you can handle.

Kra820 · Apr 22, 2015

Hi heb06004! I'm new to this thread. I do have a few questions about the CEIN program. How am I able to send you a private message?

heb06004 · Apr 22, 2015

Hi heb06004! I'm new to this thread. I do have a few questions about the CEIN program. How am I able to send you a private message?

I sent you one - go to your messages. :)

Kra820 · Apr 22, 2015

Hi! Has anyone been accepted to the Waterbury campus for 2016?

Heb06004..it won't let me send a message yet. I guess I'm to new. I'm working on writing more posts

i think my main concern is since there is really one class day a lot of the material is self taught..do you find this to be true?

heb06004 · Apr 22, 2015

i think my main concern is since there is really one class day a lot of the material is self taught..do you find this to be true?

I find the one class a day to not be so bad. Spring semester we had fundamentals from 8:30-2:30 and theories from 3-6 (although we rarely stayed past 5). Personally, there were some days I wondered why they didn't do two class days, but most days I enjoyed having class one day a week, getting it over with, and having the rest of the week to do things outside of class (the class day itself goes by pretty quick). And so many of us commute pretty far away, so it saves us time and gas, and an extra trip to campus. The teacher goes through most of the slides and gives you a chance to ask questions, much like any other class. There's a lot of reading, but most of it corresponds with class, so I wouldn't say it's a self-taught program. I'd call it more self-motivated to actually learn the large amount of material to get through the program and to do well.

LDA3292 · Apr 25, 2015

The admissions people at UCONN are just awful, I have written documentation from the coordinator and the director herself Dr. ***** saying my admissions decision had been decided and I would find out in a few days, however a month later still nothing. Its beyond annoying especially this is for a Medical Career. You can not set an expectation and then fail to meet, what does that show of the standards you want the students to live up to. Especially when you continue lie about things like this , it makes this entire program look like an embarrassment. If my application wasn't really decided on then just say it, tell me they moving me to the 2nd pool of applicants.

Allie31 · Apr 25, 2015

Accepted to Storrs Jan 2016! Anyone else?

RN2BCamm · Apr 25, 2015

Accepted to Storrs Jan 2016! Anyone else?

Congrats Allie31!! I have also been accepted into Storrs 2016 (: