The MEPN deadline is less than 2 months away, so I thought I'd get a thread started for us 2012 hopefuls!
I'm a first time applicant to the WHNP/CNM specialty, and feel like I've been getting ready to submit this application for so long! I've been working abroad for a public health NGO for the past couple of years and am a trained birth doula. I've finished up all of my prereqs and GREs, selected people for recommendations (including a slightly awkward visit to my undergraduate advisor...), so now I'm just drafting my essays. Does anyone even know what the application is supposed to look like this year? I'm just going off samples I've seen from previous years.
Some days I feel sort of confident about my chances, and other days I feel as though this is a total shot in the dark and definitely not going to work out!
Any other hopefuls out there? And anyone know when the application is actually going to open?
I did confirm with UCSF by email, but it's only because it was slightly problematic getting one of my old transcripts sent, so I wanted to make sure they'd gotten it (they hadn't, so I had to resend and they confirmed after that they'd received everything).
Ah right- you're in SoCal. Well...the knitting will be good practice for when you relocated to the Bay Area and need to get through those chilly summers! I used to live there, and I can confirm that Mark Twain was correct when he (supposedly) said: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
Thanks for the info LookingAhead. I think I will wait for a couple of weeks then email them if I hear nothing. Maybe my status will change to "currently reviewing..." blah blah blah
I've visited SF several times but never during the winter. Now you have me scared about how cold it can truly get. Dang, start stocking up now on coats?
Oh no, the summer is actually kind of worse than the winter! It's just the kind of place where it's sort of permanently 65 degrees, chilly in the morning, warm during the day, weirdly very cold and windy right where the UCSF Parnassus campus is...I was there in May, and after the evening info session at UCSF I stood outside waiting for the bus wearing a hat, scarf and gloves. Strange place, but highly lovable.
Oh, yes, I live 2 miles from UCSF and August of 2011 it did not get above 60 all month! The summers here are cold and foggy. September and October, and even into November, are probably the warmest months. I happen to love the fog so I am pretty happy here!
I applied for Public Health Nursing. Is anyone else going for that specialty? I applied last year for Cardiovascular (which is closed this year) and got an interview. Unfortunately I did not do well during the interview (nervous plus recovering from the flu) so I was not selected.
Can you share what you think made your application worth of choosing for the interview over other applicants? Lots of experience in healthcare, high GPA and GRE, great goal statement? You probably evaluated your own application in these terms, right? Not everybody is interviewed. I'm just thinking how big of a chance I may have this year. This is the first time I'm applying. I have a foreign degree, have no idea how they treat people with out of States degrees.
It's very possible that the pool of those applying to the Cardiovascular specialty last year was small. It also isn't one of the more popular specialties. I believe some specialties have an applicant to acceptance ratio of 20:1.
I'm happy to share my stats if you find them useful:
1220 combined score on GREs + 5.0 on writing section
2.8 undergrad GPA in biology, 4.0 grad GPA in business
As in physiology, anatomy, and statistics
5 strong recommendations
well written goal statement (I think!)
15 years experience in biotech but not healthcare
some volunteer work but not a tremendous amount
no second language skills
I am not sure if that's helpful - we all have different strengths - but that is who I am!
Thank you so much for sharing. So you have two degrees? One in biology and one in business? Oh, no wonder you were chosen for the interview. My GRE is only 1170 with 4.0 in writing. Very modest score I must admit. English is not my native language but that shouldn't be an excuse. So overall, I'm happy for that after sweating so much with the prep materials. Psychology BS with 3.54 GPA. Prereqs with 4.0 but I guess most of the people have a perfect GPA in these classes. I'm very doubtful about strength of my goal statement and personal history. Who knows what they exactly want to see in those essays, personality they say, but really... one can write whatever s/he wants in there.
How was the interview process for you? You mentioned that you were nervous but what kind of questions did they ask? Did you take a note of them? As far as I know they have a standard list of questions. Do you remember the most challenging ones?
Again, thanks for answering. I wish you luck too and hope to see you in a few months during interviews ;-)
About the interview... I'd prepare for an academic interview instead of a business interview. Next time (if I'm that lucky) I'll prepare a more compelling case for wanting to make a career change into nursing. I'll also focus more on the short term goals I want to achieve (in a clinical setting) instead of longer term goals (like teaching nursing). I'll also script out my answers as that might help me be more articulate. And I'll be more prepared for less dialogue and more rigidity in the interview, such as answering standard questions. I'm used to a more fluid interview style, and the lack of responses and positive feedback definitely threw me a bit! And that's my fault... I definitely take ownership of that and will be more poised next time.
Thank you emoore25 for your comments. I too will take note of your experience if I am selected for an interview. I can't even imagine how grueling of a process that is!
Does anyone know when they will send acceptance/rejection letters out? I know its early but I just want to know when I can reasonably expect to hear back from UCSF.
I got my rejection letter last year about the 1st/2nd week in December. I'm sure it varies on when they send them out from year to year.
LookingAhead
227 Posts
I did confirm with UCSF by email, but it's only because it was slightly problematic getting one of my old transcripts sent, so I wanted to make sure they'd gotten it (they hadn't, so I had to resend and they confirmed after that they'd received everything).
Ah right- you're in SoCal. Well...the knitting will be good practice for when you relocated to the Bay Area and need to get through those chilly summers! I used to live there, and I can confirm that Mark Twain was correct when he (supposedly) said: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."