UIC - DePaul advice

[Nussie]

Hello,

I need some advice. I was admitted to DePaul's MENP program and was planning on starting in January. But I just found out that I got into UIC's GEP program off of the waitlist. Could any current students or alum offer me their impressions of the program? On the one hand, DePaul seems more flexible and I like that I'd have a masters after 2 years, but UIC is sooo much less expensive. Really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

[romie]

I will be begining UIC GEP program in Jan 07, so I don't have any first hand impressions to give you yet. I've met some people who have applied to both programs and generally wished they could have been accepted at UIC. If you are planning on specializing and becoming a CNS or NP, you might just want to go the UIC route as it is built into your program, whereas at DePaul you would have to go back to school for a certificate program. On the other hand, if it is more important to get a degree right away, then DePaul may be your best choice, as I am looking at least another 3 1/2 years of school before I get my degree at UIC.

Congrats on getting into both programs, by the way!

[Nussie]

Thanks! If I do decide on DePaul, I guess we'll be classmates. I was accepted to the FNP program. :wink2:

[romie]

I am hoping other people would post about their first hand impressions of UIC or DePaul's programs. Good luck making your decision--it is a nice situation to find yourself in. You should check out the orientation session Oct 6 & 7 at UIC for the accepted GEP students, if they will give you until then to decide.

[shechemist]

I am graduation from DePaul's Direct Entry Master's of Nursing program in 6 days. I was going to apply to the UIC program, but they didn't get it started when they thought they would, and I wanted to get going with my education.

My education has been great and I feel well prepared. There are several profs that are amazing. Dr. Holm, Dr. Tarnow, L. Graff, Dr. Higgerson, M. Kipta and U. Tichwa (I think I am misspelling her name) are all great instructors. Kipta is absolutely amazing, in addition to being very kind. There are also several instructors that frankly suck, and there are several classes that are painful to wade through because they are very theory focused, such as family nursing, nursing theory, and community nursing.

They do have some great clinical sites, such as Children's, Mt. Sinai, Northwestern, IL Masonic, C4, and RIC. They have some not so great clinical sites such as St. Joe.

At times the department can be disorganized. Clinical rotations get shifted at the last min, and signing up for classes every quarter requires the intervention of the department admin at least once for one thing or another. Having said that, I have always gotten the classes I need, and usually the clinical site I wanted. It just would be a bit frustrating.

Since I started, DePaul changed the number of credit hours for clinical based classes, vasting increasing the cost of the program. Since I didn't have to pay the higher rate, I think my education was worth the money. I don't know if I would feel that way if I had to pay an additional 12,000.