UMSL or Barnes Jewish?

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Hi everyone,

I do not know how many of you are familiar with the UMSL and Barnes Jewish Nursing schools at St. Louis, but I would like to know which is, in your opinion, a better Nursing school and what the advantages and disadvantages of both schools are? I am accepted at both schools, but I haven't made up my mind yet about which schoool to choose. I, personally, do not know anyone that went to either of these schools so I wanted to ask anyone here to write what you know and what your opinions are. I hope you help.

Thanks

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I have been looking at both schools too! Congrats on your acceptances!

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I have heard not good things about Barnes from everyone who went there. My sister is the accelerated program and she has had many problems. I work with a few nurses who went there as well and they all report horrible experiences as well. I attended UMSL briefly the summer before my senior year for an externship and I had a great experience. I'm not sure how it is as a full nursing program though. Good luck with your decision. Hope this helps.

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Specializes in SN, LTC, REHAB, HH.
I have heard not good things about Barnes from everyone who went there. My sister is the accelerated program and she has had many problems. I work with a few nurses who went there as well and they all report horrible experiences as well. I attended UMSL briefly the summer before my senior year for an externship and I had a great experience. I'm not sure how it is as a full nursing program though. Good luck with your decision. Hope this helps.

i'm a former ASN student at bjc. when i was there the program went really fast-8wk courses. some of the nursing instructors were not so nice if you had a very good reason for wanting to take an exam another day eventhough at the beginning of the course tell you it's not problem to do a make up exam.

i'm really surprised your sister had some problems with the program now that they've changed an all. with all the money in opening this new high-tech nursing school, expensive tuition, you'd think they would be more "student friendly".

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Moved to Missouri Nurses forum, in hopes of a few more answers. :)

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Specializes in Emergency.

I am currently in UMSL's accelerated program and like it! Take a look around the Missouri forum---there are a few different threads where people have discussed both schools in depth--and if you have any further questions, just let me know! Oh, and I've only heard good things about Barnes Jewish, so I'm sure either way you'll make a great choice! Congrats on getting accepted to both! :)

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I am starting the Barnes program in May and have heard good things about it lately from people I have talked to who know someone who went through the program. The one person I have been in contact with that actually is in the program said that while it is challenging and difficult, it is doable and they would do it all over again if given the choice.

Also I talked with the manager of the bookstore at the college of pharmacy (where we get our books) for quite some time yesterday, and she had nothing but good things to say about the program at Barnes. She said in her opinion it's the best program in STL. Not sure exactly what that is worth since she is the bookstore manager and not a student, but I figured she has enough interaction with the actual students to form an opinion on the matter.

Anyway hope that helps. When are you supposed to start? I plan on putting out info on here once I get started since I personally have been having a hard time finding much info on this site.

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Hello!

I am a Student Ambassador for Barnes-Jewish College. I love my school. I disagree with all the negative comments about it because I have had a wonderful experience thus far. I am in the Upper Division day program and I am in my second semester. I don't know much about UMSL's program because I knew from the beginning that I wanted to attend Barnes. The teachers are all excellent, top notch. Each one has a different teaching style which can sometimes be hard to get used to. I really enjoy the simulation labs. In our simulation labs we have "patients" that we care for daily and they are able to respond to us by speaking or coughing etc. I am very involved with various activites throughout the school so if you like to be involved in school activities Barnes is definitely the best option. Being so centrally located in St. Louis, we are in a quad with STLCOP (St. Louis College of Pharmacy), Washington University and the College for Allied Health. We are one of the only nursing schools left that is affiliated with a hospital. It is a lot easier to take a short walk to Barnes-Jewish Hospital than to drive over from UMSL. We are right in the middle of cutting edge research coming from Washington University and the hospital which is really exciting! Forest Park is a few blocks away as well as many restaurants, shops and attractions. The Metro parking garage is free for us and is one block from school. The course load is not too bad at all. I am able to work, and have a life outside school! We always have a good time with each other and are allowed to joke around and laugh, but we know when to be serious as well. Nursing is a difficult profession but it can be fun and rewarding as well! Please definitely consider Barnes!! :-)

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I have also heard some not so good things about Barnes from several people. I haven't heard anything bad or good about UMSL though. I haven't met anyone who has gone there!

:)

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Specializes in Emergency.

In response to smh's post--UMSL also has a similar simulation lab--we call it "Sim Man" as he is run by a computerized system and can do many things! I believe quite a few of St. Louis nursing schools have these now. Also, yes--our nursing school is not located near a major hospital, but we can go to many of the metro area hospitals--such as Barnes, Depaul, St. John's, Missouri Baptist, Christian Northeast, Cardinal Glennon, Children's Hospital, etc. So, depending on where you live, your clinical location can be very close---I enjoy the flexibility of having my clinicals be at a hospital I prefer

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I went to Barnes and graduated. I was at both the new and old schools. Yes the new school is very modern and has a lot of new gadgets. The new school really has no library of it's own. The way the school was run was very disorganized, almost like they were making it up as they went along. When the new building was opened a lot of instructors from umsl started working there. Some of those instructors did not last long, they went back to umsl. All in all it is close to the hospital and I did pass boards on first try. The school may be much more organized now that they no longer have adn progam.

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Specializes in med-surg.

I went to UMSL. The program is hard and the instructors give tough love. I personally believe they made a good nurse out of me and most importantly, they did a good job at preparing me for NCLEX. Last I checked UMSL had the highest pass rate!!

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