University of Minnesota, Entry MSN 2016

erika6748 · May 9, 2016

Thanks for the response. I am also coming from out of state. University Commons looks like a nice apartment close to campus.

cokoro11 · May 9, 2016

Theres an international student and I that are planning on getting a 4bed/2bath at the University Commons. She has signed a lease already and I just received mine in the mail. This could be an option for you if interested. Best of luck!

erika6748 · May 9, 2016

Sounds like a good option for me. Is there anyway to contact you without posting emails publicly?

cokoro11 · May 9, 2016

Log into Facebook | Facebook

Hey Erika, I know allnurses.com doesn't allow me to private msg. But this is a group we are apart of if you would like to join for UMN students looking for housing, maybe we can connect that way.

cokoro11 · May 9, 2016

Hey, maybe you can fb search: University of Minnesota (UMN) Housing, Sublets & Roommates - maybe we can connect in some way there. I know [COLOR=#141823]all nurses doesn't allow me to send private messages at this time. [/COLOR]

brynrawr · Jun 25, 2016

Hi Evelyn,

Not sure if you're still watching this thread or not, but I have another quick question-- how real is the white shoe requirement? Is it enforced? I need a new pair for work and wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get white so they can double for school. Thanks!!

evyviggy · Jun 25, 2016

Yeah, that ended up not being enforced at all. In fact, the nurses kept asking us why we all had white shoes!

doulasrock13 · Jul 15, 2016

Hey 2017 Cohort! I am a student in the current cohort and I am looking to sell some scrubs. I have a couple of medium pants and small shirts. Let me know if you are interested. you can email me at [email protected]

Nicole

brynrawr · Aug 18, 2016

Hey everyone,

Today I went to the bookstore and purchased the "Nurs 5019 Fall 2016 Custom Package," which is packaged in a cardboard box so you can't see what is inside until after you buy it (for almost $500!). I bit the bullet, and it turns out what is in there is a bunch of books that can be purchased separately on Amazon for less money. I don't think I can return mine now that it's open, but here's what's in there if anyone else wants to not be as stupid as I was.

[h=1]Drug Calculations: Ratio and Proportion Problems for Clinical Practice, 10e ISBN 978-0323316590[/h]

[h=1]Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning Care, 11e ISBN 978-0323322249[/h]

[h=1]Lehne's Pharmacology for Nursing Care, 9e ISBN 978-0323321907[/h]

[h=1]Fundamentals of Nursing, 9e ISBN 978-0323327404[/h]

[h=1]Physical Examination and Health Assessment, 7e ISBN 978-1455728107[/h]

An access code for Elsevier's Simulation Learning System for Nursing Fundamentals, which you can purchase for 69.95 on their website

An access code for the VitalSource Custom Library. This I'm not sure if you can purchase separately, or if you need. I don't like to read online, so I don't see how this would be useful for me.

And that's all! Hopefully this helps someone save a little money.

doulasrock13 · Aug 18, 2016

Hey, a current MN2 Student here. A lot of us have textbooks to sell to you guys too. I will be at the orientation next week and we have created a doc of scrubs and books that we have available for the incoming class.

Also, Brynmawr... you could probably return your bundle. I can tell you I never once opened that giant Lehne Pharmacology book.

See you guys next week!

Nicole

carrotrunr · Aug 23, 2016

This has been a super helpful thread! I'm also starting the MN program this fall (orientation is tomorrow-eek!), and I've been so curious about what it will be like! My last day at my forever-since-college-graduation job is next Wednesday, and I'm nervous but excited about the big transition to Nursing.

evyviggy · Jan 6, 2017

Hey everyone,

I'm glad people have been finding this thread so helpful! Now that I'm finally done (woo hoo!) I figured I would finish up where I left off when I wrote at the end of second term, and let you know about the last two terms too.

If I remember correctly, Summer term was the term we had to write all the papers. The Nursing Informatics papers weren't hard, but with the shortened term there was just one right after the other and it got old. (That class is online BTW). The Nursing Theory paper sucked, plus there were a bunch of group projects/posts too, which also sucked. Everyone was so burnt out on group work by next Fall term, it was kind of funny actually. The concepts were interesting though but people either loved or hated that class. Mental Health/Public Health was the only class that met every week but it was really long (most weeks we only had to come to class one day per week). But it was easy and the tests were no big deal and the simulations were all really good.

Summer clinicals were interesting, though very different than the fall and spring. You will be working much more on the psychosocial part of nursing this term. Which is really helpful but also makes you feel like you forgot all your nursing skills by the time fall term rolls around again. Don't worry, they will come back! They will also briefly mention how your Capstone project works by the end of this term, with just enough information provided to leave you feeling anxious and clueless right as the term ends. And then you get a whole month off before fall term!

Speaking of fall term, that is of course when your immersion clinical will begin! It will be amazing! Most of us got something that was pretty close to what we had asked for, so hopefully it will be the same for you. We didn't find out which unit our placement would be in until mid-July, and we didn't find out who our actual preceptor/preceptors were until a couple days into the term. Nonetheless, we were all able to get our hours in, most of us by the second to last week of the term. They like you to try to average about 16 hours per week, but it usually fluctuates between 8-24 hours depending on how well your schedule matches up with your preceptor. I was lucky and got a day assignment. A few people did get nights though and it seemed like they struggled the first month or so. A lot of people had 12 hour shifts rather than 8 hours, but you could chose to work only 8 hours of a 12 hour if necessary. Though the workflow of a 12 hour is definitely less crazy!

All in all though, the immersion clinical is awesome. You will start the term feeling like you have no idea what you are doing and will never be able to handle X number of patients at once (different in each unit), and you will end the term feeling like a real nurse. It will happen very gradually though. I felt like I could barely handle 1 patient the whole first month, and most of us couldn't handle the full load until the last few weeks of the term, and even then, barely. Everyone ends up having to stay late most days to finish charting. But hey, the hours all count so what they heck.

I think what I appreciated most from the immersion clinical was the sense I was able to get for what the day of a nurse is REALLY like. I guarantee you that none of your prior clinicals gave you a clue. For the first time, you will finally be in charge of it all. The prioritizing, the constant ringing of your phone, the admissions/education and discharges, the charting/notes/handoff and most especially, the trouble shooting when things don't go as planned. Which will be most days. Thankfully, your preceptor will be there to help you and won't throw that all on you at once. I tended to find that the first part of my day was spent on meds/assessments, the next part on nursing cares (changing dressings, etc), and the last part on charting/notes. Roughly. Depends how the day goes.

As for classes the final term, this will be the only term that coursework takes the back seat to clinicals. The content itself is not tricky. The best part - there are NO TESTS! So fabulous. But there will be a ton of group work again. You'll have to do some group papers in Ethics, but if you split them up between you, its super manageable. Leadership only meets 4-5 times and provides lots of useful information that you won't feel ready yet to apply. Until you get to the end and all starts coming together somehow. The assignments in that class are also no big deal. Your Capstone class is the one that will take the most effort and the grading in that class is tough. Beware. Thankfully, you get the month of Nov off from class to work on your Capstone. If you applied to the DNP track, interviews will start happening in early Dec I believe. There will also still be more IPE to complete. But its not as much of a pain the last two terms.

And that's it! Come mid-Dec you'll be graduated and with your first nursing job just around the corner. The market for new nurses in our area this year at least is great, and I don't think most people are going to have trouble getting a job. With the possible exception of the L&D area because they seem to really push Med/Surg experience for new grads in that area first. But Med/Surg, Mental Health, and Home Care jobs abound and there seems to be plenty of everything else to go around too. Plan to start by working nights or evenings though unless you are in Home Care or Mental Health or willing to work a 0.4 or less.

The earliest you want to start applying is around late Oct/early Nov. I would say that about 1/3 of our cohort was already hired by graduation, 1/3 had started looking but hadn't found what they wanted yet (most of these were people who wanted something very specific though), and 1/3 just couldn't think about it until graduation was done. From the things recruiters said, I think it is very true that our MN program grads are as sought after as they said.

Our class finally got our Authorization to Test (ATT) from the Board of Nursing on Jan 3, and most people are planning to take their NCLEX sometime in Jan. Given that you can't schedule it until you get your ATT, I would say that the earliest you should expect to be able to take it is about mid-Jan. Supposedly it takes about 10 days for your license to be processed so that you can start working.

That's all I know for now! Best of luck everyone!