University of Minnesota: Rochester Campus

Dancingqueen94 · May 16, 2015

Hey there! First of all, congratulations on acceptance to the U of M's program, as well as getting accepted to the Rochester campus. You will love it! I am officially a junior in the program on the Rochester campus since I just finished up my finals on Wednesday afternoon. Time to enjoy the summer and a little break from the studies :-)

For me, fall semester consisted of the courses Nurse as Professional, Lab (Nursing Interventions), Nursing Care of Families I, and pharmacotherapy. Pharm is an online class and you can take it either first or second semester. I was usually on campus about 3 or 4 days a week, depending on what was going on that week. I also joined a study group that met Monday afternoons. Wednesdays I would have Nurse as Professional and then I had lab and Nursing Care of Families on Thursdays.

I live about an hour west of Rochester but I decided to commute this year. The commute wasn't bad but I would definitely recommend the 318 commons or some form of housing in Rochester. You never know what the weather is going to be like in the winter so sometimes that drive can get to be a little messy.

I am so happy to "meet" some of the incoming sophomores on here. You will absolutely love the program and you will really get to know your classmates well. They get to be like family! If you have any more questions or want to know anything else about the campus, the program, the classes, the instructors, etc, just let me know! :-) Again, congratulations on your acceptance! GO GOPHERS!

ashley_kumar48 · May 16, 2015

Hey! Thank you so much! I'm so excited (and nervous) to start! I know don't you just love the feeling of finishing finals and finally being free? :up:

That sounds like a pretty relaxed schedule, I was figuring as much based on the courses I was told are usually taken for fall semester. I noticed that that amounts to 10-ish credits? ( if I figured that out correctly, lol) and was wondering if you ended up having to take other classes to meet that 13 credit requirement or not? Since it seems as though the Twin Cities students take a bit more classes than we do in the fall such as Anatomy and Physiology whereas we take that before the program starts. Do you also find yourself having to take classes at the Twin Cities campus as well or having to go there for anything such as events, etc. or is everything primarily at the Rochester campus?

Yea I felt as though it would be a bit tiring commuting and hour and half possibly 3-4 times a week so I ended up getting housing at 318 commons. Do you find yourself being able to spend as much time with family and friends as you would have hoped with the course load that you were given? If what I figured it correct, I'd be coming home on Thursdays and going back on Tuesdays or Wednesdays given what day I have class and was wondering given your experience if that would be doable given the course load and all of that. I was planning during the spring when the roads are a bit less iffy to commute and was wondering if you would be able to tell me a bit about how the spring semester looks like in terms of classes and homework load? Also, do many of the nursing students commute to school or at least back to the cities on weekends? I'm afraid I may be known as the girl who goes home every weekend or something lol, but I'm just so used to being a commuter.

Sorry! I feel as though I'm asking a bunch of questions! It's hard being a first generation college student, you feel like a deer in headlights and have no idea what you're doing! Thank you so much for responding, I was going to give myself a heart attack with the amount of stressing and whatnot I was doing trying to figure out how I was going to do all of this in terms of the classes, going to Rochester, whether I would like it or not, if it was safe, if I would be able to do the drive back to the cities, etc. :nailbiting: so thank you for taking the time to respond, it means allot, I'm afraid I have so many questions! xD

Dancingqueen94 · May 16, 2015

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want...I'm so happy to help! :-) For me, fall semester was a bit busy just because I also work at a hospital as well. I took 10 or 11 credits I think but the U does offer a 13-credit exemption if you are taking less than 13 so you only pay for what you are taking, rather than paying for those extra credits you aren't taking. Do you have other classes to take besides your nursing classes? If you do, I would maybe recommend trying to get some of those in during sophomore year since you start your clinicals and all of that fun stuff your junior year. The only extra class that I had to take outside of the nursing program was an upper division writing class through the Twin Cities campus, but I took it online. We do go up to the Twin Cities campus a few times throughout the semester for different things. For example, this semester, we went to the Twin Cities for our Application of Genetics in Nursing class and then we also sat in lecture with our Twin Cities classmates. Other than than, your classes and clinicals will be in Rochester. :-)

As far as extra time outside of the program, I felt like I had a pretty good balance between school time and personal time. I also work but I still felt like it was manageable. It really all depends on what you can handle if you do decide to work. I worked about 25 hours per week during fall semester and then I cut back to about 20 per week during spring semester. It's all about time management and what you can handle. You'll do great! Many of my classmates live in Rochester or in the surrounding areas so they don't really commute much but I have a few classmates who do live in the cities and they always went back home most weekends and then came back for class, which is totally okay! It's important to spend time at home with your family and friends. They will be an awesome support for you during school.

Spring semester picks up the pace a little more because we start putting the pieces together from first semester courses and also applying them to the new skills we learn in lab. This semester I was only on campus one day. I had my second lab course in the morning and then Nursing Care of Families I course in the afternoon. (In my first post, I meant Nursing Care of Adults I, not Nursing Care of Families.) I also had an online Application of Genetics in Nursing class and an online upper division writing course. I think I had 11 credits this semester. This semester was super fun because we really started delving into the fun nursing skills like injections, IV's, medications, trachs, etc. It's really important that you learn your material in first semester because it all builds into second semester. It's amazing to see how much you learn in one year and how you can put the pieces all together! I think all of my classmates and I were really happy to see the progress we have made from day one until now.