University of Oklahoma-Accelerated BSN Program

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Hi All,

I'm new to this site and to the field of nursing. Has anyone gone to this school and if so, what did you think?

I live in San Diego, CA, and there is an online program that this school offers. I'm 3 prerequisites away from applying to the school, with a start date of August 08. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nicole

The orientation does seem quite long. I still have to do a few titers, drug test and 2nd TB test. I should have them all done before orientation. I'm still waiting to hear from financial aid - they said my award package was coming, but I haven't seen it.

I'm anxious to figure out my schedule and clinical day!

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For those of you in the San Diego program, how are you financing the program (i.e. what type of financial aid availble)?

Also, for the pre-reqs, any of you got accepted with AP I & II, or did you have to take separate Anatomy and Physiology courses? And can some of you kindly share theri stats (i.e. GPA info)?

Thanks & Happy Holidays!

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I did anatomy and physiology separately, so I don't know about the combined. My GPA was around 3.2, so nothing spectacular. Also, the application is just a few short answer items, so sound intelligent on those.

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Loans, loans, loans! I know it hurts but the only way to do it unless you are independently wealthy is loans. You will be elliible for a few thousand (probably 7) that are subsidized and the rest will be private since it is a second degree. It's just the way it is. Just finished my last final for 1st semester so I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. :yeah: Just hold your nose and dive it. Don't forget when it feels like hell in the first few weeks that it gets better and your clinical group will be your lifeline!!!

Don't worry, if you are dedicated it is out there for you.

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Loans, loans, loans! I know it hurts but the only way to do it unless you are independently wealthy is loans. You will be elliible for a few thousand (probably 7) that are subsidized and the rest will be private since it is a second degree. It's just the way it is. Just finished my last final for 1st semester so I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. :yeah: Just hold your nose and dive it. Don't forget when it feels like hell in the first few weeks that it gets better and your clinical group will be your lifeline!!!

Don't worry, if you are dedicated it is out there for you.

did you feel overwhelmed the whole semester? just wondering.....

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Specializes in ED.

Also, for any of you that are finishing up your first semester, do you honestly think without kids it is possible to work for about 10 hrs a week? I still haven't decided what I'm going to do about work yet! Luckily they are letting me take my time on the decision. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

There is a gal in my cohort who works 3-4 12 hour shifts as an EMT still. She's surviving, although I think she's the exception to the rule. She gets this stuff without even thinking, since she's seen most of it in her line of work. I envy her knowledge and the fact that she's still got a paycheck coming in. :) I don't think its impossible, you'll just have to manage your time more carefully if you continue to work.

And yeah, the orientation seems long, but I think they decided (based on feedback from all the other cohorts) that we all felt there wasn't enough information shared in the beginning, and we all kind of felt like we were in the dark about a lot of things. I think they wanted it to be longer and more in-depth for all the future cohorts, to reduce confusion.

about finance...

yes, loans, loans, loans. even with my husband still working full time, we still have a mortgage, life expenses, etc... so we're supplementing with loans to pay for school and my missing income.

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does anyone know if they did change their rule about applying with classes in progress?

thanks

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does anyone know if they did change their rule about applying with classes in progress?

thanks

They still officially require that all prerequisites be completed before you apply, but this term they made a last-minute exception, I think because they didn't have that many applications. I think it's worth asking them about it close to the deadline if you want to apply early. They didn't publicize the exception this time and you had to be on the right email list to find out about it.

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Loans, loans, loans! I know it hurts but the only way to do it unless you are independently wealthy is loans. You will be elliible for a few thousand (probably 7) that are subsidized and the rest will be private since it is a second degree. It's just the way it is. Just finished my last final for 1st semester so I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. :yeah: Just hold your nose and dive it. Don't forget when it feels like hell in the first few weeks that it gets better and your clinical group will be your lifeline!!!

Don't worry, if you are dedicated it is out there for you.

Thanks BenGRN & deemalt! So what is the actual cost of attendance (per year), and do these loans suffice for you to live w/out working in San Diego?

Anyone getting this ?

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Thanks BenGRN & deemalt! So what is the actual cost of attendance (per year), and do these loans suffice for you to live w/out working in San Diego?

Anyone getting this ?

The total cost of attendance is about $35,000. As someone stated before, we are only elidgible for so much federal aid because we are second degree students. The reaminder can be taken from private loans (sallie mae, chase, citibank, etc.) If you don't meet the income requirements or have mediocre credit I'm pretty sure these loans can be difficult to get without a cosignor. The financial aid office takes living expenses into consideration and allows you to borrow quite a bit from the alternative (private) lender. Those loans are also at a higher interest rate than the federal stafford loans though. I personally haven't looked into that scholarship, maybe some people in the program have though?

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first semester done and I can't tell you how nice a 4 day xmas vacation sounds....at least our winter session is just one class for the 4 weeks between semesters! Finals were brutal but we all got through it! To answer some previous questions, for Glendale I applied with two classes that were in progress (I just had to have my final grades turned in before the first day of class) and I had a 2.3GPA. like someone said maybe they were more lenient because we were the first cohort to go through, I don't know if it is the same for the rest of the cohorts.

They keep warning us that the first semester is the easiest and that subsequent semester will become harder. The first semester was hardest because we had so many hiccups (our site wasn't finished, our instructor sucked, our schedule changed so much, they added an extra day of class). Seriously, it was tough because I do work as an EMT 2-3 night shifts a week (for my own sanity and to escape from studying) and there is so much to read, but the best advice I got from my fellow nursing friends is that you really how to glean the material and figure out what is the most important part is. For me, I am more comfortable with hands on skill learning than I am as a book learning. But what I did that really helped was focusing on the objectives of each module, listening to the audio lectures and the powerpoints. Everything else (all the readings and assignments) is to help you reinforce the main points. I did that for the final exams and did remarkably better than the previous tests. There is just no way to learn everything!

As for those of you who have families and houses to keep clean, the best advice I got from one of our guest instructors was...don't try and keep your house spotless. But if you must, then study hard for 50 minutes at a time, then take a 10-15 min break and go clean something, start a load of laundry, etc. Just break up your study times because trust me your butt will go numb, your legs will cramp and you will stop processing information if you sit too long! I found that that really helped me.....I would study hard for an hour, then get up clean a part of my room, do dishes, take a shower, then go back. Having 3 set nights a week I have to work really helped me manage my time because I knew I had to get stuff done early in the week instead of waiting til the last minute.

Yes it does help to have a background in the medical field because you don't need the extra time to learn terminology and because you already have experience communicating with patients. That is probably the scariest thing...going in to the room to talk with some stranger and assess them. But after time you get over it and it starts to feel natural.

Enjoy the time you have this winter before school starts, because it is a long dreary semester but worth every damn minute of it!!

PS if I recall right, the year's tuition wasn't the full $35000, because a lot of that are fees that apply only to OU students at the main campus (parking, student health, etc). I remember each semester being about $8K...I think

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I saw on another thread that Sharp Cabrillo is closing. I looked it up and on their website under the news an article says it is closing in April '09. Does anyone who is in the program know if this is going to change anything with the office/lab etc? I'm sure they'll let us know at orientation but I'm just curious! Thanks!

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