University of San Francisco Summer 2014 MSN CNL for non-nurses

yoliness · Feb 22, 2014

Wow @StephenAndrews thanks for the update! I have already been stressing about how I would pay if I were accepted to this program! This is CRAZY! Anyone who is attending or currently attends USF, what is your advice for financing this high cost education? Do you feel that you are getting your $ worth? Do you feel like the education here far supersedes the education elsewhere? Looking at NCLEX pass rates was somewhat eye opening for me because there are several very inexpensive programs with high pass rates. Just interesting to review. Here is the link
Board of Registered Nursing - NCLEX Pass Rates
Anyway, would love to hear advice from any of the existing or past cohorts?

I have the same concerns about the tuition. I'm just very unsure because I already have 30K out for my undergrad. I've heard amazing things about USF and its nursing program though. USF sounds really good in comparison to SFSU right now, since SFSU removed its preceptorship from the program. It stinks because if it was not for the cost, I would go to USF no questions about it. Well I guess I'll have to think long and hard about it if I even get into any of the programs.

max79 · Feb 23, 2014

@yoliness I also applied to SFSU. I had not heard anything about the preceptorship. Can you share what you know and where you learned?

yoliness · Feb 23, 2014

@max79 See page 13-14 of the SFSU SON handbook. The new curriculum is only 4 semesters long which sounded appealing initially, until I saw that they removed their preceptorship. Also, both pharmacology as well as pathophysiology no longer have their own courses and instead have been integrated into other classes.

But this is not for the GMSN program, just their BSN. I'm not sure of how this impacts the GMSN.

Kuriin, BSN, RN · Feb 24, 2014

There are certain classes that you do not get your money's worth at USF. For example, you have Altered Assessment Throughout the Lifespan. You'll probably have a teacher that has no idea how to teach or any of the information and many of us felt like we were robbed of information. Most of us will have to take supplementary classes now, probably, throughout the summer in preparation for advanced medsurg. For the most part, though, you will have excellent teachers as well as clinical instructors.

Ksfiles · Feb 26, 2014

So far I love the program, all of my professors, and my cohort classmates. Yes, it is incredibly expensive, but several factors are important to me regarding USF. 1) USF has a good reputation in the Bay Area (not sure if that helps outside of the Bay Area): any nurse I talk to, all my RN friends, etc that I told I got into USF have ALL said, "That's a great program...great school.....go for it!" Occasionally I got, "It's really expensive, but I wouldn't worry about that....you'll pay it off." 2) The program is efficient--2 years, in-out, done with a Master's degree. I did not want to spend 2 years in another program to only get another Bachelor's (or Associate's) degree. Yes, it doesn't mean anything as a new grad (you'll be doing the same thing as the RN next to you and getting paid the same but maybe with more debt than that RN), but later on down the road it will open up more doors for you to navigate the field upwardly (not just laterally). Also, I doubt that students actually finish other "public school programs" in exactly 2 years unless they are a cohort model like USF (and and some others I won't mention). Budget cuts, over-crowding, etc tend to delay graduations if it's not a cohort model. 3) I love the USF campus, library, resources, etc...I know this is petty, but it's incentive that motivates me personally to study harder (and there is a LOT of studying/work to keep on top of on a daily basis). 4) Location was important to me--I can walk to campus...huge plus for me personally.

5) The student loan process was very simple. I was intimidated by the whole process (new to me), but the One-Stop office was extremely helpful and made the whole process ridiculously easy. (I did all govt loans--FAFSA and GRAD PLUS, covering ALL tuition and living expenses bc I am not working while in school.)

You just have to weigh the pros and cons--do you want just an RN license and then plan to go work in the mid-west or another country? Then maybe you don't need a master's degree. If you want the "master's degree" (in 2 years) from a school with a good reputation, then consider financial sacrifices and decide. I personally didn't want to wait any longer to get the career change going. Yes, I will be paying A LOT out of every paycheck for 10 + years, but that's not the only reason why I decided to go into the Nursing profession.

Again, several RN friends of mine have all said, "Yes, take it, go where you can get in" and USF was the only program I applied to so I accepted the offer...and I do not regret it.

yoliness · Feb 28, 2014

USF does seem like an amazing school... The anticipation is killing me!!! It looks like last year's decisions went out way later than expected... hopefully that's not the case this year.

GamerGal · Mar 5, 2014

hi guys, sorry if i missed this in an earlier post, but does anyone know approx. when we'll be notified about acceptance for the summer 2014 cohort?

Lbfb · Mar 5, 2014

Reading the forum from Summer 2013, they didn't get acceptance calls until mid April.

Lbfb · Mar 5, 2014

Here's the link in case you want to check it out:

https://allnurses.com/california-nursing/university-san-francisco-812031-page10.html

nurseshellyRN · Mar 11, 2014

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in with you all since there haven't been any new posts in a while. My latest update is that I got an e-mail about a week ago from USF saying that the class I listed for one of the pre-reqs did not meet the requirement. I was really bummed and stressed out, and I was hoping an exception could be made since the class was really similar and it wasn't a major core pre-req like anatomy or micro or anything like that. I asked if there was anything I could do and she told me to send in a course description, so I did. Today (on my birthday, yay!) I got a reply saying that they approved my course for the pre-req after all. Phew, so I'm still in the running for now. How's everyone else doing with this waiting process?

Lbfb · Mar 11, 2014

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in with you all since there haven't been any new posts in a while. My latest update is that I got an e-mail about a week ago from USF saying that the class I listed for one of the pre-reqs did not meet the requirement. I was really bummed and stressed out, and I was hoping an exception could be made since the class was really similar and it wasn't a major core pre-req like anatomy or micro or anything like that. I asked if there was anything I could do and she told me to send in a course description, so I did. Today (on my birthday, yay!) I got a reply saying that they approved my course for the pre-req after all. Phew, so I'm still in the running for now. How's everyone else doing with this waiting process?

Hi Futurenurseshelly, I haven't heard anything. I am currently waiting to hear back from SMU's ELMSN CM program as well....so I'm going a little crazy waiting to hear back from both! Reading past forums, SFU takes a while to notify applicants :/

pixelizedalexis · Mar 11, 2014

Out of curiosity, which class was it?? That's such good news they were able to accept it :) and it's good that they're reviewing applications now. Crossing my fingers well find out beginning of April!