UofM or WSU ABSN'ers: How did you get in??

ejcl68 · Mar 27, 2010

Hi musicians wife, No problem, I was not trying to sound like a 'know it all.' Every school is different and I believe you need an edge to get in and the more positive things you can show the better. I also want to clarify - I am definitely not advocating anyone quit a well paying job to become a CNA. lol. Not at $8-12 an hour. But the nice thing about becoming a CNA is you really find out if nursing is truly your passion. The pay is not the reward. I believe that some people going into nursing have false hopes or impressions about what it takes to be a good nurse or even if they will like it(more so the latter) I certainly don't want a nurse like that and working as a CNA helps maybe weed out the ones that..oh, shouldn't be nurses. Also, I know you can work 1-2 days a week with flexibly hours (8-12 hours a week if you want it). My friend just got a contingent job where he works variable part time hours - you basically choose your own hours.

My sister has been a nurse for 15 years. She worked in ICU for a number of years and then went to Wayne to get her masters to become a CRNA. Of 20, only 6 graduated. She loves it. She did comment that things have changed since she applied and while it was competitive then, its more so now. She also complains how some nurses hate their jobs and then go on to become CRNAs and hate that even more. Too funny. For me, I would love to become a CRNA but I am not planning for that until I get out to work for a number of years.

Sending positive thoughts your way too. Good luck at U of M. I also think its great that you seem to enjoy helping others on this forum. That's cool. I have been helped by many and I hope to help others.

RNpatterson · Mar 27, 2010

That's a very real and true point about the CNA and every time I hear about a student that is going into nursing for the safe career and decent pay, I have to wonder if they really know what nursing is. I just can't see anyone hacking it in this field if their main motivation is a paycheck. *shutter* Their loss.

As for the helping... blame it on the day job. hehe

espo44 · Mar 29, 2010

Wow, I went away for a few days and came back to this awesome discussion!!

So today I decided that I am leaving that well paying corp job and I'm going to take the basic and then the advanced CNA classes at the Red Cross this summer. (the "advanced" one will teach things like venipunture, EKG, basic wound care, etc.) I can't believe I'm actually going to do this, but my husband and I went through a very thorough analysis of our finances and we think we can afford this. Just barely, but I think we can do it. This is a big deal!! I don't have any sadness about leaving the corp job because the environment I'm currently in at work has become very, very negative and unhealthy. It's just seems funny to be intentionally leaving a job that pays more than a rookie nurse makes, so that I can go make $8-$12/ hour as a CNA, and I'm totally fine with that. In fact, I'm super excited!!

Hopefully I can work part time as a CNA while I take the rest of my pre-reqs. I'm taking all of them at Wayne State and I'm HOPING and PRYAING to get a 3.5 in them. I've only taken 2 so far, but I got a 4.0 in both. To be fair, they were the easy ones... :) I think I'll focus on Wayne by taking all the pre-reqs there, but I will also focus on becoming a CNA, getting that experience and finding creative ways to assert some leadership in my activities, which will hopefully help with my UofM application. I have a HUGE strike against me going into this because I did HORRIBLY in my original Bachelor's degree. I had serious personal issues and I graduated with a 2.5. UGH. But if I can get almost all A's in my pre-reqs I'm hoping that I can show them that my original Bachelor's from 12 years ago and my academic and personal work NOW represent two very different stages in my life. We'll see. I want this so badly!!

Thank you guys for all the advice and support!!

e

RNpatterson · Mar 29, 2010

Sounds like a great plan espo! You're doing the CNA work for all the right reasons and that will show in your application. And don't sweat the 2.5. It won't do you any good to get down on yourself about the past and it won't matter when you show them your 4.0 in all of your prereqs. Best of luck to you! Enjoy the excitement! I was so scared about leaving a stable career to go back to school and have to depend on my husband to support us until I'm done. It's been eighteen months with eighteen months more until I'm all done but it's been so worth it! It's been terrifying but intensely gratifying and I can only hope you have a similar experience.

ejcl68 · Mar 29, 2010

Hi,

This does sound like a great plan. It sounds like by quitting your job, you will be able to spend more time on classes and CNA. I just wanted to emphasize one thing again - if you have your heart set on Wayne State, the CNA will likely not even be considered. As I mentioned they strictly look at GPA and nothing else(per advising). That being said, make sure to get as many A's as possibly in science courses which is worth 55 % of the decision. Like Musicians wife said, the 2.5 is done and hopefully they won't even bother with that but look more so on the recent coursework. Please PM if you want advice on specific professors. I have great recommendations for Bio, micro, chem, developmental psych, etc. Wayne has mostly very good profs but there are a few not so good ones. If you haven't take basic Bio, I took a fantastic professor for that course - one of the best I have ever had. Probably the courses which will be the most difficult(or time consuming) will be A & P, micro, and biochem(in that order).

My advice is to keep your options open to other schools. I have found that all my classes from Wayne transfer to other schools. So by you taking them there, you will be able to apply to Oakland as well. Also, if you just take Pathophysio, you can apply to MSU. Apply to as many schools as possible which I am sure you know already. UDM is also a nice option(albeit an expensive one).

Good luck and feel free to ask if you need any prof recommendations or any other help.