UPenn ABSN 2021

boomina · Nov 2, 2020

Hi everyone!

I applied for the ABSN/MSN - PMHNP. This was my first time participating in a recorded video interview, so I felt as though I looked a bit awkward speaking to a camera and stumbled a bit but hopefully my essay overpowers that, haha. Fingers crossed! If anyone is willing to share their stats that would be great!

Also, I've went through almost all of the threads for previous years and here is some helpful information that I saw:

They accept about 25%-30% of their applicant pool, which is about 90 people.

Decisions come out early February - From what I saw it's about Feb. 10th and if you got waitlisted you will hear if you got off waitlist by around April (they will not tell you if you do not get off the waitlist, only if you are taken off it).

Previous years, some MSN specialities required an additional interview (this year, ---------------------- said there were no additional interviews - but after I submitted my application, it said they would contact me if an additional interview is required - so a little unsure about this).

You get your financial aid package a little after you get accepted.

------------------------ is the best person to contact with any questions!

Hopefully this information is helpful to everyone! Best of luck to everyone!

nursefj00 · Nov 3, 2020

Thank you for starting this page! February seems so far away but best of luck to everyone. Let's wait patiently together ? Does anyone know if we have to complete the FAFSA for both 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 or just 2021-2022? I am so confused about the whole financial aid thing! Thanks in advance.

Peaches52 · Nov 10, 2020

Current ABSN student here (I graduate in a month). Happy to answer questions if y’all have any. Good luck with your applications!

jbirdy · Nov 10, 2020

39 minutes ago, Peaches52 said:

Current ABSN student here (I graduate in a month). Happy to answer questions if y’all have any. Good luck with your applications!

Wow congratulations! Do you mind sharing more about your background? How has the program been? What are your future plans?

boomina · Nov 10, 2020

2 hours ago, Peaches52 said:

Current ABSN student here (I graduate in a month). Happy to answer questions if y’all have any. Good luck with your applications!

Thank you and congrats! I have a few questions, if you don't feel comfortable answering any feel free to skip over it!

What were your stats prior to entering the program? (prior degree in?, cum GPA, healthcare experience?)

Were you able to/did you work during the program? I know many students in non-accelerated programs tend to work as a CNA and graduate with work experience. I have also heard it is hard to work during an accelerated program. If you did not work, or know of people who have not worked during the program, have you or they found it harder to secure a job upon graduating?

How would you rate the overall program? Is it well-organized?

What is your typical schedule like?

kesha111222 · Nov 11, 2020

Hi everyone!

For those who applied to multiple schools, are you listed all of them on FAFSA? Thanks!

boomina · Nov 13, 2020

On 11/11/2020 at 4:41 PM, kesha111222 said:

Hi everyone!

For those who applied to multiple schools, are you listed all of them on FAFSA? Thanks!

Yes, I have listed all the schools I have applied to on my FAFSA!

kesha111222 · Nov 13, 2020

2 hours ago, boomina said:

Yes, I have listed all the schools I have applied to on my FAFSA!

Thanks @boomina! Are you only applying to ABSN programs or Masters as well?

boomina · Nov 13, 2020

3 minutes ago, kesha111222 said:

Thanks @boomina! Are you only applying to ABSN programs or Masters as well?

I applied to both the ABSN and MSN! I applied for the PMHNP track. How about you?

Peaches52 · Nov 20, 2020

On 11/10/2020 at 11:29 AM, boomina said:

Thank you and congrats! I have a few questions, if you don't feel comfortable answering any feel free to skip over it!

What were your stats prior to entering the program? (prior degree in?, cum GPA, healthcare experience?)

Were you able to/did you work during the program? I know many students in non-accelerated programs tend to work as a CNA and graduate with work experience. I have also heard it is hard to work during an accelerated program. If you did not work, or know of people who have not worked during the program, have you or they found it harder to secure a job upon graduating?

How would you rate the overall program? Is it well-organized?

What is your typical schedule like?

I’ll try to be honest and open and answer all your questions!

What were your stats prior to entering the program? (prior degree in?, cum GPA, healthcare experience?)

Prior degree in humanities, my undergrad GPA was 3.5 but when I went back to school to do my pre-recs, it was something like 3.97. My previous career wasn’t at all healthcare-related, but some of my volunteer activities were.

Were you able to/did you work during the program? I know many students in non-accelerated programs tend to work as a CNA and graduate with work experience. I have also heard it is hard to work during an accelerated program. If you did not work, or know of people who have not worked during the program, have you or they found it harder to secure a job upon graduating?

Can’t talk about securing a job because we haven’t graduated yet. (That’s an annoying part of graduating in December— we can’t take the NCLEX until late January/February. I won’t apply for jobs until I know my NCLEX date.) Plenty of people work, just not that first Summer, which is intense (I know some people were able to work a bit that Summer— no clue how they did it, tbh). Some people work as CNAs, tons of folks babysit, and a lot of people have various work-study positions. Some students had CNA experience before coming to Penn. I worked about 4 hours a week, which is less than most people.

How would you rate the overall program?

This is really hard to answer. Pre-pandemic, I would have said that while I was disappointed in some classes (our women & infants module was awful), overall I felt like my classes were better quality than those at a lot of other programs. (Caveat: I also feel that nursing education needs a lot of improvement overall and that many nursing schools are awful, so I dunno if this is saying much.) I happened to have some amazing clinical instructors, and I liked the electives that I took, and the fact that we get to take electives. We’ve had some amazing lecturers, some so-so ones, and some bad ones.

Since the pandemic started, my cohort soured on Penn pretty immediately. The transition to online-only was brutal (this certainly was not unique to Penn). The administration refused to listen to us, disregarded our concerns, and basically made many of us question whether we really wanted to return to Penn to get our masters. I probably will, but that’s because I think most school administrations don’t really care about their students. The quality of our online education was pretty darn awful.

Penn does have a lot of opportunities for research, some really amazing faculty to work with, and tons of speakers and events.

I guess my biggest takeaway is that while I think Penn will give you a better nursing education than many other schools, it is still not worth the price. If you already have loans from undergrad, do NOT go to Penn. You’ll be in debt for the rest of your life. If I’d had to pay the entire bill myself (I had some grants and some help from a relative; yes I’m extremely privileged in that regard and I don’t take it for granted!), I wouldn’t have gone to Penn. There’s no reason to pay $150,000 for a nursing degree.

Is it well-organized?

It... is better organized than many ABSN programs, but it is not well-organized, no. Some classes are extremely well-organized; many are not.

What is your typical schedule like?

Depends on the semester! First Summer, basically 35-40 hours of class a week. After that, you’ll have clinical twice a week (usually Tuesday/Thursday but some of us have them on weekends), lecture M/W/F mornings (then later just M/W mornings), and then various other classes and labs scattered throughout the week.

Clinicals usually start at 6:30 or 7 AM, though sometimes there are evening ones that start at 3 PM. Most clinicals are 6 hours, but peds and your final leadership clinical are 12 hours (which is exhausting but a great way to see an entire shift and build up your stamina).

Peaches52 · Nov 20, 2020

On 11/10/2020 at 9:20 AM, jbirdy said:

Wow congratulations! Do you mind sharing more about your background? How has the program been? What are your future plans?

Thanks! I spoke a little about my background and the program in another post (tl;Dr: I didn’t have a health background, and the program was great in some ways and disappointing in others, and certainly too expensive). My future plans are to work at a Philly hospital and eventually go back for my masters. I had originally considered going straight through, but my clinical rotations convinced me that I really don’t know *anything*— so much of nursing is learned on-the-job, and if I want to be a good NP, I’ll need nursing experience first. I’m also excited to be a nurse! I found my niche (emergency department) and I hope I’m able to get an ED job.

boomina · Nov 23, 2020

On 11/20/2020 at 7:24 AM, Peaches52 said:

I’ll try to be honest and open and answer all your questions!

What were your stats prior to entering the program? (prior degree in?, cum GPA, healthcare experience?)

Prior degree in humanities, my undergrad GPA was 3.5 but when I went back to school to do my pre-recs, it was something like 3.97. My previous career wasn’t at all healthcare-related, but some of my volunteer activities were.

Were you able to/did you work during the program? I know many students in non-accelerated programs tend to work as a CNA and graduate with work experience. I have also heard it is hard to work during an accelerated program. If you did not work, or know of people who have not worked during the program, have you or they found it harder to secure a job upon graduating?

Can’t talk about securing a job because we haven’t graduated yet. (That’s an annoying part of graduating in December— we can’t take the NCLEX until late January/February. I won’t apply for jobs until I know my NCLEX date.) Plenty of people work, just not that first Summer, which is intense (I know some people were able to work a bit that Summer— no clue how they did it, tbh). Some people work as CNAs, tons of folks babysit, and a lot of people have various work-study positions. Some students had CNA experience before coming to Penn. I worked about 4 hours a week, which is less than most people.

How would you rate the overall program?

This is really hard to answer. Pre-pandemic, I would have said that while I was disappointed in some classes (our women & infants module was awful), overall I felt like my classes were better quality than those at a lot of other programs. (Caveat: I also feel that nursing education needs a lot of improvement overall and that many nursing schools are awful, so I dunno if this is saying much.) I happened to have some amazing clinical instructors, and I liked the electives that I took, and the fact that we get to take electives. We’ve had some amazing lecturers, some so-so ones, and some bad ones.

Since the pandemic started, my cohort soured on Penn pretty immediately. The transition to online-only was brutal (this certainly was not unique to Penn). The administration refused to listen to us, disregarded our concerns, and basically made many of us question whether we really wanted to return to Penn to get our masters. I probably will, but that’s because I think most school administrations don’t really care about their students. The quality of our online education was pretty darn awful.

Penn does have a lot of opportunities for research, some really amazing faculty to work with, and tons of speakers and events.

I guess my biggest takeaway is that while I think Penn will give you a better nursing education than many other schools, it is still not worth the price. If you already have loans from undergrad, do NOT go to Penn. You’ll be in debt for the rest of your life. If I’d had to pay the entire bill myself (I had some grants and some help from a relative; yes I’m extremely privileged in that regard and I don’t take it for granted!), I wouldn’t have gone to Penn. There’s no reason to pay $150,000 for a nursing degree.

Is it well-organized?

It... is better organized than many ABSN programs, but it is not well-organized, no. Some classes are extremely well-organized; many are not.

What is your typical schedule like?

Depends on the semester! First Summer, basically 35-40 hours of class a week. After that, you’ll have clinical twice a week (usually Tuesday/Thursday but some of us have them on weekends), lecture M/W/F mornings (then later just M/W mornings), and then various other classes and labs scattered throughout the week.

Clinicals usually start at 6:30 or 7 AM, though sometimes there are evening ones that start at 3 PM. Most clinicals are 6 hours, but peds and your final leadership clinical are 12 hours (which is exhausting but a great way to see an entire shift and build up your stamina).

Thank you so much for answering! This was really helpful.

Would you also be comfortable sharing information about financial aid? I know Penn's program is insanely expensive, but I'm wondering how much would financial aid help. I heard Penn offers full rides for undergraduates whose family makes under 60k I believe, but I'm not sure if this applies for those getting a second bachelors degree. Did you have to take out a lot of loans? Or was their financial aid package pretty generous?