UPMC St. Margaret RN Program

Hey. I didn't go to St. Margaret's. I went to their sister school, Shadyside. I just wanted to say good luck. I work with a couple St. Margaret's grads and they seem to be fairly pleased with their education.

Thanks for the luck. I just haven't seen too many students from there on this site and was starting to worry about the quality of the school as compared to Shadyside or West Penn. I think I'm just being overly suspicious though. And "fairly pleased" doesn't sound too positive...

Hi, I'm starting St.Margarets in Feb 2009 also. I'm slightly nervous but I'm not worried about the quality of education. I've researched alot of local nursing schools and programs and talked to alot of people. The drop out rate for a lot of these programs seems to be high but I believe that people go into these programs thinking it is going to be a piece of cake. Most of these programs offer the same cirriculum (pretty much), it's all what you make of it and what you take away from it. The nice thing about St.Margarets is the smaller class size. I look forward to talking with you again and good luck in class!

I agree that the quality of education coincides with how much and how hard you work at your craft, I just want to be feel prepared when I am finished with the program. I don't have any doubts though. Right now I'm waiting on my clearances to come back, and I still need to take a BLS course to get my CPR certification. Time is moving sooo fast, I'm anxious :). I guess i will see you on the 29th. Good luck to you as well.

Hey, one thing I was wondering, do you know anything about actual class times? Like is it usually 8am-3pm? Just curious! I'm waiting for my clearances also and am taking a CPR certification class through a local EMS station on the 25th. I think I will be going to get finger printed tomarrow or Tuesday. Take care!

It is usually 8-3 or 8:30-3:30. They gave us a mock schedule for the first 8 weeks at the orientation. The good thing is that when we start clinicals, we only have to do 1 a week so that means we're off either a Thrusday or Friday during those weeks. And we get out early a few days a week like between 12 and 2, so that's cool.

Thank you! Another person I talked to mentioned something about an orientation but the only info I ever got was for the orientation coming up....That doesn't sound too bad then. Well I look forward to meeting you soon and thanks again for the info!

Tiffany

I graduated from St. Margaret SON. I think it's an awesome school. They push you very hard, but it is all worth it in the end.

Thanks! I'm currently enrolled at St.Margarets SON and I'm about to finish up my first 8 weeks...So far so good!

I attended St. Maggie's SON.

Of course, it was 'some time' ago, and I hardly expect that any of the instructors from my day are still there.

But let me say this; the group of instructors I 'endured' had to be one of the 'oddest' collection of people I ever encountered. Loved a few, despised a few, and sometimes just tried to figure out what the rest were all about.

And can anyone tell me; have they moved on past the transparency/overhead method of instruction and implemented some of the 'advanced' methods such as Powerpoint?

And this may give me away, but I learned quickly that our instructors loved to bring in 'special speakers,' but our instructors were not inclined to modify the exams to include any of the material from the presentations by the special speakers. Since I was working 50+ hours per week, I used those opportunities to sneak off to the library and catch up on my :zzzzz.

All said, the education is what you make of it. I wasn't worried about reputation (except for accreditation); the St. Maggie program best fit my needs.

First off, congratulations to you guys for getting into St. Margaret's and for those of you who have already graduated. For those of you still going there, I have some questions about your experiences.

Is the tuition loan forgiveness program still in place? I understand that it was cancelled at UPMC Shadyside and (perhaps) UPMC Mercy.

Secondly, is the location a problem? I was thinking of potentially applying sometime in the far off future, but I am already thinking about practical issues. The location in Blawnox (or McKeesport, for that matter) seems awkward since I would not have a car. Even if I moved to Blawnox, there would be clinicals to get to, and it would be better to live in a more central location to get to those.

I also am looking into trying to attend UPMC St Margaret SON, hopefully this coming April. I called today to request the application, and in the voice message they said that they do offer the tuition forgiveness program. One other thing that has me nervous is they mentioned an interview to get into the LPN program? Please say it's not so; I am a nervous wreck for interviews. Anyone have to do an interview to get into their LPN program? Thanks.