UT AE MSN 2015

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Hi all! I know this is a bit early, considering the application doesn't even go live until August 1, but UT is my number one school for Nursing. I just graduated from UGA with a BS in Psychology, and have around a 3.5 GPA. I have yet to take the GRE. I also am going to get a CNA certification and work for a year (hopefully in MedSurg) as well as shadow a family friend who is a Pediatric nurse. Many years before us have started a thread so I figured it would be a good idea to start one! I would really like to go into their Nurse Practitioner program, but as of right now there are some changes going on that said would be solidified in the fall.

Any feedback would be wonderful! As well as personal experience and what not!

Ha, never occurred to me to just call and ask! I just assumed they wouldn't. Although it doesn't really matter at this point. I'm thrilled to be a part of the program! Can't wait to meet everyone!

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Carla, I'll try to find you on FB! Hashi, what is your name and I'll look for you also.

As far as the housing situation, it has been my experience that it's really hard to find affordable housing in Austin. So if it looks like a good deal, I would take it! For instance, my friends live in the tiniest one bedroom apartment I have ever seen, and it's $1,800 a month! What?! And I think that's pretty much the norm these days. Maybe not, though, if you look in north Austin.

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Carla, I don't think I'm finding you. When you looked for the group on FB, did you type in everything that was in the parentheses, too? Try copying and pasting this:

University of Texas Nursing (AE-MSN 2015)

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It depends on where you live. The farther away from downtown/campus you are, the cheaper it will be. There are some good deals in the east Austin area, and the Far West area (which also has its own dedicated shuttle to and from campus). There are also things that aren't too expensive closer to campus (like the Hyde Park neighborhood), but they're harder to find and go more quickly, though if you're willing to have community laundry instead of your own washer/dryer it's a little easier. I have friends who live at a place called the Kensington (if you google Kensington Austin, it's the first hit on a google search) off Burnet Road in the Rosedale neighborhood, and they're paying $1200/mo for two people (so $600 each). There are also tons of free apartment locators who get paid by the apartment complexes. I've had mostly good experiences with them, though they're aren't going to show you as many places that are individually-owned. If you're looking for temporary housing, there will be a lot of students subletting come summertime. Craigslist and just driving around neighborhoods you want to live in looking for "For Rent" signs are your friends. There's also the listings posted by university-affiliated people (Browse Listings : Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost), but those tend to be more expensive, often geared toward visiting professors.

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Thanks for taking the initiative to start a fb group, @AustinTex! I just requested to join :)

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Just joined FB group! Woo hoo!

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I should also note that carla espinosa is just my user name on here (nurse on "Scrubs" ;)). My name's Melissa. Thanks anyway for searching for me, AustinTex.

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Hey guys, I haven't been very active on here...but I'm definitely excited to start the program. I requested to be added to the group. (Tashatoocrazy) is my fb name. Can't wait to meet everyone.

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A few you of you have referenced that you are hoping to get information about financial aid packages in the coming weeks. Has anyone heard more about this from the School of Nursing? I spoke with the financial aid office and they noted that we would not receive this information about financial aid until the end of April. I'm very excited about this program, but making plans to uproot and move to Austin without knowing exactly how I'll pay for school is a little scary.

Maybe I'm being a little too type-A about this? Is everyone just considering scholarships and private loans to meet any unmet need? If anyone knows students in the program now, have they had any problems obtaining federal loans to cover tuition?

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My husband and I live in Kyle and have discussed taking a roommate, if anybody is interested. My commute is about an hour in rush hour traffic, but the distance is only about 25 miles. Good possibility we could carpool.

Also, I requested membership in the FB group; name's Catherine 😁 - howdy do!

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I just called financial aid and asked them some questions I had. I know some of the questions seem silly, but I have never done this before, so I'm not sure how all of it works. Below are the questions I had and the answers I received.

1. There was nowhere for me to indicate on my FAFSA that I will be unemployed during school and my EFC number is showing that I will be able to afford most of my schooling on my own which is not true. I will need to be living off the student loans, not just paying tuition.

  • Answer - for grad students, loans are not need-based. You should be offered the max amount of loans possible and then you can decide how much you want to accept. (He told me it looks like just for the summer I should be offered $12,000ish, but that's just an estimate. Then there will be a separate number for fall/spring semesters).

2. If I receive scholarships, will that effect the amount of student loans I will be qualified for.

  • Answer - yes. If you receive a scholarship for $5,000, we will reduce the amount you will receive in loans by $5,000.

3. When will we know how much financial aid we will definitely receive?

  • Answer - should be around the end of March (he wasn't 100% about that answer, though).

4. We will not receive our financial aid until 10 days before class starts; how am I supposed to pay my tuition bill?

  • The accounts receivable will be able to see that we will be paying using student loans, and the financial aid office will take care of it. So that's not something we need to worry about. However, if you plan to buy books before then, that will have to come out of your pocket and then just be reimbursed once you receive the remaining amount of your loan after tuition is paid.

PS - I know I started the FB group, but I had to deactivate my account again (too much drama on there is stressing me out; plus I have realized I am much more productive when I don't have FB haha). But I think I will periodically log back in to see if there is any important info any of you have posted. I made it where UTVault is able to accept new people when they request to join the group. Hope you're all having a great week so far! :)

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From what I can tell from last summer's tuition (http://www.utexas.edu/business/accounting/pubs/tf_grad_summer14.pdf) and the course schedule for the pre-licensure portion (http://www.utexas.edu/nursing/docs/academics/grad/ae_foundation.pdf), we will be in class for 9 credit hours and that will cost about $7,500 to $8,000 for nonresidents? So if we are granted about $12,000 in loans, we should be left over with about $4,000 or $4,500 for rent, food, etc.? Can somebody please confirm?

Edit: This calclulation is ONLY for Summer 2015. You can see the tuition for last Fall/Spring here: http://www.utexas.edu/business/accounting/pubs/tf_grad_fall14.pdf

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