UTA FALL 2012

DFWnurse2be · Apr 23, 2012

Hi All! I am joining a little late....but wanted to share that I received an email on Friday that I was wait listed for the UTA AP BSN program. I am partnered at Parkland, so I was really hopeful that would be an advantage. I wanted to know if anyone else is partnered at Parkland and got put on the wait list? If so, are you still working on completing classes?

I have a BS in Health Information Management, but since I didn't go to school in TX - many of my pre-reqs weren't accepted. I had 15 total to take and I am in the process of taking 3 classes that end on May 8th, and then I still need Patho and Pharm, along with an Amer. Lit. class - all of these will be completed by August. :bugeyes:

I wonder if they couldn't make a determination because I have so many outstanding classes still??

Congrats to all those who were accepted! I am curious about those who weren't, or were wait listed and are currently partnered.

studentjen07 · Apr 23, 2012

Mphillips,Join our wait list fb page.https://www.facebook.com/WaitlistedBsnUtaFall2012?ref=ts

thomasphan · Apr 23, 2012

Can anyone who got accepted tell me the deadline of turning in the acceptance form??

lnm1222 · Apr 23, 2012

Ok so a few questions!

Does anyone actually know how the waitlist works? It seems like there are a lot of people on the wait list and surely they can't expect all of us to have a shot at getting called. It also seems to me (and I may be completely wrong!) that pretty much everyone who was partnered and not accepted was put on the waitlist. Does the wait list depend on where we are partnered? Meaning if someone who works at Baylor for example doesn't accept, does the next person in line from Baylor (on the waitlist) get the spot or would it go to the next person on the waitlist regardless of where or if they are partnered?

Do yall have any idea how many people are on the waitlist? Or about how many get called each semester?

Also, when is orientation? I'm only asking since they said after orientation we won't be called off the waitlist.

My advisor today told me that she has not been told a "set date on when wait list offers will go out or end". Are some people waitlisted because they haven't completed their pre-recs?

Sorry for ALLLLLL of the questions! Just some thoughts! :)

Hope you are all having a great day!

thomasphan · Apr 23, 2012

Does the wait list depend on where we are partnered? Meaning if someone who works at Baylor for example doesn't accept, does the next person in line from Baylor (on the waitlist) get the spot or would it go to the next person on the waitlist regardless of where or if they are partnered?

The person partnered with Baylor would get called first. I looked around in the spring 2012 thread and that's how the waitlist in AP program works.

lnm1222 · Apr 23, 2012

Thanks for your help!

Libra1018 · Apr 23, 2012

Hi everyone. I am currently a J1 student (1st semester). This board was a huge source of support for me during my application period, so I thought I would comment.

Firstly, re: the selection process for AP, it can be very confusing if you do not understand it, even a bit so if you do! I will try to explain it as briefly as possible. Forgive me if this gets lengthy. This is how it was explained to me by the advising staff.

Let's say you are partnered, for example, at THR. Typically, each partner hospital (typically, not ALWAYS) will have 10 slots per semester available. Employees are given an opportunity to apply. They have first dibs on those 10 slots. So, say 8 employees apply. As long as they meet the minimum requirements, they will be accepted. The remaining 2 slots are then opened to the unpartnered pool of applicants. Now, say that 12 people apply and all meet the minimum. They will then be ranked against each other and the 10 slots pulled from there. The remaining 2 will go on waitlist, so no slots will be available for the unpartnered pool. Being partnered really is crucially important to acceptance, although not an absolute guarantee. Last couple of times, many partnered applicants were accepted with GPA's in the low to mid 3pt areas. This left many with higher GPAs feeling angry and upset. Understandable since we all know how much we go through to get all those A's. From the hospital point of view, you can get why they want their employees to have first dibs though. They are offering their facility for learning, so of course, they want their own employees in place so they can "grow their own nurses".

120 students are accepted to both the AP and On-Campus program, so you can see how quickly those spots fill up. Being partnered is not as big of an issue for the On-Campus program, in my opinion, because most of these folks are working full time in the hospitals and being On-Campus full time is not feasible, so not as many apply for that and opt for the AP.

Congratulations to those who were accepted. If you are waitlisted, it is so hard to be in limbo, but know that there is still a possibility. Keep your options open and make sure you have a Plan B and C working. If you were not accepted, do NOT despair. Look over your grades and your considerations and see where you might be able to make some improvements. I agree, too, about going the community college route, if needs be. You can always finish the BSN online afterwards and getting accepted to that is exponentially easier.

This was my second time applying. The first time, for the Fall 2011 start, I was like many of you. I did almost all of my classes at another school because I have a prior degree. I honestly thought that my prior BA and my high HESI score would be enough to offset my GPA. At that time, I had a 3.25 Science and a 3.6 overall with a 97% overall on my HESI. That was my first mistake. My second was in only applying for the AP program. The APBSN flyer, at that time, had nothing to notate that employees are given preference (it is there now though). In truth, I really think the prior degree means nothing in their ranking and all that matters with the HESI is that you make the minimum score. They don't look at how high the score is. So I think it is really are you partnered,what's your GPA and how many hours have you taken at UTA. My opinion on that last part, but I think it is a pretty good estimation.

So, I regrouped, and retook Micro and A & P II. That upped my Science GPA to a 3.75 and my overall to a 3.79. I have been told by some that Patho & Pharm are not calculated into the overall GPA, but I have never verified that. I killed myself (practically--ha!) to make A's on on those 2 retakes as well as Patho, Pharm, Intro to Nursing and Tech Writing while also working 50+ hours a week at my prior career.

I reapplied for Spring 2012 and decided I wasn't putting all my hopes on AP anymore. I applied to that and On-Campus as well. I had missed the deadlines to apply to TCC and other community colleges due to the end dates on my science retakes, but it was my plan to apply to those as well for the Fall 2012 Term.

I was denied for AP again (no surprise), but did get waitlisted for On-Campus. I was so disheartened and really beginning to question my wisdom in quitting my teaching career and moving to FW to pursue my dream of nursing (I mean, who quits their job and moves to a city where they don't know anyone and don't have a job in place--especially in this economy?? Boy, did I tear myself a new one over that all during the holidays). They won't tell you where you are on the list, so don't bother asking. And yes, they will call you up until the last minute. I was called off of waitlist 3 days before Orientation. I was, in fact, the last person to enter the group. I was so happy though. I would have preferred the AP program so I could finish 7 months earlier, but after going through this semester, without prior medical experience, I am so, so happy I am doing it on-campus.

Another thing I have noticed, and that some of you have as well, is the retention of UTA students. There is indeed quite a bit of consideration given to them. There are a ton of students in my class who have been at UTA since they started college and their GPA's are very good, but not excellent (this is even by their own admission, from the ones I have talked to). UTA is a popular program because it is the only public university offering a BSN. There are several other BSN programs, as you all know, but most of us cannot afford a private university as well as living expenses.

I hope I was able to clear up some confusion. Sorry for any typos or if I rambled here and there, I typed this rather quickly.

nikkib376 · Apr 23, 2012

Yes, you are only "competing" with the employees in your same hospital. As far as the stuff about not getting called after the orientation date, that isn't entirely true. At THR for Spring 2012 the called 2 after orientation and rushed them through everything frantically. So, again, nothing is set in stone.

Those accepted must have their acceptance papers sent back by the first week of May. So, it will be here before we know it! I tried emailing my advisor today to ask how many cohorts of 10 my hospital is hosting this time around, and got an automated out of office email. Shocker!

Anyway, I am curious to see if there are ANY people for the AP program that are actually accepted from THR. Something just seems off to me!

Good luck to everyone, and I hope we ALL get called and get to start! :w00t:

DFWnurse2be · Apr 23, 2012

@lnm1222 I am hoping to get some answers from my advisor as well:) Here is what I know from friends that are in the program right now and what I know about how a wait list typically works....

I believe that partnered applicants have the advantage over those that aren't partnered. When there are more spots than partnered applicants that end up accepting, they open it to unpartnered candidates, so...partnered applicants are probably closer to the top, and then in order by ranking. Based on the letter we got regarding the wait list, it looks like the advisors can't give us any indication of how long the wait list is, or your position on it.

As those who have been accepted make decisions about starting in September, any people that decide they can't for whatever reason, will create an opening for those of us on the wait list....hopefully sooner vs. later!

Last year, my friends went through orientation a few weeks prior to the start (I think orientation was the end of August for a September 10th start??).

As for the pre-reqs, I think you are still considered even if you haven't finished. Although I have 6 that are in progress, which means 6 A's (hopefully) that aren't included in my GPA - so if your pre-reqs will greatly influence your GPA, they may be holding out until they see the final grades??

Those are my thoughts, from what I've been hearing

Hope this helps!! I will definitely be putting in my Application for Spring 2013 - it's due by June 1st! Good Luck to you!

nikkib376 · Apr 23, 2012

Libra, thank you so much for writing all of that!!!! It took me a year to figure out what mattered as far as getting in and the way you explained it is, fortunately, the way I finally understood everything :) This will be so helpful to so many! Will you do us a huge favor and copy and paste this on the Spring 2013 board??? Those of us waitlisted and/or applying for Spring are on that one. Thanks so much for this info, and good luck on your journey! Anything else you can offer to us hopefuls is always welcomed!

lnm1222 · Apr 23, 2012

Wow! Thank you so much for everyone's responses! I'm trying to understand all of this! On our letters we received with the email, I noticed that some hospitals are grouped together (like JPS/Cook Childrens or Parkland/Dallas Childrens), does this mean that if you are partnered with one of these hospitals you are "competing" with applicants from both? Like will they take 10 overall from Parkland/Dallas Childrens or is it 5 from one and 5 from the other?

olddog40 · Apr 23, 2012

ThomasPhan, the deadline to accept is May 11. To all on the waiting list, keep your hopes up. Your stats are great and I think I will be seeing very many of you in the fall!!