UTHSC Traditional BSN Spring 2014 Applicants

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I have seen many threads for previous applicants for past semesters to the UT Houston School of Nursing. I wanted to start one myself as I am applying for the spring 2014 traditional BSN and have yet to find a thread for it. Although I opened it for applicants, I would also encourage previous applicants, current/previous students, and applicants for other semesters at UTHSC to join in and share in this exciting time!

o0fefe0o also has a blog with links to pretty much any information you need on TWU and UTHSC. It's saved me quite a bit of time, especially when it comes to trying to get a big picture of the application process.

nursingstudentdiary.blogspot.com

The notes above, taken by Felicia (not a creeper, it's on her blog) are eerily accurate… she is either: A) resourceful and brought a recorder, or B) an octopus. So yeah, they encompass most everything minus a few questions from people who apparently decided to be a nurse this morning.

As for my side notes and general impression upon first visiting the campus:

-It's not that intimidating

The individuals applying are no more capable than you or I. It's easy to become discouraged when reading all these scores and assumptions tossed around on various online forums. I’ve read older forums created by UTHSC applicants, much like this one, and sometimes people with a 4.0 and a 90-something on the HESI aren’t accepted. Don’t allow there misfortune discourage you. They could have easily inflated their scores or submitted an incomplete application; the latter being seemingly common occurrence. The presenters were inviting and willing to entertain everyone’s questions.

-Do some homework

Much of the information is available on the UTHSC website. It might be a bit ambiguous, but take the time to figure it out. With the exception of the Pacesetter, Traditional, and Accelerated programs, I stopped trying to figure that out a while ago.

-The facility is impressive

It’s a relatively new building. It’s “green,” as much as a pile of concrete and glass can be. It’s easily accessible and surrounded by other, equally, impressive facilities. I got lost and ended up walking by a hospital with a façade consisting of 50-foot waterfalls. I genuinely felt smarter as I walked in the wrong direction for the better part of a mile. I was the only not in scrubs… and wearing a headband.

-Guys get scholarships

I’m glad someone finally said it. I’ve asked about it before, but no schools outright say, “You’re going to get this.” It’s reassuring to know that scholarships are available, to any gender. I have a bachelor’s degree already and just assumed I was going to let the government pay for this one.

-Been to jail? No worries…

You can be accepted with a criminal record. You have to eventually pass a background check and suffer the wrath of the Texas Board of Nursing, but it won’t keep you from getting your foot in the door. HCC and several other universities won’t even accept you unless you are completely settled up with the BON. However, if you’re denied you won’t be able to sit for the NCLEX. I have to deal with the Board of Nursing currently and it’s a lengthy process, which could potentially keep me from accepting a nursing spot. Anyways, the BON is a whole other topic.

Hmm, I’m tired of typing, but that should cover most of it.

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Well, octopi are very smart animals and they have multiple arms enabling them to write helpful all nurses posts and student nursing blogs. This definitely makes a good case for o0fefe0o being one. ;-)

In all seriousness, thank you o0fefe0o for all of the super info. We all appreciate your help and thoroughness.

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@karnie101 I thought that was you! I saw your orange headband in the front row & knew I had seen it somewhere! I totally agree about the people that just decided to be nurses this morning LOL. There were some girls sitting behind me chatting about applying for the Spring semester & they hadn't even registered for their Hesi. The information session made me feel so much less intimidated by the competition.

Thanks for the blog shout out! Do you think they make scrubs for all of my octopus arms? ;)

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Thanks o0fefe0o! for all that great info! It was really generous of you to take notes and post it on the forum. I just want to clarify some bullets on your list:

(1) So for a typical semester, are there 2 days of lectures and 2 days of clinical?

(2) Do they give preference to students who took classes at University or have a bachelor degree?

(3) Are summer semesters tougher since you only got 12 weeks versus 16 weeks?

(4) For students who actually get accepted to the program and actually attend, did they discuss how many of them actually make it through the program? I'm just worried that a 75 is considered passing, since there's a higher benchmark.

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THANKS SOOOO MUCH!

Pacesetter is random from basic requirements, or what?

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THANKS SOOOO MUCH!

Pacesetter is random from basic requirements, or what?

No, the Pacesetter has initially been a pilot...a "test" model if you will. They have been choosing students at random from the new students starting the BSN program. They said there was nothing determining which students would go to this new "format". They did say that the Pacesetter program has shown positive results.

As far as the format for the Pacesetter, my interpretation of the information is slightly different from what o0fefe0o has listed on a previous post. Here's my take on the info:

The first semester is exactly the same as the traditional program. After the first semester it is different.

For the Pacesetter program, the 2nd and 3rd semesters have classes and labs like the Traditional rout but no clinicals. These are held off until the last semester.

The 4th semester has all the clinicals that would have happened in the 2nd and 3rd semester of the traditional program. They said there is about 2 weeks spent at each of the clinical rotations at 35-40 hours per week. The Critical Synthesis class (an online class) is also in the 4th semester for the Pacesetter program. The Critical Synthesis class is basically the class to prepare you for the exit HESI exam which we have 3 chances to pass.

As mentioned before, they are seriously planning on adding the Pacesetter program to the permanent program. Currently, only students entering in the Fall, are offered the Pacesetter route.

As mentioned before, they will give good notice if you have been chosen for the Pacesetter. They said we would know before the Spring semester begins...soon after the acceptance letter. I can't remember if they said it would be included with the acceptance letter. Anyway, if you do not want to participate in this route, you may decline it.

They said not to apply for Financial Aid until you have been accepted to the program. You need to be accepted first.

There was much discussion about the HESI. o0fefe0o covered this, as well as the rest of the info session, very well!! Thanks!!

There was a little bit of clarification about the number of times allowed to take the HESI. I don't know why I didn't realize this before lol! The HESI can be taken many times but when it comes to the number of times submitted to UTHSC, only 2 in a person's lifetime are accepted. This means, if you took it to apply to another school and your scores were not sent to UTHSC, it does not count as one of the 2 times. If you submit your HESI scores to UTHSC and it is incomplete (ex: you don't have the critical thinking portion) this is still counted as 1 of the 2 submissions. So, BE SURE to take all the sections required.

Also, they only look at the most recent HESI scores. If you've taken it twice, they look at the second set of HESI scores.

They did say, that Elsevier submits scores to UTHSC daily BUT, UTHSC only runs a report at the end of each month and at the deadline date. Due to the amount of applicants each semester (600-800+), it is not efficient to run a daily report.

Thanks to karnie101 as well for the info! I thought I saw you too!

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Thanks o0fefe0o! for all that great info! It was really generous of you to take notes and post it on the forum. I just want to clarify some bullets on your list:

(1) So for a typical semester, are there 2 days of lectures and 2 days of clinical?

(2) Do they give preference to students who took classes at University or have a bachelor degree?

(3) Are summer semesters tougher since you only got 12 weeks versus 16 weeks?

(4) For students who actually get accepted to the program and actually attend, did they discuss how many of them actually make it through the program? I'm just worried that a 75 is considered passing, since there's a higher benchmark.

1. Yes, and there would be a day for skills lab also. She said this lab would only be about 4 hours.

2. I believe Karnie101 actually asked her this exact question lol. She said that there is no preference to students with a prior degree.

3. They didn't mention the completion rate, but they did say that the average GPA of graduates is a 3.3. I'm fairly certain that the completion rate for UTHSC is on the Texas state nursing licensing site & UT is #1 on the list. At the very beginning, there was mention of UT being the #1 nursing school in the state of Texas, but I'm not sure what criteria that was based on. Either way, both UT & TWU are highly respected schools.

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@arobbins2020 Your notes on the curriculum are much more thorough than mine. She was going through those slides so fast lol. I'm glad you were able to get all of that down :)

I had a hard time really understanding why exactly they were considering changing the program to Pacesetter, since she did admit that they statistically do not do any better than the traditional students. Did you or Karnie understand their reasoning any better than I did?

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Yeah, I zoned out after the 4th person asked what the difference was between Traditional, Pacesetter, Second degree, etc. Having applied to both TWU and UTHSC, I can't seem to understand why neither of these institutions have managed to develop a streamlined web page or PDF file that cuts out all of the guesswork. I did ask about the degree bit and was further reminded that my BS in Biology is, well, bs.

rob^ explained the pacesetter bit really well. In fact, I don't even remember half of that stuff even being mentioned by the presenters.

It seems that the Pacesetter isn't like Honors, or anything advanced. You finish in the same amount of time (give or take a few weeks I think) and you get the same piece of paper at the end. However, by placing all the clinicals together you have the opportunity to create a greater impression on potential employers simply because they see your smiling face for a few consecutive weeks instead of a few sporadic weekends.

Oh, and there's this awesome part about scholarships and how guys get them. Good bye male oppression, hello free dollhairs.

Here's a fun story btw**

I opened the TWU Portal site to check on my transcripts this morning and saw that my status had changed to "Accepted." After calling my Mom and telling her how wonderful I am, it took another 30 minutes of combing through the website to eventually realize that I only got into TWU... not the TWU Nursing Program. Apparently, there's another application for the Nursing program.

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I go by Winston in the real world. :)

My email is [email protected] in case you have any questions and don't want to spray them across the internets.

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Hi Winston,

I plan on applying to both UT and TWU as well. Yes, there is a separate application for the TWU nursing. You can apply by clicking the link My Tools, and there should be a link where you start your applications. It's a $30 application, but they will not process it until it has been paid. The deadline for the spring semester is September 1. I'm just curious, but does the TWU building look newer or the UT building? I live in North TX. I think TWU and UT are both equally, good nursing schools though.

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Hiya! I'm applying for the Fall 2014 cycle and attended the info session. These guys pretty much covered it in the last few posts. Thanks guys, it is nice to review the info.

I asked the admissions lady after the session if they considered anything else other than Hesi scores and your GPA (For example, if you previously volunteered/worked in a clinical setting etc.)

Her answer was a straight up no. Just a heads up. Volunteer in order to get yourself more familiar with the setting but don't count on them really considering it.

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