Hello, I formed this thread for students applying to the University of Vermont's Direct Entry Program in Nursing 2016 as a means for potential applicants to communicate about admission decisions, future plans, and general prospective nurse questions and insights.
"The direct entry program begins with 36.5 credits and includes 820 clinical hours of full-time, year-round coursework to prepare for the NCLEX-RN exam and gain registered nurse licensure in the State of Vermont. Students then continue into the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. The 3 1/2-year Doctor of Nursing Practice curriculum includes 69.5-76 credits of coursework and 750-820 clinical hours, including 240 practicum hours."
My name is Sarah and I applied to the DENP on the Primary Care track.
I'm a current UVM DEPN student in my first year. Let me know if I can answer any questions for you! One thing I'll say is that I don't think it would hurt to reach out to admissions again if you don't hear from them soon. Last year, I believe the first round of acceptances were sent out via email in the last week of February. We had until March 18th or so to decide, after which point they sent out another round of acceptances. I'm not sure how many applied in your cohort, but for ours, around 100 people applied for 15 spots. The family speciality much more competitive, but they try to split the group as evenly as possible between family and adult-gero.
Good luck, and let me know if you have other questions!
Congratulations Wickedmainer, let me know should you decide, it would be nice to meet up with potential seat mates. I was offered a seat just the other day via email link and I'm psyched all over because UVM is my top choice.
Skiday, thank you for offering to answer questions:
Would it be a good idea to study ahead of time for the NCLEX, and what materials would you recommend?
What textbooks have you used in the first semester?
Any suggestions to various advanced readings, not necessarily textbooks, but something that may complement our chosen field of study?
I'm super excited and am counting the days. Hope everybody gets in!
Congratulations wickedmainer and Uling_VT! I was also admitted last week. Wickedmainer, I'm still trying to decide between this program and a few others as well. I like that the class size is small which hopefully means a better preceptor to student ratio. Since I'm an out of state resident though, the tuition is pretty expensive. Unfortunately that might be one of the deciding factor for me.
I would definitely study for the NCLEX throughout the first year as you go through the program; however, I would highly advise not doing any work ahead of time (i.e. the summer before). As tempting as it may be to try to 'get ahead,' really try to value the last little bit of time off that you have before the program starts. It's really demanding, and you'll be busy all the time.
As for materials for NCLEX study, you will get a giant stack of ATI review books through UVM, included as part of your first year fees, that have been surprisingly helpful in terms of both complementing classwork and studying for the NCLEX. I also have a couple books from the Davis Success series (Pharmacology, Med Surg) that I haven't used extensively but do provide some good practice questions.
First semester textbooks: Large and expensive. I can give you a full list if you'd like, but given that the profs often tweak their syllabus and text from semester to semester, I'd hold off on buying anything just yet. Last year I was able to get many textbooks for much cheaper from the previous year DEPNs, who held a 'yard sale' for us where we could get books, scrubs, iClickers, etc.
One of your classes will be a seminar-style discussion period with some miscellaneous readings. As part of that we read 'Being Mortal' by Atul Gawande, which I absolutely loved. Especially given that you will spend hours upon hours of your life in a long term care facility the first semester, I found it a beautiful and thought provoking complement to clinical that really changed how I thought about end-of-life care and decision-making. I would also recommend staying abreast of current health-related events and policy updates. If you haven't yet, I found this ( http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/us/hospital-guns-mental-health.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-0&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article) article in the New York Times about psychiatric care to be really compelling - a good intersection of health, human rights, and social justice. It's also available as a This American Life podcast.
Hey, congrats to you too! I am an out of state but it seems like there is a reduced tuition rate for out of state students so compared to other out of state programs, it seems comparable.
I will be in Burlington Thurs-Fri to visit the school and have some questions answered.
Hello all! I was accepted into the program Fall of 2015 but was sadly unable to start. Hope to start this Fall! Has anyone from the class that started Fall 2015 have any feedback about the classes? How the teachers are? Hows are the assignment and tests? Thank you!
Sewells09
68 Posts
Congratulations! I have have not heard anything. Can you tell us about how you were admitted?