UW BSN program 2015

InternetLurker · Jan 16, 2015

I have not checked this thread for a while. Great to see more people on here! Thoughts of getting the proctored essay email are echoing in my head already. I am so nervous! It felt so great to finally turn in months of hard work. I wish you all good luck!

blauren23 · Jan 16, 2015

Thanks so much to sharing this its really helpful!! Im so nervous having just turned in my app this week, knowing I can longer change it!! Can you give an example of a Chem/math problem?

bsnprg · Jan 16, 2015

Your general chemistry text book that you had for your prerequisite is a great resource.

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landij · Jan 18, 2015

I don't really remember chem problems, one of the math problems was like if a patient needs 30mg of drug X and the pills only come in 5 mg, how many pills will the patient take. I dont remember the other two, but one of them I got wrong and was still accepted. I think for me when writing the essay I read it line for line and literally did not want to leave one detail out. I have heard of some people approaching it as, take whatever pt would be hardest for you to manage and talk about how you took that patient to challenge yourself because you enjoy to be challenged. And I have also heard the approach pick the patient you have the most experience with and talk about how great your care will be because you have so much experience in this area. Honestly I didnt really go in to it with either mentalitys. I had made a list in my head of my strengths and weaknesses and most proctored essays will want to somehow know your stength in a situation and your weakness. I just read through the patient scenarios and when I found "my" scenario I just knew, this is the one. I would say just go in to it with an open mind and some personal strenghths and weaknesses in the back of your head. I agree with bsnprg, GET EXPERIENCE!! Whether you get in to the program or not, GET your hands wet in the health care world. For me this meant taking a HUGE pay cut, but my clinicals have been a breeze because of my experience. I love working in the hospital and for me this just solitified that fact that I am meant to be a nurse, whereas my friend realized nursing was NOT what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Volunteer hours are huge, but really working as a CNA or PCT is where you will benefit the most! GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!!!!

shelleybaumer · Jan 19, 2015

I'm curious about the first semester of UW's BSN program. What is the workload like in terms of how many classes you're taking and how many hours of clinical time you're working?

hopefulBE · Jan 29, 2015

@Shelley. Sorry I haven't gotten back to you! They accept a wide range of applicants. I know people with their CNAs and work experience. I also know people without their CNAs and just volunteer and shadow experience. Don't worry about your grades, my average GPA was very low, since in my undergrad I took alot of bio and chem classes. I personally was in the middle of completing my bachelors in public health, maybe they liked that? I think the resume and essay are very very important. They get to see what you got out of your learning experience, and get to understand how you as an individual think. But as for my background, finished public health while applying, had my CNA, had over 1000 hours of experience since I worked, and had other volunteer opportunities. Everyone out of my group formatted their resume differently so sometimes I really don't understand what they want haha.

For the proctored essay: the past 3 years have been choose a patient scenario, then explain why you chose the patient, strengths and weaknesses, and how you will grow professionally and as a person. My advice, it's not really about the patient. I just referenced the patient here and there, but they don't want to know how you will care for them, since you aren't a nurse yet. They want to know what your though process is, and how you will grow from it. I already had examples planned out in my head, which made it much easier to go through.

The math questions are simple. If your patient needs X amount of Tylenol per kg. And patient weighs Y kg. How much tylenol will the patient need in a 24 hour period? or like you have 500mg tab of x medication. patient has an order for 1g of x medication. how many tabs would you give? they are simple questions that require like 2-3 steps to get the answer.

As to how the first quarter is. We take the full load first quarter with 5 classes (18 credits). We have clinical once a week (we do about an 8 hour shift). If you have already been in university and are use to the class load then it is fine. If you are a transfer, or it has been a while since you have been in school, I can see how it would be overwhelming since the load is not something you are use to yet. You can get through it though. There are pregnant women in the program, there are people working 20+ hours a week, and there are also those with families who commute from a long ways away. It can be done!

I hope that helps!

shelleybaumer · Jan 30, 2015

Hi bsnprg,

I received your pm's, but the site isn't letting me reply until I have a minimum of 15 "quality topics". Thank you for the info, it was incredibly helpful. I've been searching for curriculum and practical info for a while. I'm sorry I couldn't respond in a pm!

shelleybaumer · Jan 30, 2015

Thanks for the great info hopefulBE! :)

I'm worried that I don't have enough recent experience and most of my curricular activities are unrelated to medicine. For instance, while I do volunteer at a nursing home, I spend a lot of time volunteering for the roller derby team and public radio station. There aren't many options for medical related things on an island in Alaska. We send most of our higher level triage to Seattle.

I just completed my CNA and unfortunately the test wasn't scheduled in time to give my license number on the application, but I did list it in the resume and talked about it in my essay. I hope that it isn't held against me for not having a license number yet. In the natural world prerequisites I have a 3.67, work full-time for a nonprofit, am a birth doula and have worked in varied medical environments since I was 15 (I'm 29 now). If they want someone who does too many things at the same time, but still manages to somehow do okay, I'm the gal. For my most recent experience though I only have 139 hours in the past three months. Prior to that I hadn't worked in a medical/clinical job for 10 years. I did include that experience on the resume as it added up to around 4,000 hours.

I guess that I am mostly worried that only my most recent experience will count for anything - putting many candidates ahead of me. I was a chef for 8 years and this is my second career, but I know for sure it's what I want to be. I chose nursing as my major when I was 18, but quickly decided I was over being in school. Which looking back makes little sense because I loved it and did well. Oh well, we live, we learn, we get older.

I didn't want to list my stats on here, but I guess it's helpful to get opinions from others on my chances while I nervously twiddle my thumbs. We're supposed to get our proctored essay or rejection emails next Friday, so I'm anxious!

shelleybaumer · Jan 31, 2015

It turns out that the Feb. 6th date was a typo. We're getting our essay emails on Friday the 13th!

A Jaqueline · Jan 31, 2015

Yup, I got the email today! Just two more weeks of anxiously waiting for either the best or worst email :nailbiting: Good luck to everyone!

InternetLurker · Jan 31, 2015

I also received a confirmation email yesterday! Good luck everyone. I get more anxious by the second. :nurse:

InternetLurker · Jan 31, 2015

Where was the typo included? I never received anything that stated emails about the proctored essay will be sent out on the 6th, which makes me kind of scared.