Will I be in over my head? Advice please!

[FutureNurseNYC]

Hello Everybody! I have been using this site as a tool for years now, but didn't make my own account until today. I'm 21 years old and living in NYC. I recently applied to SUNY Stony Brook and I'm trying to decide on my future career path. I have a different story than most. I'm just looking for a little insight from people more experienced than myself.

Let me start by telling you a brief story of how I ended up where I am.

I come from a somewhat crazy family. My father was an "evangelist "on Sundays and beat my brothers during the weekdays. My mother was also a religious fanatic with crazy views on the world. After my older brother grew up and left, I was left with my parents. My mother, being the religious person she was decided school was "evil" and pulled me out and moved to Vermont around the age of 10, the only problem was--she didn't teach me. She would tell everyone I was home-schooled but neglect my homework. By the time I was in high school, I was too embarrassed to go to school because I knew I was so far behind. I use to be threatened by the fact that "if people found out I was behind, the state would take me away from my family". I remember telling myself I wouldn't turn out like people predicted. I became straight edge, (No drinking and no drugs) and made a promise I would end up in college to be a nurse no matter what it took. Around the time I should have been a junior in high school, I met a girl who I shared all my problems and secretes with. She started teaching me math and science after school and was thankfully very patient and kind. Without exaggeration, I would start practicing math from 10am to 7pm every day hoping to catch up to my friends in high school. After about 6 months of this my girlfriend started bringing home her math homework to see if I could figure it out, and to my surprise I could with some help. I went to an adult education place in my local town, and started taking classes while taking college level courses at my local community college. Long story short, I ended up with my high school diploma, and I also have about 38 credits from a community college. I moved out of my house as quickly as possible, and I now live in NYC with that same girl from high school. My problem is I never took chemistry or physics in highschool. I am terrified of taking it at college. I have taken statistics and college algebra, and have gotten an A in both classes but feel as though my girlfriend has to spend extra time everyday helping me with my homework in order to understand it. I feel as though I have to work twice as hard to understand math than other people in my classes.

I applied to Stony Brook University recently, I have a 3.9 gpa and I applied undecided because I still have to take a lot of the prereqs for the nursing program. My question is, will I be in over my head? I feel like everyone there has taken 4 years of science and math already, and I was just some kid who was taught by my girlfriend. She says she will teach me chemistry, but I want to be able to fully understand it and be confident in school. I am good with conceptual things. I have taken medical terminology and was at the top of my class. I just feel so nervous and I can't shake it. Should I pick a different major? I see all these kids with years of preparation failing nursing school. I can't help but feel as though I will have an even harder time than them. I want to be a ER nurse, it's something I am very passionate about. I just want to hear from people if I should go to a school known to be very difficult in sciences. Will Stony Brook be that much harder than the classes I took at community college?

I'm sorry for rambling; any kind of response will help...I just feel as though I will be in over my head. I will be living on campus so I will have lots of time to study. I'm proud of how far I've gotten despite my situation--I am just unsure on how to approach all of this.

Again, I am sorry for the unorganized ramble and rabbit trails! Any kind of response will be helpful! I am just looking for honest opinions.

[Fireman767]

When i applied, average gpa was about 3.8, and they only take about 1 or 2 students from SBU. Usually the students have thousands of hours of experience and are top tier students with tons of extracurriculars

[FutureNurseNYC]

One or two students from SBU? Wow. Maybe things have changed since then. I've read on a few other forums and talked to a few people here at SBU, and they said you're more likely to get into the nursing program as a current SBU student because you're well aware of how hard the classes are.

I'm also seriously considering getting my undergraduate degree in Health Science and then going into the PA program.

[Fireman767]

Yeah, maybe it changed in the 2 years since I was there. Myself and a friend both applied to the RN accelerated program and the standard RN program. The ABSN program we were both denied into, and we were told the minimum GPA to get in was a 3.5, but average was 3.8, low of 3.7X when i applied, and the average hours of experience in the medical field were around 2k hours. FOr the standard RN program, (this is the one thats easier for SBU students to get into) the average was higher, and I think around 3.8. My friend Sean had a cum. GPA of 3.9 and was denied because he didn't have the experience to make him a "competitive" candidate, I was denied with a 3.6 cum. GPA with over 4k hours of experience. Not to mention I started up a group on campus (SBCCERT) and that wasn't enough to make me a strong candidate there.

For the PA program, I didnt apply to it, but have some friends currently in it (my class that graduated with me, and should be graduating from the PA program this year). I know the selection process was intense, many many many people apply, but they prefer to take SBU students for it. My suggestion, get the volunteer hours (I think it was just under 2000 hours when I went there, probably still around there) They require the hours be done before you even apply to the PA program (thats what kicked back a lot of applicants). If you need volunteer hours, SBVAC (Stony Brook Volunteer Ambulance Corps) is an excellent way to get it, but you will need something more, they like to see in hospital hours (not patient sitting either, usually either patient care technician, or phlebotomy, or other things). They look over the activities you do, not just count the hours done.

And my degree was Health Sciences, Healthcare Management. Its basically the same courses as the BSN courses, just not as focused on nursing, more on general management.

[FutureNurseNYC]

Thanks for all the detailed information, Fireman! From the sounds of it they only accept 4.0 students. I have a 3.9 now, but I think it will be slightly lower by the time I actually apply. When you said "Hours of experience" do you mean shadowing/volunteering?

I'm also taking chem and pre-calc at Nassau over the summer. Hopefully that won't look bad on my application, but it's a lot cheaper and will speed things up. You're making me worried, however! =P

Also, I heard they put a lot of thought into your personal letter/statement. I have a pretty out of the ordinary story, so I'm hoping that will play in my favor.

[Fireman767]

By experience i mean hands on, patient action. They sift through the hours and remove things such as patient sitting, or any other hours that dont have a real patient connection (hands on).

As for the letter, I heard the personal statement means a good amount, but references mean more. They look more for bigger references. Not like some psychology professor, or high school counselor, but rather people like department heads, or volunteer hour managers and such. Also, the grades are important, over the summer because of proximity and cost, i doubt they would be concerned with where you take it.

and for the story, Keep it important. I remember when i talked to the admissions there, they said they didnt need a whole life story, they'd rather hear what you learned and applied it.

[FutureNurseNYC]

Oh I see. Thanks!

If you don't mind me asking, are you in a nursing program now?

[Fireman767]

I am in a nursing program right now. Just over halfway done. Due to financial restraints and the time i decided to apply (late june) I got accepted into a school in pennsylvania completing my ADN and doing my BSN classes at the same time. So in a year ill have my ADN and BSN and due to the schools connections I can move into an MSN program after graduation (family Nurse Practitioner)

[FutureNurseNYC]

Congrats! Seems like things are going well for you!

I shadowed a Physical Therapist the other-day--which is also something I'm very interested in. The thing is, my two in a half years of college I have now won't do anything towards my nursing major, and I wont be able to apply for the nursing program until 2015 after I'm done with all these pre-nursing classes. The adviser showed me that I could use my two years of college towards a undergraduate degree such as psychology or health science, and than apply for the DPT program for Physical Therapy. The way the sequence works, I will have a DPT in PT the same amount of time I would have a BSN in nursing.

I guess it still comes down to what I would really want to do, but I would honestly love doing both.