Would love to hear your stories!

[Lulu Belle, RN, EMT-B]

Hi All,

If all goes as planned, I will be starting at UMDSON next fall, and I really just want to know what it's like to be a student in Baltimore.

Don't worry--this isn't a "what was your GPA!?! Did you get in?!?" thread. I'm just trying to get a feel for what my life might look like.

Did you live on campus or in an apartment? Did you work (as a nursing tech or otherwise) during nursing school? Did you have a car?

If you went to UMD, where were your clinicals? What's the first year of nursing school like in general? What would you tell an incoming first year nursing student?

If you were job hunting in Baltimore, tell me what that was like.

Anything you have to offer about being a nurse or nursing student in Baltimore!

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I can't help specifically - never involved in Boston schools or Nursing there, but here's wishing you all the best at this exciting time in your life.

[Graduate2016]

Hey! The site wont let me post a personal message back to you so here you go:

So sorry to get back to you a month later!

I hope all your classes that you are completing now are going well! I did the articulation agreement with UMD College Park so I understand your feelings about the "guaranteed" acceptance!

As for nursing school, it's not a walk in the park. It is good that it is challenging because it gives you an opportunity to realize this is REALLY what you want to do. Ill lay it out by semester for you:

Semester 1: Pretty easy stuff. You have your typical intro classes including beginning to pathopharm (essentially a class of memorization), your geriatrics class, health assessment, research and intro to nursing. Both Patho and Health assessment have labs. The patho lab it pretty much like vaccinations and medication administration, while health assessment is like a physical you would get at the doctor's office. Both require "validations" and "standardized patients" which are simulations that are timed with either a manikin or an actor to test your skills in a practical setting. Classes are all 3 credits, except health assessment that is 4.

Second Semester= WORST THING EVER. But on the flip side if you get through it you're good to go. You take pharmacology which is the interaction of all the drugs, what they do in the body and how they work to fight an illness (3 credits). Then you have your psychiatric nursing class (5 credits). Pretty easy class wise but you have to do a lot of mini projects that are time-consuming. You also have a clinical rotation with this that is once a week and counts for 90 hours. Med-Surg (AKA Adult health) is the hardest. You have to learn everything about every illness that can possibly occur (equivalent to putting yourself through med school in 3 months). 180 clinical hours and counts for 7 credits.

Third semester: Mother baby (5 credits), Pediatrics (5 credits) comorbidities (3 credits) and informatics (2 credits). Mother-baby and pediatrics both have clinical twice a week for half the semester (one clinical the first half and you switch to the other the second half). Both classes are fairly easy. Informatics was a breeze. Comorbidities has a different instructor each semester so I can't speak for the class as a whole but it was a good review of med-surg.

Fourth Semester: BUSY BUSY BUSY. You have to take 12-15 credits (I'm taking my elective now but you can take it whenever but I suggest taking it either 3rd or 4th semester or during the summer if you can afford to). Practicum is a leadership class (7 credits). Lecture content is straight forward but there is A TON of group work and papers and mini projects. They help you with your grade in the long run but its all about time management. On top of the work, you have 180 clinical hours you complete on your own at a hospital they assign you to as a student. You work 1 on 1 with an RN to complete these hours. Then you have community health (5 credits), again straight forward with a ton of busy work but not terrible. There is a clinical related to this and 90 hours are required. And I am taking an online elective that is very simple and straight to the point.

University housing is a hit or miss. If you are like me, I wanted to keep living my college career out to its fullest. I lived at College Park and I commuted. Looking back on it, I don't regret doing it at all becuaseI did get that "college experience," but it was tough. I couldn't do a lot of the things my friends were doing because I had to study or be up at the crack of dawn for clinical.

Getting a job through nursing school is tough but not impossible. I personally didn't work as a CNA because it was difficult for me (I am an out of state student). Many people in my program did but had to work less or switch to night shift during second semester. Instead, a lot of us completed externships (essentially working 1 on 1 with a nurse during the summer and attending classes through a specific hospital). This was an amazing experience and I would reccomend it to anyone. PLUS most of them are paid!

Finally, I guess I am a bit late with answering you but I applied to Shady Grove. Shady Grove has been wonderful. The class sizes are smaller and the instructors get you know you really well (which is amazing when you need a letter of recommendation). So I would suggest Shady Grove but Baltimore is great too!

If you have any other questions please email me at [email protected]! I'm sorry i didnt get back to you sooner. I am not on this very often!

Good luck with everything!

-Kristen