Yale GEPN 2021

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Hey all! I am reapplying and wanted to create this for everyone applying. I won't be as involved as I was last year, but good luck to everyone! I know they're having seminars and allowing people to schedule one on one consultations for applications.

1 hour ago, TellMeSomethingGood said:

Hi! 

I haven’t posted here yet, but thank you all for starting/adding to this thread! 

I am applying this year for the first time. I’m applying to the pediatric specialty, and have no experience shadowing since I decided to pursue this career change this year, and no one is willing to have me come in and be an extra body in their settings. I have had a few calls with NPs, and am hoping that will suffice for the time being. That is definitely the part of the application that has me the most concerned! Otherwise, I am working on my prerequisites now and am just about to finish my Chemistry class...then it’s on to everything else!

Like some of the other posters, I also have been out of undergrad/grad for a long time (2006/2008), and have young children. I would be commuting from another part of CT if accepted. I’m also applying to Fairfield - not sure if anyone else here is doing the same or applying to other schools in the general vicinity? 

One thing I just ran into on the app is thinking about the ethical dilemma question, which I saw someone else posted about as well. I have a few examples that I have been mulling over, but, if anyone were to compare notes with my resume, my stories would clearly give away the companies/places of business that I reference, even if I don’t name them. What do others think about that? 

@kc_FNPtobe We had an info session last Friday, and I believe that Jana said that the class size would be ~115, but now I’m nervous about your intel, and whether that number includes deferrals! If anyone has any more information, please share! 
 

Good luck to everyone!! This is going to be an exciting ride!! 

That's a good number, therefore disregard what I said. We ended up with 96  this year which is much smaller than in previous years. They like life experience so being that far out of undergrad is not a bad thing. That's around when I graduated. I have a young child as well and tied him into "the better health for all people question" (not sure if you have that question this year). If you can think of an ethical issue concerning or surrounding your children - make a story about it. That gives them more insight into who you are (a parent). Would your commute be bad? I live an hour from campus (this is where didactic zoom has been favorable). Hope that helps ?.

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8 hours ago, kc_FNPtobe said:

That's a good number, therefore disregard what I said. We ended up with 96  this year which is much smaller than in previous years. They like life experience so being that far out of undergrad is not a bad thing. That's around when I graduated. I have a young child as well and tied him into "the better health for all people question" (not sure if you have that question this year). If you can think of an ethical issue concerning or surrounding your children - make a story about it. That gives them more insight into who you are (a parent). Would your commute be bad? I live an hour from campus (this is where didactic zoom has been favorable). Hope that helps ?.

Yes, we do have the "better health for all people" question, and that's great advice for approaching that prompt - thank you! 

My commute would be about the same (45min-1hr, but usually against traffic...if no traffic is ever a thing when talking about 95/the Merritt!). I'm not excited about that piece, but it could definitely be worse. I can imagine that the Zoom has been helpful to cut down on the travel, though I am definitely hoping that the majority will be back to in person by the time we enter the program. Either way, I'm sure they'll make it work!

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5 hours ago, TellMeSomethingGood said:

Yes, we do have the "better health for all people" question, and that's great advice for approaching that prompt - thank you! 

My commute would be about the same (45min-1hr, but usually against traffic...if no traffic is ever a thing when talking about 95/the Merritt!). I'm not excited about that piece, but it could definitely be worse. I can imagine that the Zoom has been helpful to cut down on the travel, though I am definitely hoping that the majority will be back to in person by the time we enter the program. Either way, I'm sure they'll make it work!

No problem. I'm glad to see they are accepting a large amount and the deferrals don't seem to impact the admissions numbers. I go with traffic on 95 (from SE CT), which is pretty junky. There is another woman in my class that has 6-year-old twins and lives in Simsbury. A few commute from NYC (at least they can do homework on the train). I go to school 1-2 times per week for sim and hands-on work. The didactic classes (that you really don't need to be on campus for) are all zoom - so it actually worked out very nicely. I do not feel like I am missing out on anything. One class I do feel short-changed on is anatomy. It is normally conducted at the medical school donor (what Yale calls cadaver)lab. That is all via zoom and just not the same. Good luck!

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6 hours ago, kc_FNPtobe said:

No problem. I'm glad to see they are accepting a large amount and the deferrals don't seem to impact the admissions numbers. I go with traffic on 95 (from SE CT), which is pretty junky. There is another woman in my class that has 6-year-old twins and lives in Simsbury. A few commute from NYC (at least they can do homework on the train). I go to school 1-2 times per week for sim and hands-on work. The didactic classes (that you really don't need to be on campus for) are all zoom - so it actually worked out very nicely. I do not feel like I am missing out on anything. One class I do feel short-changed on is anatomy. It is normally conducted at the medical school donor (what Yale calls cadaver)lab. That is all via zoom and just not the same. Good luck!

That’s great to hear there are other people who are in similar situations - the kids piece was one of the first that I asked about during my individual info session! 
 

Also so great that the classes over Zoom/overall schedule are working well! I imagine this will continue into next year to some degree at least. 


You mentioned homework - how much homework do you generally have? And would you mind sharing a general weekly schedule? They did that during the info session, but it would be great to hear from someone who is actually in the thick of it.

Thank you! 

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Hey everyone!  For those inquiring about the ethics question, I was told don't worry about it too much. She mentioned it's a valid question to have, but they understand bad things happen within jobs (if you decide to discuss something related to a job).  She said make sure things flow in a way that makes sense and you're not just outright bashing. I wish I had remembered to ask about the spots available for each specialty, so sorry you all!

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21 minutes ago, Psychmeout2 said:

Hey everyone!  For those inquiring about the ethics question, I was told don't worry about it too much. She mentioned it's a valid question to have, but they understand bad things happen within jobs (if you decide to discuss something related to a job).  She said make sure things flow in a way that makes sense and you're not just outright bashing. I wish I had remembered to ask about the spots available for each specialty, so sorry you all!

Awesome - thank you!

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Hi all - wondering if anyone has specific intel on which characteristics/qualities are most important to call out in the letters of recommendation. I have two professional and one academic references and would like to advise them to include any specific areas that the admissions committee may be looking for in a candidate. Thanks!

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I've been wondering the same as well. From what I've gathered, I know they want to know specifics, like don't do a run of the mill recommendation where they say you're great and that's it. That's what provided a problem for me last cycle amongst other things. Other than that, I welcome any advice as well!

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I'm a bit confused, what ethics question are you all talking about? 

 

Edit: never mind, I thought that there was an extra question that provided a scenario.. ?

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Hi everyone,

Is anyone else occupied with the thought that the 600 max word count for the essay portion is too short to squeeze in all of your thoughts? I want to say I've hit all the main points (for all 3 points of the template question) but didn't have much room to elaborate. Does anyone else feel this way?

I'm new to this forum so if anyone wants to connect, let me know. Some info that might help others decide if they want to connect-

Career changer, in my 30s, was in hospitality in my 20s, now a clinical research manager, EMT, published 4x (first author 1x), 3.49 uGPA, 4.0 GPA for nursing school, GRE - 50% percentile verbal/quant (justified my score in application), 92% percentile for writing, active in two community centers, applying to PMHNP. Anything else, just ask. Thx

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On 10/21/2020 at 10:46 PM, TellMeSomethingGood said:

That’s great to hear there are other people who are in similar situations - the kids piece was one of the first that I asked about during my individual info session! 
 

Also so great that the classes over Zoom/overall schedule are working well! I imagine this will continue into next year to some degree at least. 


You mentioned homework - how much homework do you generally have? And would you mind sharing a general weekly schedule? They did that during the info session, but it would be great to hear from someone who is actually in the thick of it.

Thank you! 

Sorry for the delay on this one. Still have one more midterm exam and the most important (LH's med/surg). If no one knows who she is - look her up. She is AMAZING and pretty much the matriarch of the GEPN program. She's retiring 2023, so consider yourselves lucky that you get her before she is gone. 

As far as children go - there are a handful of parents in the program. It is by no means easy, but it is doable. Yale is great that they set you up with a "big sib" who is your sounding board throughout GEPN year and beyond. They are typically like-minded and alike in situations along with sharing your specialty. Mine is a mother of 2 and is also in the FNP track. They're crucial the first few weeks.

"Homework" - it really just busywork. Don't get me wrong, you get credit for it, but it's not too time-consuming. You'll quickly learn the two most time-consuming items are "care plans" and making pharm charts (if that's the route you go in studying for pharm). Most of your time will be taken up in class, clinical, sim lab, or studying in general.

For the schedule... it is ever-changing, haha. In the first month, we were 100% on zoom basically M-F from 8-5. Then, ILCE finally branched off into either M or F afternoon sessions. I was assigned M afternoon, so I now have F afternoons off. Clinicals are rotation based. I am on Saturday 7-7, therefore now have Tues and W off. However, I do have to go to campus some Tuesdays for a sim lab or some Wednesday nights for Advanced Health Assessment (AHA) labs. Both are for only an hour each. Starting in November I will be at clinical on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8-2 and will continue the Tues or Wed sim or lab times. It's very spaced on campus to not surpass congregating restrictions. For a whole glimpse, I have Pharm and Biomed (pathophys) on Mondays and Thursdays from 8-12. Monday afternoon (times vary) ILCE. Some Monday nights (7 total) is Issues in Nursing from 5:30-7:30pm. Tuesday/Wednesday: off for now, with some sim or lab. Thursday afternoon 1-4 Anatomy. Thursday night is "week in review" (LH goes over everything for med/surg), which you don't want to miss although not required and is 7:00-8:30pm-ish. Friday morning is AHA and med surg. Eight classes (including clinical) total.

They do throw random meetings in your free time which can be soul-sucking at the begging because you barely have any time, but they ease up on that after a few weeks. 

I know I wanted what the schedule of a GEPN looked like last year, so I hope this was helpful to you. They frontload the program, so it's less intense after December (no more Pharm or Issues), and even less after March (no more med/surg or AHA). 

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@wp650 I'm applying to pmhnp too! Yes the 600 is daunting in my opinion.  I ended up cutting out all of my specific examples last year. It was good to help decide what unnecessary things to cut out, with that limit every single word counts. I'm trying to balance telling a compelling story with making sure they know I know the responsibilities involved with the program and as a pmhnp

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