I Got In!
Friday afternoon here and I am sitting at a ski resort watching people slide back and forth in their ski gear. Accompanying my other half, actually. As for me, I haven't really had that much interest in skiing. Maybe once I am done with school I will consider taking lessons, and that.. if I am able to get a company or two who are starters like me. Oh dear, I promised on giving you updates on school didn't I?
I finally received the letter from the Accelerated Bachelor's in Nursing (ABSN) program of some prominent university in Portland. Not gonna mention a name here, but it's the only state research university in Oregon. If you live within the proximity you know which school I am talking about. To be honest, I was so ready to have my heart broken and move on with the nursing program at a college near by home, when driving home from school that day. I was expecting the letter that day because the admission informed they'd send out the letter that Monday the 16th. Relying on the snail mail, letter was to be received on Wed the 18th. And yep, it was lying right there in my mail box on Wednesday! It's a big white envelope and I felt as if my heart had skipped a beat. Right there and then I felt like running home, instead of driving back the car then wrote a line that would have gone like this: "Dear Diary, I got in!"
My excessive worries about this acceptance affair were not without reasons. Of approximately 470 qualified applicants, they only took 48 to be in the Summer cohort, and I heard about 32 for the Fall cohort. The ABSN doesn't normally create another cohort (Fall, in this case) but I speculate that there were so many good candidates that they couldnt just turn the circumstance away. On a different note, my heart is breaking for those people with nearly perfect GPAs who don't make it. I knew about this because a lot of people applying to this program have been in touch through this online forum called www.allnurses.com. We together got all anxious, ranting and venting each day waiting for the news to come. When it finally broke, each of us told others whether we got accepted, declined, or put as an alternate. It's amazing that some of the people who got declined are also 3.7 to 4.0 individuals (talking about GPAs here) who probably deserve the same as those who got accepted. But I think it takes the right reasons for the admission to decide who deserve more than the others. I am grateful to be one of those fellows.
Woot, now I gotta get ready to find a way to pay the $40,000 tuition. This actually isn't bad! Of all the nursing programs this university has, the overall cost of attending the ABSN is the lowest among all. Am not gonna even talk about tuitions for the school of medicine, the school of dentistry, and the school of pharmacy of that university, it would only give me chills. Yikes! Education here is not cheap! But I do believe it does take you to the higher level of knowledge, which is one of the grand reasons why I want to be a nurse.
It was somewhat throat-choking to part ways with my friends at Clark's nursing. I am gonna miss some of them. The day when I got the letter, I texted a friend who's a classmate -as I promised her. She said she was really happy for me but she's going to miss having a friend at school. I am going too. Although I know I will make new friends in my new family (cohort), some things will never be the same. I spoke with the lead instructor of the nursing program and tendered my withdrawal (and also my name badge) two days after the news. I truly wish everyone in class the best. Clark's nursing is a tough program. Having been in the program for about a week and a half, I can safely say that the curriculum is very well-rounded. I had two exams within the first 7 days of school; Those people who are still there have had at least 4 exams so far. And please note they're only over with their 3rd week! The instructors taught us syringe and IM injection skills on our second week's lab, and we were flooded with abundant amount of material for both class and clinical. They teach you to be troopers there! Yet I know it's gonna be a lot crazier at the new place.
Actually, now that I am talking about how topsy turvy my life will be once Summer is here, I remember the conversation I had with a public notary the other day at a bank. I needed some form to be notarized so I started talking and mentioned that I was doing the damn thing for school admission. And it's a school of nursing's. He was pretty impressed. He asked if I was working at all and I gave him a no. Then He asked me when I would be done, and ended up uttering: "good thing you're not working, otherwise you'd probably be dead by the end of the program.". That afternoon I drove away from the bank chuckling. Nah, I was actually laughing hard about it. He's pretty much correct about that.
I know, I know, It is a little bit too early to be happy as I know I have a bumpy road ahead of me. But it's a nice feeling to learn that I am going to be an addition to our own little group of professionals working in the field of health care -in my husband's family. We've got a (medical) doctor, a pharmacist, a dietician, and I am going to play the nurse role. I heard that our niece may consider pursuing the education to be an optometrist (eye doctor) later in the future. It may also be a future possibility for me to advance my nursing education as a nurse practitioner -anyways.. starting in 2014, it will require RN's (Registered Nurses) to get their DNP aka Doctor of Nursing Practice in order to be a nurse practitioner, yikes! Well, as of now, I only want to think about how to survive schooling until the end of next year. I do want to take one day at a time.
I finally received the letter from the Accelerated Bachelor's in Nursing (ABSN) program of some prominent university in Portland. Not gonna mention a name here, but it's the only state research university in Oregon. If you live within the proximity you know which school I am talking about. To be honest, I was so ready to have my heart broken and move on with the nursing program at a college near by home, when driving home from school that day. I was expecting the letter that day because the admission informed they'd send out the letter that Monday the 16th. Relying on the snail mail, letter was to be received on Wed the 18th. And yep, it was lying right there in my mail box on Wednesday! It's a big white envelope and I felt as if my heart had skipped a beat. Right there and then I felt like running home, instead of driving back the car then wrote a line that would have gone like this: "Dear Diary, I got in!"
My excessive worries about this acceptance affair were not without reasons. Of approximately 470 qualified applicants, they only took 48 to be in the Summer cohort, and I heard about 32 for the Fall cohort. The ABSN doesn't normally create another cohort (Fall, in this case) but I speculate that there were so many good candidates that they couldnt just turn the circumstance away. On a different note, my heart is breaking for those people with nearly perfect GPAs who don't make it. I knew about this because a lot of people applying to this program have been in touch through this online forum called www.allnurses.com. We together got all anxious, ranting and venting each day waiting for the news to come. When it finally broke, each of us told others whether we got accepted, declined, or put as an alternate. It's amazing that some of the people who got declined are also 3.7 to 4.0 individuals (talking about GPAs here) who probably deserve the same as those who got accepted. But I think it takes the right reasons for the admission to decide who deserve more than the others. I am grateful to be one of those fellows.
Woot, now I gotta get ready to find a way to pay the $40,000 tuition. This actually isn't bad! Of all the nursing programs this university has, the overall cost of attending the ABSN is the lowest among all. Am not gonna even talk about tuitions for the school of medicine, the school of dentistry, and the school of pharmacy of that university, it would only give me chills. Yikes! Education here is not cheap! But I do believe it does take you to the higher level of knowledge, which is one of the grand reasons why I want to be a nurse.
It was somewhat throat-choking to part ways with my friends at Clark's nursing. I am gonna miss some of them. The day when I got the letter, I texted a friend who's a classmate -as I promised her. She said she was really happy for me but she's going to miss having a friend at school. I am going too. Although I know I will make new friends in my new family (cohort), some things will never be the same. I spoke with the lead instructor of the nursing program and tendered my withdrawal (and also my name badge) two days after the news. I truly wish everyone in class the best. Clark's nursing is a tough program. Having been in the program for about a week and a half, I can safely say that the curriculum is very well-rounded. I had two exams within the first 7 days of school; Those people who are still there have had at least 4 exams so far. And please note they're only over with their 3rd week! The instructors taught us syringe and IM injection skills on our second week's lab, and we were flooded with abundant amount of material for both class and clinical. They teach you to be troopers there! Yet I know it's gonna be a lot crazier at the new place.
Actually, now that I am talking about how topsy turvy my life will be once Summer is here, I remember the conversation I had with a public notary the other day at a bank. I needed some form to be notarized so I started talking and mentioned that I was doing the damn thing for school admission. And it's a school of nursing's. He was pretty impressed. He asked if I was working at all and I gave him a no. Then He asked me when I would be done, and ended up uttering: "good thing you're not working, otherwise you'd probably be dead by the end of the program.". That afternoon I drove away from the bank chuckling. Nah, I was actually laughing hard about it. He's pretty much correct about that.
I know, I know, It is a little bit too early to be happy as I know I have a bumpy road ahead of me. But it's a nice feeling to learn that I am going to be an addition to our own little group of professionals working in the field of health care -in my husband's family. We've got a (medical) doctor, a pharmacist, a dietician, and I am going to play the nurse role. I heard that our niece may consider pursuing the education to be an optometrist (eye doctor) later in the future. It may also be a future possibility for me to advance my nursing education as a nurse practitioner -anyways.. starting in 2014, it will require RN's (Registered Nurses) to get their DNP aka Doctor of Nursing Practice in order to be a nurse practitioner, yikes! Well, as of now, I only want to think about how to survive schooling until the end of next year. I do want to take one day at a time.
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