done and done

Today I finished my last prerequisite course for UR. The dreaded micro biology. I performed very well on all the courses, but I wont kid myself, they aren't nearly as difficult as the terrestrial courses will be. Just the same though, it is nice to enter school on a positive note.

In other news, I thought I would post the few emails I have received from the University. I found the most humorous to be related to working. They have been adamant about the fact that you cannot work without outright stating it (which they would like to do, but they cannot mandate how you spend your leisure time and I doubt there is a one amongst us wouldnt wish to spend leisure time in industrious pursuits. Is it just me?). Evidently a lot of emails poured in from students fully intending to work and, well, you can read the response below. The humor was that UR defines 'being able to work' as 5 hours a week or less (best of luck finding that job) and then provides the 'circle of logic' which goes a like this: we aren't eligible for grants because we already hold Bachelor's degrees, a Bachelor's degree means you can work to support yourself so you dont require a grant, and you can't work because of the nature of the program therefore rendering the fact that you hold a degree moot. Funny, but not in a haha kind of way but rather the 'isnt it funny how it always rains the very day you decide to try your new paper mache outfit and not wear skivvies underneath (we have all been there)." It didnt affect me however as they have been clear throughout that working is strongly discouraged, and in cases such as these I find I am best served by not raging against the machine. In lieu of income, I have already arranged for some of my less utilitarian organs to be harvested to cover books and lab fees. Anyone need a kidney?

The emails follow, edited of only the parts that are totally irrelevant.

A few questions were e-mailed to me and I thought the answers might be useful to all of you-

1) What about housing? You should have received a packet about housing from Nancy Kita. Especially if you want to room with other APNN students - there are several small houses nearby that rent out every year to APNNs. Also, there is a helpful web link- http://ochousing.reslife.rochester.edu Make sure the area you choose (if you don't visit first) is not too far away - you have to get up early enough for clinicals!

2) When do I get my financial aid "package" ? The main university financial aid office reserves its grant money for first-degree seeking students (the philosophy being if you already have a degree you at least have the means to work and support yourself and go to school part time - and that is an option, although not helpful to the "accelerated" part of our program!)

The three ways people pay for this program-
a) working for our hospital but you must work there a year FT (or two years PT) BEFORE the benefit kicks in, in which case students generally do the program part time (since you need to continue working at least 17.5 hours per week to keep the benefit and it is NOT recommended that full time students work- this is for PT students), but the program is tuition free that way except for a few thousand dollars.

b) there are a few limited grants the School of Nursing has received (and so then of course we are free to distribute them, but these awards - Fuld and New York State Retraining - have been made. We did offer a few people who were not named Fuld Scholars, but otherwise had very strong applications - some general School of Nursing funds, but again this is limited)

Unrelated to our school, but a possible source of $ for people who are unemployed and living in Monroe County is www.rochesterworks.org They have given several of our students money toward tuition.

The monies mentioned in "b" here usually would not cover even half of the tuition, so most students will be using

c) LOANS and the full explanation of those (5-15K govt, the rest private) was sent to you with the financial aid "graph" illustrating that APNN students virtually all pay for this program with loans

(note that this year's tuition/fees are still "officially" posted - the university votes/updates in April - and costs typically rise a few % each year - next year straight tuition will likely be 15,600/semester for each of the three semesters; other fees include about 1K for labs/tech and ~600 for a mandatory health fee, and $90 for an activity fee)

So the bottom line is your "package" from the main university will only consist of loans. The Financial Aid office is now processing FAFSAs and will send letters soon. The only grant money would be those things in "b" above or individual grants you may have found/been offered (listings of other sources and web sites).

If you have questions before that (e.g. what banks are good for private loans, what financial aid forms have been received or you need a "guesstimate" of your loan amounts/sources), please contact the financial aid office directly at

Phone:(585)275-3226
Fax: (585)756-7664
E-mail: help@finaid.rochester.edu

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3) You really do need a computer since so much of our communication and course posting information are on websites. You will have online classes and every course is ofered through a platform called "Blackboard" - try out the "find it fast" link on our homne page for Blackboard and get an early start with the tutorials - you need to hit the ground running that first week, rather than be fiddling with your computer access.

As far as other things, we include the cost of the stethoscope in a lab fee, so you will get that. Uniforms, which you don’t wear until mid-July anyway, are white scrub tops and navy bottoms - here is an e-mail about that from one of your summer instructors-

To make it more streamlined and less hectic for students and staff & faculty we are going to have Scott at the medical center bookstore take care of ordering all the uniforms for students this year. Scott will arrange for try-ons and to pick up uniforms at the bookstore and take care of any order inquiries or concerns directly with the bookstore.

4) Parking - For those who have cars and don't live within walking distance, we will have time at orientation for you to go across the street to get parking passes (sticker for the window) for university lots (it's a little walk - about two short blocks - from the hospital). This year the cost was ~$20/month.

#2
I am very concerned about the few FULL TIME students who wrote that they intend to work (5 hours or per diem is not a problem, but some think they can work TWENTY HOURS - I am assuming you may not have seen the APNN schedule/calendar on the web site - check it out - you can have clinicals on Saturdays, so even working "weekends only" won’t always be possible)
As far as working, it is near impossible to get work hours in as a full time student - in the past, students have had to get these hours in on the weekend (that means a shift Saturday and Sunday) as there is no time during the week. For example, if you have clinical on a Thursday 7 am - 4 pm, you may need to go up to the hospital Wednesday evening and get the chart for your patient and go home and look up the disease, make drug cards for all the drugs, etc. In our very first group of APNN students, the ones who did not pass their boards on the first try were working too many hours (some as many as 20) and had no time to get the background reading done. The following years, we suggested students do the program PT if they want to or have to work and the improvement was dramatic. Of course, this is still your choice - we cannot legislate what folks do in their private time. I have just had several upset students in my office come the fall, saying "but I always worked full time in undergrad and grad school before!" Nursing is so time-consuming because of the hours - in college, 1 credit = 1 clock hour a week; in (any) nursing school, 1 clinical credit = 4 clock hours a week. Just something to think about...The full time program is not designed for concurrent work. Even the part time plan is unfortunately not a nice 50/50 split. It is much heavier in year 2. You would probably be able to work full time in year one (except for the first 8 weeks of summer), since it is only the straight didactic courses. Look at the part time plan so you can cross-check against the calendar and see how year 2 is very full (because we didn't want to "unbundle" the clinicals). You will then see how much class time will be needed. So for year two, you would need to cut down your employment and get your hours in on the weekends. Sorry the program isn't really "family-friendly" - it is more of an "immersion" experience!

More to come when more information comes. Still waiting for FA.