Applying to ABSN

[NCmntngirl]

So I’m feeling pretty confident in my decision to swap my lab career for a nursing path. I want to apply to UNCs ABSN program in October but I’ll be putting all my eggs in one basket (yikes). There are no other programs in the area that I could apply to (due to missing pre-reqs). I’m trying to gauge my chances at getting in so I can decide if I need to try and shove some more classes around my work schedule so I can apply to a back up school. Lets assume I write an average essay, maybe slightly above average.

UNC bachelors in clinical lab science with a minor in chemistry. GPA: 3.97

1.5 years volunteering as a crisis counselor
10 ish months volunteering for TABLE (food bank that educates and supplies food to kids)
5 months volunteering with a nursing unit (hopefully if I’m placed there next month)

1 year working part time in a hospital main lab
1 year working in flow cytometry analysis (lab stuff)

1 year being president of the lab service club in college

Intermediate Spanish speaker
Learning sign language for fun

Sorry if that was a lot of info. I’m honestly not sure what will be relevant/important on this app or where my weak spots are. Any advice would be appreciated!

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[precisiongraphic]

So I’m feeling pretty confident in my decision to swap my lab career for a nursing path. I want to apply to UNCs ABSN program in October but I’ll be putting all my eggs in one basket (yikes). There are no other programs in the area that I could apply to (due to missing pre-reqs). I’m trying to gauge my chances at getting in so I can decide if I need to try and shove some more classes around my work schedule so I can apply to a back up school. Lets assume I write an average essay, maybe slightly above average.

UNC bachelors in clinical lab science with a minor in chemistry. GPA: 3.97

1.5 years volunteering as a crisis counselor
10 ish months volunteering for TABLE (food bank that educates and supplies food to kids)
5 months volunteering with a nursing unit (hopefully if I’m placed there next month)

1 year working part time in a hospital main lab
1 year working in flow cytometry analysis (lab stuff)

1 year being president of the lab service club in college

Intermediate Spanish speaker
Learning sign language for fun

Sorry if that was a lot of info. I’m honestly not sure what will be relevant/important on this app or where my weak spots are. Any advice would be appreciated!

ASBN programs, in my experience, look strongly at undergrad GPA and science grades along with maturity and ability to get through a 12-18 month program that really can be challenging. The fact that you went to UNC should be a small positive in your favor - your undergrad is a known quantity/quality. Some schools publish stats of accepted applicants, some have points matrices that you can review. You could call admissions and ask if they have any information that they can share with you.

SDN is much more slanted to MD/DO application and there are very few practicing RNs that frequent this board (@pamac and @IknowImnotadoctor are two NPs that have a lot of knowledge) and probably less that know anything about UNC specifically (I don't have any specific knowledge). Allnurses discussion board usually has active threads for ASBN programs and threads for previous application cycles may have a lot of beneficial info. On SDN, the bias is against mid-levels (NP, CRNA) and on allnurses, the bias is against people going directly from ASBN to NP programs so - as with any forum - take what you get with a grain/ton of salt.

Good luck. I love UNC Chapel Hill - one of my kids went there.

 

[NCmntngirl]

ASBN programs, in my experience, look strongly at undergrad GPA and science grades along with maturity and ability to get through a 12-18 month program that really can be challenging. The fact that you went to UNC should be a small positive in your favor - your undergrad is a known quantity/quality. Some schools publish stats of accepted applicants, some have points matrices that you can review. You could call admissions and ask if they have any information that they can share with you.

SDN is much more slanted to MD/DO application and there are very few practicing RNs that frequent this board (@pamac and @IknowImnotadoctor are two NPs that have a lot of knowledge) and probably less that know anything about UNC specifically (I don't have any specific knowledge). Allnurses discussion board usually has active threads for ASBN programs and threads for previous application cycles may have a lot of beneficial info. On SDN, the bias is against mid-levels (NP, CRNA) and on allnurses, the bias is against people going directly from ASBN to NP programs so - as with any forum - take what you get with a grain/ton of salt.

Good luck. I love UNC Chapel Hill - one of my kids went there.

Thank you! I love it too and I’ll have to check out allnurses. I don’t plan on going straight to NP, it’s more of a long term plan so hopefully they’ll have some good advice for me over there.

 

[pamac]

You have really good stats, and would be very competitive for PA school for sure. I’d imagine you’d also fare well for an ABSN program too. Those programs really like grades, but also like evidence of things like Spanish and sign language, as well as involvement in extracurriculars. Just find out what that school looks hard at. Their website should be the first place you should look. A lot of info can be gleaned from there.

And I’d honestly just keep on trucking with your studies. It’s never going to get easier to get your NP, especially as time goes on. You never know what life will hand you. If I had started out as soon as I could with NP school, I could have made around $300,000 more that I could have banked. Money isn’t everything, but I guess one has to ask oneself if just throwing that money away was worth it. In hindsight, maybe. But if someone offered you $300,000 today, not knowing the future, would you give that up? More importantly that that, being done with school sooner would have given me the peace of mind that comes from just being finished and not having to worry about homework or projects. School is a second job, literally.

That’s just something to think about. Again, money isn’t everything, but not all idleness is worthwhile. Some folks tend to explain away their downtime as being equal across the board. It’s not. I cut TV and video games out of my life, and instead used that time for personal growth, school, and family time. I came away with educatuon and significant potential that I’ve been able to cash in on. And my grades weren’t nearly as good as yours when I started out. You could climb even higher too, I’d wager.

 

[NCmntngirl]

Thanks @pamac. I’ve definitely worked hard to get here. It’s actually not so much that I don’t want to crank through school, it’s just that I want to be the best I can possibly be and I’m not sure id be properly prepared if I don’t take time working as an RN. I figured it would give me valuable hospital experience that would help me become more ready to take on that bigger role in patient care as an NP. I know that some doctors don’t feel that NP/PA are “qualified” to handle what they do and so I feel sort of afraid to go through the education too quickly and end up less prepared at the end...if that makes any sense. I just want to be an asset to the profession!

 

[precisiongraphic]

If you complete the ABSN I’d apply immediately to a good NP program that you can do part time while you get experience working as R.N. you’ll be set up perfectly with that route. @pamac is right that waiting in between is a money loosing proposition.

Vanderbilt has a great part-Time NP program with in-person intensives and the rest of the work on line in between. They set up your clinicals unlike many online schools of low quality that make students find their own preceptors. I know Duke and other strong schools have similar programs. (Is Duke blasphemy to a UNC grad?)

 

[precisiongraphic]

Oh just remembered that you want ICU. A lot of the good programs do require a year or two of ICU or NICU or whatever specialty experience before you can start.