Hello, my name is Joanne Davis. I'm the Assistant Dean for Student and Academic
Services in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing. I'm here to talk to
you today about the College of Nursing. our programs and things that you may
expect from us as you make your way through the pathway to becoming a nurse.
The first thing to consider is who will you be as a student coming from high
school. You will find many things different, not just in the nature of
COVID-19 and everything being online, the expectations in college will be higher
and you will be expected to perform in a different level than you have so you
will want to think about how you will approach college before you get here. In
the fall, another thing to consider is why have you chosen nursing. What brought
you to this decision at this time in your life? Is it your dream or is it
someone else's idea for you and is it sustainable for you, because we often
talk with students who became nursing majors hoping to find something that
they didn't and then they have to make a change. If you can invest some time
between now and the start of school in August, really understanding the scope of
nursing as a practice, as a discipline and as a science, it will help you
actually progress through your courses to feel like you're in the right place
and successful at what you're attempting to do. Our program is a bachelor's degree
in nursing and it allows you to sit for the national licensing exam upon
graduation and that is what makes you an RN. Th e first year will be spent taking
prerequisite courses and support courses for the nursing major and then at the
end of the year, you will apply for admission to come into the major from
pre-nursing. The decision is based on your GPA, your science courses and an
interview process. From here, for you to register for
classes there will be another invitation to a Canvas shell that is the College of
Nursing Canvas page. In there you will find videos, worksheets and many levels
of instructions for how to start to create your schedule. You will also be
assigned an academic advisor and we will be meeting with all of our students via
Zoom in the next few days prior to your registration date. When you
see a zoom request please accept it and join us for the meeting so that you can
get more information about what courses you need, how your transfer credits will
work and what you can expect from there. The College of Nursing offers you great
opportunities for nursing education. Our students pass NCLEX at an
astonishing rate, usually between 98 and 100 percent pass rate. This is important
to know because this tells you that students are graduating with the
information they need to enter nursing practice. They don't know everything,
there's much they do not know and they learn that in their first year, but they
are equipped to learn and adjust and adapt as the nursing world changes. We've
all learned about adaptability during this time of COVID-19 and healthy at
home. That is a practice that you will want to continue to be able to adapt and
adjust as life changes. As a nursing student, you'll have the opportunity to
pursue all of the areas of nursing. Every area is covered in the program and
there's no opting out or specialization. You will have courses in every clinical.
Once you graduate, then you may choose your specialty, but in the meantime, enjoy
the experience of all that is available to you. There are internships that are
outside of your classes there are electives.
There are UK CORE courses that will round out your education in ways that
will surprise you at times. We look forward to working with you and hope
that you have a great experience as a student at the University of Kentucky.
Thanks for your time and I'll see you again soon.