Cynic
every night I burn.

I'm good now that I got a job =) besides that I've been really tired too.

Cynic~

How ya doin??

Don't forget Hackfresse.

*Shrugs* Well, the fact that you have a spy avatar and a spy signature gave me the urge to be the pyro for a bit. That, and I particularily love the spies quotes when he's on fire.

:3

Mm, yeah, CNA needs a certificate but from what I can tell the program is shorter than an LPN program. My mom was all "Get a 2 yr degree hurrhurr" and I kept telling her, "no, even if it's cheaper, you can't get hired with an associate's," and finally at the nursing lab tour the dean of nursing came right out and said you won't get hired without a BSN and it's really not cheaper to go ADN to BSN. thank goodness.

But yeah, the UMass system is public and state! There's 5 UMass schools but one is graduate and one is commuter-only. Though i'm only looking at Dartmouth because Amherst is ZooMass and Lowell/Boston are too scary for my parents to feel comfortable. u_u. For aid they said they have merit-based like scholarships (and some sweet ones that are full rides that I have no chance at *.*), and need-based aid like what comes from the FAFSA, work study, student loans, etc. I think that's how a lot of places do it nowadays. I'm honestly not sure how much need-based aid i'll get because my parents make what would be considered a lot of money in any other state, but of course we're scraping by in MA. They ask questions like whether you're dependent on a spouse or not, stuff like that.

Wow, those are nice dorms at that community college. For upperclassmen they have apartments and townhouses available. So for most colleges, you have to wait that long but alternatively you can always rent an apartment off-campus if you're more financially endowed/independent.

Very much agreed!

And hey, it's not bad to have not decided. My school pounded into us the idea that we should start as juniors, but I was amazed during the meeting with the dean of Nursing, that there were seniors who had already been accepted but had no idea what the program was about. u_u.
For nursing, what my understand is there's CNA, LPN, and RN. LPN is your typical vocational nurse, yada yada. It's being phased out of colleges and the standard is a BSN (which = RN) for getting hired. I guess a CNA is similar to an LPN, but you're even more limited in what you can do. The girl I talked to because a CNA at age 17 and she works as a CNA on her own time at the same hospital she does her BSN clinicals at, which I thought was awesome. You don't HAVE to work, but they have Work Study and obviously when you get deeper into your clinicals, you do a lot.

So basically, CNA doesn't need a degree (but does need experience), LPN needs a certificate, and RN needs an associate's/bachelor's.

And it's actually public, and a state school to boot! UMass Dartmouth. ~ (which people get confused with Dartmouth College, which is lulzy). UMass is no slouch of a school, so i'm excited about it because I have a good chance at getting in and a chance at decent aid. It's $21k a year with everything included for MA residents and I get a $1.5k/year tuition waiver, so mostly i'm praying for some more scholarships.
And for the dorms I saw, they were co-ed dorms (but each 'suite' area was single-sex), with maybe 6 rooms. A shared bathroom for 12-14 girls with a common area. The dorm rooms were small, but a double was about 50% larger than my bedroom, and my mom was like "holy shit when I went to college I had a triple that was the size of this room". It wasn't too bad but i'm worried about the chaos of the dorm, so i'm gunning for that quiet dorms, since i'll be really busy with academic stuff.

I believe what you say about emotions! I remember one day I was ridiculing about how immature boys can be to my history teacher (who also teachers Gender Studies), but she got mad and was like, "It's not always their fault; it's a fact that there ARE differences between men and women."
I mean, it's pretty obvious with some things like you said.

Speaking of medical labs, I went on a quick visit to one of my top choices (probably my top choice, as it's relatively affordable [or at least an overall reasonable choice]), and they took us on a tour through the nursing labs. Loved it. They've got a dozen or so examination rooms, 'the Bunker' (a lab space for nursing students and faculty only), as well as a simulation lab with mannequins and a SimMan, baby, and child. The nursing students that showed us around were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and we stumbled upon some students studying together in the Bunker and I just got the vibe that nursing students are like family to each other, they do 1 on 1 tutoring and can come in whenever they like to brush up on their skills. They also start clinicals in sophomore year, and at the end of that year you can become a CNA, and they allow you specialize in peds/maternity in your third year. Score!

The best part is half of freshman nursing students can choose to room in a quiet dorm exclusively for nursing and engineering students. After seeing the freshman dorms (I mean, what do you expect from a typical freshman dorm?) I was like MOTHER OF FUCKING GOD YES I LOVE THIS PLACE. Now my mom is teasing me that i'll get too attached to the FIRST PLACE I VISIT (i'm not looking at many, though) and won't consider the rest.

UM ANYWAYS.

I have to admit, sometimes I do think about online classes for college to try and save $$$, but that's not very practical with nursing, since most classes have labs.

But yeah, my friend is a d00sh. That's why we're like, not friends anymore. 'Cause he says stuff like that (I was like, "Um no i'm pretty sure he has Asperger's." and he was like "OH NOOOOO YOU HAVE NO IDEAAAAAA," when my friend moved here just this last school year. Mmhmm, okay.)

I guess I do let people walk all over me sometimes, or what happens is i'll just bristle and cry at the dumbest little things. I'm definitely working on that, though.

Hmm, I see. It definitely sounds intriguing (and efficient), but I can't really see myself doing it. I'm glad it worked out for you, though. c:

I definitely agree with you on AS vs. psychopaths. My (ex-)friend was trying to argue that this boy is just a smug asshat that enjoys trolling us with his knowledge and was basically insinuating that he was a psychopath, but I was just kind of snorting at how ignorant my friend sounded (definitely made HIM sound like the smug asshat). I definitely agree with you x like 1000. The kid just doesn't know or pick up on social cues, and he does feel bad (clearly) when he misinterprets them. e_e

Balance is good. I guess i'm a little too nice sometimes but everyone has their moments, which I suppose is the great equalizer.