Accepted and Would Like to Hear From Current Students

[prepa0123]

I am so excited and grateful that I have been accepted to NSU JAX for the upcoming class in 2018. I have also been accepted to NSU Ft. Myers and need to make a decision soon and make a deposit. I would like to hear from current/past students about their experience at NSU JAX. How was the didactic year in regards of a supportive faculty and overall teaching? Were most of your clinical rotations in the Jacksonville area? If not, which cities surrounding JAX were clinical rotations set up? Were clinical rotation assignments handled pretty organized by staff? At the interview they mentioned they had contracts with Mayo Clinic, Baptist Medical Center, etc. which seemed like a real positive part of the program to have the chance to get good exposure/experience at big hospitals. I was very impressed with the campus when interviewing and it seemed like it was a very non-competitive/family environment, which I like.  I would like to hear everyone's opinions about this campus, please include anything you would like. Thank you !!

[MAtoPAC]

I'm in the same boat! For me, I felt like I clicked with the staff/professors more at Nova Ft Myers. However, I think Jacksonville has more opportunity for clinical rotations and there's more to do in the area. I am a little worried about the didactic portion of the program because of their recent pance rates. So essentially I feel like Ft Myers is better for the didactic year, and Jacksonville is better for clinical year. Did you end up making a decision between one or the other? 

[JD2012]

I work with PA's, one who graduated from Ft. Myers and one from Jacksonville.  

The one from Ft. Myers graduated 4-5 years ago, and the other has been a PA for about longer.  The one from Ft. Myers mentioned that for cadaver lab she had to drive to the Ft. Lauderdale campus for that class. Perhaps by now that has changed, but that is a good 2 hour drive if they still do it.

The one from Jacksonville loved the program and having the Mayo clinic was a big plus in her experience. Again, being that it isn't the most recent, things may have changed. 

In the end, they both work at at the same place coming from different campuses.

[TheyCallMeChiefComplaint]

Hmm, I wish I could get more opinions on Jax and Fort Myers, because I'm in the same boat as well. I'm leaning towards Jax mainly because of the "feel" which I got interviewing there. Apparently, this is a big deal because students and faculty that I've met in my interviewing process has said that it's actually a very important factor to consider. I'm just concerned as well about the PANCE rates... when I emailed Ms. Giacomo of Fort Myers, she had said their current class of 2017 PANCE rate was 100% and when I emailed Ms. Griffith of Jax, she had said there's was 96%, though I do not know how many more students need to take the PANCE in both schools. Anyone know any more valuable information that could help me and the others on here who are in the same position?

[bowlerpenguin12]

I was in the exact same position a few days ago. I ended up going with Jax. While interviewing I liked the feel more there. I got a bad impression from Ft. Myers when they were talking about how strict they were when it came to housing during the clinical year. While at Jax, they emphasized a lot about the support groups they have for students and their spouses which I liked. When talking to the Academic Director we were able to ask questions and I felt like they worked hard to fix the problems they were having. 

[M1ke10191]

On 12/21/2017 at 7:58 PM, TheyCallMeChiefComplaint said:

Hmm, I wish I could get more opinions on Jax and Fort Myers, because I'm in the same boat as well. I'm leaning towards Jax mainly because of the "feel" which I got interviewing there. Apparently, this is a big deal because students and faculty that I've met in my interviewing process has said that it's actually a very important factor to consider. I'm just concerned as well about the PANCE rates... when I emailed Ms. Giacomo of Fort Myers, she had said their current class of 2017 PANCE rate was 100% and when I emailed Ms. Griffith of Jax, she had said there's was 96%, though I do not know how many more students need to take the PANCE in both schools. Anyone know any more valuable information that could help me and the others on here who are in the same position?

I haven't checked the true numbers but I've heard 96% for this year, with one person left to test. Don't quote me on it though. I have more important stuff to do being neck deep in our third semester lol. I think the low scores a few years ago were probably directly correlated to the cheating that very much did happen. That said, you'd be hard pressed to see any remnants of that now. I know our class hasn't.

If anyone has questions about Jax from an actual student, feel free to PM me. I want to be as transparent as possible with people.

[Capita98]

8 hours ago, M1ke10191 said:

I haven't checked the true numbers but I've heard 96% for this year, with one person left to test. Don't quote me on it though. I have more important stuff to do being neck deep in our third semester lol. I think the low scores a few years ago were probably directly correlated to the cheating that very much did happen. That said, you'd be hard pressed to see any remnants of that now. I know our class hasn't.

If anyone has questions about Jax from an actual student, feel free to PM me. I want to be as transparent as possible with people.

Just checked, and the 96% pass rate data is published by the NCCPA and available on the school's web site. I feel like that says a lot about the program's direction, but I haven't even started school yet.

Here's a link to that info if anyone's interested: http://healthsciences.nova.edu/pa/forms/jacksonville_pancepassrates.pdf