Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I am originally from Rhode Island but moved to Colorado for a few years to complete my undergraduate degree in psychology. I then worked in neuroscience clinical research for 8 years, first at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, and then at MGH in Boston. I have called Salem, MA home for the last 6 years.
How did you choose IHP for your prerequisites?
When I decided that I wanted to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner, the IHP was an easy choice for completing my prerequisites. The classes were affordable and offered a high degree of flexibility, which was important to me because I was working full-time while enrolled in 2 or more classes a semester.
Describe your academic journey to get to our prerequisites program.
I had some previous experience with online classes during a semester-long internship I completed at the University of Virginia. I was initially wary about tackling these prerequisite classes that didn’t even have scheduled online meeting times; however, I found that the IHP instructors did a wonderful job at keeping students engaged through online discussion posts and were always available to answer questions when needed.
What advice would you give to a student considering taking prerequisites at IHP?
Any student who is motivated and eager to learn will thrive in the online learning environment offered by the IHP prerequisite program. Success in any of these courses does require that you learn to manage your time appropriately, especially if you are juggling work and more than one course a semester. I very much enjoyed watching a recorded lecture, reading relevant material and then synthesizing what I had learned by doing further independent research, writing a discussion post, and responding to several of my classmate's discussion posts. This structure utilizes various learning modalities, which makes the material accessible to all types of learners and allows you to learn independently while at the same time providing ample opportunity for engagement with your instructor and classmates.
How did the IHP prerequisites prepare you for your professional program and your career?
After completing the necessary prerequisites, which included nutrition, microbiology, statistics, and anatomy and physiology, I was accepted into the MGH IHP Direct-Entry Nursing program and graduated in 2022. I worked as an RN in addiction medicine after graduating while I sat for my boards and obtained my NP license. I am now in the process of onboarding at my dream NP job in an adult primary care office affiliated with MGH in Salem, MA.