CSU Sacramento BSN Fall 2009

Hey,
I'm not too sure about it. I'm 17 and I attend a homeschool right now in North Sacramento, but i'm currently living in South Sacramento. After my 2 years at Sac City College(starting in spring) can you perhaps tell me how hard it is to find a nursing program in Sacramento? I'm most interested in the nursing program at Sac State, and since you might know a thing or two about it. Can you tell me how i'd go from getting my pre reqs then going to the nursing program? My dad said i'd be waiting years just to get into the nursing program. Thing is I don't want to spend 6 years in a 4 year degree. Especially waiting. Please respond. I hope you find your answers aswell.

LoveSophie--

My best friend is faculty in Sacramento State's nursing program. From this, I can tell you it's one of the top choices for nursing program's in CA. Competition is so tough to get in that they have waitlists with 200+ people on them. Their NCLEX passing rate is very high, their faculty is top-notch, and apparently it's one of the best nursing programs in California. I also have a friend who's a nurse manager and hires RNs and NPs and she told me her favorite workers graduate from Sacramento. She always looks for that specific school on their applications and considers it a big bonus point, saying that they're the best prepared students she gets. It's also much less expensive than some of the private schools around California but still holds an extremely good reputation. I know one thing. If you graduate from Sac, you'll always have a job.

Best of luck to you in your nursing school hunt. Let us know when you hear back.

Honestly, I don't know of any reason to go to Samuel Merritt instead of Sac State if you have the choice. Samuel Merritt seems like a good school, but I definitely don't think you'd get any value that resembled the price difference, if there's any extra value at all.

I graduated from Sac State a couple of years ago, which is an eternity in the nursing school world. I can tell you that any nursing program is frustrating and difficult and might seem disorganized at times... we all seem to have the same complaints, no matter what school we go to. But I do agree that the faculty at Sac State is excellent--very smart, with great clinical experience. And they are almost all good teachers, not just good nurses. (I'm not sure I can remember one who wasn't, except maybe a few visiting lecturers.)

You are right that there's no way of knowing what the economy will be like by the time you graduate, but even if nurse managers do like Sac State graduates, it's still hard for them to find jobs right now.