Help Sacramento area nursing programs/schools

[HoneyK]

Hello Pre Nursing Student living in the Sacramento. Currently looking all over the internet for the right accredited school and program to enter. I am 37 with 6 kids all at home needing the best program that will get me working the fastest. I want to go full time and would ultimately like to be a RN with my Masters. The need to begin working is great even as a medical assistant. I do not have time for the wait game at ARC or SCC, it would take me four and a half years to earn a TWO YEAR degree with lottery and points if I'm lucky. My concerns are several:

1. Carrington College with a 84% NCLEX passing rate in Sacramento but 100% in Antioch is it worth the money???

2. Charles A Jones with a 56% NCLEX worried me a little?

3. Kaplan College and Unitek??

4. Did I overlook a college or program in this area worth mentioning?

Has anyone been to any of these schools and have some feedback that would help guide me in the right direction. I'm enrolled currently at CRC for the Fall semester. Any advice or recommendations appreciated.

* Please give program, school, cost and, nclex information. Thank You so Much in Advance.

[benegesserit]

SCC/Sutter Extended Campus program - this is an ASN program that runs for 16 months (after prerequisites are completed)

Sac State's BSN program.

Samuel Merritt has a program in Sacramento, including entry level masters and accelerated programs.

Kaplan and Unitek don't not offer an RN program. I'm pretty sure at least some of the others you mention also don't offer RN programs. Carrington's program is LVN to RN.

Sorry, I'm not spending the time to look up current pricing and so forth. You're presumably just as capable of using google as I am :) But private programs are generally quite expensive, to the extent that it's questionable whether being able to work earlier is financially worth it.

You're going to have a hard time getting around the fact that nursing programs take a long time. ASN programs take way longer than two years when you throw in the prereqs, but many of the BSN programs take a proportionally longer time as well. There are programs in other parts of the country that are truly 2 year, but I don't believe there is any such option in the Sacramento region.

[HoneyK]

Thank You so Much Jess,

I have looked at those you mentioned even Xavier University. My thoughts were to have a occupation that can support my family

without being worried so much about getting canned. Circumstances arrived that a career making 132K was cut just like that, so Im trying

to make lemonade when life gives you lemons.

I will even become a medical assistant and continue to go to school. So would you recommend one school over another, as in you had a good

experience there? You were well informed and succeeded nicely?

Thanks again for your consideration on answering my unique dilemma.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

HoneyK: the fastest program that I'm aware of is the Sutter/SCC program... if they're accepting students. Their program does really run 16 months, and you'd be an ADN at the end of it. There are no summer breaks in that program.

Sac State's BSN program, if you're selected, can get you done in 2 if you already have a Bachelor's or you're otherwise done with your lower division gen ed.

I've checked out a couple private colleges and both run about $80k for the full program, and that's about 2 years also. Carrington was one of them. The other seems to have "gone away"...

Sac City has changed their application process, so in the short run, the applicant pool may have decreased. How fast you can get into a program depends upon whether you've completed all the prerequisites. If you still have to take all the prerequisite, you're looking at a long road.

Carrington's program is street to LVN to RN. It's about 16-18 months to LVN and then they want you to take some prerequisites for RN, and then you go back for another 8-9 months after you're done with the prereqs.

The SCC/Sutter program really is 16 months after your prereqs. If they're accepting applications, that may be your fastest option. Look nearby too... Solano, Yuba, Delta... they all have RN programs. If driving distance isn't much of a concern, apply to those too.

Being that you have 6 kids at home to take care of, you probably don't have much of an option to go out of state either... Were I less constrained in where I could go, I'd have probably completed RN school by now, if not within the past 2-3 years and I'd be likely working as an RN.

In my case, until recently, the BSN option at Sac State was not open to me. If it was open, I could have gone there and completed their program in just 2 years... I don't think Sac State has an ELM program any more. If cost wasn't an issue, Samuel Merritt might have been an option.

My academic course will essentially be ADN, then RN->BSN. I will have the option to skip BSN and enter an MSN program... but in any case, I'd have to take 4 undergrad courses, and BSN would be 6. Because I have a Bachelor's already, some educational paths are open and some were closed until recently.

[Dpeterson777]

Word of advice from a new grad ADN. GET YOUR BSN. No one is hiring ADN's, bottom line. I had solid A's on all of my pre reqs, and graduated with honors in nursing school. Plus I am a phlebotomist with tons of volunteer experience. Doesnt make a difference in this market. I would pick a BSN over any ADN program!