UCI or CSULB for an undergrad nursing major?

U.S.A. California

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I've been admitted to UC Irvine on Tuesday after being wait listed. But I've been admitted as a Bio Science major instead of a Nursing Science major. The Nursing Science major is capped so it's hard to get into. My cousin said I need a minimum of a 3.0 GPA if I want to change my major later.

I have also been admitted to CSU Long Beach and I've already paid for my intent to register. They have admitted me as a pre-nursing major, the major I intended for but I'm unsure which school to attend.

So my problem is which school should I attend? Based on the schools and my situation. I want to attend UC Irvine but the problem with my major causes me to be unsure about this decision.

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I don't know if you know, but being a pre-nursing major at csulb doesn't really mean you're a nursing student yet. You have to take your: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chem 140, and psychology. You also have to take the teas test and I think you have to do an interview now before you can apply to the nursing program. I really don't know anything about the program at uci, but this is how the one at csu-lb works. I was a pre-nursing student at csu-lb; however; I decided to just finish earlier (3 years total) with a degree in Health Care Administration and then apply for a second degree in nursing. I don't know if this answer your questions. But best of luck to you =)

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hi xiaowenx3,

i currently go to uci as an undergrad and did not enter as a nursing major. later on i decided i wanted to go into nursing, but transferring into their bsn program after being admitted is extremely difficult. my friend had pretty solid grades in his biology classes and could not get in. my friend who is in their program however, said that she just entered uci under that degree and did not have to deal with applying or anything. big suggestion to applying seniors to uci very interested in nursing and will probably end up there: go into uci under nursing, it will save you soo much time and money! my nursing friend will be 21 or 22 upon graduation and assuming that she passes her test, she can start working immediately. hope that helps!

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I'm currently in the same situation....did not make it in the nursing program at UCI, but admitted with the alternate major. Not sure whether to attend UCI and try to do a change of major to Nursing or go to a CSU instead. Can you let me know what you ended up doing? Thanks!

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I have a HS kid and she took AP bio, AP Eng, AP Calculas. For CSULB, wow long will it take to finish nusring pre-req classes anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chem 140, and psychology, 2 years before applying to nursing?

I have heard that getting classes there are very difficult. Entering as a freshman, how long will it take to graduate in nursing - more than 4 years?

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My suggestion would be to go to CSULB, get your pre-reqs done then try to transfer to UCI's nursing program.

I went to UCI over 10 years ago as another science major (Comp Sci). I heard the Bio program was so cutthroat because there were so many pre-med students in it. People would sabotage other people's lab work, etc. Although it was over 10 years ago, I'm not sure things have changed much. You will encounter a lot of highly competitive people who are gunning for med school where grades are even more important than nursing school. It is also probably the largest major at UCI.

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Moved to CA Nursing Programs Discussion forum.

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I think my daughter will try to apply pre-med at UCI and nursing at UCLA, csulb, csula, csuf. She likes UC after been studying so hard in HS but CSU is also good alternative for nursing. So just get a timeframe for CSULB, pre-req courses might take 2 years for a freshman, and how many more years in nursing program 2-4 year or more total of 4-6 years at CSULB? I have learnt from another post that UC have direct nursing program so it should take only 4 years which can save time but at higher cost than csu without scholarships.

I am still debating with (my wife since she like pre-med at UCI first choice not nursing) to either declare pre-med or nursing. I feel nursing major has a better chance to succeed versus premed which has a lot more competition imo...but will see since my kid is a good student and hopefully whatever she picks will be a successful one with out having to switch back to nursing which can take more time instead of a total of 4 years to complete. It is a risk of unknown that sometimes we will just have to wait and see. I also feel UCI might be easier to get scholarships than UCLA.

We will know results in a few months and decide then.

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I don't think CSU prerequisites directly transfer over to fufill UCs required prerequisites. Also transferring from a CSU to an UC is quite difficult. UCs give priority to to CC students for the mere fact that they want to give those students a chance at attending an university. Going to CSU is NOT a backup to go to an UC.

As far as competition goes, I would say there are MUCH MORE pre-nursing students out there, especially in CA. There are plenty of freshmen who say they are pre-med as well, but VERY LITTLE actually complete all the required courses to apply to medical school.

Just to be clear there is no such thing as a pre-med major. If your daughter is interested in being a doctor, she can get a Bachelor's degree in any area while taking pre-med classes, and then apply to medical school. Pre-med classes and pre-nursing classes have very little overlap. Does your daughter want to be a nurse or doctor? They are different fields with different requirements.

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I don't know about transferring from a UC and preference but in terms of nursing, I don't think there is a preference toward CC students. I transferred to UCI from a private school when I went to UCI (again, non-nursing major at the time). I transferred into a very competitive program but I didn't feel there was a bias towards me because I didn't come from a CC.

The issue with nursing programs is that you have to apply to them separately so other than taking the exact classes mapped to the pre-reqs, there doesn't seem to be an advantage to going to a UC for pre-reqs.

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i recently graduated from UCI as a bio sci major. i had automatic entry into UCI so long as i wasn't a nursing or engineering major, so i went w/ bio sci w/ the intention of just switching into the nursing major (they make it seem so much easier to change your major than it actually is). anywho, switching was impossible, so i graduated and am going for a second degree in nursing. i now have a $7,000+ student loan, worthless piece of paper, and still in school trying to be a nurse. My oldest bro graduated from CSULB and met his wife in the program. While going to CSULB doesnt insure you will be in the nursing program, it's one step closer than UCI. Also, the semester system vs. the quarter system is huge, esp for nursing. Go to CSULB, do extremely well in your classes, and get into the nursing program. You will pay less and deal with less BS (UCI is abundant with BS).

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