Anyone attending or planning on attending pjc:?

i was in my second semester. REALLY consider your options. if you fail out of intro, you can not get back into pjc for 3 years. if you fail any other semester, you wait 6 months, which, most likely, you will fail out of one of your semesters. the class starts with about 140 students. after our first semester, about 40 fialed, and about that same number after the second semester as well. do your research very carefully. also, if you take classes at pjc ten transfer to JD lets say, the classes in the RN program can not transfer. its such a mess for me right now. i seriously seriously wish someone had told me all the things i am learning for myself. I have had several people email me with similar horror stories i have had and seen others go through. Also, if you do decide to go to PJC, i strongly recommend you take pharmacology before getting into the program. Theres a lot of drugs on the tests, or things you need to know about drugs to answer a question, so you have basically pharmacology, nursing, and clinicals, plus sim labs all rolled into 1... if you fail the class you fail clinicals and vice verca. email me if you have any other questions. i dont get on here all that often.
Pinky7284@msn.com

oh yeah, since it was a summer semester, i had mental health and adult health together, so for half the semester i had class 1 day a week from 8am-4:30pm, then clinicals 3 days a week, and sim labs every so many weeks on a friday. once mental health clinicals were done, i had a tuesday free from school, then i failed and had to withdraw.

the class i would have been in has 12 hr clinical days for some of their clinicals, and i hear once you get into your 4th semester, you have whatever schedule the nurse you are following has, including weekends if she works weekends. i dont know how true that part is.

I dont know if you have children, but i do and to work out daycare (800$ a month for me btw) school, clinicals, and the times im required to be at school which can change. even though they say to be at clinicals for 7:00 am, thats really like 6:30, and it depends what hospital you choose, and daycare generally dont open until 6:30, so i had to pay an extra few hundren dollars a month to put my kids in a daycare that opened at 6:00am.

i know when we become nurses we will have to make these same arrangements, but im just trying to show you exactly what school is like. Atleast when your done with school, things are a little more flexible adn dependsing on the place you work, you wont have to rearrange your childcare and life as much. not for the type of nursing i wanted to do anyways. There is so many oportunities out there. chances are you will work weekends, some holidays, some extra shifts here and there, but when you are being paid, a few extra hundred dollors isnt so bad for daycare. i had no financial assistance for school wither until last semester (thank god) and only 1 income. i couldnt get a job because my schedule changed so often every semester.

It was said to us before we even started our classes " if you have a job you will not make it through this program" there are a few who did work, and they really struggled through, so just prepare yourself. im not trying to scare you, just trying to give you what ive seen, heard, and experienced.

i am definitely willing to have my life be upside down for 18 months, and i did for 7 months, but then to have the door slammed in your face after youve worked so hard, its pretty depressing. ive been going to school since 2002, sometimes part time, sometimes full time, and had 2 babies in between, a deployment, and a move across the country, and i never let it be my excuse for not going to school, so to hear someone say "maybe i cant handle this school at this time in my life" is complete BS. i can handle it, the school just sucked in my opinion lol. eventually i will be done though

Sleepdeprivedmomma...I don't know if you'll get this or not, but I'll give it a shot.
I'm starting PJC in January. I was thinking about working part time (25 hrs/week) during the first semester and then quitting my job for the rest. It sounds like Intro is not as bad as the other semesters. What are your opinions on working during Intro? I also have 2 small children, so that takes up my time as well. My job isn't stressfull though and there are many times that I can study at work when we're slow.
Also, you said something about practicing in the lab...what are the labs hours, are they open on weekends and evenings?

Thanks so much!

Oh and I also have to take Nutrition as well...I guess I'll be doing that during the 1st semester too.

Dont go to PJC! We lost about 60% of our class during the third semester. None of the instructors seem to have your interests in mind. The tests come out of left field, and honestly...I dont think studying helps prepare me!
Im about to graduate in December, and this has been the WORST experience of my life! Plus, they added hesi exams that everyone entering the program as of Aug 09 MUST PASS or your out! GOOD LUCK!

Thanks Laylani, but unfortunately I don't have any other choice but to go to PJC. I wanted to go to JDCC, but they don't offer federal student loans. Also, I have two young children that I have to get back and forth from daycare and school and that's really hard to do if you go to a school that is an hour and a half drive away.

So you are in your last semester right now? You are set to graduate in December?
I know PJC is hard, because I've heard a lot of people say the same things, but it looks like you might make it through. I've also had other friends make it through. So it's not a total impossibility right? How did you get this far?
BTW, what do you think about the 1st semester...is it the easier of the following semesters? Do you think it's possible to work part time during this semester?

Kayty2339.... I noticed that you said that you were starting the nursing program in January but still have to take nutrition. Did PJC accept you into the nursing program before you took nutrition? I thought you had to have all of your prereqs done before they EVEN consider accepting you.

You only have to have some prereqs done to be considered. College Algebra, A&P1, English 1, and Human Growth and Development...Everything else that is required can be taken while you are in the program, but it's not recommended. It's better to get everything out of the way and just focus on the nursing courses because they are hard enough on their own.

Wow! I did not know this! I always thought that you needed every single class finished before they accepted you. Thanks for the info.