Confused about how to become a nurse

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi everyone I am very confused and hope you may be able to provide some clarity for me. I want to one day become a nurse with a BSN but dont know exactly what to do. I live in the Bay Area in California and I just graduated high school a few months ago. I currently am taking a summer class at De Anza college. I thought it would be simple; just take the courses listed on assist.org and GE courses and then transfer to a 4 year university. But now i'm find in out about waitlists, which I want to avoid. Are there any nursing programs in california without waitlists? Would it be better to go to a private nursing program? I guess I will be completing the prereqs here at de anza but I dont know what to do after. Ive read about people being on waitlists for years which I really dont want to do. Ive also heard that private nursing schools dont have waitlists, is this true? Or should I just go to a CSU, and which one would be the best? Please help me any advice is greatly appreciated!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Where in CA are you talking about? And which CSU's? Also im getting some very mixed answers. Some say waitlists aren't bad and aren't longer but some say it takes years. I am still confused about what to do

Ok here is the deal...Right now California is one of the toughest job markets in the country. There is a 47% unemployment rate of nurses mostly new grads. The bay area is particularly competitive. There is a move towards all RN to have a BSN. I would listen a little more carefully as your mother isn't that far off base.

Nursing school admission is a VERY COMPETITIVE market. The wait lists will vary college to college. I have found that the state schools with the cheaper tuition have very long wait lists while the private colleges have wait lists that are not that long but are very expensive with costs that can reach > $100,000.00 when compared to a state school for about $50,000.00. The ADN is a shorter less expensive (unless private) however there is an ever increasing demand to hire only BSN grads.

The only way to find out abut different schools is to call them and ask what are the requirements .

In high school were you a good student? Have you taken the SAT? You might have to take an exam called the TEAS. Bear in mind not all of your community college credits will transfer to your college of choice.

YOu need to pick up the phone and speak to the programs themselves.

Good Luck

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Csu sac is point based, so is csu Stan. But each school uses different classes in their prereq GPA calculations. Csu Stan looks at cumulative GPA and nursing prereqs. Sac state only looks at nursing prereqs. No wait if u score high enough.

The Los rios community colleges are random lottery which means u might get selected the 1st time u apply or u might apply 4-5 yrs and not get in. I know people who've experienced. Both scenarios.

I had a lengthy post but my app crashed. I also went to de anza/foothill and offer you these advice. If you're searching for objective information, build yourself a spread sheet with a list of schools in ca, with info and links of prerequisites and other pertinent information. Start with the CA BRN site for BSN schools. You'll find that posts here will confuse you more. Sit down and do your own research, do not listen to counselors as they are all idiots. You will have no issues with transferring units so long as you complete the series like a/p. You'll have to hunt what specific schools require on top of the typical courses. Merit vs lottery is what it is, don't look into it too much. It is going to be your hard work vs luck, and then a combination of luck.

Aim for platinum: work hard on a merit background to get in the first round, but apply to schools assuming you are to be wait listed. Asking where people went to school will get you nowhere. Times change, schools evolve for better and worse. Task number 1 is research and know every school like it's your skeletal muscles.

How do I find out if the school has a point system or wait list?

You call up the admissions office and ask them.

This also applies to many of your other questions :) -- if you are old enough to graduate from high school (note: Schools graduate students, students graduate from schools) you are old enough to take a big yellow pad and start writing down what you learn when you check their websites (where the classes and prerequisites are all listed) and what you learn when you call them. You can collect quite a lot of information in one place that way, and sit down and noodle about it.

Also don't discount the idea of going to school outside of California. Costs could be lower and you could be much more likely to get a job somewhere else.

You didn't ask, but you aren't an RN until after you pass the licensure examination, the NCLEX. "RN" is a licensure, not a degree, and you don't get it from any school. When you have graduated from an accredited program approved by the Board of Nursing in whatever state you live in, you go to them and ask them what you need to do to register for the NCLEX, and then you do what they say.

All the public schools that give BSNs in the bay area go by points. In a nutshell, your options are, SJSU, SFSU, Cal State East Bay. What you need to do is get a lot of A's and only a few or no B's in your prereq's, take the TEAS and get a high score then apply.

The way you get more information is to attend the info sessions for the programs you are interested in. These are listed on the college websites. I'd also go see a councilor at De Anza, the prereqs, especially for nutrition and chemistry vary so you want to be sure to get one that transfers to all the schools you'd like to apply too.

Good luck!

One other thing to remember is that this is a Bachelor's degree. This means your going to need to meet all of the regular general ed requirements. Since you are already at De Anza you might want to start knocking these out as well, before you transfer to a four year college. The councilors can help you with a step by step plan to do this. Get over to their office asap. By starting at De Anza you can get this done before you apply to nursing departments and save yourself and your family a ton of money.

Hello! I am also currently taking summer courses at DeAnza.. Small world! I was recently accepted to a BSN program here in the Bay Area. It can be very daunting to set out to become an RN and not know where to start. I began like you at the community college level. I took all my prerequisites at Ohlone, except for A&P at Foothill and an unexpectedly needed History course this summer at DeAnza. When I finished all of my other prerequisites last fall (it took 3 yrs) I began applying to local nursing schools.

In the immediate Bay Area there are a few schools that offer BSN programs and there are currently no wait lists for any of these schools: USF (private school in SF), Samuel Merritt (private school in Oakland), San Jose State, San Francisco State, Cal State East Bay. Each of these schools have their own BSN website which gives all the details of their application and admittance processes (each school differs slightly most accept admit every fall and spring). The state schools are much harder to get into and are obviously less expensive. (For example San Jose State gives applicants a ranking based on Cumulative GPA, Pre-req GPA & TEAS test score. Then they take the top 60 or so who ranked highest). If you can maintain mostly A's in your pre-req classes and especially the sciences then you will be competitive for the state schools. I applied to only USF and Samuel Merritt last fall and immediately got admitted to Samuel Merritt. I start this Fall and will graduate Spring 2016 with my BSN! Let me know if you have more questions, I have done sooo much research over the past 4 yrs now so I have a lot of info and would love to help :)

West Coast University in socal, I believe its in Ontario technically (and they have another campus?). They have no waitlist. You must take all of your college credits there, they don't take anything else. Its a BSN programs. Its a good school from what I hear. I am at a Cal State and the new Dean of our department starting this fall is coming from their program. It very expensive though, but you aren't waiting.

You have to decide if its worth the money. If I were you, it would be worth the money and relocating to me. I was accepted int o several programs but still waited years in the lotto. Its brutal. At my school your total GPA must be at last a 3.50 to be a prenursing program but your GPA actually needs to be MUCH higher. For example, the lowest GPA in the class starting this fall is a 3.88. Good luck!

I have a question about private schools. I'm in Maryland & checked out some private schools like Global Health College. They offer an Associates of Applied Science for their RN program. Extremely expensive and no info on how it can be bridged. What's the difference between an A.A.S.(lol. ASS. That's funny) and an ADN in regards to transferring?

Please help.

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