I just logged in and just found your PM - 6 mths later!! Sorry. The ABSN program is 12 months. It's an accelerated program for people that already have a bachelor's in a non-nursing field. It is fast and furious, and very stressful. We just flew by the material, and sometimes I wished I would have done the 2 year program. SMU does has a regular BSN 2-yr pgm. It is a partnership program w/ St. Mary's, Holy Names, and Mills. SMU allows transfers from other schools but only as space permits. I didn't have any medical experience prior to nursing school. I was a computer science major. I graduated from Berkeley and had a few science classes, but took all the other prereqs at community colleges.Good luck on pursuing nursing. I just finished the program a couple of weeks ago and am studying for the boards. I haven't started looking for a job yet, but it's going to be tough to find one. Almost all the hospitals have cut their new grad programs, making it hard for new grad nurses to find a job.

All most schools look at are your grades in the prereq classes. I did have very good grades (4.0) and I scored in the 98th percentile on the NET

I have my degree in health care admin. but i don't have much experience at all - just an internship in admin and a year of volunteering almost 9 years ago. I am looking into volunteer programs right now to do on the weekends, but I'm really busy. I'm taking some pre-reqs for the ABSN progam and between working full time and school, we'll see how much time I have to volunteer. Luckily, I have a very understanding husband and no kids yet! The good thing about SMC is that you don't have to have a really high GPA. I screwed around when I was in college in my early 20's and didn't do that great - I have a 3.0 but it's going to go up with just the few classes i'm taking now. I've been talking to alot of nurses and they say that you don't necessarily have to have medical experience, of course it helps though. The nursing programs prepare you for going into nursing and then you are under a precept for some time before you are on your own. I'm very excited about it, but I still have several hurdles to get over. Making the decision to do it is the first step. Talk to a counselor at the schools your looking at to get a better idea about what you can do specifically, you'll probably be surprised. Good luck and stay in touch! Monica

I haven't got my RN. I'll actually be starting nursing school at Johns Hopkins in the fall. I graduated from an university with another degree, but I knew I wanted to do nursing since my second year. So I've been building up on experience. Due to my crazy schedule, I had no time to get certified and work as a CNA. I was a full time student, working at two different places (even three at one point), and I was on the lacrosse team which was extremely time consuming (practice and travel). But if you have time, I would think being a CNA would be very helpful. Several people recommended me to do this and I would have this summer if I didn't get into nursing school. I volunteered, but volunteering is VERY limited. There's not much patient contact because there are a lot rules and restrictions. I got lucky and found a position that required a little bit of extra training to be able to hold newborns. It was very rewarding, but still limited. You would probably get more as a CNA. If you don't have time, volunteering is the way to go. Find a local hospital and ask them what the process is to become a volunteer. They probably would have the information online. My hospital had a list of different types of volunteers. A lot of them were administrative so I chose the one that sounded more hands on. I also volunteered in Honduras for a week setting up medical brigades. I got lucky walking to class with my spanish textbook when a girl stopped me and told me about this new organization at school. The specific program was called Global Medical Brigades (http://www.globalbrigades.org/project/medical/). On the website, they have a list of schools that are involved and you can contact the school that is closest to you and find more information. You do not need to be enrolled in the school to be involved. We had students that didn't attend UCSD go on the trip with us. And you do not need to know Spanish. It was kinda pricey, but it was a very hands on experience and I wrote about it in two out of three application essays. It was only a week and it didn't require much time outside the trip. If you look at universities nearby I'm sure they have a list of organizations that have similar qualities and might cost less. I think this is better than being a CNA because not many people do this and it'll make you stand out. Plus it was a rewarding experience that really opened my eyes. Medical experience is important, but I also think just being well rounded is what helped me get into nursing school. Now I think about it, I had very limited experience in the field. I only volunteered one summer at the hospital and one week in Honduras. But I did other things like coach lacrosse, interned for the United Nations Association, captain of the team, was a teacher's assistant and led section for stats, tutored, etc. I hope this helps. Just getting your foot in one door like volunteering at a hospital will open others. I was told of other opportunities while volunteering or else I wouldn't known otherwise. Good luck! Let me know if you have any more questions or concerns.