OCC - for Fall 2012 or Jan 2012 prospective students!

[IHeartPeds87]

Hi everyone! Okay so I decided to make a seperate thread for those of us seeing what our options are because we got the dreaded letter from OCC. It was getting hard to filter out the information pertinent to us in the general OCC thread.

I just want to tell everyone not to give up.

I had a meeting with a counselor yesterday, who basically assured me that any drastic changes made to OCC nursing admission policy could NOT be implemented in the very next admission cycle. He said that he had been a counselor for over 16 years, and the last time they made a drastic change (like from waitlist to gpa based) they grandfathered in everybody who would have been 'caught up' in the transition.

I had a 3.824 gpa. I had three classes that were not straight A's (An A- in both american government and english composition two, as well as the dreaded B in A&P 1). I am retaking all three and am going to seriousely aim for all A's. The gpa cutoff is gonna be a 3.9 something and I don't want to have to worry about not getting in again. I am going to do my best to get all A's.

I met with the counselor to discuss my options and see what to do at this point. I was considering going LPN but I don't think i'm going to do that anymore because my biggest aim is to get my RN as soon as possible. The LPN to RN transition program is only offerred every even year. What this means for us? If I were, for example to start the LPN program in January of 2012, it would be over in like March of 2013. Then I couldn't start the transition program until like July of 2014. Then I wouldn't be done with the transition program and have my RN until December of 2015! This versus the ADN RN program, which would start in the Fall of 2012 and finish in like early May of 2014.

Good luck to all of those still trying! We can't give up!!!!!

[thinkgreen]

Kizeemimi-

I bought the dosage calculation book on half.com for only $5.00 + $shipping. I figured if I didn't use it, I wasn't going to be too upset about the minimal cost. I've bought almost all of my books for my OCC classes through half.com & never had any problems.

[whosurdaddy]

all prof's will give you powerpoints. all of my tests were based off of those powerpoints. i never read any of the assigned pages. except for some pages in medsurg I, II and III, but very few.(disclaimer) i did hear that for your class the prof's were going to stop giving all of the info in their powerpoints because no one was reading the books. although the nursing program is like the government; change is very slow to come so its likely you will still get a lot of your info from powerpoints. testing style varies from prof to prof. most prof's will test based on nursing interventions (what would the nurse do) but some do test off of pathophysiology.

as far as homework..............holy crap, let me put it this way. starting around week 6 of the fall semester you will be swamped with homework. you will be doing projects, nursing care plans, studying for tests in lab and theory, and writing papers. papers and projects are always graded and nursing care plans are written and then given a pass fail grade, fail leads to re-writing it overnight. (sounds like fun eh?)

i get a chuckle out of new students (you guys are the 2nd set of new students ive talked too) the chat rooms are always filled with everyone who cant wait for school to start and are so excited like I was when i first started the program. then about 3 weeks in the excitement is gone and has been replaced by complaints and aggrevation. Im sorry but i have 2 days left and feel like i can finally take a deep breath.

[QuarterLife88, MSN, RN, NP]

whosurdaddy, your last paragraph is so true! Last year at this time I was sooooo excited for nursing school. Now I'm like, "omg, where is summer?"

I just finished med-surg I (passed! thank god I never have to see this god awful torture class again - at least not this specific med surg...) now I have OB and summer here I come.

BTW, congrats on graduation!

[whosurdaddy]

thanks quarterlife88.............i never thought i would get here. saw so many friends not make it. now i just have the pressure of passing the nclex, finding a job and starting my bsn.............oh god so much for feeling good about graduation......sob......sob

[sv99]

Hi whosurdaddy,

Congratulations on graduation. Thank you very much for sharing your journey thru nursing school and hope you continue to help us out.. with your valuable suggestions.

[whosurdaddy]

thanks sv99, its been a long haul in so many respects, but so short in so many others and now that its coming to a close i feel like im going to be losing around 100 close friends on Friday. after 3 + years of working toward a goal, im a little frightened of what is coming up. nursing school has a way of humbling the most confident of people and i just hope i can live up to my own and my families and my prof's expectations.

you too will be done in just 2 years from now and will probably look back and say the same thing. dont get me wrong i cant wait to graduate (pinned) on Friday but the future is always uncertain.

the best advice i can give is even on the hardest of clinical days when your instructor is basically telling you your dumb and you will never be a good nurse remember the friends youve made

[Anne36, LPN]

Im so happy this is our last day, but I am also so sad because Im going to miss everyone. Our class got down to 15 people and we have all gotten so used to each other, like a little family. The LPN group gets real close. I think some network missed out on what could have been the most awesome reality show. So much Drama, so little time. All the relationships that have formed and lives that have been changed. We have been thru it all together, laughing and crying. I hope we will keep in touch and at least study for the NCLEX together.

[mskarb]

To all the students that are in the program already...What color scrubs are we required to wear and must we purchase them from the school store or are we allowed to go out and buy the ones that we prefer...granted they are the solid color that they choose?

And to the students that are getting in this year....We were out at the nursing office yesterday picking up the fingerprinting forms and turning in my completed packet....I had a BLS Card that I received from training at work, and although it was NOT listed as an acceptable one that the school took, they did accept it! So you may want to check if you already have your BLS before paying $50 and having to sit thru that eight hour class. :)

[sv99]

Hi mskarb,

You mentioned that you turned in your packet... what packet are we supposed to turn in. Are you done with your ACE passport? Thanks.

[princessim2003]

Hi mskarb,

You mentioned that you turned in your packet... what packet are we supposed to turn in. Are you done with your ACE passport? Thanks.

I was wondering the same thing...LOL, when I read that post I was like "oh crap, what am I missing?".

[mskarb]

lol Don't worry you are good. I turned in the physical along with all the paper work that they sent in the big packet that was sent out. I had it all done so I just wanted to get it there before it got lost, which most of my paper does with my fiance in the house :) It isn't actually due until August though. I also wanted to go to make sure my BLS was usable before wasting time completing another course. And I have not done anything with the ACE thing yet.

She said that people that don't drop all that info. off, the physical, along with all that other paperwork, are welcome to bring and turn in at orientation.

:)

[Anne36, LPN]

The scrub pants and long sleeved jacket are Army green. The scrub top is white. No, you dont have to purchase them from the bookstore. Some of us bought them online or at a uniform store, just be sure that you buy the correct shade of green. You also need to go in the bookstore and get the patch that you need to sew on your sleeve.