Penn Valley RN Program...What is like?

[HealingRainne]

I am currently finishing up my pre req's for the Penn Valley RN program. I plan to apply in August of 2009 for the January 2010 start. I have read some other threads saying it is hard and there is alot of stuff to put up with. I left the NAU pre nursing program because of this. What I am most concerned with is....what is the schedule like? I realize it is different each semester but I am curious what a week looks like for someone in the program.

Right now I am a nanny and they know I am going for nursing school....but I would love to atleast still work here part time......

Thanks in advance :)

[RJ---RN]

I am a PVCC graduate. It is a great program, fast paced for sure, but do-able. When I went there, I had a small child. I worked full time as an LPN at the time too.

I went on to get my BSN then Master's. GO FOR THE GUSTO!

[S1188782]

Hello! I am currently a full time sophomore at PV ( getting ready for finals!) I read the prior posts and they are correct. It is difficult. You can't expect to sit back and not get involved. You need to study. You need to pay attention. I am a single mom and work part time but I am able to manage. I have never invested in a day planner before until starting this program. It can make you or break you.

If you can learn to prioritize everything and give yourself time for studying then you will be ok. It seems overwhelming at first but once you get into the hang of what you will need to do each semester then the stress goes down some. And the feeling of knowing you were able to do it is awesome.

Also some people in my class split up there sophomore semester. So if a semester seems too hectic you can split it. But it will put you a semester behind.

Overall i love it and if you truly want this, then you will love it too.

It will be worth it.

And clinicals are different every semester. Sophomore year your clinicals are broken up into 5 week sections. 5 weeks Mental health, 5 weeks OB, and 5 weeks no clinicals. I was unlucky to get a weekend Mental Health rotation for five weeks but my OB rotation was on Mondays and Wednesdays. So it all varies per semester.

well i hope all this helps and let me know if you have anymore questions.

[mitaly09]

hi marquan11,

i have a quick question, can i get admition in penn valley at practical nursing program without compass tast? is there any way i can bypass compass test.

thanks

mitaly.

[dazeyc]

The LPN program there is considered credited courses and I know to take any classes for credit you do have to take the compass tests. I hadn't been to school in nearly 10 years and I still managed to get decent scores on it. the only thing I kinda struggled on was the algebra portion so I'm assuming I will need to try to polish up on my algebra before I take the TEAS. Really it wasn't that difficult

[FORTHELOVEOF!!!!]

No you cannot bypass the COMPASS TEST, I'm in the process of enrolling myself, my COMPASS test is over 2 years old and I even taken all the necessary classes needed because I didn't do well on it straight out of high school. Even though I have passing grades in every base class that the COMPASS would indicate I take, I still have to retake the test. If I do poorly on the test, I don't have to retake any of the classes again either, it's silly but if you want it bad enough it doesn't matter. We start enrolling in August, anyone know how many points were needed last semester, if I pull an A out of A&P I will have 6 and if I don't, the worst would be a B which would put me at 5.67. Is it possible to get in with that, or should I wait until I take Micro for the other point?

[wanna_b_a_m/b_rn]

Im trying to get in the evening weekend program myself, so let me know what you find out....

[Magarcia]

I just got into the day program for January 2011. I had 6.5 points overall. I would recommend taking Micro before applying.

[courtdawg1]

Hi, I just wanted to see if anyone was having the same issue. I went to talk to just a regular pv counselor about applying to the rn nursing school. She told me i wouldn't get in because i need one more point....basically to get my cna. I have an A in psych, C in Chem, and im about to finish A&P with a B. I also get 1point for living in district. I think that's 10 pts, so im not sure what the problem is. Anyone?

[AJPV]

I'm in the RN program now (started in Jan 2010). I had 6.0 points and was initially an alternate, but then got in only because someone dropped out before the semester started. I heard that the minimum score hovered around 5.5 to 5.7 in the prior semesters. It sounds like the minimum score has been on an upward trend for a while. The 1 point for CNA is the only thing I was missing. If you want to be sure to get in, you'll want to take Micro ahead of time and also have your CNA.

[mopoe]

I'm starting the PV program this Jan, and I still have no clue what to tell my boss (schedule wise) What kind of jobs will be THAT flexible?

[AJPV]

From what I've seen, if you want to work in the daytime, afternoon or early evening, prn jobs are about the only ones that give you the flexibility you'll need. The only part of your schedule you'll know before freshmen orientation is the lecture days/times. There will be lots of irregular stuff added to your schedule which will make it different from week to week. That includes an all-day clinical orientation, clinical shifts, virtual hospital times, skills check-off times, and an ATI computer exam. If you want to wager on days that you'll most likely be available to work, weekends would be the days to bet on. But there is still no guarantee. Even as a daytime student, there are times you might end up with weekend clinical shifts. If a prn job isn't enough for you and you can't find a job with the flexibility to allow all the schedule irregularities, you could work overnights. There are some students who are doing this - some of them even full time! But it seems like they are walking zombies. It's definitely not something I could pull off. I think prn is probably the most popular choice.

[mopoe]

Thanks for your reply!! You're probably right. Hopefully I can find a PRN phlebotomy job that pays ok. I work for Labcorp now, which is an eight to fiver I'll miss it, but school is way more worth it!!