Re: how hard it is to get into gloucester community college nursing program?
They've gone over to a "just by the numbers" system. It's just your science courses and your HESI exam score. They let you take the HESI twice. No essay or letters of recommendation are needed (or wanted, apparently).
They do give preference for in-county residents, when they can do so.
Check out Our Lady of Lourdes, Helene Fuld School of Nursing, Cumberland County College, and Burlington County College. If money isn't an issue, check out Thomas Jefferson University's ASN/BSN program in Philly. It's nice because you can take your NCLEX after the first 2 years and then continue on for your BSN, or stop after the ASN. But it's pricey -- roughly $17,000 per year for the ASN component, and that's just the tuition.
One of the reasons GCC and other community colleges have such a huge pool of applicants is the fact that it is such an inexpensive education. So if you can afford more, try some of the other schools. Our Lady of Lourdes and Burlington are fairly inexpensive (at least if you are in-state, because Lourdes runs their program through Camden County College). Helene Fuld is darn expensive, IMHO, but not nearly as expensive as Jefferson!
I have a friend who is finishing her GCC Nursing degree this year. She told me they had some trouble getting enough clinical locations, and some students had to do their PEDS clinicals in pediatricians' offices, which seemed kind of lame to me. That's one of the benefits of doing a hospital program -- they give first priority to their own nursing students.
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