Brookdale Community College

U.S.A. New Jersey

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Hi everyone. Im currently in my second semester in the nursing program here at brookdale. If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

krn7

1 Post

Hi i am in my first semester in the nursing program at brookdale cc. I am about to register for next semester and have questions in regards to clinical. Did you take the all day saturday or 2 day clinical option? what are pros and cons of each? also is it impossible to take 12 credits: nurs161 being 7 credits, and the 2 credit nurs165 issues in nursing class, and a 3 credit sociology? i am worried about how much more intense it will get next semester.

Lightning90

85 Posts

Hi! I did the Thursday and Friday split this semester and I personally think I would have preferred the all day clinical. I feel as if we are doing twice the work on the split days because we have to perform a.m care twice.. and assess our patients twice.. Also sometimes our patients get discharged so we end up with a different patient the next day. You will spend the first 4 weeks of clinical in a nursing home and than transition to the hospital for the next couple of weeks.

I am currently taking 12 credits this semester. Nursing 161, nursing 165 and a history class and it is very manageable. However, I am not working and I do not have kids so that is definitely a factor you have to consider. Nursing 165 is a very easy 2 credit class that just consists of a 5 page paper and a couple of weekly blog posts. I would not worry about taking those classes together.

Finally, in my opinion nursing 161 is definitely not as hard as some people say it is. Yes, it is a lot of studying and memorizing but the information is not that hard to understand and the teachers are very willing to help you if you are struggling with some of the material. Let me know if you have more questions! Good luck!

Gmare

33 Posts

Hi everyone! I'm debating b/t the accelerated BSN program and the traditional nursing program. My counselor hasn't been very helpful. Do you have to take the TEAS before you formally apply to nursing program? Or do you apply first and then get all prerequisites done first? Also, I need to get my CHA/PCA cert first. Where did you go to get it? My counselor had me fill out, which I believe was my nursing application. I still have another prereq to go, PCA cert and TEAS. Not sure if I'm being steered correctly. Thank you in advance for all help.

Lightning90

85 Posts

Hi. You should take a look at this link. https://www.brookdalecc.edu/documents/nursing/student-packets/NURS-Admission-Packet-2016.pdf

It tells you what you need to get done before entry into the program. You can apply to the nursing program whenever you want. However, in order to get into the program, you need to score at least a 58 on your TEAS, I believe. You can get your CNA liscense through brookdale. Brookdale offers CNA courses year round. Also you do not need to get all of your pre reqs done before starting the nursing program, you can take them at the same time. Good luck!

Gmare

33 Posts

Thank you! My counselor said I would be taking all prerequisites first bc of waiting list. She said if they call me from waiting list and I'm not done prerequisites or haven't obtained CHHA license or taken the TEAS, then I wouldn't be able to start.

Lightning90

85 Posts

Well that's kind of correct. You do need to take the TEAS and the CNA course BEFORE you start the nursing program, but you can take the pre reqs whenever you want. However I advise you to get the pre reqs done as soon as possible because the nursing classes are hard and very time consuming. When I went to the information session a couple months ago, they told us that the wait list for the day and night track is around 1 year to 1.5 years, and there is a half year wait list for the online track! Maybe something you want to consider.

bcnj

4 Posts

I have just been communicating with the school a little bit to find out more about the program. Do they give you a choice of day or evening classes? I work full time 7:30 to 3:30 and i am really hoping I could manage their program if I can do all evening classes and weekend clinical a! They give you a choice of all day Saturday or two days a week during the day clinical? Thanks in advance for your help!

Lightning90

85 Posts

Hi! You actually have a choice between day, evening or online classes. Day classes are Monday morning from 8:00 am to 11:45 am. Evening classes are held on Tuesday's from 5:00 to 9:45, I believe. For the online classes, you get to listen to the lectures online, and the only time you have to come to campus, is to take the test. There are Saturday clinicals.. However it is first come, first serve. So if all the spots fill up, you will have to choose a weekday clinical instead. If you are in the day class than you have day clinicals (For example, Thursday and Friday from 8:00am- 1:00am). If you are the night class, than you have night clinicals (For example Wednesday and Thursday 5pm-10pm).

I am going to be honest with you though. There is no way I would have been able to handle a full time job and been successful in this program. A lot of my classmates who work full time are struggling right now and some of them are even failing out. In my experience, you need at least 3-4 hours of study time a DAY, if not more. There is a LOT of material and a LOT of reading that they assign to you. Let me know if you have any more questions!

bcnj

4 Posts

Thank you so much for your response! I get what a time commitment it would be and I'm fully prepared to commit 3-4 hours a day in studying. I'm so glad to have found this program as it is literally the only one in the area that has such a flexible schedule!! Ocean county college strictly has weekday clinicals during the day. I actually can't start the program for at least a year or two (I carry the medial for our family and my husband can't take over for four more years - damn teacher tenure laws!). How competitive would you say the acceptance rate is? I have a BA from Boston college in history (I know completely unrelated but I was pre led for 3 years so I have a lot of science and math classes) and I had a decent gpa but that was 10 years ago!

Lightning90

85 Posts

Everyone who applies to the program is accepted. You just need to complete a couple of steps before actually being admitted (such as getting your CNA license and scoring at least a 58 on your TEAS). However, as long as you get C's or higher in all your prerequisite classes, than you're fine. Keep in mind though, that there is a pretty decent waiting list right now, so I would encourage you to apply now if you plan on starting in 1-2 years. Last time i checked, the waiting list for the day classes was about 1 to 1.5 years, for the night classes it was around 1 year and there was a half year wait list for the online program. So thats definitely something you should consider!

bcnj

4 Posts

I'm looking more into the CNA requirement right now - can I ask where and how you got your CNA license and how long it took? Thanks!

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