this is a run down of getting into trinitas nure 130 through ucc. i just had the first class this monday, jan of 2011. it's great to finally be in and doing it. 5 more semesters and i can move on with my life. the process was a little confusing and none of the counselors seemed to know anything, except one. what's below is a combination of personal experience, what i've heard from the instructors, and a reliable counselor. this post is a little longer so folks can see what was involved and get their questions answered.
talk to ******at the plainfield campus. she is the only really nursing-school-competent counselor at the entire college. no lie. i got little help from any other counselor and even have a friend who was guided into a couple useless classes for her major and has to take 2 extra semesters to make up for it. (not nursing thankfully.) double check everything a counselor tells you to make sure its correct. assume they are all probably wrong and you'll be better off. ****is really passionate about students and very competent. probably too much for her own health but she helped me so i won't complain.
after all is said and done, this program is about $25,000-$28,000. this is a total of 5 semesters of nursing courses and all the other credits. pell and freeholder's scholarships and the kellogg scholarship will help. get international versions of text books. the supreme court ruled this was legal despite what mcgraw hill says. google it if you like. save some $$.
trinitas, a diploma school, lets ucc do all the screening and admissions. there is no interview or pleading letter to get in, lying about your devotion to nearly dead people and how you like wiping adults' butts. i didn't go to muhlenberg because i heard the trinitas program is easier for the working adult student by having more night and weekend classes. my class is monday from 6pm to 10pm so this has been true so far. to be considered for the school, you have to declare nursing as your major. having nursing as your major will cost you about $500 extra per semester, even if you never get accepted. there is a point system to get in. it works this way:
gpa + 1 point per 3 credits earned at ucc +2 for nj residents
how many points do you need to get the invitation letter? no one knows but those sending them out. there are 230 seats in the opening class nure 130 and about 60 graduates at the end. i heard 230 seats from janet but my class on monday is 70 and i think the other two on thurs and saturday are too so it's possibly 210 total. to fill the class, i've been told about 600 consideration letter letters are sent to those with the highest points. 60 is the entrance class for most schools. trintas is the 6th largest nursing school in the country including university of phoenix (#1) and the other online schools. there is a higher than normal chance of getting in because of that.
when i got the letter i had 4 + 5.7 + 2 = 11.7 points. (i had 17 credits divided by 3=5.7) i'm guessing the 10-15 point range is where we're at right now. ***** says this points amount that triggers you to get a letter will go up or down depending on the backlog of students. only the top 500-600 get consideration letters, you reply back expressing interest, then of those that reply a smaller amount get a registration invitation letter, and only 230 get a seat on registration day. consideration letter was early october 2010, registration invitation letter was december 12 or so. they decide the first week of december and send the letters out at the beginning of the second week of december. when you register, you go at different times of the day. the earlier in the day you register, the more likely you are to get the schedule you want and even a seat, since more are invited to register than there are spaces for. you are assigned a registration time and it looks like it is all points based. highest points go at 9am, second highest at 11am and so on. you are also given a registration number so there is no cutting lines during your time slot. my high gpa did not get me into an earlier registration time. i was assigned 11am as my registration time, #33 as my registration number, and my gpa is 4.0. not bragging. someone will ask me this if i don't put it down.
many don't respond and want to wait another semester and many don't make the final point cut to get into the program. nure 130 is really rigorous and it's not a good idea to bundle it with other tough classes. i've never heard of someone putting nure 130 off a semester to take bio 106 or 108 and then not get in the next semester. it seems they always do if they keep their grades up, but i don't know that for sure. also, since nure 130 has a larger drop out/failure rate, last year there was a summer 1 and summer 2 nure 130 offered to help fill nure 131 in the fall. it may happen again this year. ***** says it probably will. my nurse instructors say it was a fiasco and they aren't sure if they will do it again. money will probably make them do it, if they can. they want to get as many in to nure 131 as possible. more that can get into nure 131, big dollars for sure for them. so if you put it off january, you may still get a letter for the summer 1 session. there is a nure 130 class starting both spring and fall, and last summer for the first time a summer 1 and summer 2, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. the lpn rn bridge program i think only has a fall start. i was told that about 6-8 years ago some students were caught cooperatively cheating in the nure courses and the school failed everyone in the class. some students fought back (i think they sued) and had their diplomas given back and were allowed to sit for the nclex. because of the cheating, the course is much harder now than before.
applicants are a little less this semester than last and janet doesn't know why. she thinks maybe the bottle neck right now is the typing class (adm 110) they are requiring by jan 2012. i took it because they said it was a pre-req. for jan 2011 but that wasn't true. this was a horribly boring class that i wish they would just allow us to test out of it. i would've paid the full tuition even if i could've gotten out of the class. i kissed a lot of saturday afternoons goodbye for this one. make sure they are firm on this being a pre-req. before you do this. i had ***** as the prof. who is one of the coolest people i've ever met. she made the class bearable.
last summer i was told by another student who had just gotten her consideration letter that she heard if you take chem 105, you'll get flagged for the program a little sooner. so i changed my fall 2010 semester from bio 108 to chem 105 and i did get a letter. however, a girl who sits next to me in class hasn't taken bio 106 or chem 105 yet and she got in too. so the chem 105 rumor is probably just a rumor. (she's doing nure 130, bio106 and chem 105 all this semester!!!! i would blow my brains out.) i don't know her point standing but i think it is similar to mine. she started last jan, like me, but took the summer off. i clep'd eng 101 and she didn't.
my gpa is 4.0. i don't think this helped me get a letter other than for the points themselves, but i don't know for sure. i got an 89.8% in ******* summer1 a&p1 and 88.9% in prof *****summer2 a&p2 but they both gave me the "a". very cool of them. i talked with them a little after class about questions i thought of during class and complimented them on their teaching style or dealing with unruly students (i was genuine). i think this helped. i really liked **** way of teaching. intellectual, visual, had great notes prepared and kept the class moving along. he'll tell you "sorry if you don't pass. this is the summer session and it's a tough class. that's all there is to it." i did not like **** way. she told too many stories. the girls in the class really liked her and her style, though. the stories helped them remember the kinds of pathogens and diseases, though i found it boring especially at 10:10pm after hours of listening. she did put disease and vaccinations in great historical perspective. she is a very informed, intelligent person and i like her as a person. both took no sass from anyone, which i liked. shut up and listen or get out. we need to show some maturity as medical professionals. it is impossible to cheat on their tests. they know all the tricks and have made a few little rules to eliminate the possibility of cheating. just over 50% passed both classes. 32-35 per class out of 60. there were 9 a's and 7 a's in those 2 classes respectively. ****said 9 was unusually high and was very happy to see that. starting at 60 students in each there were 8 boys and 9 boys respectively. only about 4 boys left in each by the end. there are 13 men out of 70 total in my nure 130 class.
don't be a baby. read the entire trintas faq off the ucc website and the 27 page pdf off the trinitas website and know what your next move is. don't wait till the last minute for anything.
if you graduate with b+ average, trinitas offers a scholarship for your last semester. i think the kellogg benefactor for whom the kellogg building is named is the originator of the scholarship.
in retrospect, i would probably have taken the chem classes allowing one to go for the bsn later, chem 113 and 114 i think. that's the only thing i would've done different. i will have to take them next summer if i can.
timeline:
jan 2010 started - spanish 102, was still deciding if this was right for me. did late registration on a whim and took the next few weeks to think it over. clep eng 101
summer 1 - a&p 1 summer sessions are great because the material is less and they are quick. i would take everything as a summer session if i could. these science courses had a lot of casualties but easier courses you should do.
summer 2 - a&p 2
fall 2010 - chem 105, adm 110
jan 2011 - nure 130. will clep psy 101 (feb 8th appointment) and soc 101 sometime between now and the summer session
good luck everyone. hope this has been helpful.
