Question for nurses, nursing students, and CNA's.

It depends on the school. If it's an OCNE school and they use some of their discretionary admission points for health care experience...then she's right. Basically, for the OCNE schools if you don't max out the discretionary points...you won't get in.

However, I applied to two schools and got accepted to both, and I don't have any real health care experience.

OHSU (as opposed to a community college in OCNE) focuses on your essay a lot, which gives you the opportunity to speak about what you were doing instead of "pushing a broom around a hospital."

Personally....I'd be more concerned about the B. My first year that I applied (I knew that I had more prereq classes I wanted to take...I just wanted to see if I'd get in....I hadn't finished A&P, would finish by the end of that spring though). I had a 4.2 GPA and didn't get in. That was mainly because the school I applied to, gave discretionary points for having all 45 credits complete by the end of the winter term.....and my A&P wouldn't be complete until the end of Spring.

Best of luck!

Like the other poster said, if it was an OCNE school than she is right. I applied for 3 years before I got accetped into a school during those 3 years I became a CNA and gained hospital experience.
If you apply to OHSU, Linfield, U of P, or Walla Walla, you may have a better chance of getting in without CNA experience, but all the schools are so competive at getting in.

Good Luck

Even if you have the grades to get into nursing school... consider this: You will have an even more difficult time getting an RN job without the CNA (or MA or EMT) experience. I didn't do the CNA for the same reasons=horror stories, low pay. Now I'm an unemployed RN because everyone who worked as a CNA before nursing school (and that's most folks these days) will get the interview before me. So now I have NO PAY and nice fat student loans to pay. Talk about a horror story.

There were several students in my class with no experience in health care. However, if you pursue avenues to gain experience you are strengthening your application and your chances to be admitted over someone with the same qualifications but with no experience.

I graduated months ago from UW. And I started looking for a job last spring, before I graduated.
I had pre-nursing school med office experience, and I will say that this is the ONLY thing that has gotten me the interviews I have been offered. It's just brutally competitive right now. That is, getting into nursing school is the tip of the iceberg. BTW, nobody, not one hospital, has ever asked me about my GPA and in nursing school we all helped each other through the classes. Don't get hung up on the grades.

I have run the gamut in the health care field. Worked as a CNA, Unit coordinator, LPN, and now RN. I think that working as a CNA is vital. It may provide insight as to whether nursing is really what you want to pursue. It gives you a sense of how the team runs. It will help you as a nurse because you KNOW what the members of a team are supposed to do. As a nurse you may be required to perform tasks that are traditionally delegated to a CNA. It helps if you know how to do them. I don't believe that you should be kept out of a nursing program, but I think that even working the job part time would be extremely beneficial.

I wouldn't let one person stop you from anything. This is your life, YOU get to write the story. There are several "mature" students in my class that worked in the corporate world, or taught school, we even have an artist. They had no medical experience whatsoever. I guess it would also depend on your schools requirements. Keep in mind, that nursing jobs are very cyclical. In the near future, there will be time when everyone will have a job before they graduate. We're in a down cycle right now. It will pick up. Last thing, people love to share horror stories. Take what you like and leave the rest. Good luck in your decision.

The story and comments are most intersting. I would strongly suggest inquiring about the requirements that the school you wish to attend, will be judging you on when they are making selections. They may not be forthcoming but it's worth a try. In the year, one, 0001, when I went to nursing school, they had 400 applicants for 45 slots so competition was rough. I had all prereqs completed and was also an operating room technician. But my friend who was going to be a teacher switched her major and applied to nursing school AD program with me and we were both accepted. We had been told that no one with a score lower than 45 percentile on the NLN exam would be considered. They are selective because they need to maintain the schools credentials and can only do that if their students pass the licensure exam. That doesn't seem to bare any resemblance to how they test you in nursing school. Back to year, 0001, I passed on my first attempt with a perfect score in OB. Back then each area had a separate test. And you needed to score at least 350 out of 700 to pass that area. I don't believe they will ever make it easier and I don't believe they should. I went on to obtain a BSN with honors, and a NP and then a JD.