Is it really that difficult?

And HBU is super expensive.

Yeah, it's not 'difficult' material really, but it's a LOT of material in a very short period of time and a LOT of paperwork.

I heard a rumor that its not hard to get into the HBU nursing program. Its just HELL to pass through.

That is very, very, very true. We had about 34% of the original students that started in our cohort graduate this semester. The material is very difficult and there's a lot of busy work tacked on, so you can't study very easily because there's always like 5-6 things due in a short amount of time. Now, I'm not super bitter or anything, but it's hard. Not everyone knows that going in (I didn't know how hard it was going to be), so it can be quite a shock when the work really starts piling on. I figure that the program is awesome if you want to go into any form of ICU (we have a MANDATORY ICU course - it is the one that several people never make it out of) or specialty areas. The exposure you get to intensive care settings is such a great thing to highlight in an interview - and interviewers like HBU grads because of how hard the program is and our pass rate, but it's certainly not the only way to get your degree.

The cost is a lot. But, for me, I got the internship I wanted, passed the boards, and am now out of school, so the huge amount of loans I have is worth it.

And yeah, they have so lowered the standards for admission so that more people can be admitted into the program, although I doubt that will affect the retention rate too much. The content is just too hard.

I too have a bachelor's degree and applied everywhere when I changed to nursing. I applied for both the second degree programs that are out there and some ADN programs. I chose TCC because it was reputable and cheap. This semester I will finish my ADN and plan on applying to Texas Tech's RN-BSN program (can be done on-line in one year) for the fall. Good luck!

Also, most Texas community college classes are transferable to any school in Texas. There is a website that addresses this, it's been a while since I've had to use it, but it gives you the corresponding course numbers for the different schools so that you can make sure you are taking the correct ones for the program you are interested in.

Dallas County Community College system has a couple of ADN nursing programs. I know that El Centro is pretty reputable and had applied there myself. You may want to look into that, if you haven't already.