Spokane Community College Waitlist???

Helo all,

I just read this entire post, looking for information on wait lists, time it has taken etc. I tell ya, anyone who goes through this wait process must really want to be a nurse. I have much respect for all of you for waiting as long as you have.

On that note, a little about my situation. I am a pianist, currently living in Salt Lake City, but lived in Spokane for several years and want to come back! As you could probably imagine, the economy has not been so nice to the piano industry, as I used to be a pretty successful professional. I used to think "I don't need college, I make 70-100k a year!" Well that is certainly not the case anymore and I am eating those words as we speak. As a single, 29 year old male, I have decided that my thinking was certainly flawed and it is time to get an education! I am scared to pieces I tell you. After all the options, and a lot of studying, I decided to look into nursing. For me it seems perfect for my personality, it gives me time to travel for piano gigs, etc and seems to be very fulfilling. I assumed that it was the typical process of getting my associates, doing well, transferring to a four year, and busting my butt for a couple more years to get my BSN. After getting my hopes up I am now learning that it is more like 6 years before I can get a job as a nurse.. That's if everything goes very smoothly (which we all know never happens in life). I'm a bit dissapointed in the lack of information regarding how long this wait list might be. I initially wanted to go to SCC to get my associates and transfer to EWU.

I apologize for such a long post so I'll get down to my questions. I need some advice here. I feel that I'm better off with a BSN as I would like the opportunity to advance later on down the road. Does EWU's program through WSU go off a waiting list or is it competitive? I hate the idea of a wait list entirely, but if it is based off GPA etc, and from what I hear as far as how high your GPA needs to be in this situation, I may not have a chance. I'm just trying to be realistic with myself. I'll try as hard as I can, but I've never been a 4.0 student, and the fact of the matter is that I will have to keep a full time job during all of this. Am I getting in over my head here? I'm a bit intimidated about being a student and having to juggle another life at the same time, but I think I really want to do this. Any advice or suggestions for my sporadic, lengthy post here. Anything helps. thanks!

I was just as scared as you are and I also wanted it reeeeally bad. After my husband and I lost a very successful construction company and everything we had when the economy tanked, my "hobby job" of being a nurse actually seemed like it would become more of a necessity then a hobby when my 3 kids started school full time. So when we moved back to Spokane I pushed aside my fear of juggling and of the unknown and enrolled at SCC. I also plan to do my BSN but the route I decided to take was to get my RN through SCC and then do the RN to BSN bridge program at WSU. By going this route, I get to work in about 4 years instead of 5 or 6. So it took me 5 quarters to do pre reqs and then I was on the wait list for 1.5 years. I am 2.5 years in now and in spring of 2013 I can take my NCLEX and look for a job. So all said and done, it will be 4 years exactly start to finish for me. Then if all goes well, maybe I can find an employer who is willing to pay for all or part of my BSN while I work as an RN. SCC does not go on a point system, the only requirement is that you finish pre reqs with a 2.5 minimum to get on the waitlist. Then its first come first served pretty much. Also, the route I am taking is much much cheaper since I will only have about one year at a university instead of 4 or more. I hope this helps, I know it is super scary!

Hi Jamie. Thanks so much for your reply. It was actually inspiring and I think I need to do what you did. Just go for it and let things happen the way they will. I've always thought I was too old to go to school, which I know is a silly notion, but when you don't have a family of your own, at least for me, it is one of my biggest goals in life. So I always fear that school is going to hinder that possibility. Coming from SLC where everyone is very young when they get married, it is impossible not to feel really old even in your late 20's. Trust me. Here, if you are not married by 22 or 23 years old, a lot of people will just assume that something is wrong with you. Ha ha..

Anyway, so please correct me if I'm wrong. But in essence, after completing pre-req's I could just keep taking classes and actually have a full, transferrable associates degree by the time I even get into the nursing school. This would ensure that if I changed my mind while on the wait list I didn't waist any time and can directly transfer that degree to a four year (international business would be my second choice). I would have two associates degrees, one AAS, and one ASN ? Or I could obviously take that time to work while I'm waiting, but I'm thinking if I can stay in the swing of things as far as going to class, and learning then I won't have to make huge transition when the nursing program starts. As you can see I am still learning about how the degrees work and what it will take. Please let me know if I'm wrong in my thinking. Just to clarify, the pre req's are all I need to get into the program right? Once those are complete with the required GPA, I can apply and do not need an associates to get into the program, correct? These are very rookie questions, but the time factor is a big deal to me. If it takes me a year to get pre reqs done, not a big deal. I'll just use that year and half wait time to continue school. I appreciate the information you have all provided. Thanks again Jamie. :)

I also felt self conscious going to school later, I am 27 but add 3 kids and a husband to that and I might as well be 40. You will be happy to know that the age range in my nursing program is huge. There really are people of every age group and there are also several males so no one is going to even think twice about your age. It seems marriage around here is actually looked down upon if it's done too early and even if none of your kids were "accidents" you will get some dirty looks around here. For the most part though, Spokane is very tolerant and I am pretty confident you won't have any issues.

You are almost right about the degrees. If you were to ONLY take the classes relevant to the program and the pre-reqs to get in then you would graduate with and AAS which at some schools is called an ASN but they are the same thing. If you want to eventually get your bachelors, then you will have to complete the classes for just a plain ole' AA degree. This is the route I went and while I was on the wait list I did general classes for my AA. So if you do the same thing you will be covering all your bases. The AA is needed for your bachelors since an AAS alone will not be enough and it will cover you in case you change your mind. It will be frustrating though because I had to take several required classes for the nursing program that don't count for my AA. Because of that, I have enough credits for an AA already but since they aren't all from the designated AA categories I am still 4 classes shy of my AA. Now I have to decide if I want to overload myself and take those 4 classes at some point during my program. It is also going to be hard because the registration times they give you pretty much determine what classes you get. The later the registration time, the harder it is to get classes you need and you end up with a bunch of extras like I did.

Many of the pre-reqs are very hard. The science ones in particular usually only had about half the original students in them by the end of the quarter because of people dropping the classes. Most of them are hard just because there is a TON to learn in a very short amount of time, not because they are super hard rocket science or something. 12 credits is considered full time but all but one of those pre-reqs are 5 credit classes. That means you either take a 3/4 time load of 10 credits or you try to kill your self and do a 15 credit load. I did both, and my advice is to do the 10 credit load if you think you might have any trouble at all keeping up with the work load. I would also advise against taking 2 science classes together, and I make this recommendation from experience as well. I spent a majority of my life studying for those classes, but grades are very very important to me so I did not study just to make the 2.5 gpa cut. The point is, you will have to make moderate effort to pass but any extra effort is up to you. If you think you might transfer to somewhere else to take the program then you better make sure your grades are top of the line since every other school around here is competitive.

Anyway, don't feel afraid to ask questions. I was so afraid of the unknown and the process of everything that if it weren't for someone else who'd been through it answering my bazillion questions I probably never would have enrolled.

Jamie,

I was glad to read what you wrote about the mentality of the people in Spokane vs. SLC. It makes me feel good about my decision to move back. :)

I'm a bit concerned about the classes. I'm much a right brained type of person. I've got through my whole life in the arts and was very good at sells because I love being around people and being creative in that aspect. I think this would convert very well in the nursing field. My hope is that once I get through school it will be smooth sailing. Not to say that nursing is easy by any means, but a lot of people I know describe my personality as "contageous" and I can't see how that can't help in this industry. I just have to hope that as long as I manage my time well then I can get through the program. Is there any particular knowledge that I will need to know before i start pre req's? If they are "start from scratch" type classes than I will be fine. I'm usually pretty smart when it comes to learning things on my own etc. I gues there is only one way to find out. Don't worry, you can tell me if I'm in for a world of hurt if that is the case! :)

Within the last several months I have literally lost everything I have. Between the loss of my girlfriend and her daughter whom I was supposed to marry and adopt, as well as my career, and a mountain of hospital debt accrued afterwards, life has really become pretty meaningless. For some reason, nursing just seems to be the right move for me. However, I based that decision on what I'm beginning to fear was false information that I have been reading online. The BLS statistics show the national average pay for an entry level nurse is $33 an hour. I even looked up Spokane and it was the same. Then I got into this foruum and have read all these posts of nurses in WA and UT being paid in the low 20's . And that is IF they can get a job after graduation! Correct me if I'm wrong, but what the heck happened to this supposed "shortage' of nurses in the country? Isn't there supposed to be some major need for nurses within the next several years? No offense at all to the industry, but if this realy is the case, I'm much better off landing another sells job making the same amount, sometimes more without the hassle of going to school for four years, accruing a bunch of debt, and making only 40K a year to show for my BS degree. I guess I sound a bit selfish or greedy when I put it that way, but that seems pretty unfair of a wage for a key roll position in the medical field. Do you know of anything that contradicts this? If so, please let me know because I really want to do this. However, coming from a "bread winner" perspective, it just doesn't seem feasable and I may need to move on with my options 40 K a year is fine for a single man. But not for a family that needs to be fed, a mortgage that needs to be paid, debts to be reduced and heaven forbid, putting away some savings. Will the upcoming health care plan make the market more beneficial for job seeking nurses, pay wise and employment wise? Do you know any nurses in fear of this, or is it just the way it is? Thanks again for reading my chaotic posts! :)

Well, the thing about Spokane is we have several nursing schools around here. The supply for nurses is not short and a new grad can expect $22 to $23 per hour. If you are strictly doing it for the money, then maybe this isn't the field for you. But it might benefit to remember that every job has to start at the bottom and a new grad is always gonna have to start with the lower wages. You could also go for your masters and be a nurse practitioner who makes more money, and the masters would also make you eligible to study to be a nurse anesthesiologist who could make an average of $70 an hour. It will be hard to get a job here and even harder to get one of the better paying ones. The sort of money you want to make requires a lot more school, and I think that's the case with pretty much every job there is.

As far as pre-reqs, you should have basic writing, reading and math skills and good study habits. I'd say most of the pre-reqs are 75% memorization and 25% comprehension. So the more you study and memorize, the better off you will be. Chemistry was probably the most difficult content wise, and the A&P classes were the most difficult memorization wise.

Tickle Ur Ivories---just something to consider here. When you graduate from SCC you will probably try to find a job at a place like Providence or the like, and I think as an employee there with an ADN, it is important for you ALL to know that they are not hiring ADN nurses in the same numbers that they want to hire BSN nurses. Fair? Not really, but the big deal now is magnet status. So, you will probably make 26 to 30/hr dependent on the shift and differentials, if you can find a job. I don't mean to sound dreary, but if you truly want to be a nurse, and yes it does include wiping butts, cleaning up vomit, urine, etc. because we don't have NACs, go for your BSN. I wouldn't go to SCC unless it was my only option and I was planning to immediately continue from there. I believe that SCC now advises all of their students to do exactly that. Jobs are tight, the shortage of nurses is still there, they just are doing more with what they have.

i agree that you ultimately should plan on getting your bsn. i actually heard that by 2015 associates rn degrees will be phased out and you won’t be able to get a job with that degree anymore (if you get a job or degree before this you will be "grandfathered in"). but sometimes i think an rn degree is a better option for people. i started the rn program at scc and we only had class three days a week and the course load wasn’t extremely difficult (shouldn’t be if you did well in all your prereqs). it’s a good opinion for people trying to save money and who have families, then you always have the option to go back to school and get your rn to bsn. i was accepted to wsu so ill be moving to that program but scc has a great program, and are very likely to get their nln accreditation back.

I got on the waitlist last June 2011. Anybody else out there waiting as well. When do the letters come out? Thanks.

If you were accepted for spring you should have or will be getting it soon, fall ones come out middle of spring quarter I wanna say.

Did the letters come out for spring already. I received a letter just stating that I was put on the waitlist.

If you were put on the waitlist you werent accepted for fall, you can always call and ask where you are on the waitlist and when you should be accepted.