I live on the East Coast and I'm strongly considering moving out to the west coast for a change of pace. My best friend from college moved out to Oakland, CA to attend Mills and recommended checking out Samuel Merritt for nursing. The program sounds good, I like that they seem value your work experience (I've worked as a PCA and as a CNA/mental health worker for about 3 years, all paid work experience), my math and science GPA is decent since I took the courses at a community college that assigned grades, so it's something like a 3.7.
I started off at community college and my GPA when I transferred was 3.95. The caveat is I don't have an overall undergrad GPA. My undergraduate school (Bennington College in Bennington, VT) gave detailed written course evaluations. They also offered numeric grades but the professors I took courses with tended to be against assigning grades, and I'm pretty anti grade in general (it's a major reason why I went there). Other alumni have gone on to med school and other grad programs so it's not some totally weird, unregulated and unrecognized hippie thing. My undergrad major was Social Sciences.
When I spoke to an admissions counselor at SMU they said they were open to receiving the written reviews instead of grades. (Columbia in NYC was too, and I have several Bennington classmates attending grad school there, but I don't want to go from zero nursing experience to a Doctorate. Simmons College in Boston was also fine with my undergrad grading system being different, but I want to get out of the Boston area forever!).
It's also difficult given the job market to decide on what kind of degree to go for. I was initially thinking the direct entry MSN route might be better, but some older RNs strongly recommended getting a BSN and work experience first. I want to get actual bedside nursing experience before specializing anyway.
Any advice? Experience at Samuel Merritt? Recommendations for other schools to check out?
Thank you for the insight! This is the sort of information I've been looking for. My partner and would ideally relocate to Northern California (he's considering UC Berkeley & UC Davis for PhD programs). We have friends and family out that way which would make it a lot easier. We're also exploring options for both of us in Washington and Oregon.
It can be pretty tough for new RNs where I'm from, too (Massachusetts). It seems difficult for new RNs in general when it comes to places that are desirable to live (eg: NYC, LA, SF, Boston). The COL of living in Boston has just exploded. We actually found less expensive and nicer housing in Manhattan.
I won't be applying for about 2 years (by then I'm sure the tuition will be about $70000). I have a few prereqs to finish up (A&P, Microbiology and Chemistry). My plan is to get a relevant job in healthcare (that actually requires my BA degree, hopefully) and get some more volunteer experience on the side at local clinics.
Niandra
15 Posts
Thank you for the insight! This is the sort of information I've been looking for. My partner and would ideally relocate to Northern California (he's considering UC Berkeley & UC Davis for PhD programs). We have friends and family out that way which would make it a lot easier. We're also exploring options for both of us in Washington and Oregon.
It can be pretty tough for new RNs where I'm from, too (Massachusetts). It seems difficult for new RNs in general when it comes to places that are desirable to live (eg: NYC, LA, SF, Boston). The COL of living in Boston has just exploded. We actually found less expensive and nicer housing in Manhattan.
I won't be applying for about 2 years (by then I'm sure the tuition will be about $70000). I have a few prereqs to finish up (A&P, Microbiology and Chemistry). My plan is to get a relevant job in healthcare (that actually requires my BA degree, hopefully) and get some more volunteer experience on the side at local clinics.