Accepted to UCLA's 2007 MECN Program!

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Specializes in SRNA.

Official acceptance thread congratulations! :balloons: Please...post here if you've been accepted, if you haven't read about it already in the other thread, they're apparently sending emails starting today! So keep an eye out! :eek:

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Hey I was accepted too! I am still making my final decision where I want to go but I am leaning towards UCLA..Congrats!

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Is anyone going to apply to live in the graduate housing? I have a great apartment that I love I am just deciding if I go to this program if I want to be on campus or not...any thoughts?

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CONGRATS NURSE2481!!!! :balloons:

I'm really not sure about housing... I think one factor to consider is how far your apt is from campus b/c it's a killer to actually qualify for a parking permit. My sister commuted to UCLA from L.A., and she still did not qualify for parking and had to pay daily. So in that sense, living on campus would be a plus.. although there are buses if you don't want to park on campus....

Did you apply at any other schools??

I'm still waiting to hear back from other schools. UCLA is not my top choice, but i am still considering it. It would be really hard to turn down UCLA though!!!

Let us know what you finally decide!!!

Again, Congratulations!!!

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Yeah I applied to USD and got in there also...I actually love San Diego and have a lot of family there and I visited the school and it is so beautiful and such a great campus, there was a great orientation and I love the factulty, love the facility, I met other students and they gave me a really good feel about the program....I also am very interested in international health and love traveling and they have great international opportunities, every year they take the students abroad (if they want to go). This winter I think they are going to Ghana...Anyway to sum it up I really love it there, I get a really good feel and they are so personal..They have already called and sent a million emails explaining everything...I dont feel all of that from UCLA yet I would feel dumb turning down UCLA because its ranked so high and is so prestigious. I dont know....How about you? Where else did you apply?

Oh I just heard that even if you live in the grad apartments you are not gauranteed parking so you might have to find street parking. That would suck to not find parking when you are going to your own home....hhmmmm

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Wow, it seems that USD is a great option! Although UCLA is ranked so high and is so prestigious, their program would only qualify me to be a master's prepared clinical nurse, not an APN, which is ultimately my goal.

I've also applied at CSULA, CSU Long Beach, and CSU Fullerton. I still have interviews with two of those schools. Although CSULA is not as prestigious as UCLA, I am very impressed with the consistency of their NCLEX passing rates. Their pass rate is higher than many schools. Additionally, it's a 3 year program that lets me specialize as a FNP. This is why CSULA is my top choice (I'm not willing to relocate; hence the reason why I didn't apply at any other schools.)

So if I went to UCLA, I would still have to apply to a school for my post-master's licensure. I don't know if I want to deal with the whole application process AGAIN!

But I totally feel you.... I don't want to turn down UCLA just becuase its UCLA!

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I want to do APN too but I am not in rush...I am not sure what I would specialize in yet and would rather have time working as an RN for a little bit to make sure. I dont want to put all that time in specializing in something and then wish I had done something else. I also think I would be a better APN if my courses werent crammed into one year. I want to be an expert at what I do to best help the patients...I dont know..I guess I am just not in a rush...I am excited to try everything out first and then go back and specialize...but that is just me and its just because I am not sure what I want to go into. Everything I have been exposed to I love and there is so much more to experience. I think either one you choose would be great! One will get you directly to where you are going but UCLA or another program like that will still get you there you just a little later...and time flies by so fast. If you work for a year and then apply for your post master you will be done in no time....We are so young! We have our whole lives ahead of us...I am just so grateful I got in somewhere...I was getting worried...Have you heard anything back from anywhere else? Let me know what you decide...

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congradulation to those accepted!

It is true that UCLA sounds a better option. But I am also kind of struggling where to go. I heard graduate housing is really packed and there are people waited for a year to get a room. Parking is another issue. Besides the ucla mecn program is just a new program and there are still glitches. If I had USD on my choice list, I would probably lean towards a more mature and easy going place then a stressful environment. while UCLA is a good school, but nursing.... who knows.

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I got accepted to the MECN program as well! I currently do research for two of the professors there (at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing) and also completed my master's degree there at the School of Public Health. My day job is as a health educator at the VA hospital and I LOVE IT! However, I am EXCITED about the MECN program and I think UCLA is a great school and so are the professors. I've been hearing from people who got in and many of them shoot it down for being a new program, having terrible parking, and getting really crappy housing. I look at it a different way: the transportation office will actually give parking to those who really need it (i.e., people who live far and also professional students such as medical, dental, and nursing). With regards to the housing, you can find relatively affordable housing north or south of UCLA (only about 5 miles either way). I live in Palms (the student area below UCLA) and it works out just fine. With regards to whether it is a good program, there is no doubt that the professors there are world-renowned and that if they can give great courses to the APN students, then they can to the MECN students as well. Anyway, I'm not trying to sell UCLA to anyone. I would love it if people chose to go there not because it's a back-up school, but more because it's such a GREAT school. I don't know about anyone else, but I cried when I got in. I am thankful for programs like these that make it easy for people to change career paths and to live in such an awesome town. I'm up for the challenge and hope to come across other students in my cohort who feel the same way. Another last thought: Nursing is a helping profession that puts you in the trenches. We need to get some experience under our belts before delving into full-blown diagnoses and treatments (and quickly attained APN degrees). If anything, all of the challenges that the program has can shed some light on the types of working conditions we'll have in the real world--because they're not always pretty. I look forward to the program and hope to meet some great students at the #1 hospital in the West. :)

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Wow it is so refreshing to hear from you. I honestly have had a not so good image of UCLA. My co-worker at Cedars Sinai actually got her masters in public health at UCLA too and was one of many who told me she did not like the school. She said most of her classes were done on power point and she could of easily got the exact same info just reading the slides and the books on her own. She said she could have taught herself everything. She came from a private school though were they were very hands on and creative in their teaching. Anyway I went to a private school for undergrad too and I guess that is what is appealing to me about USD because they have all these excursions, international trips, this winter they are taking the nursing students to Ghana, they have great facilities, great housing, they are so personal, I recieve about 2 emails per day on updates on how everything is going, scholarships, I recieved a personal email from the dean and she told us all to come in on her office hours so she can welcome us personally, they have beautiful student housing and everyone has parking......Its just such a nice and supportive feeling I get from there where as I have been having trouble just finding out basic info from UCLA. I am put on hold forever when I call, they said they dont give tours, etc...I was only interested in a tour because I went on an amazing tour at USD where they showed us their simulation lab and its a whole building set up like a real hospital with electronic dummies that have hear murmurs and different things go wrong and it shows up, there are also assessment rooms and is the only school where actors come in and fake different illnesses and we have to make assessments, they showed us their computer lab, the hospitals etc...I went myself to look around the nursing school at UCLA and found out it is just floors 5 through 7 of the health science building and didnt see anything else so I was a little dissapointed with thier facilities although I am sure I havent seen everything they have. I actually called today and they told me they are finally sending out an information packet which I am really eager to get. And I know it is probably ranked high for a reason and I am sure the teachers are great. I have heard such unhappy people with UCLA though so I am really happy to hear your positive words about it. I am not pre-judging it in any way I am just going off of what people have told me and what I have seen for myself which is not much. Maybe you can shed some more light on the school for me? How are the classes? Are they all taught by power point slides? How are the classrooms, facilities, opportunities? Do you know what makes it ranked so high? Is it the professors? Did you feel like a family or have personal relationships with the professors at the Public health school or was it more cold and you are on your own? How do you think the nursing program will be? Any input would be great....Thanks

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By the way I agree with you about not delving into quick APN programs..I think the best way to help others is to make sure we love what we are specializing in and that comes after experience and then taking time to learn everything we can about what we love...We have our whole lives there is no need to rush a year or two..its really nothing in the large scheme of things...I personally would like to get my APN but further down the road..I am excited to experience all the different areas of nursing and practice as an RN to really get a better scope of nursing and then specialize later

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