Any Pasadena Community College (PCC) students here?

I went to PCC starting in Fall of 04'. I wanted to get into the RN program and didn't know much about it back then. I went to see a counselor and he made me feel like getting in would be impossible, he said I could try but it would be tough and that I should look into other fields also.

Well, here I am 4 years later and a recent RN program graduate!

I did all of my prerequisites at PCC and during that time I heard sooo many people talk about how great the PCC program wasand that it was the best program to get into. I even had a fellow classmate who decided to ONLY apply to PCC based on that.

However, I applied to 4 schools (including PCC) that participated in a lottery system. I lost the lottery on 3 of them, however, I got into Glendale College's (GCC) RN program on my first shot. I was so happy. And the program there was fantastic, just as good as PCC in my opinion. I had so many great clinical experiences and teachers. And now that I'm finished I realize how foolish my fellow classmate was. We still keep in touch on myspace and he gave up on applying after 3 trys at PCC. He has decided to go into law enforcement instead but is still on some waiting list for that.

I just took the state board exam (NCLEX) 2 days ago and once I pass that the puzzle is finally complete. I will finally have my RN license after 4 years of study!

So.....here are my tips:

-Don't get your hopes up on PCC, an RN license is an RN license no matter what school you go to. Apply to as many schools as possible and don't give up hope if you don't get in the first time.

- RIGHT NOW..... make a list of all the RN programs in the L.A. area. Seperate the lottery schools from the waiting list schools. Now find out all the info possible on each lottery school in relation to the prerequisites. Each school has varying prereq's. For example, PCC requires Nutrition and Child Developmental psych, while GCC requires Psych 101 and Humanities (plus math, english and of course all the science courses). Now if you have extra room for the classes in a particular semester take them all to improve your chances of getting into a program. It will save you time in the end and you will get your career started much sooner (which means it will also save you money).

- Try to make a B average in your science courses. I had only 1 C, in Physio 2A, but I made A's and B's in everything else so my GPA was above 3.0. Keep your overall GPA above 3.0 but really make sure you do well in the sciences. Like I said, one C is OK but don't slack too much. Those courses can be tough so try your best and study hard when you get into Micro and Physio/Anatomy.

- I believe you will get in! I was so uncertain at first that I'd ever make it this far but here I am. I was in your shoes 4 years ago and 4 years from now you will be in mine.

GOOD LUCK! and feel free to ask me any question that you'd like.