Anyone Attend OCC (Ocean County College) for the RN program?

NJLaurenRN · Aug 2, 2008

i went there. graduated 2yrs ago. was in the days prog. its a very good school. in fact i think i got a better education then my best friend who is now attending rutgers. leah kelly was the best instructor that i had. try to take nutrition with nursing 2. towards the middle of the semester they kinda deal with the same. a lot of the instructors that i had retired the yr i graduated. i think 6 or 7 total. let me know if u have any questions or need any help. i work at cmc now. doing very well.

jnc0713 · Aug 4, 2008

i went there. graduated 2yrs ago. was in the days prog. its a very good school. in fact i think i got a better education then my best friend who is now attending rutgers. leah kelly was the best instructor that i had. try to take nutrition with nursing 2. towards the middle of the semester they kinda deal with the same. a lot of the instructors that i had retired the yr i graduated. i think 6 or 7 total. let me know if u have any questions or need any help. i work at cmc now. doing very well.

How long did it take you to get a job??? Im attending OCC doing my pre req's now. Does CMC take new grads? Even for specialty like the OR?

NJLaurenRN · Aug 5, 2008

How long did it take you to get a job??? Im attending OCC doing my pre req's now. Does CMC take new grads? Even for specialty like the OR?

it depends on if ur picky or not. like if u only want days or tele or icu. not that good of chance of finding one right away. i work on ortho. my dad is best friends with the chief of staff of ortho surgeon's. so i had my in. its alot of work at first. but i love my floor. def the coolest nurses there. alot of floors the nurses are boring or very "clicky" kinda like high school all over again. and its tru nurses do eat their young. i'll never be like that though. you can't be too picky as a new grad. have to keep an open mind. all u have to do is stick it out for 6mths then u cazn transfer. but i would recommend working at least 1-2yrs before going for the big stuff...best of luck. let me know if u have any questions at all. i know alot of short cuts that will help u thru occ nursing program. not cheating or anything and won't make u learn any less

jnc0713 · Aug 5, 2008

thanks for the reponse. yeah i was thinking that i would probably need to work on a med/surg floor for at least a year then go into the specialty i want.(NICU or OR)

Yeah I will gladly take any shortcuts in regards to OCC nursing-how long did it take you to get in?? I've heard stories on both sides-takes a long time & doesnt take anytime at all. Not sure what to expect. Any advice to the occ program would be greatly appreciated?? What professors do you recommend? I'm going for the evening program. I was thinking of working like 24 hours is that doable??? Also you may know I was on Meridian Health's website they offer a program where they pay for your nursing program, give you a tech job for sat/sun in exchange you have to work for them for 2 years-how does this sound? do you know anyone who has done this? sorry for all of the ???? I just wanted to get info firsthand from someone who's been through the program.

Thanks sooooo much

cristi

NJLaurenRN · Aug 6, 2008

thanks for the reponse. yeah i was thinking that i would probably need to work on a med/surg floor for at least a year then go into the specialty i want.(NICU or OR)
Yeah I will gladly take any shortcuts in regards to OCC nursing-how long did it take you to get in?? I've heard stories on both sides-takes a long time & doesnt take anytime at all. Not sure what to expect. Any advice to the occ program would be greatly appreciated?? What professors do you recommend? I'm going for the evening program. I was thinking of working like 24 hours is that doable??? Also you may know I was on Meridian Health's website they offer a program where they pay for your nursing program, give you a tech job for sat/sun in exchange you have to work for them for 2 years-how does this sound? do you know anyone who has done this? sorry for all of the ???? I just wanted to get info firsthand from someone who's been through the program.
Thanks sooooo much
cristi

ok. think hard and long before u pick a specialty. in i think 2nd semester you get to observe a surgery. i loved it and thought it was for me. about a month ago i had an interview for the OR. didn't go well. i had injured my back at work in january and am still in a lot of pain even after P.T. 3 epidurals pain meds etc... well since i was treated thru workmans comp the OR director knew about it and it didn't look good for me being that theres alot of heavy lifting and standing in one spot for hrs on end. 2nd they weren't that inviting and not very friendly during the interview. and 3rd i love pt interactiion and in the OR u have close to none being that they are under anesthesia. 4th you have to deal with angry doc's all day. so my point is weigh out all your options.

as for professor's like i said most of my prof retired the yr i graduated. and i don't know any of the PM prof

i waited 3.5yrs to get in. got screwed over. got a letter of acception and then when i went to sign up they said that they accepted too many students and they didn't have the room for me. it was a mistake on their part.

don't know what u mean by 24hrs. if u mean in the hospital i don't think they allow that by law. think the only time that happens is if there's a state of emergency like a 10ft snow storm where no one could go in or out. and no if they do allow it i def woould not reccomend it. you need to be well rested for a 13 hr day of nursing. people's lives are in ur hands and if u make a mastake it could cost you your license, job and possibly their life.

i would agree that getting a job as an aide or a multi tech (an aide that also draw blood and stuff). you get a lot of experience with pt care that will help u with school and starting ur career. plus they guarentee u a job when u graduate3 plus pay for school. think u have to stay with them for 2yrs though. in addition to meridian try st barnabas (community and kimbal) at www.sbhcs.com

lastly expect nursing school to be harder than any course u have ever taken. put it this way they usually tell u day 1 to look around the classroom because 1/2 of u will not make it to nursing 2. my total graduating class started out with 90 students. of the original 90 i think only 37 of us made it straight thru to the end. if u fail a semester u can retake it one time. if u fail it twice u are dropped from the program, but if u feel like u are border line from failing drop out before u fail. also an F is 74%, an C is 75. they have a different grading scale then the rest of the school

good luck....let me know if u have any more questions. hope this was helpful and i wasn't trying to scare u by any means, just telling u what to expect. wish someone did the same for me. but i did it. i passed every single test thru the whole program

ttys,

Lauren:) :nurse:

jnc0713 · Aug 6, 2008

RN2B72980-

thank you soo much for the value info. I actually was talking about working 24 hours a week during NS. I think that is doable. at either in the hospital or where i work now. Community does that program for paying for school also??? I tried contacting their nurse recruiter to ask about it and never got a response back. CMC hires new grads??? In all areas or just med/surg??? I really would like to work at CMC. Have been trying to get a job there for years-either as a tech or unit sec. wont give me the time of day. I guess i have to wait until im in nusing school.

That 3.5 years you waited to get into OCC NS did that include doing your pre-reqs??? that seems like such a long time to wait around to get in. I would like to do all the pre-reqs/core classes 1st before i get into the program so that all i have is the nursing classes. do you know if the evening program is much different from the day???

I really appreciate you giving me your name as a referral-hopefully i will see you on the floors!!!!!!

cristi

NJLaurenRN · Aug 6, 2008

i was taking my pre-reg's . in fact i do believe that they made it a policy the yr after i started nursing school that they will only admit students that have completed all pre-req's (english, math, social science, a&p i and ii, and micro) which was very smart in their part. its almost near impossible do attend other courses while doing nursing.

now as for nursing. apply on the website. thsy may even be hring unit secr on my unit being that one of you secr just left and she was part time. when i was in school i worked 26- 30 hrs no prob. well it was no prob for me. on the website they even have a position saying new grads on it. which prob is med surg. apply to anything like i said be for dont be picky. for new grads there is a mandatory 12wk orientation. and i think they just started a program where if ur a new grad u go to a assigned unit other than the unit u will be on for a few weeks where a preceptor will teach u the basics and hosp policies. then after those few weeks u go to ur unit to finish ur 12 wks. when ur done with ur 12wks u will feel like ur not ready. but u are. everyone will help u if needed. then after a few weeks on ur own u will fly thru the day even after working over one yr on my floor, i still have questions. u probably will for 2 yrs. nothing to be ashamed of. its impossible to learn everything in just 12wks. good luck

jnc0713 · Aug 6, 2008

thanks

i checked cmc's website-the unit secy job isnt listed anymore-it was there last week i appliied to it but i guess since i dont have any previous hospital exp they wont hire you. The only other postition in your unit is for nursing asst-not sure if i would qualify yet for that. i just keep checking. Thanks again for all of your input.

NJLaurenRN · Aug 6, 2008

they will hire anyone offthe street for a na. trust me the last two have no experience.

irishnoreenRN · Aug 7, 2008

I attended OCC graduated in 1979. At that time, it was very competative. If you did get in you were told you were the " Cream of the Crop" I doubt if anything has changed. It's all competative. I just finished a course at UD. Only the smart survive:)

RNbeach, ASN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

I graduated from OCC this past May, It took me 3 years to complete my pre-reqs and one semester off before I could get into the program. The program is very difficult but doable. OCC does truly prepare you for the NCLEX. Out of my graduation class, we have all passed our boards on the first shot.

As for clinicals, I believe it's all luck. If you get an excellent clinical professor, you will learn a lot and get a nice foundation to build upon once you are out in the real world practicing as a RN. However, if your clinical professor is weak, then you can go a whole semester without learning any valuable clinical skills.

I have two instructors that I highly recommend and truly care about the students and the education that they get. That is Professor Arlene Witman, and Professor Leah Kelly. I feel fortunate to have had Professor Kelly my last semester b/c she made it all come together. and everyday that I'm at work now, there isn't a minute that goes by that what she taught me come up.

Do I reccomend OCC, well, for the location, time and money it take to get your RN, then yes. Do I like them personally no, absolutely not, but hey I got my RN, I passed my boards, and I'm working, so ultimately that is the goal to be an RN, and it accomplishes the goal.

I got a job prior to graduation because I started interviewing in April. I can give you more information about that if you message me privately.

I also happen to live in your neck of the woods.

Good luck!