Hi everyone, this is my first post on this site. I graduated from UC Irvine as a bio major but I was thinking of actually going into the field of nursing instead. (Yes, I know there is a nursing major there for undergrads, but by the time I decided that I wanted to pursue nursing instead of medicine or other things, it was quite late... :/)
I'd like some advice on what to do now, if possible. I'll just give more information about myself.
Since I already have a Bachelor's degree, I want to apply for an Entry Level Master's program... somewhere. The classes I've taken so far with respect to most pre-requisites are Anatomy, Physio, Microbio (all three with their respective labs too), Stats (Bio-stats, specifically), a speaking class, Lifespan Psych, Nutrition, General Chem, Organic Chem (and the labs). I may have left some out... I could check my transcript again later. A few days ago, I took the GRE. I haven't written anything in terms of personal statements. I have some people I could ask for a letter of rec from, but some of them haven't written it yet because they told me that they'll write it a few months before I actually start applying, or something...
So I'm not really sure what I should be doing now. I don't actually have *any* experience working. All I've done is volunteering at certain places. Would it be worthwhile to try and get a job, even if it's not related to the nursing field? Should I try and become a CNA in the meantime? I have no idea what I should be doing. My parents suggested that I should take some more classes to fulfill specific pre-reqs at certain schools (Pharmacology or something for UT Austin, Epidemiology for UCLA), but I *really* don't want to take any more classes, at least not until I get into nursing school.
Please let me know if you have any advice. I would greatly appreciate it!
Honestly it depends on what your GPA and scores are. If you are looking at more state schools you must have a high nursing GPA and high teas test score. I know the average for Sacramento State is 3.8 GPA and 87% on the TEAS. A lot of people apply to the state and community college programs in California; however, since the private schools cost much more, they get less applicants and some are not as competitive. Also, many of the community colleges in California use a lottery system to select their applicants. For instance, at my local community college 900 people apply per semester to the RN program, and the program uses a lottery to select 30 qualified applicants.
Personally, this coming semester I plan to apply to the four programs in my community, and depending on the results I will apply to more schools. Ten schools sounds good enough to me as long as you select schools where you are a competitive applicant.
For the CNA license I would suggest looking at community colleges, since the cost is the least there.
Here is a a list of CNA programs in California that may be helpful to you:
My parents suggested that I should take some more classes to fulfill specific pre-reqs at certain schools (Pharmacology or something for UT Austin, Epidemiology for UCLA), but I *really* don't want to take any more classes, at least not until I get into nursing school.
hj92
15 Posts
Honestly it depends on what your GPA and scores are. If you are looking at more state schools you must have a high nursing GPA and high teas test score. I know the average for Sacramento State is 3.8 GPA and 87% on the TEAS. A lot of people apply to the state and community college programs in California; however, since the private schools cost much more, they get less applicants and some are not as competitive. Also, many of the community colleges in California use a lottery system to select their applicants. For instance, at my local community college 900 people apply per semester to the RN program, and the program uses a lottery to select 30 qualified applicants.
Personally, this coming semester I plan to apply to the four programs in my community, and depending on the results I will apply to more schools. Ten schools sounds good enough to me as long as you select schools where you are a competitive applicant.
For the CNA license I would suggest looking at community colleges, since the cost is the least there.
Here is a a list of CNA programs in California that may be helpful to you:
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/services/training/Documents/CNATrainingPrograms.pdf