Applying to UCLA MECN to start Fall 2015?

ElizabethH736 · Nov 27, 2014

Aw thanks. Yea waiting till march is definitely going to be tough ...and I think the previous cohort didn't hear until early April ?

lrahm16 · Dec 10, 2014

@lagirl_1989 Yes! Graduated 2012. I wish being a prior Bruin counted for something! (It definitely doesn't haha). P.S. also from L.A., and also 1989

IBCLCOC · Dec 20, 2014

Happy Holidays to all of my (hopefully) future Fall 2015 cohort friends!

ElizabethH736 · Dec 20, 2014

Happy Holidays to all of my (hopefully) future Fall 2015 cohort friends!

Happy holidays to you too! And to everyone! ? I really hope we will all be accepted to UCLA ?

hill3032 · Dec 23, 2014

Hello future MECN students. I am a 1st yr MECN student, happy holidays and hang in there. Hopefully you guys hear back sooner than you think, it is worth all the waiting and stressing. Endoy the process and try not to stress too much. Any question feel free to email me pathill22@yahoo. Good luck

snailszy · Dec 23, 2014

Wow thank you pathill for reaching out to us and allowing us to reach out to you :)

I have some broad questions that may pertain to others on this thread so I'm going to post them here.

1. UCLA's NCLEX passing rate is very low compared to the other schools in Socal. Do you feel like UCLA does a good job prepping you for the NCLEX or is it a self study sort of thing?

2. How much are you spending on the program- tuition, books, class fees, etc? I couldn't find information on the website on how much the program costs

Thanks!

jsala013 · Dec 27, 2014

HEY Pat! It's Jess!

I'm a 1st year MECN student also, and I'd be happy to answer any questions, as well! To answer your questions, @snailszy:

1. We're only in our first quarter, so it may be too soon to tell. But so far, my impression is that UCLA is a great school with amazing opportunities for local and global outreach, research, and networking. However, since it is a public school and there are at least 70 students in each class, the professors are not there to hold each student's hand through each class and through to the NCLEX--it would just impossible. I think their philosophy on it is that it's an individual exam, so studying should also be done on an individual level, as well. I believe they just started using Kaplan a year or two ago (?), so they are still working on incorporating this resource into the classes. So far, I think it's a great tool for individual studying, but like I said, they will not hold your hand through everything.

2. Tuition and fees altogether cost approximately $8,000 per quarter (including university health insurance, which is $1,000 per quarter), so about $24,000 per year. For books and supplies this past quarter, I probably only spent about $600 since I use a lot of PDFs from online, but I know people who bought all the required and recommended books and spent about $1,000. It'll probably be less from here on out since we were starting from scratch. I accepted the max amount of scholarships and loans offered to me this year, which came up to about $45,000 and has been more than enough to cover tuition, books, rent, and living costs. The financial aid guy is very nice and helpful, so I would recommend talking to him about your options.

I hope this answered your questions! Hang in there guys :) Decisions will come soon enough! Hopefully earlier than it did last year!

snailszy · Dec 27, 2014

Jess, you are so awesome! Thank you for taking your time to answer my questions!!

jsala013 · Dec 27, 2014

No problem @snailszy! I remember being on the other side just last year with a billion questions, so let me know if there's anything else I can help answer!

freshprance · Dec 29, 2014

Thank you current MECN students for answering questions!!

i have some more questions if you've got the time:

what were your qualifications that helped you get accepted? Were you wait listed? Do you find out via mail or should we be checking the online application system as someone else mentioned? Thank you!!!

princesagris · Dec 29, 2014

Hi everyone! I'm going to join this thread and the waiting party lol. I'm currently a senior at UCLA, anybody else?

Good luck to everyone and happy new year! Hope our new year comes with acceptance letters :)

jsala013 · Jan 2, 2015

@hanabiwabi, I don't mind answering your questions!

- I'm not sure what the admissions committee liked about me/my application exactly, but I guess I can just tell you a bit about my "stats" since applicants tend to be concerned about this (I known I was when I was applying! lol). I graduated from UCR in 2013 with an overall GPA of 3.3 and a last-90-unit GPA of 3.7 in Biological Sciences (really not that impressive, if you ask me!). I had about 400 hours of hands-on hospital volunteer work through the Clinical Care Extender (CCE) program, which was an amazing first hospital experience. Throughout college, I also worked a part-time job and became involved in a number of campus orgs and leadership. After school, I took a year off and worked as a medical scribe in an emergency department while working on my application. I'm not really sure how great my LORs and SOP were compared to others, but I did make sure to ask for letters from people who could attest to my "nursing qualities." I was told during the info session that the SOP was the most important piece of the application, so I spent months writing and rewriting my SOP, making sure that I showcased the little clinical experience I had, along with whatever leadership and life experience I felt was relevant to prove that I had a real passion for nursing and that I would be able to take on the role of a CNL. Honestly, if you can show admissions that you are passionate, driven, and well-rounded, you will get in! I know it's easy to get caught up in comparing "stats," but I think UCLA looks past the numbers and considers each applicant holistically. We have people from all walks of life in our class right now, so don't lose hope just because we may have different "stats"!

- Though I was not wait-listed, I know many people who were and ended up being accepted even up until a month before the program started!

- Decisions were posted via the online application system. We then received an e-mail from Graduate Admissions, then the School of Nursing. I would suggest checking the online portal. I'm not sure if it was an anomaly this year, but decisions were not mailed at all.

I hope I was able to thoroughly answer your questions! And I hope this helps at least one applicant out there :)