Applying to UCLA MECN to start Fall 2015?

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Hi! Is anyone applying to UCLA's MECN program? Last year I applied and wasn't accepted. I believe they accepted around 12%. They had 70 spaces down from 90 the previous year.

@ Get2theChoppa maybe i should mention about cleaning up after the patients. i help the nurses out. basically i do what care partners do.. except without the license.

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Specializes in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.
@Get2theChoppa Even though I'm currently in the CE program, I think overall you are correct. It's better to get CNA or EMT experience as you can get your hands dirty AND get paid a little. But is not run by high school kids - they are all either in college or recent grads so very young and they really don't know what they're doing but act VERY serious about it. That said, if you get in the ED you can do more - I have done 12-lead EKGs and chest compressions as well as gotten poop and pee & puke (the 3 P's) on me at various times. I have done more there than any other dept as a Care Extender. But I am also always where the action is and I always let the Techs know where I am in case they need me. Still - it gets a little old working for free and I think Get2theChoppa has a great point.

It might depend on where you volunteer. Could have just been that the CE volunteers I spoke to had a bad experience at their hospital. One girl said that the college kid managers would criticize her over small things regarding her appearance. Like her badge wasn't on straight or things of that nature. She just might have assumed they were high school kids because she described them as "bratty."

I think EMTs get to learn better skills--they also see patho in action, while CNAs learn better people skills--they deal with a lot more BS on a daily basis. Students with EMT experience are better with the coursework, while students were who were CNAs have an easier time working with patients in the hospitals during clinicals. Just what I've observed.

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Specializes in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.
@ Get2theChoppa maybe i should mention about cleaning up after the patients. i help the nurses out. basically i do what care partners do.. except without the license.

Talk specifically about your patient interaction. What was the patient's problem--how did you solve it--what was the result--how is it related to you're wanting to be a nurse?

I can't say that I know UCLA's winning formula for essays, but I was accepted into the 2014 MECN cohort. I declined ultimately, but I can provide some advice for the admissions process.

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@ Get2theChoppa i'm volunteering at ucla actually and i'm not in the CE program. from what i know, i don't like CE program because people constantly rotate so you don't get to know the people who work with well. i volunteer with the same nurses all the time

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@ceecoxy SOPs are hard to write that's for sure!

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I was skeptical about my PS, because I DID talk about a similar story I had with my Mom. I was iffy about doing it, but the experience really did inspire me to pursue nursing more...talking about anything else influencing my decision would have been a lie. I related my experience with my experience as both an EMT and working as a CNA/secretary/tele tech. RF said my PS was "very well written", and the main thing that kept me out was a C I had in a writing class. I went to the last info session and she kind of said the same thing...C's look terrible on the app. Strange because a few people from the year before seemed to have gotten in with some. Also learned that the cohort for this year is ONE short. If I had done epidemiology like they said I should, I would have started this week!

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She also mentioned my letters of rec could have been better. I submitted four, three good ones and one that I came to realize probably wasn't as good. They only take three, and they stressed that in the info session. So they probably took two of my good ones and my one crappy one (UCLA alum, go figure).

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@biglittlev As far as C's on transcripts, do you know if she meant C's from the pre-req classes look terrible, or any C's from any of your transcripts looks terrible? Because if it's the latter, I shouldn't have taken that intro to accounting in college! :banghead:

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@biglittlev As far as C's on transcripts, do you know if she meant C's from the pre-req classes look terrible, or any C's from any of your transcripts looks terrible? Because if it's the latter, I shouldn't have taken that intro to accounting in college! :banghead:

I was actually wondering the same thing as well lol.

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me too cause I redid a few prereqs that I had gotten a C. also my previous university I had so many C's that I had to redo some of them to raise my gpa.:nailbiting:

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Does anyone know what the average admission stats are?

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How important/heavily weighed is healthcare/volunteer experience? Are people accepted without healthcare experience?

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