Arapahoe Community College

I graduated from ACC in Dec 2015 with my ADN.

Experience- it was pretty brutal for me. I'm a smart guy 4.0 on pre reqs, but only a 2.8 for nursing school. That said I do think the program prepares you for the NCLEX. Teachers are not very helpful.

Did I like the program? Worst two years of my life. But that's nursing school for you.

Schedule. It's pretty much a 9-5 gig plus clinicals that are usually two 12s first year.

Graduation. 19/37 students from my cohort. Three of them I know finished the following semester.

Clinicals. First semester was at Life Care of Littleton in the long term care wing all others were in hospitals. Sky Ridge MC, St Joe's, and Parker Adventist.

All in all I'm glad I did my program there because I got bedside skills I needed but if I were to do it over I would choose a BSN program because you will have to get that afterwards anyway.

Best of luck,

Bradley, RN

Hi,

I don't have any input as I decided to go with Denver College of Nursing (pending I get accepted!) but I feel like since you are a single mom you have a good head on your shoulders and will be able to commit and finish what is set forth in front of you. I wouldn't let the graduation rate worry you that much.

I did have a question though-do you mind me asking if you were immediately accepted or waitlisted for the ADN program? The competitiveness of the program and basically all of the options here in Denver seemed to make it be like I wouldn't be able to get in.

I think I can...,

Could you tell me about the HESI? I feel like I Need at least a 90% on it and I'm awful at test taking and Biology, any advice is great!

I think I can...,

Could you tell me about the HESI? I feel like I Need at least a 90% on it and I'm awful at test taking and Biology, any advice is great!

I highly recommend going to one of ACC's information sessions. You will roughly need a 90+ on each of the HESI subjects to get accepted.

What did you use to study? I feel confident on math, vocab and english. I'm taking my CNA now, I had a 3.4 GPA in pre reqs and I'm planning on applying to the January start, so applications are due by December 7th.

I used the Hesi study guides. I found a few different ones on Amazon. Quizlet and PocketPrep are also good sites for study material. ACC requires all of the sections except for Physics. Good Luck!

Hi Arika and Everyone,

I am currently in 4th semester at ACC and I can tell you everything you need to know about the HESI and what it takes to get in. Basically, admission is probably 98% doing well on the HESI. The math component isn't overly difficult, tons of proportion type problems. You need to knock that one out of the park. Practice the math problems in the HESI practice books so you can do them all. Seriously try to get 98-100% here. I think I got 96%. English for me was hard. It's tedious. Its hard to pick the correct objective/subjective pronoun etc. The vocab was not easy either. Spend time here! As far as the biology/chemistry/ a&p, those are for bonus points. My scores were math 96, English 94, and I think I got 2.5 bonus for the sciences. When it was all said and done, I think my rank was about 25/33 or so. So basically, a lot of people do well at this test but you have to do slightly better. Any prior healthcare experience or health care certificate will help slightly. It's competitive and people squeaked in by .25 or less. GPA helps but there is only 1 point difference max here (minimum is 3.0 and max is 4.0) Not trying to scare you, just trying to be real and encourage you to really try!

Good luck!

curb dog

Curb dog,

Can you tell me about the program? Congrats on getting in and being almost done!!! I am so excited but I know it will take awhile. I am trying to score every point I can, I've been a dental assistant for a couple years but I know it won't count as much as MA or CNA experience. I know I have to score high and I've been using the apps to practice the HESI but I feel like I am almost memorizing the answers more than using critical thinking. Do you know of anyone that was accepted with a 90% rather than a 100% HESI? I'm trying to be optimistic but I am pretty nervous.

Hi Arika,

Im sorry, I didn't see your comment sooner. Thanks so much, it wasn't easy and Im proud of my accomplishments. At this point, I just want to work and actually get a paycheck! Sure I can tell you about it. You are right, every point counts. Your experience as a dental assistant should count for something. If you have experience with anything remotely medical from that field, write it in detail. Maybe you assisted with sedation or maybe someone coded in the chair etc. I had experience as a unit secretary on a surgical floor and got a point for it I think.

Entry into the program really depends on how everyone else who applied did. For example, the applicants who were accepted into the program the semester I was all did really really good. People that didn't make it in would have made it the semester prior.

I found my HESI results and scores for others who made it in ---> So I got 91.71 for the cumulative total. That includes bio, a&p, and chemistry. The important number is that I got 94 in English and 96 in math for an average of 95. They take an average for bio, a&p, and chem and the equation is that if you averaged 90% or better, you get bonus 3 points. I averaged 88% and got 2.5 bonus points. I did really bad at a&p, but did really good at biology. Over 80% gets you bonus 2 points. Im guessing 70% average gets you bonus 1 point. Those points are important but not as much as smashing math and English. If you have a health certificate, it can get you an extra .25-1 point.

I bought 3 hesi study/practice books including the one they suggest. I would give them to you but I have already given them away. The chemistry that is in them is enough to do well enough on the hesi. I practiced those math problems till I knew how to do them all. On the actual HESI, I think I missed a scientific notation or a roman numeral problem I think. Im guessing 90% of the problems are proportion type problems. The English section I thought was hard. I took all the vocab words that I did't know from all 3 books and compiled a quizlet and I studied that a lot. Sometimes those vocab words were not the answers but you could rule out incorrect answers because you knew the ones you practiced. I watched videos too on correct grammar. There are other parts where you read a long paragraph and answer comprehension questions, conclusions, understanding, etc. Maybe you are awesome at English and it won't be so bad. Maybe you are awesome at math too and that would be really awesome!

Don't stress too much, Im sure you are preparing for it. And if you don't quite do as well as you hoped, it's not the end of the world. My friend didn't make it the 1st time she took it and then smashed it the second time. Im sure you will do great! Did you go to the information session? They will show you all the scores and that gives you an idea for how well you need to do.

I hope this helps. I will check back sooner this time if you have other questions. Good luck if I don't hear from you!