BAY AREA NURSING: SMU vs. CSUs [I NEED HELP/ADVICE!!!]

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Hello Everyone!

My name is Tiffany and I am currently in the process of fulfilling my prerequisites to apply to a BSN program by Spring 2021. I am seeking advice/help/opinions on nursing programs in the Bay!

Brief Backstory: I went to UCR for my first year of college [2018-2019] as a biology major, but mid-way through the year I realized that I wanted to fully commit to nursing so now I am back in the Bay going to CC.

Current Plans: So I am mainly looking at 2 schools, which are: Samuel Merritt University and CSU East Bay. These are the 2 schools I prefer because I would be able to commute from home. My TOP as of now is SMU. However, I also want to consider other CSUs in the area such as SFSU and SJSU. I know that it's crazy competitive right now so I would be grateful to have these schools even accept me.

Questions:

1. Are there any current nursing students at SMU, East Bay, SFSU, SJSU, or any local Bay Area schools that can tell me how their experience is going? (I.E. Academic rigor, campus life, happiness)

2. Is SMU worth the money? Since it is a private school, it is VERY pricey. I went to one of their Information Sessions recently and I understand that they have pretty advanced technology.

  • Are the professors and the entire learning experience worth the investment?
  • Is it difficult finding a job after graduating?
  • How long would it take to pay off student loans? [I know these situations are circumstantial and can vary, but I just wanted to hear a personal opinion!]

3. Is there even a chance of getting into SFSU or SJSU? I know nursing is impacted in the Bay, but I heard these schools were especially hard!

4. Would East Bay be the best option?

  • Since SMU is very expensive and SFSU/SJSU are extremely impacted, would I have a better chance at East Bay?
  • I've read a few threads that East Bay seems to prioritize local residents/students. Is this true?

Conclusion: Of course, I have and am still in the process of doing my own research for each school, but I wanted to make this thread to hear people's personal experiences or knowledge about the topic! Thank you so much for reading and I hope to receive your feedback soon! ?

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On 10/28/2019 at 4:48 PM, Tiffany Vo said:

Questions:

1. Are there any current nursing students at SMU, East Bay, SFSU, SJSU, or any local Bay Area schools that can tell me how their experience is going? (I.E. Academic rigor, campus life, happiness)

2. Is SMU worth the money? Since it is a private school, it is VERY pricey. I went to one of their Information Sessions recently and I understand that they have pretty advanced technology.

  • Are the professors and the entire learning experience worth the investment?
  • Is it difficult finding a job after graduating?
  • How long would it take to pay off student loans? [I know these situations are circumstantial and can vary, but I just wanted to hear a personal opinion!]

3. Is there even a chance of getting into SFSU or SJSU? I know nursing is impacted in the Bay, but I heard these schools were especially hard!

4. Would East Bay be the best option?

  • Since SMU is very expensive and SFSU/SJSU are extremely impacted, would I have a better chance at East Bay?
  • I've read a few threads that East Bay seems to prioritize local residents/students. Is this true?

I applied to SFSU and CSUEB for Spring 2020 and was admitted to CSUEB. I did not hear from SFSU, which is fine because CSUEB was my first choice. I possibly could not imagine commuting to the city for clinicals. In regards to Eastbay prioritizing local residents, YES, you are awarded additional points if you did most of your pre reqs locally. In another thread, someone did all of their pre-reqs locally, but had their second bachelors elsewhere, so those points did not count, which sucks.

In addition, SJSU DOES NOT take transfers for Spring admission, only for FALL, (even though they have a cohort for spring) so you will have to make sure that read the fine print on their application.

SMU is pretty expensive, but trust me, although it is expensive, there are many pre-nursing students trying to get into that program for some reason.

If your schedule allows, I would highly recommend volunteering to gain additional admissions points.

Good luck!

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Hi there! I currently go to SMU. I did the 2 year BSN program. I am graduating next spring so I think I've been there long enough to give you an honest run down of their program. I applied to CSUEB and got in as well and chose SMU instead. Mainly bc SMU has an AMAZING reputation in the bay area for some reason. A lot of big bay area hospitals prefer SMU students over others some times. I think it has something to do with the amount of clinical experience we get or something not sure. But I chose SMU mainly because of job security in the bay area when I graduate. SMU's education is great. Yes their extremely frustrating sometimes, but I can honestly say the professors care about you and are invested in your future nursing career. The biggest downside is the disorganization of the school, but from what I heard all nursing schools are like that so I guess SMU is no different. In terms of getting a job afterwards, SMU is the only school I have heard of in my life to have a 100% employment rate within the first 6 months of graduating. If that doesn't sell you I don't know what will. In terms of competition, SMU is still competitive to get into just like any other bay area nursing school. They just have something like 300 applicants rather than 600 at the CSU's. Regarding student loans, I have met several nurses who have graduated within the past 5 years from SMU who are working at great hospitals and are having no problems with loan repayments. I currently work at Stanford as a CNA and 50% of the RN's I work with from are from SMU and a big part of the reason I got this job was because I am a student at SMU. Hope this helps!

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On 12/7/2019 at 2:32 PM, mantia123 said:

Hi there! I currently go to SMU. I did the 2 year BSN program. I am graduating next spring so I think I've been there long enough to give you an honest run down of their program. I applied to CSUEB and got in as well and chose SMU instead. Mainly bc SMU has an AMAZING reputation in the bay area for some reason. A lot of big bay area hospitals prefer SMU students over others some times. I think it has something to do with the amount of clinical experience we get or something not sure. But I chose SMU mainly because of job security in the bay area when I graduate. SMU's education is great. Yes their extremely frustrating sometimes, but I can honestly say the professors care about you and are invested in your future nursing career. The biggest downside is the disorganization of the school, but from what I heard all nursing schools are like that so I guess SMU is no different. In terms of getting a job afterwards, SMU is the only school I have heard of in my life to have a 100% employment rate within the first 6 months of graduating. If that doesn't sell you I don't know what will. In terms of competition, SMU is still competitive to get into just like any other bay area nursing school. They just have something like 300 applicants rather than 600 at the CSU's. Regarding student loans, I have met several nurses who have graduated within the past 5 years from SMU who are working at great hospitals and are having no problems with loan repayments. I currently work at Stanford as a CNA and 50% of the RN's I work with from are from SMU and a big part of the reason I got this job was because I am a student at SMU. Hope this helps!

Hello! I'm graduating this spring and I've been thinking about where to apply. I was just wondering where you got the info on SMU's employment rate after graduation? I would love to know how to look for that when researching schools, thank you!

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On 2/24/2020 at 5:54 PM, StarlaB said:

Hello! I'm graduating this Spring and I've been thinking about where to apply. I was just wondering where you got the info on SMU's employment rate after graduation? I would love to know how to look for that when researching schools, thank you!

You can find it on SMU’s website. It has a lot to do with the connection the university has with hospitals in the bay. Most nurses I meet are also from SMU and they said that being SMU grad helped them a lot.

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On 12/7/2019 at 2:32 PM, mantia123 said:

Hi there! I currently go to SMU. I did the 2 year BSN program. I am graduating next Spring so I think I've been there long enough to give you an honest run down of their program. I applied to CSUEB and got in as well and chose SMU instead. Mainly bc SMU has an AMAZING reputation in the bay area for some reason. A lot of big bay area hospitals prefer SMU students over others some times. I think it has something to do with the amount of clinical experience we get or something not sure. But I chose SMU mainly because of job security in the bay area when I graduate. SMU's education is great. Yes their extremely frustrating sometimes, but I can honestly say the professors care about you and are invested in your future nursing career. The biggest downside is the disorganization of the school, but from what I heard all nursing schools are like that so I guess SMU is no different. In terms of getting a job afterwards, SMU is the only school I have heard of in my life to have a 100% employment rate within the first 6 months of graduating. If that doesn't sell you I don't know what will. In terms of competition, SMU is still competitive to get into just like any other bay area nursing school. They just have something like 300 applicants rather than 600 at the CSU's. Regarding student loans, I have met several nurses who have graduated within the past 5 years from SMU who are working at great hospitals and are having no problems with loan repayments. I currently work at Stanford as a CNA and 50% of the RN's I work with from are from SMU and a big part of the reason I got this job was because I am a student at SMU. Hope this helps!

Can you tell us more about how the program was. I was debating not going to SMU due to cost but I heard a lot of good things.

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The program is tough like any other nursing program. The clinical placements were great in my opinion. SMU has a lot of great connections to the "bigger" hospitals in the bay area which really gives students great exposure and networking opportunities. Most of the professors are great and are very supportive. There are only 1-2 professors I can think of that really shouldn't be teaching. The tuition is ungodly expensive, but in some ways I can see where all the money goes. The simulation labs are very high tech. I have heard SMU is one of the only schools with a simulation lab in the bay area? Not sure about that one. Like someone had mentioned here, SMU nurses are highly regarded in the bay area. Going to SMU can open a lot of doors for you when you start applying to jobs. If you can afford it I would suggest it. If you can't, even with financial aid, then I suggest one of the CSU's.

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