BMCC part time or full time?

superZONic · Aug 13, 2008

Hi Myleena,

I have been going to BMCC since Fall of 2006 part time. I got an EMT certificate there and transfered to pre-clinical nursing and am finally going to begin Clinical nursing in a couple of weeks (Fall 2008). Some semesters i have taken 1 or 2 classes and some semesters 3 classes or more, depending on what i could handle in order to maintain the highest GPA possible. You will need a very high GPA to get into the BMCC Associates RN nursing program, so do your best and try to concentrate on a semester at a time. Starting as soon as you are able and keep plugging along with your eyes on the prize, is the best advice i can give. Time flies and you will be ready for CLinical before you know it.

Now, i'm hoping you've already spoken with Mr. Sierra (Room S-778 ) in the Pre-clinical nursing department. His job is to assist folks in navigating this pursuit, although i confess that he sometimes confused me, ignored me, and would have been a discouragment, if i'd not been determined to pursue the degree and just took class after class until i had what i needed to fill out the program requirements (minus the clinical portion). I even snuck in classes that will eventually be useful to transfer towards a bachelors degree in nursing (which you might want to aim for down the line, because a nurse with a Bachelors may have more opportunity in position and salary than a nurse with an Associates). Anyways, as far as Sierra, you will not enter the department unless you see him. He is the gatekeeper.

***You will need to take the following courses before you get anywhere near Clinical Nursing classes (and technically, these are the only classes you need to finish to apply to the Clinical portion, but i would get some of the other general degree requirements under your belt so that you'll have good background knowledge and hopefully some critical thinking skills):

ENG 101 English Composition I

MAT 104 Mathematics for Health Science 1

PSY 100 Introduction to Psychology

BIO 425 Anatomy & Physiology I (Chem 121 is a prereq.)

I cannot stress enough how important it is to get As in these classes. While it is possible to get into Clinical with a B in one of these classes, you may be nudged into Night Classes (easier to get in to but harder to endure, i hear). The waiting list to get into Clinical has generally started at 4.0 and cuts off about 3.7-3.8 average for just those 4 prerequisites. So, i think for you to be able to relax and not worry about getting in, you should just aim for 4.0 in those four classes and get and maintain a 3.4-4.0 GPA overall if you can because i've heard from folks ahead of me that it may drop precipitously in the first year of Clinical.

As far as teachers, unfortunately several of my favorites have retired or moved on to higher paying jobs. I will say Peter Nguyen for A&P and MIcro was a good guy and pretty easy to follow. Sara Salm was a substitute lecturer one time and she was very very effective and knowledgeable, so shes good for Bio sciences too. Gary Richards was a cool hippie kinda get in touch with your feelings English I professor that likes participation. I had Lee for MaT 104 but it was terribly boring. If you have a solid knowledge of fractions and decimals (like, 5th grade math), i recommend just taking MAT 104 online. Mila Brisbon was a cool speech teacher, if you havent had speech yet (tough cookie but smart and amusingly snarky). Y'know, just check Rate My Professor and pay attention not to how "hard" or mean they are, but how effectively they disseminate information and how approachable they are. That will help you more at the end of the day, than an easy A sucker class.

Anyways, if you want more info on the nitty gritty of Clinical, i'd be happy to give you a report at the end of my first semester in it. Email me if you have any more questions that you think i might could help you with.

genaluvya, LPN · Aug 16, 2008

Myleena, thanks for the info

It was very helpful. I applied for Spring 09. Hopefully I will be accepted into right into the clinicals. I wanted to ask a question. Do you think that I should take A&p 1 over? I got a C but all the other pre reqs are A's. Many told me not to because my gpa is already high.

superZONic · Aug 17, 2008

It was very helpful. I applied for Spring 09. Hopefully I will be accepted right into the clinicals. I wanted to ask a question. Do you think that I should take A&p 1 over? I got a C but all the other pre reqs are A's. Many told me not to because my gpa is already high.

If you're asking me, I'm going to say yes, if they let you take it over again, do it and get an A in that A&P I (BIO425). You are allowed into the clinical portion only if you meet or exceed the cutoff grade average for those 4 classes (ENG, MAT, PSY, BIO). I don't believe your overall GPA affects your acceptance into Clinical nursing classes except to say, you must maintain a 2.5 overall GPA while you are killing time in pre-clinical status.

Now, back to that cut-off grade. It has been (for the day nursing class waiting list) around 3.7 or 3.8 (meaning, no applicant with a grade average lower than 3.7 for those 4 classes is moving forward into clinical nursing). During a given semester, the school has only so many placements and who they go to will be based on the average grade of those 4 classes and only those 4 classes. If there are a lot of people who get 4.0 in all 4 of those classes, those people are going to take up the bulk of the entry list. Then they will begin to look at some folks who didnt get all As in those classes. They will look for A/A/A/B people next and those folks will round out the list and pretty much everyone else will be cut off until perhaps one day, maybe several semesters down the road, the cut-off grade gets lowered to 3.5 (A/A/B/B or A/A/A/C) or whatever have you. That means that you could be waiting a long time because this program is the least expensive and grade-wise, *very* competitive. People from all over the city, state, and world are making a run at those placements with some very high grades. A C averaged with the 3 As in to your 4 prerequisite classes is going to bring that down below that cutoff and probably keep you out. Now, you should definitely speak with Mr. Sierra and maybe he can give you an idea of how this coming year is going to look but if it were me and i wanted to be sure , i'd just bite the bullet and retake the class as soon as possible, if allowed to. And get that A, of course.

:up:The benefits:

1) it will much easier to get an A since you've already had an introduction to the material, you'll get your GPA and 4 class requisites average up to snuff and you'll sleep a little easier knowing you are IN and 2) You get reinforcement for what you already studied and this will give you a solid foundation for A&P II and the clinical nursing lessons.

All this aside, a 3.5 average for those 4 classes could get you entry into the evening nursing program, which can have a bit lower cutoff grade, i understand. The night program has its own pros and cons...but may be suited to you, your goals, and schedule. - Ami