I'm wondering if any one has heard of Brandman University. They have a new ABSN program in San Diego, CA that i'm looking into. My grades are not competitive but i want to get into my career soon.
Has anyone been to this school, and if so, how did you like it? Do you think I'll be able to land a good job as an RN if I were to apply and attend? I'm nervous, since it is a new program! Such as, what if they end up closing and the degree won't be valid ?
The only schools that offer '300' level Microbiology, Anatomy, and Physiology courses are the expensive schools like National University, and University of Phoenix. More affordable schools like City Colleges or CSU's don't offer those courses as upper division. If someone has the money they should go for it. However, if money is not a problem for those wanting to start right away I would look into West Coast University. West Coast accepts every semester no waitlist, GPA requirement 2.0, no prereqs required, but its expensive. I personally can't afford a school like that so I will have to endure the TEAS, and waitlists.
Also, I have a Bachelors from a CSU, with straight A's in my prereqs that were taken over the past 2-3 years at a CSU (so very recent). I have read several people getting selected for the Brandman program without a Bachelors degree as well. I have even read about people with much lower GPA's than mine getting accepted. So a Bachelors degree is not preferred from what I have seen. It seems like it is a first come first serve waitlist situation.
I'm familiar with accupuncture and chinese medicine practice, the Chemistry and courses used though in your schooling are modified to meet the needs of acupuncture and your schooling to pass the exam that is for only acupuncture. I work as PA and I admit it I review xrays or prescribe meds or do a diagnosis my practice and expertise is more vast in (western medicine) than yours is for acupuncture. We also bill very differently and insurance covers my payments where most places as a primary care giver you are limited. You can or diagnose as patient or prescribe as you do not obtain a DEA number by california. I respect the natural path and use of herbs on some stuff but others not so much. This is where you will suffer on the NCLEX and TEAS exams if you choose not to repeat Chemistry and higher level math such as statistics/ bio stats or even algebra to calculate titrations of medications from person to person from Ounces to mililiters or pills to solutions or vice vs. Many people have difficulty with computing simple fractions and don't remember elementary math let alone classes taken 3 decades ago.
I know I struggled and my courses were not that old, some stuff you just don't retain over long periods of time. Many times as we age it's like a full box you need to dump stuff to put more in, since we have lives and kids and lots of things to remember daily the older school academics not used daily get lost. Education is not like riding a bike, it needs to be a crash course to review to bring back up to the top and sometimes esp if it's a subject you struggled in to pass then, it certainly doesn't get easier as we age. I would hate to retake nomenclature again or history. Those were subjects I only needed to take once and not a favorite and I think just went away the next semester as I went on to other classes. I remember benzene rings and types the elements and period table and calculations but of asked to test on the entirety I'd need a refresher to do it well. If asked about dates and people in history I'd be lost. Esp worldwide.
And due to the newest change in writing papers in Turabian style or ADA formats vs MLA format as I learned in back in the day as that was the gold standard for research and writing papers. This is no longer the requirements. Times change and laws change and requirements are outdated/updated to schools all the time. This is why courses expire and schools are picky and then they use this to weed out applicants to make the pool smaller. California is impacted beyond its mean. People from other states come here and other countries transfer here just to go to school, then we have the extensive population residing here also competing for spots in programs we don't have enough teachers to teach them. And california passed a new regulation recently to reduce student/teacher ration in nursing programs which means now less students per cohort. Pay also sucks for teachers in these programs vs as bedside clinical nurses. If schools would pay the teachers what they made as bedside nurses they would have no problem having more programs run more times a year or larger class cohorts. They make plenty of money per student on tuition to cover teacher salary. Schools want money to keep and less to pay out, they are businesses after all and not there for best interest of students. You find it frustrating in nurse school, try to get into PA school or Med school. Good luck in california, let alone every state. Few programs and fewer residency spots, program costs are enormous and the criteria is intense to meet. Thank god I'm old before everyone wanted to get into these fields like it is now.
I hope this helps and answers the issues you have had. I know it's hard as I had to jump through hoops also to continue in education as mine started so long ago and the gaps made it hard to get done without repeats in so so much. However, like I said some areas it made it easier to do the second go around than it was the first time. See if you can find a accelerated course that you can do them in 4-6 weeks vs 16 weeks traditional and just knock em out super quick. National Univeristy has them, and some school in LA does them also in person on weekends over 4-5 weekends they do all these lab science classes. I think Arizona State has them online and they send the labs in mail and some places are letting students use them as refresher courses.
I wish you good luck. You can also look into WGU BSN program I believe they are taking applications right now also. Same with chamberlain for BSN and if okay to relocate for short term Texas has an ABSN program online/hybrid only 15 months long in Arlington. Oh and there is another school I can't remember the name right now but it's located in Signal Hill, Ca. Just look it up under city and it's taking nursing students right now for there Summer start dates/fall 2020.
Sounded similar to Brandman, it allows to take pre-reqs there for missing or expired ones. And they offer TEAS exam through them I believe for qualifying applicants. It's a small private school, and very nice. I did a walk through awhile back and it was quite fancy. They offer nursing and pharmacy courses.
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I'm tied to San Diego so I need to do something here, and I need to balance length of time to complete vs money. It seems like National is the only other option and the enrollment counselor told me they would accept 30 year old A & P. If this is really the case, I started Microbiology online and have time to finish that and the other two classes I am missing and take the TEAS before National's August 21st deadline but I might be better off hoping to get into Brandman in terms of length of time anyhow. I just wasn't expecting this to happen, that's all. I have a 4.0 GPA and I got department permission back in the day to take both A & P classes simultaneously at the same time as my last quarter of General Chemistry. I'm not worried about
While in general, you may be correct that many acupuncturists are not good in math, everyone's situation is unique. I homeschooled my children through pre-calculus in the past 10 years and I wrote multiple papers in APA format last year in my doctorate program (where they dinged you on your grade for APA errors). I helped my kids with MLA format when they took onlnine community college classes as part of their high school curriculum. I've also co-authored a peer reviewed publication with a medical doctor in JAMA format. School and classes are not the only way to learn and keep your skills up to date.
You are correct, I cannot prescribe nor can I bill Medicare. That is why I decided to go back to school to become an FNP; but I can diagnose. 75% of my practice is biomedicine related. Independently prescribing and billing Medicare would help me better serve those in need.
never said you personally are bad at math.... I gave generalized info. And I know from experience working for Kaiser at least we did not allow Acupuncture to diagnose patients, it had to come from PCP only which could be a NP or PA or MD/DO esp in order to be covered by kaiser or do referrals such as x-rays or labs or prescriptions or even refer to different departments. Even the PCP was limited there in what we could prescribe or diagnose per Kaiser protocol. I couldn't prescribe migraine meds they had to go through a neurologist or many mental therapy drugs such those for ADHD or defined mental disorders, and sleep disorder medications like Dexedrine for narcolepsy is prohibited from PCP prescribing. I moved to a dermatology private practice and can prescribe all those medications if I chose to. It would be odd since they have nothing to do with dermatology. If looking to stay local to San Diego look into a Community College and get RN through them and do a bridge program. Those then are online afterwards. Or Point Loma which is a great school has a BSN program also. National U has one in La Jolla I believe or maybe it's now in Poway not sure? They are excellent also. Mira Mesa college I believe has a ADN program. I'm not overly familiar with SD every school but no a few as I sent out many application also. I want to do the Phd nursing degree to do clinical research later in pharmaceuticals. PA is great but is limited and that's all you do is work family practice or ER and some few subcategories in general practice offices. It gets boring very fast diagnosing colds/coughs and skin lesions or rashes etc everyday. It's not like watching drama med shows where they get these complex problems and they stand around guessing at what rare disease these people have. It's broken arms being set or stitches or ear infections or urine cultures being sent out for UTI. Anything complex is referred out to a specialist, unless your an internist MD as your PCP then they have much more latitude to diagnose.
If I could go back in time I would have started in nursing to move up the ladder and do NP. Or ortho nursing. Something with OR time.
@hopefulkim99@Veronika Brandman says it depends on the syllabus. I started A&P and Micro with Straighterline. I found an Anatomy only but it was still around $1000 with one of the UC extensions that was upper division but couldn't find a Physiology. Then the question is will they accept those as they are not combined, and do they require a lab component. National's A & P is undergraduate.
@Chunkybubblz3 If I were a few years younger I'd do the community college ADN route and then do the online bridge, but it's over 3.5 years before I'd complete just the RN if get into one of those programs! I could be almost done with the MSN in that time frame if I manage to get into Brandman soon! Even if I do have to retake A & P. Since I have no intentions of working for an institution, but continuing to be independent in private practice, I will have complete freedom to provide patient care according to my philosophies and patient preferences. I don't think I'm cut out to work in the system. I'll probably just have to hold my tongue and suck it up through most of nursing school. Point Loma is super expensive, Azusa Pacific is super expensive, National is in Rancho Bernardo area and about the same as Brandman. I just can't justify putting $100,000 or more out for education at my age between the two programs. If I wanted to do that, I probably should consider the Yale Online PA program. I just don't think I'm that competitive at my age . . .
Brandman takes nationals university A&P, it was transferred and accepted on my degree audit on my student account through Brandman. The Microbiology from National Is not showing as a transferred credit ? I will know about Microbiology from National on Tuesday after I meet with my academic advisor.
I will message you Tuesday after I know on the micro. ?
I got accepted in Brandman and to start my additional pre req on Summer 1. and the core program is to start in January 2021. However, when I talked to my advisor she told me that my core classes will start in August which is sooner than what was mention in my email. Does anyone have the same situation?
I also had some miscommunication through my current situation. My enrollment coach said that I will start my nursing core classes for the fall 2020 term, however, on my acceptance letter it states that I will start my nursing core classes in August which is the Summer 2020 term. Is the advisor you are speaking to helping you with scheduling your classes? I have yet to send my intent to enroll form so I haven’t scheduled an appointment for my advisor.
The advisor will come up with an educational plan based on the courses that you need to take. The student is the one responsible for registering the class online, she also wants me to register courses like for the whole year which kinda weird.
Thanks for your help everyone. Maybe they will be flexible with the prerequisites. I thought when I applied the enrollment person said there were no prerequisites LOL. At least we know now, and everyone on this site later knows too
ABSN_SD
14 Posts
@Chunkybubblz3
The only schools that offer '300' level Microbiology, Anatomy, and Physiology courses are the expensive schools like National University, and University of Phoenix. More affordable schools like City Colleges or CSU's don't offer those courses as upper division. If someone has the money they should go for it. However, if money is not a problem for those wanting to start right away I would look into West Coast University. West Coast accepts every semester no waitlist, GPA requirement 2.0, no prereqs required, but its expensive. I personally can't afford a school like that so I will have to endure the TEAS, and waitlists.
Also, I have a Bachelors from a CSU, with straight A's in my prereqs that were taken over the past 2-3 years at a CSU (so very recent). I have read several people getting selected for the Brandman program without a Bachelors degree as well. I have even read about people with much lower GPA's than mine getting accepted. So a Bachelors degree is not preferred from what I have seen. It seems like it is a first come first serve waitlist situation.