Golden West vs. Saddleback

maddybee · Jul 20, 2011

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it!

maddybee · Jul 30, 2011

I have decided to go to Saddleback and am very excited about it! Thanks again for all the input!

guavaturtle · Jul 31, 2011

Congrats on your acceptance! It seems like you already made your decision, but I would have recommended Saddleback as well! I goto Cypress right now, and I work at Hoag. All the nurses rave about how awesome the Saddleback program is, and I've noticed that they they hire a ton of new grads from Saddleback as well =) You're in a great program, enjoy it!

maddybee · Jul 31, 2011

Thank you! I'll be doing clinicals at Hoag this semester, and I'm really excited about it. I volunteered there and loved it. I applied to Cypress too because that's where I live for right now, but I didn't get in. Are you actually in the RN program? I've heard mixed things about it.

snowprincessava · Nov 1, 2011

hi i'm a pre-nursing student at sbc right now and hope to apply for the spring 2013 admissions pool and am wondering what eveybody's stats were (gpa, points, etc) & i was also wondering how long you had to wait to be admitted to the rn program :) thaank you!

maddybee · Nov 3, 2011

Hi snowprincess,

It took me 3 tries to get in and I have straight A's in my prereqs (although I did drop physio once so that might've made a difference). But when I first applied, there were twice as many applicants as there were on my 3rd round of applying. Most of my classmates got in on their first try and a lot of them don't have straight A's. Just hope that when you apply there won't be a crazy amount of applicants applying with you. Also try to get straight A's in your prereqs and you'll have a better chance of getting in right away.

Good luck!

Maddy

sackemper · May 30, 2012

Hi Maddy

I was wondering how your first year went at Saddleback. I am now trying to decide between Goldenwest and

Saddleback and would love any input you could give.

Thanks

maddybee · May 30, 2012

Sackemper,

Congrats on getting accepted. I LOVE Saddleback! All the professors want you to succeed and really help you learn. I've never felt uncomfortable, or like I was being pushed too hard. Plus, Saddleback gets way more hands on experience early on which is great. They teach you to start IV's in 2nd semester, and our instructors told us that all the other schools don't do IV's till 4th semester. In first semester, you have skills training for 2 weeks, and then you're off to a regular hospital picking patients and taking care of them on your own. It might sound intimidating but it is amazing what you learn and how quickly.

I have friends that just graduated from GWC this semester and both of them really liked the program there too. So I'm sure you can't go wrong, but if I had to choose again I would gladly choose Saddleback.

Good luck with your choices!

Maddy

sackemper · May 31, 2012

Thanks Maddy.

I really appreciate your response. It's funny how I have gone from being afraid I won't get in anywhere, to being afraid I will make the wrong choice. I am really leaning towards Saddleback, but I am going to the orientation at GW this week to see if it changes my mind.

Good luck to you as you finish your last year:)

sackemper · Jun 2, 2012

Maddy,

I just went to the GWC orientation and had a couple more questions.

Do you know how many students CSUF will co-enroll with Saddleback and if Concordia is also an option for Saddleback students to start their BSN during last year at Saddleback?

How many hours a week of skills lab did you do this year, and were they scheduled on lecture days?

Thanks for your help,

Sherry

maddybee · Jun 2, 2012

Hi Sherry,

As far as I know each school started with 10 students (maybe a little more/less) doing the CSUF dual enrollment program this semester. I think this was a sort of trial semester and they may decide to accept more/less in following semesters. And as far as Concordia, I'm not sure if you can dually enroll with both schools. I would assume it's the same criteria as GWC, so if GWC students can than I'll bet Saddleback students can. That's something you can find out from Concordia. And for skills lab, we only had to have 12 hours a semester.

My first semester at Saddleback was this: Nursing Process Class, Wednesday lecture 730-2ish with an hour and half lunch, and Th/F hospital shifts from 630-330 or so (other hospitals had M/T shifts). That was for about half the semester, and the first 2 weeks your doing skills training at school 3 days a week instead of the hospital. The second half of the semester we had mental health, which apparently all other schools do during 3rd semester. I really liked having it 1st semester and getting it done. During that section, we had lecture on Wednesdays from like 1-330, then 1) 8 hour shift a week at the hospital. After so many weeks of the regular nursing process section, mental health was sort of a break, which in first semester you kind of need. Then just add 12 hours of skills lab on your own time during each semester. They're not specific on how many you need a week, it's all by semester.

Hope this helps a little. I also went to GWC's orientation last year before deciding on Saddleback. I would suggest making your decision after you go to the orientations at Saddleback. After I went to both last year, I just got a much better impression from Saddleback, but like I said, you can't go wrong with either school! :)

Maddy

cathering, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP · Sep 28, 2012

Hi Maddy, How's the nursing program going? I actually just got accepted to saddleback spring 2013. I had some questions though. It is regarding some materials related to technology. Do the nursing professors allow recording of their lectures? I am deciding if I should make a purchase of a recorder or not. Also same for like a tablet or a smart phone? I read that many nursing students just bring their tablets with apps that have drug book, medical dictionary... Etc. instead of bringing their hard copy (and heavy!) books to their clinically. What do you think? Do they allow tablets or smartphones at clinicals? I would very much appreciate your feedback! And I'd love to know your experiences at saddleback! Thanks in advance!