Carrington College vs. Unitek College

[bryanle565]

Hi,

I am currently a dental assistant who want to pursue a career as a nurse. I attended a tech/vocational school as a high school senior year and finished the dental assisting program. Although I do enjoy what I do, it's not a career that I want to pursue and it's not something that I want to do long term.

I am only 19 years old, and although I am still young, I have considered the community college/junior college route of getting my perquisites done which would take about or more than 2 years and then I would have to be wait listed for the RN program which would take another year or two at Dr Anza College. It would consume too much of my time because I need to be in the working field as soon as possible.

I am now thinking about going to a private school which are Carrington College in San Jose or Unitek College in San Jose or Fremont. I have looked online for testimonials and reviews of both institution and there were good and bad ones. Many threads were of years ago and I need more insight of each school from recent students. I know the LVN program they offer are very fast paced and requires a lot of commitment and I have what it takes, I believe. And once I pass the NCLEX exam, I want to take their LVN-RN bridge program.

The question is, which school is better in regards of education, instructors, clinical, and preparation for the NCLEX exam as well tuition fees and what financial options they offer?

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I haven't taken any courses through either school. That's my little disclaimer. My only 2 major issues with them are their cost and the high probability that the coursework you'd take there won't transfer to other colleges/universities that you may wish to attend later, thus requiring you to repeat much of the same stuff. Don't take Carrington's or Unitek's word for transferability, actually check with the various institutions that you may attend later to determine if they'll accept coursework from either Carrington or Unitek. Program cost isn't that big of a deal to me... but coursework transferability is a big deal to me. I don't want to have to unnecessarily repeat work...