Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Entry Level MSN (ELMSN)

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Hi all! I am curious who applied for the fall 2019/spring 2020 elmsn program at Charles drew? I want to keep up to date and see when we get interviews and so forth. Does anyone know what is covered during the interview and how to prep for it?

Good luck ladies. I applied there also last year and got interviewed right after taking my HESI (Oct 2018). I failed the Chem section and even though my overall score was in the 80% +, they look at every category and must pass each one with 75%. I passed the interview. Was told to reschedule ASAP and that if I pass the HESI by end of Nov (2018), that I would join the spring cohort. I never did retake it. I had only 2 weeks to study and didn’t feel I was ready. Didn’t want to waste money on retaking. I applied at USF (OC Campus) instead and got into their Entry Level MSN (HESI or TEAS not required).

As far as pre-reqs go at CDU, it states on their website that you must have a B grade on all the classes listed under pre-reqs. It has been on there since 2017 from what I remember. So the advisor made me retake Psych 1 coz I got a C from YEARS ago even though my bachelor gpa was 3.7 and Science pre-req gpa at 3.8

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Nice, I am thinking of applying to other schools as well. I actually have a paper that My former advisor gave me in 2018 that states the sciences must be a B and above and other pre reqs a C and above. My last two advisors never mentioned any new changes until recently when I found out that I have a new advisor and the update for the program. Then, I saw just that on the website and now it is different. It is all good! I will do what I need to do to get into that school and any other school.

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I am currently applying for Fall 2020. So far my experience has been pretty good; I'm supposed to interview this month. I am posting here to share my experience, and hopefully it will help you.

First, your prerequisites need to be completed before you apply. It doesn't say so officially but they definitely prefer you to have done so. You can email them your transcripts, and they will do a coursework evaluation to make sure you got the right grades, and your courses are appropriate for them. I am working with a woman named Nina Bolton and she's wonderful. When you contact the school, definitely request to work with her during your application season.

There is an online application, but it's better to just do each component separately, and then email your documents to your admission's person. You can submit the online application later.

They ask for the following documents. Get these documents to them as soon as possible.

  • 3 letters of recommendation. They have a form, but they will accept a letter if your reference can't fill out the form; it's a PDF and not friendly to use on a computer
  • Personal statement. There are no specific guidelines or things they require; I reworded a different personal statement talking about my journey, why I wanted to pursue nursing, and what I envision accomplishing as a nurse. I made mine two pages double spaced, which is about 500-600 words. They appreciated that
  • Resume/CV
  • Unofficial transcripts from all schools attended (including non-degree schools)
  • Passing score on the HESI A2 - 75% or higher on all sections. You can schedule your exam at Charles Drew on the last Wednesday of every month, which I did and highly recommend doing. It's free to register, and if you don't want to do the exam, you won't get penalized financially if you don't go. If you do go for the exam, make sure to bring a check/money order for $79.

Try to submit all documents before you go to their campus to do the exam

The HESI is perhaps the only challenging part of the admissions process so far. You have to take all the sections (except physics). That includes biology and chemistry, even though they don't require you to do these courses for admission to their program. You also have to make sure you score above 75% on all sections. The level of knowledge required is essentially high school. I reviewed for about a month.

What isn't specified, however, is this 75% passing threshold includes SUBSECTIONS as well. There are three composite scores - Reading and Verbal Skills (Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Grammar), Mathematics and Science (Biology, Chemistry and A&P). You get an overall score, and a separate subsection score.

The Reading Comprehension section was the trickiest part. HESI actually breaks this score down into 4 subsections (which is not highlighted in most review books), all of which you need to get 75% or higher on. The challenge is each of these subsections only has about 10-12 questions each. So if the subsection has only 10 questions and you get more than 3 wrong, you get a 70% on that subsection and you don't pass the exam fully. The margin of error here is so small, which is why most people end up failing their first time (rather than the science sections). I'm a good test-taker, but I almost failed one of these subsections (thankfully I passed every section on my first attempt and got a 93% overall). They say 80% is good, but you should try to score an average of at least 90% overall to make yourself competitive. If you do fail, you can do the exam again and just focus on redoing specific sections; they'll take your highest scores from multiple exams and combine them.

Now, assuming you passed the exam and all your documents have been submitted to the admissions department by the time you took the exam, you will sit with an admissions person who will tell you if you qualify for an interview. As long as you've submitted everything and you passed the HESI, they will schedule you an interview. They will instruct you to do their online application and pay the application fee, which takes at most 15 minutes. There is no extra writing required; this seems like it's more just for their accounting and records department.

Hope that helps!

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On 11/19/2019 at 3:23 PM, Jennifer JP-Bulwer said:

Oh nice! I’m sure you did well! Was the calculations and essay hard?? I was suppose to retake the Hesi today but I had to reschedule until December 10th.

They told me about the update pre reqs two weeks ago, which has been very stressful for me. I’ve applied from since 2018 and since then, I’ve had two advisors and apparently the dean keeps changing. I did email the dean to see if they can honor what I was told when I first applied to the program if not then I guess I will apply for fall 2020 which I really don’t want to wait that long.

Maybe we can exchange emails To stay in touch , since we are both applying to the same school.

Hi Jennifer!

Sorry for the super late response! I was accepted into the Spring cohort, but I deferred to Fall 2020 if you are still applying! ? I'm definitely down to exchange emails if you have any questions or just wanna link up for the program! I'm not sure how to send messages through this website though lol!

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Can anyone share their reasons why they are choosing Charles Drew? Message me however that works if you prefer opinions to be private.

The reason I asks is because I want to know what people are planning to do with this degree and route.

What are some benefits to this program. Does this significantly help become an APRN? I guess I want to know others think/know before hearing for myself in person.

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Specializes in New Grad.

Hey all, just graduated from CDU ELM Program. Let me know if you need help or advice on anything...

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@msdecember31st Hi, I have been trying to get in contact with the school but no luck and no one replies to their emails. I am having trouble finding where to submit the letter of recs. Would you be able to help tia! 

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Specializes in New Grad.
3 hours ago, FutureNURSE_Ada said:

@msdecember31st Hi, I have been trying to get in contact with the school but no luck and no one replies to their emails. I am having trouble finding where to submit the letter of recs. Would you be able to help tia! 

Who exactly have you tried to email?

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On 9/27/2020 at 1:48 PM, msdecember31st said:

Hey all, just graduated from CDU ELM Program. Let me know if you need help or advice on anything...

Congrats @msdecember31st on your achievement! I'm still getting used the speed of things and trying to learn better time management, so you must be relieved to have finished the program! do you mind if we exchange emails or contact info? ?

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On 10/1/2020 at 10:53 AM, FutureNURSE_Ada said:

@msdecember31st Hi, I have been trying to get in contact with the school but no luck and no one replies to their emails. I am having trouble finding where to submit the letter of recs. Would you be able to help tia! 

@FutureNURSE_Ada yeah it's REALLY hard getting a hold of anyone in any department to be honest. If there's no option to upload the letters via the online application portal, then you may want to either email them directly to admissionsinfo@cdrewu.edu and follow up with them, or select someone from the link below and contact them. Let me know if you have any success with these or not!

https://www.cdrewu.edu/admissions/meet-team

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@Courtney Kwan thank you for the information! 

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On 9/27/2020 at 1:48 PM, msdecember31st said:

Hey all, just graduated from CDU ELM Program. Let me know if you need help or advice on anything...

Hi, I am planning to apply for the program this year and I was wondering how I can contact you? I tried sending a message but apparently I'm allowed "0 messages per day". I'm new to this so I don't really know how to change that. 

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