City College of San Francisco, College of San Mateo, and Samuel Merritt Univ. Fall 2018

Nursing Students School Programs

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Hello,

I am new to Allnurses. I recently got accepted into 2 ADN Fall 2018 programs - City College of San Francisco and College of San Mateo. I live in San Francisco. I heard that both are very good programs. I also applied to Samuel Merritt University's Fall 2018 ABSN program, but have not heard back. I think they will send out notices mid-May/June.

This is my dilemma:

If accepted into SMU, I will have to take out approximately $80,000+ in loans for tuition. Although I may get out of school quicker and obtain a BSN, it will take years to pay back. If I go to an ADN program, I will not be in debt. But, I will be in school a year longer and have to go to school again for another year or two to pursue BSN/MSN. I already have a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing field, so the ABSN program is more appealing to me.

My pros/cons for CCSF and CSM:

CCSF

-close to home and work (10-15 mins drive)

-familiar with campus/school system

CSM

-nurses from work attended the program and recommend

-farther from home and work (30-45 mins drive)

-stress about traffic going to campus and coming back into the city

-not familiar with campus/school system

I have to accept or decline by the end of this week.

Any thoughts, advice, or information is appreciated.

Thanks!

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Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

Congratulations on your acceptance into two programs!

Perhaps these two articles will be able to help you decide:

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/choosing-the-right-1080038.html

https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/dont-choose-a-924953.html

Best regards!

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Hello,

I'm in the same boat as you being that I'm accepted to both Ccsf and CSM. I have no idea at this point who I'm going to choose. I thought I would attend both orientations to see if that clears things up for me.

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I got into both CCSF AND CSM, but will be going to a CSU for the fact that I will get a BSN.

I think you should go to Samuel Merritt. Sure you may be taking out 80K in loans, but you will make tons of money as a nurse in the bay area to pay it back quickly. In addition, it may be harder to find a job with an ASN in the bay area, as well as the fact that you'd have to do an additonal year or two to obtain a BSN.

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Oh, I was going to mention apparently Ccsf and csm have a new adn to bsn bridge. I don't believe it will take a year to complete, but I'm not 100% sure.

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Oh, I was going to mention apparently Ccsf and csm have a new adn to bsn bridge. I don't believe it will take a year to complete, but I'm not 100% sure.

Can you quote or link us to where it says this?

No community college can offer a BS. It may have partnerships with other schools such as SFSU for example, but the class size for SFSU is ridiculously competitive. After your AS, you'd be back competing with hundreds of applicants to get into a bridge.

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Hi hollandlops,

I was thinking about going to both orientations to check things out. We can still later decline acceptance to the program right? Or is it a binding contract after accepting?

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Hi Reincarnated,

Thank you for the advice. Hopefully, I hear back from SMU soon so that I can make a decision. When I attended CSM's nursing admissions workshop, the counselor said that ADN to BSN will take 1 semester to complete if accepted into the SFSU bridge program. Maybe I heard wrong. I think it is not true because I asked around and nurses told me that these programs typically take 1-1.5 years.

Here is the link for CCSF to SFSU roadmap: https://www.ccsf.edu/dam/Organizational_Assets/Department/Health_Physical_Education/Registered_Nursing/RN_PDF/SFSU_ROADMAP_FOR_CCSF_REGISTERED_NURSE_PROGRAM.pdf

The program is 3 semesters, so 1.5 years.

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Hello Gingerbeer,

I asked the front desk person at ccsf if I could attend both orientations before making a decision. She said it's not encouraged.

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Reincarnated, unfortunately there isn't anything online about it. I only heard from csm general orientation (the mandatory one you need to go to if you're applying for the program) & ccsf orientation (it was an optional orientation that gave more info about the nursing program).

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Hello gingerbeer. Congratulations on the acceptances!

I was also in the same boat when I had to decide between programs. I got acceptance in ADN programs as well as in a Masters entry level program. It was really hard for me to decide which path to choose because I didn't have any financial support.

So finally, I came to the decision that I can get loans and go for the Masters program. My reasoning behind this decision was :

1. Masters in less time (2years) vs ADN to BSN & then MSN 5-6years).

2. If I go for ADN then it will take 3 years with the bridge BSN program. So why not just finish Masters in 2 years and work the third year while making loan payments.

3. Less time in school to get an advanced/speciality degree in future.

These are just my thoughts. Let me know if you have any input.

I will be starting my Masters this month :). Good luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I make 87k as a ADN and the job paid for my BSN. So to me a ABSN is definitely not worth it.

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