Csulb nursing program

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I'm currently a high school senior. I was accepted to CSULB as a prenursing student. Is there someone that can tell me more about the prerequisite classes at CSULB including information on teachers and classes? Any tips/advice and information is appreciated because I'm pretty clueless right now.

Specializes in Ambulatory.

@Omglizison - I agree, studying biology for 3 years previously will definitely make your life easier. I'm hoping pharm & patho will not be too difficult at CSULB, like you've suggested. I'm trying to get a head start by reading the "made incredibly easy" nursing reference book series. BTW, I remember you from the other post & I believe we're in the same assigned clinical group.

@mmm62892 - You might be able to join CNSA (California Nursing Student Association) @ CSULB as a pre-nursing student. It might be beneficial since you'll have the opportunity to network with current nursing students & possibly other pre-nursing students.

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@NursingStudent0611: Are you in Group E also? What's your name?

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Specializes in Ambulatory.

@Omglizison - Check your PM folder.

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@NursingStudent0611- Yeah I'm definitely planning on joining that club.

@Omglizison- Wow thank you for that thorough reply, but unfortunately I don't think we are allowed to namedrop on this forum. xD How you can at least tell me how these science courses work? I know they are composed of an lecture, seminar, and laboratory portion. Will each be taught by a different professor or is it done by a single professor? If it is the former does that mean we have a separate grade for lecture, seminar, and laboratory? Do you have any specific tips/study techniques on each course? How much should I plan on studying to do well? How many hours of homework should I expect? How many tests and quizzes should I expect from each course? Are professors approachable enough that I can come to them after hours with questions? Did you find making friends/studying buddies easy in those large lecture halls?

How expensive are textbooks? Do you recommend buying them from a specific source? Do we need to purchase all the textbooks that the professors tell us or are lecture notes sufficient? I don't want to spend too much on books because college is already expensive as is, so I was wondering if there were some textbooks you found less than useful and wished you didn't buy?

Well if the TEAS is easier than the SATs, I think I'll put off worrying about that test. How advanced are the science and math questions though? I might have to do some reviewing.

Good luck with your pharmacology class. :]

I don't have AP chem credit in fact Chem 140 will probably be the hardest prerequisite for me. I don't mind taking the necessary classes to take upper division biology classes. I know you wanted to start your nursing degree. But speaking of biology, I don't mean to sound rude, but why didn't you finish getting your Biology degree. Couldn't you have double majored with nursing and biology?

Again I apologize for all these questions, but I really want to be prepared and know what I'm getting myself into! Thanks again! =D

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My initial plan was to just graduate with a BS in Biology and apply for the ELM (Entry Level Masters) Nursing program, but I still had about 10 more upper division classes to take. In the end, I decided that all I wanted to do was nursing so I decided to just drop the major and go for nursing. Besides, some of those classes (i.e Genetics and Biochemistry) are ridiculously hard, so I consider it dodging a bullet. I would have studied my ass off for a degree that I wouldn't even use in my profession! So that's why I switched =-)

Okay, so for the science courses, all of them come with a lecture AND a lab. There are usually only 2 lecture classes and from there you choose which lab section you want. You MUST take both lecture and lab, so register for lecture first, then choose a lab. For Anatomy and Physiology, you'll have lecture twice a week and lab once a week. Chem 140 is the ONLY class that you'll have a lecture, lab AND seminar (hence, the 5 units). You'll have one main professor in your lectures and usually a graduate student as your lab instructor. In lecture is where you'll be taking your main exams, although you'll have lab exams in your labs as well. Usually lab is about 1/3 of your total grade, the majority of which coming from lecture, so make sure you do well in both!

For science courses, you'll usually have 3 exams and 1 final (in lecture). Also, you should know that in all science classes, the final is CUMULATIVE, meaning it will test you on information you learned throughout the entire semester. So don't throw away your old notes and study guides!

The great thing about taking a science class is that there is very minimal homework given. Chem 140 had the most homework, and that was only one assignment per week. Most of your work will be done in the labs!

Also, each science course will have an SI (supplemental instruction) class in addition to the course itself. An SI class is basically like a study group, but you meet at a certain time each week and you're given usually 1 unit of credit. In your SI class you'll have an instructor who'll basically just go over the material you learned in lecture that week. These classes are first come first serve however, so if you think you'll need any help with a certain class, make sure to sign up for it! The professor will most likely go over this with you on the first day of classes.

As for books, do NOT go to the bookstore, they overprice like crazy. I buy all my books online, either at half.com or amazon. You can buy second-hand books for sometimes as much as 75% off the regular price. Also, don't feel pressured to buy the newest edition of each book, even if that edition is listed as required in your syllabus. The older editions are JUST as good. For Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, I bought all 3 books for under $30 each on half.com because I bought the older editions, and I had NO problems.

Hope this helps~

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So all those class listings with "Staff" are actually graduate students who are acting as professors? Are they all the same or are there easier lab staff? Do they all assign the same thing or are they different? Do they have their separate grading policies or the same one determined by the lecture professor? For our cumulative grade do they just report our lab grade to the lecture teacher?

Are these exams curved? Are grades curved?

So with these SI classes, CHEM 140 is really 6 units, BIO 208 and 207 is 5 units, and MICR 200 is 5 units?

Thank you for the tips on buying textbooks. I think we were required to buy the editions they specify because they hand out expected pages to read and problems to do.

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Hello NursingStudent0611,

Congratulations on getting into the program! I hope its going okay :)

I have my interview next week and am very scared about it. Can you please advise on any tips for interview?

Thank you very much :)

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lol don't worry about asking too many questions; I truly wish I had someone older to tell me what to expect when I was an incoming Freshman.

I studied Biology for 3 years and spent the 4th year completing pre-requisites for the Nursing program. I wish I could say that I regret taking so long to figure out what I wanted to do, but I'm really glad I took all those Bio classes. Not only did I learn so much but they also made the nursing science pre-req classes a lot easier. I applied for this Fall and got in, so I'm really excited to finally get started on my actual career path! =-)

Anyways, I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities! Here's a list of the professors that I suggest you take for the science classes:

Biol 207 - To my knowledge, there is only one professor that teaches this lecture course, unfortunately. He's a bit difficult to understand (due to the heavy accent) but he is very generous about his grades. The class in itself wasn't too difficult, though much harder than Biol 208 (anatomy), which is why I suggest that you take anatomy first like I did. That way, you already understand where each physiological mechanism takes place, and all you need to know is what and why.

Biol 208 - For anatomy, you MUST take ----! Do NOT get her mixed up with Young Owl, who is the other professor that teaches this class. She was one of the best professors I have ever had; she simplifies everything and pounds the information into your brain so much that you can recite the order of which light hits the layers in the eye in your sleep!

Chem 140 - When I took it, I had -----, who I really did not like just because he over-explained such simple lectures. However, most people find this class really hard (it's a 5 unit class), but I had a very strong chemistry background so it was actually the easiest out of the 4 pre-reqs. My advice to you would be to just follow his lectures and do the homework. This class is super-rushed because it's a collaborative chemistry course, so don't fall behind!

Micro 200 - Like Biol 207, only one professor teaches this lecture. I really liked him and I loved his class, but his exams are pretty tough. My advice would be to go to his office hours if you need help and to study A LOT and learn the material to the most specific degree.

The TEAS test is easy, that's really all I can say. Even easier than the SATs. There's a practice book that's available in the bookstore that costs $30, but I just downloaded a Kaplan from online and did pretty well on it.

As for Pharm and Patho, yes I too have heard that they are both a pain in the rear to take at CSULB, so I took Patho last spring at Golden West College. It was a really good decision too because the professor who teaches it there was wonderful! AND she teaches both Pharm and Patho so you can get both out of the way! You should definitely try and take one or both of these classes during the summer. I'll be taking Pharm in the Fall at CSULB however, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Finally, yes there is a strict outline of classes that you have to take when you're in the program but you're allowed to take other courses too! In fact, if you didn't take any non-nursing courses, you would have a pretty empty semester! However, I think most of the upper level Biology courses are reserved for Biology majors, so for people who have fulfilled the biology course pre-reqs. The most basic of which is a 3-semester series of general Biology courses (Biol 211, 212, 213). So unless you've taken those 3 Biology courses, you won't be able to progress upwards towards the upper-division classes. Also, even those general Bio courses have their own pre-reqs which is a full 2-semesters of general Chem (although you might have already have that fulfilled from your APs).

Hope this helps~

Hello Omglizison,

Congratulations for getting into CSULB's nursing program :) i hope it is going great for you.

I have my interview next week, can you please share your interview experience, so I can better prepare myself?

So far I heard its to check out communication skills, since eng is not my first language, and I have accent so am bit nervous.

Thanks in advance :)

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