CSUN ABSN 2020

renzo88 · Oct 11, 2019

On 10/7/2019 at 6:06 PM, nextyearanurse said:
I spoke to a professor who said that they are changing the curriculum so cohort 3 and beyond will likely have a different application period, start semester and schedule. I believe- i may be wrong- that there will be two start periods for subsequent students.
they asked us to do all our start paperwork, including the drug test, once we were accepted. it took them a little bit to get us our castlebranch package- which is the website that you upload all your documents to and has directions on completing the drug test, background check and a few little online seminar things you need to complete. if you wanted to get a head start on the paperwork now (these things are needed no matter what program you ultimately attend) you could start gathering:
- immunization records (MMR, Varicella (chicken pox), Hep B, TB, Tdap, and Influenza)- make sure everything is up to date. if you don't know if you're up to date you could get titers for the above and then get a booster shot as necessary.
- your physical exam form is the one you sent in with your application, that will need to be uploaded to castlebranch
- make sure your CPR (only American Heart Association BLS is accepted) is up to date
- you will also need a copy of your drivers license, car insurance and health insurance
- fire card: if you are local I highly recommend you take the class offered at Olive View Medical Center with Victor Lozano- Olive View only accepts this fire card so if you get placed there you're good to go. we all had to take the class again so we could get these cards. also victor is super funny. out of town people- contact the program after you are accepted and see what they suggest- you will have plenty of time to get it done.
- try to get everything into castle branch asap when you get your package code
hope that helps

Thanks so much! that helps plenty

hk519095 · Oct 11, 2019

Any updates? Anybody hear from CSUN ?

nextyearanurse · Oct 11, 2019

2 minutes ago, hk519095 said:
Any updates? Anybody hear from CSUN ?

you likely won't hear anything until end of October at the earliest. last year, acceptance emails went out oct 30.

qwertykat, CNA · Oct 11, 2019

13 hours ago, nextyearanurse said:
you likely won't hear anything until end of October at the earliest. last year, acceptance emails went out oct 30.

Hi @nextyearanurse would you mind sharing your stats on what GPA, experience, volunteer hours you had to get in? I know ultimately the decision is by the school. I just want to know if I'm in a decent spot or even competitive enough.

nextyearanurse · Oct 14, 2019

On 10/11/2019 at 11:00 AM, qwertykat said:
Hi @nextyearanurse would you mind sharing your stats on what GPA, experience, volunteer hours you had to get in? I know ultimately the decision is by the school. I just want to know if I'm in a decent spot or even competitive enough.

Honestly I don't know that sharing my stats will help much- we have a really diverse group of people in terms of how much experience they had coming in, volunteer hours, GPA and what kind of degree they have, so saying "I had a 4.0 GPA" or "I worked as a CNA" or "I had 250 volunteer hours" doesn't really tell the whole story. We have people who had super high GPAs, or worked in the medical field or did a ton of volunteer hours and people who’s GPAs aren't a 4.0, have never worked in the field or did very few hours. If you've worked hard, submitted a thoughtful and truthful essay, and showed how interested you are in the program, you have just as good a chance as anyone else to get in. They don't just look at one statistic or one part of your application, they look at it holistically, and to be honest, I have no idea how they go about critiquing each application. I had some pretty strong points to my application and some points that I really thought would count me out, but here I am. I know that’s probably not the answer you were hoping for, but be confident in all the hard work you put in to get where you are and try not to compare yourself to others (something I am always working on). I know it's really hard not to speculate and it’s hard to balance hope and the potential for disappointment with things like this but you've done all you can at this point and it's out of your hands. Try not to stress too much about it, you'll drive yourself nuts (and yes I know "easy for her to say, she's already in it", but trust me, I stress a lot and sometimes, when there’s nothing more you can do, you just gotta let it go and hope for the best)

Nursing22 · Oct 14, 2019

56 minutes ago, nextyearanurse said:
Honestly I don't know that sharing my stats will help much- we have a really diverse group of people in terms of how much experience they had coming in, volunteer hours, GPA and what kind of degree they have, so saying "I had a 4.0 GPA" or "I worked as a CNA" or "I had 250 volunteer hours" doesn't really tell the whole story. We have people who had super high GPAs, or worked in the medical field or did a ton of volunteer hours and people who’s GPAs aren't a 4.0, have never worked in the field or did very few hours. If you've worked hard, submitted a thoughtful and truthful essay, and showed how interested you are in the program, you have just as good a chance as anyone else to get in. They don't just look at one statistic or one part of your application, they look at it holistically, and to be honest, I have no idea how they go about critiquing each application. I had some pretty strong points to my application and some points that I really thought would count me out, but here I am. I know that’s probably not the answer you were hoping for, but be confident in all the hard work you put in to get where you are and try not to compare yourself to others (something I am always working on). I know it's really hard not to speculate and it’s hard to balance hope and the potential for disappointment with things like this but you've done all you can at this point and it's out of your hands. Try not to stress too much about it, you'll drive yourself nuts (and yes I know "easy for her to say, she's already in it", but trust me, I stress a lot and sometimes, when there’s nothing more you can do, you just gotta let it go and hope for the best)

Thank you for this response! I am definitely one of those people constantly worrying about whether I'll get into a nursing school or not. Reading this post definitely helped calm my nerves and gave me a sense of hope. :')

qwertykat, CNA · Oct 14, 2019

3 hours ago, nextyearanurse said:
Honestly I don't know that sharing my stats will help much- we have a really diverse group of people in terms of how much experience they had coming in, volunteer hours, GPA and what kind of degree they have, so saying "I had a 4.0 GPA" or "I worked as a CNA" or "I had 250 volunteer hours" doesn't really tell the whole story. We have people who had super high GPAs, or worked in the medical field or did a ton of volunteer hours and people who’s GPAs aren't a 4.0, have never worked in the field or did very few hours. If you've worked hard, submitted a thoughtful and truthful essay, and showed how interested you are in the program, you have just as good a chance as anyone else to get in. They don't just look at one statistic or one part of your application, they look at it holistically, and to be honest, I have no idea how they go about critiquing each application. I had some pretty strong points to my application and some points that I really thought would count me out, but here I am. I know that’s probably not the answer you were hoping for, but be confident in all the hard work you put in to get where you are and try not to compare yourself to others (something I am always working on). I know it's really hard not to speculate and it’s hard to balance hope and the potential for disappointment with things like this but you've done all you can at this point and it's out of your hands. Try not to stress too much about it, you'll drive yourself nuts (and yes I know "easy for her to say, she's already in it", but trust me, I stress a lot and sometimes, when there’s nothing more you can do, you just gotta let it go and hope for the best)

Thank you so much for your response. Your posts are definitely reassuring. I know everyone has a different journey getting into nursing school. But it really does help a lot to know that this school is diverse. I greatly appreciate you for sharing.

Deohen, BSN · Oct 14, 2019

Likewise. I'm so freaking nervous and anxious! That post really did help calm my nerves. I really hope I get in.. same to you all as well!

Pedsnurseintraining · Oct 14, 2019

If everything is the same as last year’s cohort... we should be getting a notification within the next 16-17 days! I really hope so! This is so nerve wrecking!

renzo88 · Oct 17, 2019

If some of us aren’t accepted for spring 2020, do you think they will allow us to apply for fall 2020 without needing to retrieve the two recommendations again from our professors? I feel bad asking them to write another recommendation letter for the same program so soon...I don’t mind paying the application fee, though

Pedsnurseintraining · Oct 17, 2019

56 minutes ago, renzo88 said:
If some of us aren’t accepted for spring 2020, do you think they will allow us to apply for fall 2020 without needing to retrieve the two recommendations again from our professors? I feel bad asking them to write another recommendation letter for the same program so soon...I don’t mind paying the application fee, though

I would really hope so, but something tells me that they would make you resubmit everything again.

Deohen, BSN · Oct 17, 2019

I have the exact same concern!