On 4/22/2020 at 11:04 PM, mousey129 said:
Nursing will be a 2nd career for me. I know they look at my whole educational background, and I have a 3.388 (cum laude) for my BS and a 3.504 for my MA. No F's but I have two C's and one D+ in there. Hoping they see these grades were earned almost 20 years ago and don't count it against me too much.
I don't have a back-up plan right now but I want to start brainstorming something not too expensive or time-consuming if I don't make it.
I don't think they are looking at your whole educational background when they make the decisions. I mean, you submit all your transcripts, but the admissions are on a very straightforward numerical formula. The rank order is determined entirely by nursing GPA, A&P 1, and TEAS. As long as that D+ wasn't for a nursing prerequisite, you'll be fine.
For a back-up plan, have you considered going an accelerated BSN route? Look at UCONN's CEIN or the ACE program at Southern. They are more expensive upfront, but you'll come out with a BSN, so you won't have to go back.
I got into CCNP at NVCC, but went to UCONN instead. Once I factored in getting done faster (and, thus, getting to work faster), plus the cost of going back to get a BSN (which is preferred or required by some employers), the public ABSN programs weren't that much more costly.
On 4/24/2020 at 10:56 AM, mousey129 said:Anyone know which of the CC schools are the least competitive?
Gateway accepts 96 out of 1000 applicants, which is a 10% acceptance rate.
It's a bit variable, but they're all competitive. I googled a bit, and found this link with acceptance rates, but don't know how reliable it is or when it was compiled.
https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/nursing-schools/connecticut/
Based on the link, it seems Capital, Gateway, and Norwalk are the most competitive, and Northwestern, Naugatuck Valley, and Three Rivers have higher acceptance rates. However, if the chart is based on just one year, it might not really tell you much about which location would give you the edge when you apply since you can't count on each school getting the same number of applicants from year to year.
I wasn't able to find anything about the relative strength of applications to different locations, either. If one location has more weaker applicants than another, that would give you an advantage, even if the overall acceptance rate were lower.
Overall, I don't think there's a big advantage to one school over another. I'd just apply to whichever school is most convenient to your home, or which one is most likely to have clinicals at facilities where you're interested in working.
19 hours ago, turtlesRcool said:For a back-up plan, have you considered going an accelerated BSN route? Look at UCONN's CEIN or the ACE program at Southern. They are more expensive upfront, but you'll come out with a BSN, so you won't have to go back.
Gateway said there's no real pay difference between the AS and BSN. I know one of the professors and they said they almost all get placed, because we need nurses. And at Gateway's orientation, they said most employers will reimburse you for tuition to slowly get your BSN. Southern requires too many prerequisites I don't have and the BSN degrees really aren't within the range of my budget. We can work with an AS in CT so I don't know what you mean that I would get to work quicker with a BSN.
Someone looked into UMASS and UCONN and they said if you can't get into UMASS don't even bother applying to UCONN because they get swamped with so many applicants. I think those programs are more competitive than the CC programs.
21 minutes ago, mousey129 said:Gateway said there's no real pay difference between the AS and BSN. I know one of the professors and they said they almost all get placed, because we need nurses. And at Gateway's orientation, they said most employers will reimburse you for tuition to slowly get your BSN. Southern requires too many prerequisites I don't have and the BSN degrees really aren't within the range of my budget. We can work with an AS in CT so I don't know what you mean that I would get to work quicker with a BSN.
Someone looked into UMASS and UCONN and they said if you can't get into UMASS don't even bother applying to UCONN because they get swamped with so many applicants. I think those programs are more competitive than the CC programs.
I definitely wouldn’t worry about finding a job. I work at Yale as a PCA and I’ve worked with more than a few RNs who have their associates and are working on getting their BSN. The hospital gives scholarships to those nurses and also reimburses tuition for all employees working 24+ hours.
mousey129
22 Posts
OK, let's get ready to rumble...
I'm applying to Gateway's program this coming fall.
A&P 1: A
Nursing GPA: will be about a 3.6 when I complete all the requirements. I took all the co-requisites or they transferred from my previous degrees. I have two B+'s and one C and I don't think it's financially wise to re-take them, because Gateway said they will take the average of the two grades and that won't bump me up too much, so it is what it is.
TEAS to be taken Oct 2020. Goal score 80 or better, hopefully I will only take it once.
They said at orientation they have 96 seats and get close to 1000 applicants ?
Nursing will be a 2nd career for me. I know they look at my whole educational background, and I have a 3.388 (cum laude) for my BS and a 3.504 for my MA. No F's but I have two C's and one D+ in there. Hoping they see these grades were earned almost 20 years ago and don't count it against me too much.
Study hard and good luck everyone!
I don't have a back-up plan right now but I want to start brainstorming something not too expensive or time-consuming if I don't make it.