Current RCBC Nursing Students 2015, 2016, 2017

Published

Hello Everyone,

I am a second career prospective nursing student. I was looking at Rowan College at Burlington County or BCC. It seems to be the most affordable ADN program.

A little about me:

I have a bachelors in Theology-minored in special education in K-5 setting.

I have a master's in Nonprofit Management

I have all sciences and general electives completed with the exception of A&P I and A&P II which I am taking in the summer and fall.

I have a few questions for those who recently enter into the program. I am not getting a lot of information online.

1. What was the nursing programs minimal passing score for the HESI?

2. Which subjects were tested?

3. What was the deadline for taking your HESI exam before the application deadline?

4. Since, I am transferring my credits in... Do you think it is best to wait until I take classes at BCC before applying. I have a gpa of 3.2 but no institutional GPA.

5. Lastly, what was your experience when applying?

Thanks everyone for your help!

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Hey! I applied to the Fall 2017 program at RCBC. The program seems to be going through some major changes. I took the TEAS VI in September and shortly after they said they were switching to the HESI. Fortunately, they were still taking the TEAS scores from certain months and when I took the TEAS happened to fall within that time frame. However, today I was informed that beginning spring 2018, the nursing program at RCBC will no longer be requiring an entrance exam. Meaning, they will no longer require you to take the HESI or TEAS and admittance is based on GPA and the number of general education credits completed. This can be found on their website. I am not sure what this will mean for this year or future years as I currently have a 4.0 with all general education (and then some) complete but it will be interesting to see the range of GPAs admitted. I know lots of people apply and it is pretty competitive so I would definitely making getting A&P done a priority. I was told during a nursing information seminar last October that it is perfectly fine if all your non nursing credits are transferred in and that in those cases, they will review the transcripts for grades and GPA. I would definitely recommend getting those transfers sent in ASAP as it takes several weeks for them to be evaluated.

Because there have been so many changes to the program in the last year, my experience with applying has been somewhat frustrating. Nobody seems to really know what is going on and even when you get an answer from a department head, it is not always concrete. We just moved to NJ last August and I studied like crazy while trying to settle in to take the TEAS. I was pretty pleased with my score. However, It was EXTREMELY frustrating to find out 2 weeks after I took it that I didn't even need it. Application are no longer picked up at the school but it is now online. I did the application online but I did not ever receive any confirmation that it was received by the school so I had to call and email them a few days later to ensure they got it. Now they just keep changing the date when decision letters will be mailed out. Before it was April 1, then sometime before the end of the spring semester, and now they are saying April 15. I am anxiously awaiting something in the mail but have almost no clue when it will get here. I tried calling the nursing department a dozen times last week and nobody answered or returned my call. Student advising just said "sometime in the next couple week". That's not really helpful when you're trying to plan your courses for the summer semester along with activities to keep your kiddos busy over the summer.

needless to say, as much as I am eager to start the program, just applying has been extremely stressful.

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Hi! I just came across this bc I wanted to get some further information regarding the full time vs part time options and after reading your, I wanted to let you know I just got an email that I was accepted into the Fall 2017 Nursing Program, so be on the look out!

JamieS26- did they give any further information about full time vs part time schedule at the seminar? I currently work full time but I have two small children and my husband is self employed and works weekends so the part time isn't really an option for me. Any info you have I would appreciate! You're right about information being All over the place.

thanks! Sarah

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Congrats! I was accepted as well :). They told me over the phone a few days ago but I got the email this morning. I don't know anything about full time vs. part time but there is a day and night/weekend program. Day program is M-F from 7a-5p. I do not believe you will be in class all that time. It is just the times they want you to be available. I have looked at the schedules for last falls NUR119 and it looks like labs would be Monday and Tuesday from 8-9:50, lecture would be in Wednesday from 9-12, and hospital work would be Thursday from 7a-1p. This was last fall, I am assuming this fall should be relatively the same. I am not sure what the situation is with nights and weekends but it does ask that you be available between 6P-10p during the week and weekends. One thing I am not seeing anymore is the NUR103 requirement (dosage calculations). I had planned to take that over the summer but I do not see it anywhere in the program or in course scheduled anymore. I am assuming they are building this into NUR119. Have you done your CPR certification yet?

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Congratulations!! I have not done the CPR cert yet, have you? I honestly applied for the fall program on a whim...I hadn't yet taken the TEAS, and just thought that they heck..the worse possible thing is they won't accept me. I planned on taking it after the spring semester ends anyway until I read the other day that it was no longer a requirement. I reached out to one of the nursing program coordinators regarding CHE 210 (nutrition) bc I was planning to take that summer one, but it wouldn't allow me to register and the response to that email was my acceptance letter! I was in complete shock. I since found out that the CHE 210 has been switched to NUR 220.

Are you taking summer courses? I haven't yet tried, but will it allow me to register for Nursing courses before the program starts? I feel like I'm going in blind here but so grateful to not have to wait and apply again. I will have to do the full time program bc between working from 73-5 and class from 6-10 plus weekends, I would never see my family.

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I am doing the daytime as well! We may be in the same classes. I am not sure what the deal is with CHE210. I already took nutrition and they applied it to the program. However, it was intro to nutrition so I hope they don't make me retake it. Right now it still shows as completed. I did CPR in February. It was a 4 hour class but because only 3 people showed up we were done in less than 3. So you didn't take the TEAS or the HESI? Lucky! My husband is in the military and we were just station in NJ from New Mexico last August. I studied my butt off for the teas while packing, traveling, unpacking, and trying to settle in. I really wish I knew that in the end it wouldn't matter because it would have saved me a lot of headache while trying to move across country. I did well on it though- I scored exemplary. I do not think we can register for NUR courses until we have gone through the whole process of background check. Drug screening, CPR, etc. I am currently taking History I, into to art, and political science. I plan on taking History II and possibly Womens Lit over the summer. I have all my non-nursing courses complete so I am just trying to get some courses completed towards BSN and possibly Masters now. I don't work and my kiddos are 8 and 11 but my husband is always coming and going for work so daytime is definitely the best choice for me as well.

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Do you plan on doing the 3+1 program through Rowan for BSN? I really need to sit down with someone who can

break it all down for me so I know exactly what I need going forward as well. I don't want to waste the summer if it will

save time in the long run.

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I am undecided on the 3+1. I think it is a great program but my husband retires in a couple years and I don't know if I will have time to finish the +1 and after retirement, I don't know where we will be (if we will stay in NJ or go elsewhere). I plan on going and speaking with advising once I get past the conditional acceptance. I already have all my courses finished for the first small semester besides NUR119. I think microbiology and lab and history I is what is in the degree plan for additional courses for fall. Ideally, I waited to apply until all I had left were nursing courses so I can really aim my focus on those. I would be really annoyed if I had to take a bunch of extra courses along with them. For example, I'd probably do anything to avoid having to take pathophysiology, public speaking, AND literature along with the 9 credit NUR120. In my opinion, that is just WAY too much. So if not doing the 3+1 is the only way to avoid that, I probably will stick with the traditional ADN track.

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Congrats to you both!

Sarah If you don't mind me asking what was your gpa for both sciences and cumulative?

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As a current student I must advise to not enter this program. I am almost finished and I honestly feel like it was not only a waste of time and money but a huge source of frustration for all the wrong reasons. Teachers left and right being fired, surprise fees, faculty consistently unprepared. clinical with instructors advising on serious nursing violations and how to get away with things, we are constantly being told to bear with the changes since the beginning of the program and we are still being told that. We have to sign a contract not to post anything bad about the school on Facebook to the news or newspaper. But this program is awful...they face you to buy these "custom" books so your spending close to 1000 per semester. tests are consistently incorrect and have to be adjusted. the absolute best advice I could give you is go to a four year college, you will wind up spending the same amount(they now charge you for hesi exit exams so also be prepared for that fee) and at least you won't have to deal with the gross miscommunication and administrative issues that occur at rcbc. there were a few excellent instructors but it was vastly overshadowed by their incompetent coworkers. I have yet to get a consistent answer about anything from the faculty; no-one is on the same page. I love nursing so much and this experience left me very bitter and feeling very unprepared for the nclex. I was so excited to learn, and to be challenged but the only thing that was challenging was accommodating incompetence. We were told for our first class that "a nurse is always prepared". It was clearly too much to ask for the same of the program. I don't foresee it getting better in the future.

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Is the CHE course not accepted anymore? I also work two jobs and am quite busy so i wanted to get into the NUR 220 but they are booked for the distance learning course. Do they offer them in the summer or no?

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How did you know which prerequisites you needed for the BSN? I also have my non-nursing courses completed and wanted to get some BSN courses completed if possible?

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