El Centro Nursing Program Points System

LaurenMarie · Oct 28, 2010

I just got my letter yesterday for Spring 11 and I had 17 points...

shejoy19 · Oct 30, 2010

I got in at North Lake for Spring 11 and I had 15 points.

GaGal777 · Oct 30, 2010

I am new also.

What are "points"? How do you get them and how relevant are they to get into nursing school?

framir5a · Jan 26, 2011

did you put northlake as your first choice or el centro? i will be applying for the fall 2011!!

framir5a · Jan 26, 2011

shejoy19 i would like to know if you put northlake as your first choice or el centro? thank you very much i will be applying for the fall of 2011!!

LaurenMarie · Jan 27, 2011

I just started my first semester at El Centro about a week ago... I had 17 points and I chose El Centro as my first option. We had 6 people that were no shows/didn't have background check in time... so there were spots available after our orientation. I think the lowest number they went was 15. I would NOT count on 15 being a good enough number to get in though...16 is pretty comfortable, from what I hear.

Northlake is more organized than El Centro, I'd chose that one, especially since most of the professors are the same. Many of them work at both.

Be very prepared to be flexible, because I've got class anywhere from 2-4 days per week, and it changes weekly. The first 8 weeks of clinical are actually in a skills lab where you learn how to do basic things like cath, baths, medications, physical assessment, and feeding through a tube. Pretty basic stuff. They have us running around like headless chickens most of the time so you MUST be SUPER ORGANIZED. if you're not, you need to get that way or risk failing because you can't get all your stuff finished. For instance, our lecture teacher assigns us about 5-9 chapters of reading per week. In the book, its BIG, and print is very tiny, and sometimes difficult to put into lamens terms. So I read only one chapter a day, but EVERY DAY. Keeping up with lecture hasn't been an issue, but skills more than doubles or triples your work load with all the reading, videos, vocab, online quizes...and preparation for checkoffs you will do. Not to mention study time. Its very overwhelming the first couple of weeks, but I've got it down pretty good now. First test is in a week, so we'll see how I do!

Good luck, and when you get in, joint National Student Nurses Association, which will let you talk with people at all levels of the program. They are VERY useful, and it looks really good to be involoved in your professional organization when you go for your job interview.

framir5a · Jan 28, 2011

thank you very much!!! your info was very helpful, now i wish you good luck on your test!! i hope to get 17 points i am just retaking the hesi!!

nars35 · Mar 31, 2011

Hi, I turned in my application for Fall 2011. I only had 16 points and I'm hoping that will be enough. I still have to take micro. How did you do on your Hesi? Did you get the 17 points you wanted?

beamom · Jul 2, 2011

I'm planning on applying to el centro for spring 2012. If I calculated correctly I will have 16 points. Do you guys think this would be a competitive score?

LaurenMarie · Jul 3, 2011

I got in on 17 points... I am about to start my second semester though, so things may have changed a little bit. I think you definitely wouldn't want any less than 16, but I'd try for 17 or 18 if you can get that HESI up. or enroll for summer two to bring one of your grades up,if thats the issue. Last summer, I took Eng 1, AP1 and 2, Micro and HPRS class and made a 4.0 with it. Taking A and P was probably the reason that I got all 9 points that were possible, I made a 100 on the section. I guess my point is that if you want it bad enough, you can do it.

For the record, I love what Im doing now! The program is crazy and inconsistent, but I've learned alot. Make friends with your clinical instructor!

beamom · Jul 5, 2011

Thanks! I made a B in intro psyc. so I signed up to retake this summer 2 to get an a. That should bring my gpa up to get me another point for 17 total.