Evergreen Valley College ... input please?

U.S.A. California

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Hi everyone,

I just found this site and read a few of the threads. I saw that some people actually graduated from there so I have a few questions that I hope you could answer for me.

I'm from Oklahoma and might make the move to San Jose and attend Evergreen Valley College. However, I don't know anyone who attending and thus, have no personal info on it. I'm really confused on whether to stay in OK or go to Cali.

Is it hard to get in? How hard are the classes? Where do u go to do your classes like pysch..which hospital or medical center? Anyways, anything that you can let me know I will really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Laura

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Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.

Hi gemprincess,

There are actually two community colleges in the south Bay Area that offer RN programs. Evergreen is the most south. De Anza College is in Cupertino (south west bay area, a few miles more north than Evergreen). Mission College and West Valley college used to have nursing programs, but according to the BON, it doesn't seem that they do anymore. Evergreen is on a semester system and De Anza on a quarter system. De Anza nursing has been around since the late '60's. Evergreen's program is much younger.

You can get your pre-reqs at a number of colleges in the area, but I would think it would be most convienent to do all your education at the same place, especially if you will be considered an out-of-state student. But with the cuts to schools out here which include large cuts to community colleges, many classes are full and difficult to get into at first. I think the most important thing is to get registered and enrolled into any class so the next quarter or semester's registration period you will have priority over the incoming students and thus more choices for classes. You can however, find out what the pre-reqs are for the nursing program of your choice and get them at any of the colleges and transfer the credits. But what a pain that would be!

You could do it all (pre-req's and nursing) at Evergreen if that's your choice of schools or De Anza. With both places, you would apply to the nursing program after most of your pre-req's are finished. It takes about a year and a half - two years if you are starting from scratch. You apply to the nursing program during your last quarter or semester of pre-reqs. There are a couple of classes you can take concurrently with the first part of the nursing program, but it's not recommended as you will be VERY busy with the nursing classes. Also - to answer your question- "how hard are the classes" -nursing school is difficult no matter where you go!

De Anza's nursing program is one of the best Associate degree programs in the country. I have a friend who's a clinical assistant and I know several of the instructors. I'm not sure I understand your question about what hospitals you get your psych classes...do you mean where do you do clinicals? If that's what you mean, I can tell you that De Anza clinicals throughout the program are done at a couple different local LTC places (first quarter only), Sequoia Hospital (psych, med/surg), Valley Medical Center (peds), El Camino Hospital (OB, med/surg)and O'Conner Hospital (psych). There is also a long-term residential psych place you go and a lovely special pediatric hospital that nursing students visit. Preceptorships are done at all these places and also the Palo Alto Veterans Administration and various other places.

Evergreen does clinicals at Valley Medical Center, but I'm not as familiar with this program as I am with De Anza's, so I can't say where else they go.

De Anza's program recently expanded to admit 30 students per quarter, that's 90 nursing students/year. They graduate more nursing students than Evergreen. I'm pretty sure there's a waiting list to get in and they use a lottery system.

I know you asked specifically about Evergreen and I'm sorry I don't know much about the program there, but I wanted to let you know if you are considering the south Bay Area, there is another choice.

Hope this helps. Maybe you could write or call the nursing program counselor or a general counselor for the college. I'm sure they have packets they send out to prospective students.

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Since Evergreen is one of the schools I am applying at I can try and give you an idea....The RN program like all others in this area is very impacted. They take, depending on staff ,between 60-80 people every fall. 1/2 are admitted on highest GPA and the other half is lottery so if you want a spot for sure make sure you get the best grades possible or you will be in the lottery. They advise you to take as many GE courses so when you get into their program you can concentrate on nursing. The nice thing about Evergreen (EVC) is that it is a sister school to San Jose City College (SJCC) and you can take all you classes at either school. So if a class like Anatony is full at EVC you can go to SJCC which has more classes. I believe they do their clinicals at most local hospitals like Valley Med, the VA hospital, Regional Medical etc

The previous poster mentioned Mission, they have a LVN program only no RN. There is also another RN progrma in Fremont at Ohlone College.

www.evc.edu is their website and you can go to the nursing section from there.If you have any more questions just ask. Good luck

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Hi everyone,

I just found this site and read a few of the threads. I saw that some people actually graduated from there so I have a few questions that I hope you could answer for me.

I'm from Oklahoma and might make the move to San Jose and attend Evergreen Valley College. However, I don't know anyone who attending and thus, have no personal info on it. I'm really confused on whether to stay in OK or go to Cali.

Is it hard to get in? How hard are the classes? Where do u go to do your classes like pysch..which hospital or medical center? Anyways, anything that you can let me know I will really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Laura

If you want to know about all of the ADN RN programs at California community colleges you can go to:

http://www.cccco.edu

Another program "in the area" is College of San Mateo. Also, San Francisco State, in combination with the community college campus of La Canada in Redwood City and Sequoia hospital has just started offering an accelerated 18mo program where you would get a BSN from SFSU (I think you have to already have a bachelors, though.)

DeAnza College definitely has a waiting list. No new applications were accepted for Spring Quarter because there were enough people (200??) who had been in the lottery the last two quarters to more than fill a class.

I happen to be an advocate of the "take the education where you can get it", because classes can be difficult to get into. You do have to be careful, however. Evergreen, for instance, requires a 5 semester unit class in Microbiology. DeAnza and Foothill, being on the quarter system, do not have a Microbiology class that will qualify (6 quarter units is only 4 semester units), as EVC is quite adamant about having 5 units.

Good luck!

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Hi everyone,

I just found this site and read a few of the threads. I saw that some people actually graduated from there so I have a few questions that I hope you could answer for me.

I'm from Oklahoma and might make the move to San Jose and attend Evergreen Valley College. However, I don't know anyone who attending and thus, have no personal info on it. I'm really confused on whether to stay in OK or go to Cali.

Is it hard to get in? How hard are the classes? Where do u go to do your classes like pysch..which hospital or medical center? Anyways, anything that you can let me know I will really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Laura

I'm in evergreens nursing program. We started off with 80 students and went down to about 60. The classes you need to take before the program are getting harder and harder to get because many people taking those classes are doing it for nursing. We do our clinicals all over the place some at good Sam, kaiser santa clara and santa theresa, and valley. I went to evergreen because all the hospitals around here say good things about their students. Check out their website http://www.evc.edu and go to programs and click on nursing. Good lucky with everything. I dont want to scare you but if you want to make sure you get in then you will need a high GPA. The year I started the first 40 students that got in had at least a 3.7 GPA and the rest were picked at random.

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I just did a career day at my child's high school and found out that some students are considering going to school out of California as the nursing programs may not be as impacted.

The nursing shortage is bad in California. Part of the problem is that the nursing schools can't get enough students in and thru their programs because there aren't enough nursing faculty and/or the money to pay the faculty because the state is in such poor shape............... thus a vicious cycle.

The other thing to realize is how expensive it is to live in the Bay area. Rents are quite high and real estate is the some of the highest in the country. However the weather is great with access to the beaches and the mountains and SF.

That said I work with lots of nurses who have graduated from DeAnza and some that have graduated from Evergreen. I also have co-workers that are clinical assistants at DeAnza. They are great bedside nurses and am sure they have high expectations of their students.

Good Luck.

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The program requires anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and english 1a.

do i need to finish other GEs before applying for the program????? please let me know.

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All prerequisites must be completed before you're allowed to apply to the program.

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I know that. Lets say i finished all the pre-reqs.. anatomy, physio, micro, and english because that is all that they are asking for.... but i do realized you need to finish the GEs in order to get the AS degree.

can i finish the other GEs later after nursing program? or the GEs must be completed as well before applying for the nursing program

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I'm unsure, but most applicants have them completed before the apply, or have the rest of their GE in progress while they apply so all they have left to do is the actual nursing classes. I would recommend to have as many completed as possible.

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I applied to evergreen and i was sent an email saying i met the requirements to get in, but they take everyone who meets the requirements and then randomly select. I was not randonly selected even though I met the requirement. I did however get into SJSU's Nursing program. Its more work to get into but worth it i hope. I suggest taking all you pre reqs at a community college and go slow and take your time in order to get excellent grades (3.5 or higher)... Gavilan colllege is 30 min outside of San jose and it is easier to get into their science classes.

Alicia

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This is an old thread that has had new posts, so I wanted to clear up some misconceptions. Recently Evergreen has changed their admission procedure. They no longer take any students based on merit. You have to meet a cut score (for grades, teas test, and chancellor's formula - info at their site www.evc.edu/nursing) but if you do (which probably around 400 per year do) then you enter a completely random lottery. They maintain no waitlist at all and do not save any slots for students with stellar GPAs. Sorry. If you are looking for a merit program, San Francisco State (tradition BSN as well as their Sequoia Cohort) programs are based on GPA & Teas (Version V only) scores. They take applications every October-November and you can have courses in progress when you apply which is unusual for most schools.

As for the person who was asking about prereq's vs. ge requirements. At Evergreen you are only required to have Anatomy, Physio, Micro, and English 1A to apply. However, you need all of the other GEs completed to graduate and qualify to take the NCLEX exam and obtain your license (can't complete them after nursing courses unless you don't care about getting a job :-). Since the program is really intense, it is absolutely recommended that you complete the rest of your GE courses before entrance into the program but it is not a requirement.

Take care and best wishes to all future nurses!

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