Fresno city, Merced or MJC nursing program

[DhaliRN, BSN]

I applied to all three and was wondering how they fair compared to each other. Which one is best regarding instructors, pass rate, clinical sites, job opportunity after graduation, etc. I would love to hear opinions from former or current students at any of the three programs. What they thought of the school. If they would recommend it or not.

[HopeLovePray]

Hi, right now I'm working on my application for MJC because all my prerequsite are almost a decade old and will notbe considered by other schools. If I don't get the TEAS done by the end of the month I will sign up for Pre requsites again for this fall and be applying to FCC, MCC and MJC next spring. I would appreciate knowing what your statistics are and which of these schools accept you. Thanks!

[Drodri555]

Hello,

I have a unique perspective, I know people that have been through MJC, Fresno City, and Merced College. In short, theory will be the same across the board no matter where you attend because each program prepares you for the NCLEX.

I was at Merced College, and transferred out to Fresno City College. Clinicalls at Merced College are extremely difficult, and the teachers ride you pretty hard, and can be passive aggressive at times. It got so bad that I did not have much time to study theory. So I decided to transfer to Fresno City College and absolutely loved it. Clinicals are more laxed, which allowed me more time to study. With laxed clinicals you can either step up and offer yourself to learn, or sit back in the shadows, which is a weakness of FCC's program, at Merced, that wouldn't fly. However, if you step up, learn as much as you can at FCC you will come out as a solid RN. Most RN's, about 90% of them in fact, from Merced are very solid, and clinically proficient at graduation. But, in my case, I did as much as possible at FCC, and was solid clinically, which worked out well and I had loads of more time to study theory & this benefited me, and passed the NCLEX at 76 questions. As for MJC, I have heard nothing but positives about the program.

In a nutshell: Merced college produces excellent clinical RN's, but some of the instructors can be over the top. Clinicals are done mainly at 186 bed community hospital. NCLEX pass rate is pretty solid as well. Classes are pretty small and a few typically fail clinical along the way.

Fresno City College: Class sizes are so big that I didn't recognize some of my class at graduation. Clinical is mainly at a level 1 trauma center, CRMC, 12 largest hospital in CA (I think), you get what you put into clinical, more study time outside of class. Students at FCC never fail clinical, but mainly fail theory, for those kicked from the program. NCLEX pass rate is a lot lower then Merced's. Classroom and theory environment is more family oriented.

Bottom Line: Each program is lotto based, do the pre-req's for all the programs, like I did, apply to all of them, and just take the seat at the program that offers you the first chair.