How hard was it to get INTO nursing school? vent/survey

AngelicNurse2B · Jan 24, 2002

Wow, I guess I should consider myself lucky...I'd rather be put on a waiting list, at least I know I'll get in sometime! How awful to just be out and out rejected! I don't think we even have to take an entrance exam, I could be wrong but I didn't see anything like that when I was looking at the application process.

Re: Las Vegas, I was really thinking of moving there, I had read on another post that there was no wait and they didn't have enough students. My fiance's mom has a condo out there we could live in and everything, but it doesn't make sense financially, since community college here in California is only $11/credit! I won't even need financial aid to go to school here. At the community college of southern Nevada, which I assume is the one with the ADN program you are referring to, Forevermomof5, the classes are $42.50/credit! That's a big difference! Ah well...I just read in the paper this morning that they want the hospitals around here to start pumping more $$ into the nursing school so that they can turn out more students to meet the demand, esp. now with the new staffing regulations that Gov. Davis is proposing. Maybe there is hope for me yet!:)

Angela

TCW · Jan 25, 2002

I filled out the application, paid the fee, took a lame aptitude test, and started school 3 mos. later. No big deal.

Huckfinn,

I'm with you! Now, if only I could take you with me to my admissions office when I go there next week to jump through more hoops.

tonya:D

Lillith · Jan 26, 2002

Have you considered becoming an LPN first, then doing the last (1 year) leg for your ADN?

I don't know if it's practical or not, but if there's a VoTech located near you, it might be an option. Maybe the LPN route doesn't have as long a waiting list. Also, you can take your boards after 1 year and, if you have to work while completing your ADN, at least you'll be getting LPN pay.

I'm from MN and here they're making it as easy as they can to get your RN.

Also, if you're an LPN, you can do the Excelsior route: complete your RN at home, books and study materials sent to your door, take the test when you're ready, etc.

I'm doing that going through RUE.

Yow. The nursing schools have waiting lists to get in; Yet there aren't enuf nurses to fill the vacancies. Why, if so many nurses are graduating every year, is there a shortage. There's sure a shortage her in MN!

CountrifiedRN · Jan 26, 2002

I'm in my program now, second semester, but I remember jumping through hoops like it was yesterday! It is very frustrating, and there were plenty of times that I wanted to give up and pick something else. But I really wanted to be a nurse, so I kept going.

It does get easier in some ways, but there are hoops to jump through at every stage of the program. Don't give up if this is what you really want! It will be worth it in the end!

I have wondered if the places with the longest wait lists have the most hoops. After all, if one person quits, there are ten more that want that spot! They have nothing to lose. And in my area, if the ADN program has a long list, you can bet the LPN program does too. Sometimes it's harder to get into the LPN program than it is to get in the ADN program.

zacarias, ASN, RN · Jan 26, 2002

Originally posted by Forevermomof5
I may be biased but we have decent weather, a strong economy and now an open nursing school. What more reasons do you need to move to Las Vegas?

It sounds nice, and I hear the hospitals are new, but isn't the situation for nurses really poor there now? My aunt and uncle want me to move there but can you tell us more about the nursing situation there?

Z

AngelicNurse2B · Jan 27, 2002

Yow. The nursing schools have waiting lists to get in; Yet there aren't enuf nurses to fill the vacancies. Why, if so many nurses are graduating every year, is there a shortage. There's sure a shortage her in MN!

Lillith,

No kidding! At least here anyway, they say it's because the classes that are graduating are so small, it's not doing anything to relieve the shortage. And the reason the classes are so small, is because the schools only have enough $$ for a small amount of instructors.

But there is a glimmer of hope...at least for me here in CA! I read the article in the LA times that was on the allnurses.com home page...it said Gov. Davis has pledged $60 million over the next few years toward helping the nursing schools here expand their programs so that they can accept more students! It seems like they are finally waking up...if they would admit all these people on the waiting lists and get them out and graduated, it would really help!

Angela

Forevermomof5 · Jan 27, 2002

Z...

I have many friends who are nurses here in Las Vegas and I don't think that it is really that bad. The way nurses are treated I imagine is the same everywhere you go.

I looked last Sunday in the paper about job openings and there were plenty to go around. The hospitals are also offering students when they're accepted into the nursing program a program called "adopt a student". They pay entirely for your nursing program and you agree to work for them for two years. Not too bad I think.

Anyways, I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and it will always be my home, but Las Vegas has so much to offer. Did you know that you can get a 3,000 sq ft home for just over 200,000. That's a steal anywhere else and here it's on the high end. You should seriously think about the move. I don't regret mine.

Karen

maikranz · Jan 28, 2002

Not only is there a shortage of nurses, but a shortage of nursing instructors as well. An NLN-accredited school requires Master's-prepared nurses as lecturers. Bachelor's-prepared nurses are acceptable for clinical instructors. Hopefully, our candidates for admission are the best and the brightest, but unfortunately, that

is not the case all of the time.