I was picked in the lottery!!!

U.S.A. California

Published

O M G, I am soooo happy right now! Out of 585 applications, my name came up in the first 100, which means I should get into Spring 2014 at CCSF (they pick 50 for fall; 50 for spring). Nothing's set in stone until I get the official letter, but I'm still going to celebrate!!!

If individuals are really passionate about becoming an RN, then they'll do what it takes to get in - even if it means waiting another year.

That's just naive to say. I have a lot of passion, but if my situation was the same and I got rejected from a lottery system and was told to wait another year, I'd have to look elsewhere. I don't have the money to wait a year, and neither do a lot of other people. You can say all of this feel-good stuff about people "chasing their dreams", but the reality is that most people who are academically strong are that way for a good reason -- because they are the ones who are strong enough to survive the nursing program and do well in this stressful profession. All the good intentions, warm and fuzzies, and feel-goods in the world won't help somebody who struggles to get Cs actually make it through the nursing program. It won't make it any better if a nurse who is a "great person" makes a med error and seriously harms or kills a patient.

I would never attend a school that ran a lottery like that.

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I'm going to treat this like you actually have experience in the work field. I stand strong with what I said because it's just fact. If you really want to become a RN then you will do whatever is necessary, and yes people do wait a year even if they don't want to. If you don't have time to wait then apply to other schools that accept applications based on merit. "Academically strong" has nothing to do with how well you'll be in the work field. You gain and retain just enough knowledge to be competent enough to be able to establish ebb and flow with your professional peers, and if you believe that horse shi*t about only the elite pre-nursing students can make it through the nursing program then you got another thing coming. Get off your high horse and start realizing that nursing isn't for academic elites. It's for people who want to provide care for others and try and make a difference. If your reasons are otherwise, I'd have to question your endeavor of wanting in on the profession. Look up the word nursing sometime in the dictionary, I don't know, maybe you may find it surprising. I don't quite get your logic, however the whole reason behind nursing school is to learn as much as you can, make mistakes now so you can learn from them, and apply it to the work field. Everyone is going to make mistakes/errors - it is inevitable. That's how you learn and if you think otherwise on that too, then all the best luck to you. People with straight A's make mistakes too and may cause harm or injury, you know why?? because they're freaking human. You get? try and do some thinking first. it really helps.

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That's just naive to say. I have a lot of passion, but if my situation was the same and I got rejected from a lottery system and was told to wait another year, I'd have to look elsewhere. I don't have the money to wait a year, and neither do a lot of other people. You can say all of this feel-good stuff about people "chasing their dreams", but the reality is that most people who are academically strong are that way for a good reason -- because they are the ones who are strong enough to survive the nursing program and do well in this stressful profession. All the good intentions, warm and fuzzies, and feel-goods in the world won't help somebody who struggles to get Cs actually make it through the nursing program. It won't make it any better if a nurse who is a "great person" makes a med error and seriously harms or kills a patient.

I would never attend a school that ran a lottery like that.

I'm going to treat this like you actually have experience in the work field. I stand strong with what I said because it's just fact. If you really want to become a RN then you will do whatever is necessary, and yes people do wait a year even if they don't want to. If you don't have time to wait then apply to other schools that accept applications based on merit. "Academically strong" has nothing to do with how well you'll be in the work field. You gain and retain just enough knowledge to be competent enough to be able to establish ebb and flow with your professional peers, and if you believe that horse shi*t about only the elite pre-nursing students can make it through the nursing program then you got another thing coming. Get off your high horse and start realizing that nursing isn't for academic elites. It's for people who want to provide care for others and try and make a difference. If your reasons are otherwise, I'd have to question your endeavor of wanting in on the profession. Look up the word nursing sometime in the dictionary, I don't know, maybe you may find it surprising. I don't quite get your logic, however the whole reason behind nursing school is to learn as much as you can, make mistakes now so you can learn from them, and apply it to the work field. Everyone is going to make mistakes/errors - it is inevitable. That's how you learn and if you think otherwise on that too, then all the best luck to you. People with straight A's make mistakes too and may cause harm or injury, you know why?? because they're freaking human. You get? try and do some thinking first. it really helps.

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I'm going to treat this like you actually have experience in the work field. I stand strong with what I said because it's just fact. If you really want to become a RN then you will do whatever is necessary, and yes people do wait a year even if they don't want to. If you don't have time to wait then apply to other schools that accept applications based on merit. "Academically strong" has nothing to do with how well you'll be in the work field. You gain and retain just enough knowledge to be competent enough to be able to establish ebb and flow with your professional peers, and if you believe that horse shi*t about only the elite pre-nursing students can make it through the nursing program then you got another thing coming. Get off your high horse and start realizing that nursing isn't for academic elites. It's for people who want to provide care for others and try and make a difference. If your reasons are otherwise, I'd have to question your endeavor of wanting in on the profession. Look up the word nursing sometime in the dictionary, I don't know, maybe you may find it surprising. I don't quite get your logic, however the whole reason behind nursing school is to learn as much as you can, make mistakes now so you can learn from them, and apply it to the work field. Everyone is going to make mistakes/errors - it is inevitable. That's how you learn and if you think otherwise on that too, then all the best luck to you. People with straight A's make mistakes too and may cause harm or injury, you know why?? because they're freaking human. You get? try and do some thinking first. it really helps.

You're taking this entirely too personally xP. I offered you a dissenting opinion and a backup of reasons for my opinion. It's based on the facts that:

1) I'm a pre-nursing student, and I know that a lot of the students who feel like they want to be nurses never make it past the first semester on the pre-nursing track because Anatomy & Physiology I is the first taste they get of nursing, and it ain't easy in the least. I'm a seasoned vet as far as studying and college classes go, and I devote massive amounts of time to studying for my classes and still am barely swinging A grades in them.

2) By every account I've ever heard from any nurse, the actual nursing program, no matter where you go to school, is much more academically strenuous than the pre-requisites for it, and that makes a lot of sense considering that peoples' lives are going to be in these students' hands when they graduate.

Nursing isn't the easiest path to pursue, and it's that way for a very good reason. Yes, everybody makes mistakes, but the person who truly grasps the material and can apply it under the pressures of a critical situation in the real world is much less likely to make a mistake than somebody who struggles with it. It isn't about academic elitism -- it's about the fact that, as a nurse, it is your legal responsibility to monitor another person's health, and if you don't have the knowledge to do that, it's a very bad situation for you and the patient.

I can understand some people being bad test-takers and not necessarily doing well with a paper-and-answers format of testing, but still really knowing the subject and being able to apply it in the real world, but I think that's much fewer and far-between.

Questioning my motives for choosing nursing and trying to undercut me as a person isn't going to change those hard facts.

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Specializes in Peds, ER, NICU/PICU, OR.

congratulations on getting in! I just got my acceptance letter from Bakersfield College and I am so incredibly happy! Good Luck!

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You're taking this entirely too personally xP. I offered you a dissenting opinion and a backup of reasons for my opinion. It's based on the facts that:

1) I'm a pre-nursing student, and I know that a lot of the students who feel like they want to be nurses never make it past the first semester on the pre-nursing track because Anatomy & Physiology I is the first taste they get of nursing, and it ain't easy in the least. I'm a seasoned vet as far as studying and college classes go, and I devote massive amounts of time to studying for my classes and still am barely swinging A grades in them.

2) By every account I've ever heard from any nurse, the actual nursing program, no matter where you go to school, is much more academically strenuous than the pre-requisites for it, and that makes a lot of sense considering that peoples' lives are going to be in these students' hands when they graduate.

Nursing isn't the easiest path to pursue, and it's that way for a very good reason. Yes, everybody makes mistakes, but the person who truly grasps the material and can apply it under the pressures of a critical situation in the real world is much less likely to make a mistake than somebody who struggles with it. It isn't about academic elitism -- it's about the fact that, as a nurse, it is your legal responsibility to monitor another person's health, and if you don't have the knowledge to do that, it's a very bad situation for you and the patient.

I can understand some people being bad test-takers and not necessarily doing well with a paper-and-answers format of testing, but still really knowing the subject and being able to apply it in the real world, but I think that's much fewer and far-between.

Questioning my motives for choosing nursing and trying to undercut me as a person isn't going to change those hard facts.

It's okay. You don't have to convince me. I based my rebuttal solely on what you were trying to say. you decided to speak for everyone and began assuming that because you feel you can't wait another year, that everyone else must feel the same. You seemed very irrational with your previous post and I felt it was important to make you aware of it. I'm aware of the rigorous course work involved. You don't know me so I won't go any further than that, however I will say this. You cannot assume by proxy that because a student is having C grades in pre-req courses that they will ultimately fail in a nursing program that was designed by lottery. There are far more variables involved that determine success or failure. To level with you, the one's who 'don't truly grasp the material' will eventually weed out of the program (or may not even make it into one) and for them, that's just the way the cookie crumbles. But you can't make blatant statements such as "people with C grades wont make it through the nursing program." I did question your motives because you seemed incompetent (no offense) and your hard facts are linear at best. Try finding different paradigms to back those "hard facts." I'm not trying to be an ass, just feed you some perspective.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Congrats OP on getting picked for a lottery!!!

FYI, MOST nursing schools, including merit based ones, look at the "total package", lottery or not.

My GPA was a 2.62 with a science GPA of 3.0, scored 92 percentile on my entrance exam. I passed the NCLEX the first time. This was after I failed nursing school the first time due to anxiety issues, went back into a PN program, passed and was a successful LPN. I am sure I got picked over a few more "academically sound" people; however, I am a success story that a particular school of thought may think I'm "not suitable for being a nurse because of having low grades" perhaps.

There are MANY nurses who have bipolar, BPD, depression, PTSD (like myself...I am also a DV survivor) that are excellent nurses, are leaders in the community, are blazing pathways in our profession.

For those who are still waiting on waiting lists, if possible, cast those nets wide if you can, purposefully and intellectually. There are so many of us that have faced many challenges, we are the future of nursing. There are scholarships and need based programs like the Sunshine Program for DV survivors and HRSA scholarship programs that will pay for you to go to Nursing school, so if you research AB qualify, apply to that BSN program, and go for it!!!

Stay determined. These situations in life can make you question your interfere in terms of desiring a goal; also, you never know what others are going through...that C+ nurse may be the "expert" on the nursing unit...make sure you run your own race in your career. I waited three years (not by choice) to get into a RN program. The challenges made me getting my BSN much more victorious! I hope for all others the same in their nursing career. :yes:

From one whose setbacks have made a better nurse, colleague, and individual...IMHO.

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But you can't make blatant statements such as "people with C grades wont make it through the nursing program." I did question your motives because you seemed incompetent (no offense) and your hard facts are linear at best. Try finding different paradigms to back those "hard facts." I'm not trying to be an ass, just feed you some perspective.

Never once did I blatantly make the statement that people with C grades won't make it through the nursing program. You're putting words into my mouth, and I don't like it when people do that, so it makes me sharper. I don't mean to be an ass, either xD.

I'm definitely not trying to say that ONLY A students can make it through the program. I just think we're talking in extremes here. There are a lot of well-intentioned people who cannot handle the nursing program. There are a lot of academic elites who can't handle the profession either. It takes a certain kind of person to be a nurse, which is I guess why we're one of the most trusted professions everywhere.

And for your original point, I never said having to wait on a lottery would deter me from being a nurse. I said I would never try a school that did it that way.

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Never once did I blatantly make the statement that people with C grades won't make it through the nursing program. You're putting words into my mouth, and I don't like it when people do that, so it makes me sharper. I don't mean to be an ass, either xD.

I'm definitely not trying to say that ONLY A students can make it through the program. I just think we're talking in extremes here. There are a lot of well-intentioned people who cannot handle the nursing program. There are a lot of academic elites who can't handle the profession either. It takes a certain kind of person to be a nurse, which is I guess why we're one of the most trusted professions everywhere.

And for your original point, I never said having to wait on a lottery would deter me from being a nurse. I said I would never try a school that did it that way.

I paraphrased your quote because i was too lazy to go back and read it over again, but since we're getting into semantics of the argument, here it is.

All the good intentions, warm and fuzzies, and feel-goods in the world won't help somebody who struggles to get Cs actually make it through the nursing program.

I didn't put words in your mouth. I just re-phrased them.

Your second paragraph comes from a side I relate with more. I think that's great insight. Regarding your first sentence on that, I'd like to comment that your reply to my original post prompted some tounge-lashing, which in turn made it out to seem extreme.

My original point was that if people really want to become a RN, then they'll do whatever it takes. Even if it means waiting a year - or more.

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I am number 136 sooooo close! I called and they said I have a pretty good chance...What do you guys think? This is my second time applying !

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Congrats!!!!! I also applied to CCSF, I am in the #120s so I was close.

What do you think my chances are?

I guess I'd have to hope that 20+ people don't qualify somehow, or decide to go elsewhere huh?

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oh then congrats lauraline! you have a better chance than I do! They select 100 people and out of those people 50 for each semester. Therfore they go through it and check who is qualified and who isnt! So you might have a chance. Did you apply anywhere else? I applied to SFSTATE, Domincian and San Mateo

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