LA County vs El Camino ????

lvnandmomx3 · Jul 30, 2008

I have heard ECC has a great program. I am thinking of looking into it, I had a few ppl in my LVN school that were on the waiting list there and are now in the RN program. I have not heard of LAC though so I do not have any input for that program. Do you know if ECC has a weekend or PT option?

jelly221,RN, MSN · Jul 30, 2008

I have also applied to both programs. I haven't heard back yet; when did you apply?? And congrats on getting in both!!

Personally, I would go to LAC for the clinical experience. From everything I've heard, the nurses who come out of there are so sharp because you've seen almost everything and at a pretty high acuity by the time you graduate. However, ECC's program is very good.

ECC does have a program for people with FT jobs or families. It's one night a week (Wed. I think) and then clinicals are all day either Fri or Sat. The program takes place at Little Company of Mary and from what I've heard is AMAZING with state-of-the-art equipment. I'm hoping to get in there so that I can continue working.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide!!

dienne · Jul 30, 2008

Hello,

I would say go to LA county, just because El Camino is so disorganized and the administrative staff very unprofessional.

I got a phone call from them on Monday telling me that I was in for Fall. I went over there to get my info package on Tuesday morning and at night we had to attend our orientation session.

Well they called me 5 minutes before orientation started to let me know that they made a mistake and they miscounted people so I was not in.

You cannot imagine how I felt, it was a horrible ordeal they put us through and they couldn't even guarantee us that we are in for Spring.

They will also stop offering the program at Little Company of Mary starting next semester.

So, if you have a choice, run from El Camino.

Daniela

Hello everyone!
I too have a question about which school to go to.
I have been accepted to Los Angeles County School of Nursing for Fall enrollment.
El Camino just notified me and wants me to attend their school in the Fall as well.
It seems as if they are both good schools ... however the main consideration for me ... is that El Camino is 15 minutes from my home ... and County is 45 minutes ... I know that County has great clinicals ... however El Camino is very highly respected ...
My gut says go to the place that is the closest and reduce commute time ... I could spend that time doing some self-care or studying ...
What do you think? Help! I have to make a decision ASAP. What's the word on ECC vs LAC?
Thanks,

MacBaba · Aug 6, 2008

Hello Dienne,

Uhem ... I was THERE at El Camino that day! I was the only male there. Who were you? (That is if you want to share.) Same thing happened to me. I was just pulling up to the family orientation with my wife when I got the call. "We made a mistake with the count and you cannot start this Fall!" I too was so disappointed and shocked ... I had to laugh ... because this was not the first time Martha Smith and her office has made a major mistake with me.

So ... I am very fortunate to have been excepted into County and it has been a very straight ahead process. Not one problem.

The pass rate (2006-2007) for LA County is 94% and El Camino College 82% ...

Those numbers do mean something.

What other programs have you applied for? Have you been accepted to any other programs?

When was your acceptance date for ECC? Mine was Fall of 2009 ... and on the wait list for Spring 2009.

In spite of my feelings being crushed ... being accepted one day and then told I am NOT in the program the next ... ECC is a very good program ... and ALOT closer to where I live. So ... I'll not going to entirely rule it out ... and may transfer to ECC after a semester or two at County.

Who knows? I have to see how it goes. I'm leaving my options open. However ... I start at County in this month.

Thank you for your feedback. Please send me a reply. Good luck to you!

Best, MacBaba

MacBaba · Aug 6, 2008

As you may have read in my post I am going to go to LA County.

I applied to El Camino in Oct 2007 and County in January of 2008.

County was based upon primarily grades ... (points) and El Camino also points ... but in my imagination I think it may be more than that. I have a 4.0 ... great letters of recommendation ... I don't know ... they are very impacted and everyone wants to go there ... I'm just a bit miffed at my application status after working SO HARD at my prereq's. PLUS they didn't even give me credit for all of my classes that were listed in my official transcripts. I had to challenge my application ... they reluctantly agreed to review it with me in person and said I hadn't taken certain classes ... I said that I did take those classes ... and she flipped a couple of pages and there they were! So ... that increased my status on the Spring wait list ... but what carelessness ... So that's why I was shocked when they accepted me for this fall and then within 24hours told me "NO" ... but not entirely surprised.

Okay ... so the majority of people do not have this experience in applying to El Camino. I guess it was the "luck of the draw" for me ... (and Danelia!) ... Perhaps I could just say County was meant to be.

Thanks for your reply. Good Luck to you!

Best, Mac Baba

dienne · Aug 6, 2008

Hi,

I'm so sorry this happened to you also. It's been very hard for me to deal with the whole situation. When I got the phone call, I immediately told my boss that I was quitting, so the next day I had to go into work and ask for my job back, it was embarrassing.

Were you at the little orientation Martha gave us in the morning? I think I remember you, you came in late, I was sitting in the front row between two girls. I was the one with the long brown hair.

I was so disappointed, I'm so ready to start. It's unbelievable what they did, they are so disorganized. I understand that we can all make mistakes but it seems that Martha and her staff make lots of them, not to mention all the paperwork they constantly lose.

I, together with other 4 girls, went back the next day and we got to talk to the new director Dr. Baily. She was very kind and she apologized with us. She said that, considering what happened, we will have priority for next semester. But neither Dr. Baily nor Martha could guarantee us that we are in for Spring. I don't understand why though, since we were called this time, one can think that we were up on the list and that everybody who was supposed to start in the Spring is actually starting now. That would leave a lot of seats available for Spring but when I asked them this question they told me that it doesn't really work this way. I'm not sure what this means, I told them I was concerned about their waiting list system and obviously they told me not to be.

I only applied to El Camino, I looked into other programs but they all have different requirements and I didn't want to spend money and time to try to satisfy each single one. This semester I'm taking Pharmacology at Santa Monica College and Life Span psychology at Harbor so I don't have to take them when I start, hopefully, next semester.

I'm so happy for you that you got accepted at LA County, I heard it's an excellent program. Good luck and keep us posted.

Daniela

Hello Dienne,
Uhem ... I was THERE at El Camino that day! I was the only male there. Who were you? (That is if you want to share.) Same thing happened to me. I was just pulling up to the family orientation with my wife when I got the call. "We made a mistake with the count and you cannot start this Fall!" I too was so disappointed and shocked ... I had to laugh ... because this was not the first time Martha Smith and her office has made a major mistake with me.
So ... I am very fortunate to have been excepted into County and it has been a very straight ahead process. Not one problem.
The pass rate (2006-2007) for LA County is 94% and El Camino College 82% ...
Those numbers do mean something.
What other programs have you applied for? Have you been accepted to any other programs?
When was your acceptance date for ECC? Mine was Fall of 2009 ... and on the wait list for Spring 2009.
In spite of my feelings being crushed ... being accepted one day and then told I am NOT in the program the next ... ECC is a very good program ... and ALOT closer to where I live. So ... I'll not going to entirely rule it out ... and may transfer to ECC after a semester or two at County.
Who knows? I have to see how it goes. I'm leaving my options open. However ... I start at County in this month.
Thank you for your feedback. Please send me a reply. Good luck to you!
Best, MacBaba

dienne · Aug 7, 2008

Hi MacBaba,

it's me again....hehe..........if you don't mind me asking......what was your number on the waiting list?

Mine was 25, I'm just trying to figure out how many people they called from the waiting list.

Thank you.

Daniela

lvnandmomx3 · Aug 7, 2008

For those of you that are going to go to la county. Are you already an lvn and are you doing the mobility option? If so what are the hours like. I see on the curriculum that the lvn option is 2 full semesters and a summer sesion. I was wondering what the hours were like for this option.

VeniceCa · Aug 14, 2008

Hello everyone, I am a new grad from County and just took my NCLEX-RN on monday. I was accepted to El Camino after I already started at County and I have no regrets with County. The clinical experience is invaluable. Ofcourse I am biased but I believe there is no experience like a county education. If you can work in County I think you can work anywhere. The theory classes follow the same curriculum as all ADN nursing schools in order to be accredited. I believe what you put into it is what you'll get out of it as far as the theory goes. Hope this helps.

lvnandmomx3 · Aug 14, 2008

Hello everyone, I am a new grad from County and just took my NCLEX-RN on monday. I was accepted to El Camino after I already started at County and I have no regrets with County. The clinical experience is invaluable. Ofcourse I am biased but I believe there is no experience like a county education. If you can work in County I think you can work anywhere. The theory classes follow the same curriculum as all ADN nursing schools in order to be accredited. I believe what you put into it is what you'll get out of it as far as the theory goes. Hope this helps.

What were your hours like for theory and clinicals if you don't mind answering.

VeniceCa · Aug 14, 2008

Each semester you go to clinical 2 days and theory 2 days. Every semester could be a little different, so I would recommend calling the school and see if a syllabus is available for you. The average theory days was from 7am to 11am the second day might be 7am to 3pm. In my second semester they had all theory classes in one day, but they changed that since.