LaGuardia Community college

I plan to finish my pre-reqs there and apply to the nursing program for the Spring 2005 semester. Does anyone have any comments on the nursing program?

Also for the first time in doing research on nursing I am reading there are waiting lists of up to 2 years long. Can this be avoided by having a very high GPA with my pre-reqs? thanks!

hi, i'm from La Guardia , graduating this June (hopefully :). I said hopefully, because its a very competitive school not just in getting in with a high GPA but also all throughout the program. When we first started, there were 40 of us and now there's only 18 and half of that are repeaters (meaning they repeated one nursing course at one point -- by the way, you can only repeat once.) It's not that difficult if you have a high GPA to get in, say 3.5 + but to stay in the program is really difficult. They still eliminate students that are graduating. But then again, la guardia's passing for NCLEX is 100% so you feel confident sitting for the exam knowing that the school really prepared us for the board.

I guess that goes to all CUNY schools in new york too. In whatever you decide to do, goodluck !!!

Good luck with everything! I'm glad i found someone in the program there but I have a handful of questions:

1) when you say that it is very competitive is that because most of the nursing students do not study together? Are the teachers available to help you outside of class or is there some type of mentor program, tutorial programs, stress management for students, school nusring association or help preparing for the licensing exam?

--> Competitive because the program is very comprehensive -- all in 12 weeks. Right now, i got 2 full days clinical M-T, then lecture 3-4 hours W, th, F. I also have 1 credit course on top of the care plans, reason sheets, teaching plans, readings, assignments. The care plans and reason sheets alone are time consuming. Teachers are available to help out but its the time factor that we lack, esp. if you are working (i work weekends too!).

2)On average how many 12 week semester will your classmates be in the clinical phase to complete this program?

--> sorry, dont understand what you mean but, its a 2 year nursing program (2 year of clinicals and theory). Its always advisable to have most of your pre-reqs done before starting the program.

3)What is your school day like? are you in school mon-fri all day long? looking at the Nursing sequence it does not appear to be a heavy course load the last two 12 week semesters.

--> see ans to question 1

4)Did you work at all during the program?

--> work full-time initially but withdrew from one course coz i was failing and can't handle the stress (almost had a panic attack :) ). Has to repeat that course and now work part-time in the hospital/nursing clinic. SO far everything's going well.

5)During the nursing program are any of classes held at a hospital or are you required to do clinical rotations at a hospital? I did not see anything explained like that in the Nursing Student Handbook but a note under the nursing course sequence states "all clinical learning experiences will be held in area health care experiences"

--> all clinical rotations are at a hospital (of course!) although we have a nice nursing lab in the school where we can practice our skills.

6) I have taken psychology and composition at another school about 10 years ago. Do you know if they have a time limit on accepting key courses for transfer credit?

--> i think all non-science courses are credited regardless of years you took them but the science pre-reqs like A&P, biochem, should be taken within 5 years. Also, a lot of people re-take subjects to raise their GPA coz right now, the lowest GPA that was admitted was 3.5.

Good luck to you.. Oh yeah, i'm seeing alot of men in nursing classes nowadays. We need men in nursing. Goodluck to you, hope this helps!