laney college oakland

oaktown2 · Mar 18, 2011

I don't believe that Laney does have a nursing program. Merritt does, which is a sister school, but that is the only school in the Peralta system that I know of that has a nursing program.

Christine2009 · Mar 24, 2011

Merritt is the only school within the Peralta District to have the nursing program...BUT you need to read the thread about the program first before applying...I was in their program for a year (a year of pure hell) and have transfered ouit to another school. If you search this thread for Merritt College, you will find it.

The only thing I am going to say about the school is that you get accepted easily there, but trying to maintain your spot in the program is very tough. As they told us on the first day.."this is a self taught program. some of you will make it, some of you won't...if you do not like what you hear, get the hell out because I have a load of applicants that want your seat..." You are not taught there, but threatened everyday that you will be the next one dropped. Our class started with 100 people and they just graduated 25 students in December of last year.

Some of my friends just took the NCLEX and passed but can not find a job for nothing! This is because at Merritt they have you watch skills videos and then go to the lab to practice these skills.

When on clinical you are constantly berated that you need to refresh your memory on a skill and re watch a video. God forbid you ask the instructor to show you the proper way to do a skill...you will be told "I do not have time to teach because I am babysitting a bunch of incompetint nursing students who do not know how to preform a basic nursing task" You can not go talk to the director because if you voice your frustrations with her, you will suffer the consequences of being called out in class as a tattle tail!

That is just a birds eye view of what to expect at Merritt College's RN program. OH and did I mention that their accredidation is on probation? They already lost their LVN program, and the RN program is next I think because of all the complaints the board of the teachers and staff.

JoyMa · Aug 25, 2011

Christine, ( or anyone else who has info ) I would like to know what school you attended after leaving Merritt. I was born and raised in Berkeley, but I have sonce moved and lived in Montana for the last few years. I am moving back to the Bay Area and I am a sophmore right now in the pre nursing program. I just am not sure what way to go.. either get my BSN or maybe get my AA first and then take the BSN accererated programs. ? Do you have any ideas? I am out of the loop in the Bay Area for choices and options. Thanks, Joy

oaktown2 · Aug 25, 2011

JoyMa - you can usually only attend an accelerated BSN if you already have a Bachelors degree. I would just finish your pre-reqs and go for the traditional BSN. Peralta is great for pre-reqs. There are programs at SFSU, Cal State East Bay and USF. Though the CA BRN has a list of all approved programs. http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/rnprograms.shtml Good luck!

JoyMa · Aug 25, 2011

Thank you so much I am checking the link out now. I really appreciate it! :)

oaktown2 · Aug 25, 2011

No problem. I know it can be a bit overwhelming when looking at all the ways to get into nursing!

JoyMa · Aug 25, 2011

I have all my pre-reqs done except chem and statistics and 2 gen ed classes. Here we have to take General Chem .. then Organic Chem and a lab. I am not seeing all this in California requirements. I wil have to go through my transcripts. I have a 3.9 right now GPA. Do you think that wil get me in, or will I have to wait. I have heard there are long waiting lists to get into programs.

oaktown2 · Aug 26, 2011

It really depends on the program. Some programs go strictly by points and if you have enough then you get in. (Enough varies by year and the applicants.) Your best bet is to go to the websites for the nursing schools that you are interested in and see what their specific requirements are and what criteria they use to rank people. If you keep your GPA where it is, then you probably have a good chance at getting in. You can also search for threads on the various schools that you are interested in on allnurses and find out a lot of helpful info.