Leave NCC for St. Vincents? Is this the right decision ?

MissCris · Apr 18, 2014

I totally understand your dilemma, having to work and pay bills is a big factor! I'm not familiar with the program at St. V's but I have heard that it's really expensive. NCC has a bridge program with Fairfield U, Quinnipiac, UCONN, Sacred Heart and others that guarantee acceptance into their bachelors programs upon graduation. Does Saint Vincent's participate in that too? That would be a big part of the decision for me, because by the time we graduate, we'll NEED a bachelors degree (or at least be in progress) to get a job anywhere. I have also heard that the St. V's anatomy test is near impossible to pass. If that's where you want to end up, you're probably better off going through them. What is your nursing GPA currently? Have you taken the TEAS yet?

They do recommend working as little as possible for the CCC's but I've talked to people who are working while in the program and they are passing, so it IS doable. I think you need to compare the costs and schedules thoroughly, side by side. Even though St. Vincent's schedule is more flexible, it's more expensive. How much does working really help if it's astronomically higher? The schedule at NCC isn't actually that awful, it's 6 hours of lecture and 8 hours of clinical per week. It's the studying that will be time consuming, which is the case for any program.

turtlesRcool · Apr 18, 2014

I wouldn't go for St. Vincent's, but that's me. How are you doing in Chem? It looks like you have several prereqs already under your belt - what do you think your prereq GPA will be? Are you a strong student? Is it likely you can get an A in A&P I this fall? If so, I really think NCC is a viable option.

St. Vincent's is much, much more expensive. To get your RN there, it's 2 years full time plus summer. I'm not sure how much the summer session costs, but each regular year is $9,675 per semester, according to the website. With fees, figure around $20K per year, for two years (total is now up to $40K) plus a summer session (not sure of price, but let's say $5K to be conservative). I think $45K+ is a crazy price to pay for an associate's degree! On the other hand, CC tuition is $3,866 per YEAR, so two years is $7,738. Even if you add in fees, two years at NCC will cost less than one semester at St. Vincent's!

Yes, the CCs are "mandatory full time," but that's a pretty loose definition. It looks like you've already taken some of the co-requisites (psychology, sociology, English 102, and elective - Spanish). Therefore, you wouldn't have to take those while you are taking the other classes, bringing you down to part time. The nursing class itself is a big time commitment, but not so huge you couldn't work, too. You will have two days of clinical each week, for about 6 or 7 hours per day, leaving you time to study afterwards or work evenings. Then two days a week, you'll have class - 2 hours per day - still possible to work those days, plus your 3 free days. In later semesters, you might also have 1 or 2 credit online courses for more academic nursing subjects like pharmacology. If you don't have other academic courses, that's all you have to do. Of course, there's studying, but you can plan that around your work schedule. It is vigorous, and you would have to be disciplined, but you can certainly work enough to pay your rent. I think it would be easier to work through NCC than to work through St. Vincent's because if you go with St.V's, you will have to work a lot extra to pay the large tuition bills, and will likely be saddled with huge debt upon graduation.

Here's my advice: do your best in Chem right now. Try for an A. Over the summer, take Life Span development. It's a pretty easy class, and doing well will boost your nursing GPA. Work and save money. In the fall, take A&P 1. Don't take anything else, just focus on rocking that class. Save money. Apply for NCC's nursing program. In the spring, take A&P II. Don't take anything else. You will find out during this semester if you have gotten in. If so, great. If not, doing well will help with your nursing GPA when you re-apply. If you get in, take Microbiology over the summer so you only have to focus on nursing classes in the fall. If you don't get in, you can take microbiology in the fall (easier to take it over a conventional semester than in an accelerated summer course) or re-take whatever course will be most helpful raising your GPA or re-take A&P I, if your first A&P grade was pulling you down. Reapply to NCC, if necessary.

Okay, I know you want to get started ASAP, but it actually makes more financial sense to go to NCC, even if you have to retake a class or two and delay a year. Because if you're doing St.V's part time, it's going to take you 3 or 4 years anyway, so you won't get done any faster than if you did NCC but delayed a year, except at St. V's you'll have a boatload of debt on top of it. Seriously, if you are willing to spend $45K+ over 3 or 4 years, why not apply to a state university (SCSU, WCSU, CCSU) and get your BSN? It might take a bit longer, but in the end, you'd be more likely to get hired.

jan286 · Apr 19, 2014

Also-St Vincent's NCLEX pass rate is much lower than any of the community colleges. I am at NVCC and there are students who work full-time. First year, we have lecture 2 days/week (total of 4hrs), 2 days of clinical which are 7-130, plus a 1 credit pharmacology class during the 2nd semester of our 1st year (online or a 1hr lecture/week). 3rd semester we will have 5 hrs of lecture (split into 2 days) with 2 days of clinical (7-3) and another pharmacology class (again online or 1 hr/week). The 4th semester we have 1 day of lecture (3hr), 2 days of clinical (7-3), then pharmacology (online or 1hr/week) and a 1 credit nursing trends class (online only I believe). We also have the option of taking the trends class over the winter break before 4th semester-that one is mostly online. The part that gives most students trouble is that we have to wait until 4pm to research out patients the day before clinical. So, right now I have lecture on Wednesday from 11am-1pm, then have to wait until 4 to go to the hospital to look up my patient (I live 45 minutes from the school and the hospital Im at, so it doesn't make sense to go home in between). I don't get home until 530/600. Get the kids to bed and then have to work on my care plan. So all of my Wednesdays are devoted to school.

Like turtlesRcool very nicely explained-it is doable, you just have to be disciplined. The 3rd semester at the community colleges seems to be the one that gives most students the most trouble (as far as time commitment)....knowing that ahead of time, you might be able to save for that and cut back on hours for those 3 months.

I agree w turtles-do awesome on your pre-req's and stick w NCC. I did go to an open house at St Vincent's last year because I started panicking that I wouldn't get into NVCC. I was not impressed. I hear more negatives than positives about St Vincents...granted, you will get what you put into it...but given the price difference-I say stick w NCC!!

Penholder · Apr 19, 2014

I work with someone who left St V because in their opinion the administration was crap. And the nclex pass rate is 63% which is really bad. Look at Bridgeport hospital instead. They are also a better hospital and affiliate with YNHH.

My higgest piece of advice-apply to more than one school! So many people I've talked to this year only applied to the CC program and some of those were found to be Ineligible for paperwork reasons. I applied to 4 schools and got into 3 and a no from one. Yes it costs more , but it ups your chances of getting in somewhere.

Ariana214 · Apr 19, 2014

Thank you all soooo much for your input!!! This all makes perfect sense and I am going to plan to stay with NCC and continue to take AP in the fall. I will apply in the Spring for the following fall semester. I am doing well in Chem now and will at least end up with a B+...hopefullt an A. I plan to ace A&P. I havent taken the TEAS yet because I heard theres some AP in it and I should wait until i take the class. I will take it over the winter of 2015 and then apply in the Spring. I also plan to apply to BHSON since they work with Housatonic. Ill apply to Fairfield U as well, just to see what happens. Maybe ill still appky to st vs in the future but ill get all my non nursing classes done at NCC. Hey, its all paid for for me...im just worried i may not get it, but Ill stay positive. My current gpa is 3.65...i am a strong student so i have high hopes. Thanks again!!

Penholder · Apr 19, 2014

You should be able to get into BHSN easily.

There is very little A&P on the teas. Mostly bio and chem. it is designed that way because not all schools require you to have A&P as a pre-req. most adn schools A&P in planned in the first semester.

jan286 · Apr 19, 2014

You can also take the TEAS more than once. I took it first after human bio just to get a feel for it and did pretty well (low 70). I then bought the study guide and did the parts that I needed to brush up on (such as when to use semi-colons and the environmental science stuff) and took it again and got somewhere in the mid 80 (honestly-I cant remember if it was 83.7 or 87.3...LOL).

My only advice for the TEAS-do it sooner rather than later so you have time to retake it if needed before the deadline.

Ariana214 · Apr 20, 2014

I was planning on studying for it over the summer since Im finishing Chem, but some1 told me about the AP in the test so then I decided to wait. Maybe I will purchase the study packet soon. I heard ATI is good.

turtlesRcool · Apr 20, 2014

Try TEAS this summer. You can take it multiple times, and they only look at your highest score.

Yes, there is some A&P on it, but not much. There's also a little bit of other sciences thrown in, but they tend to be very basic (I think I got 100% on the Earth and Physical Science portion, and I last took Earth Science in middle school). The bulk of the test is English and math. You may need to bush up on some things, and you don't want to be doing that next December or January.

So just take the test to get a sense of what kinds of things are on it. If you do well, great. if not, you have time to remediate. I'm not a big fan of huge standardized testing companies, but one of the things ATI does well is give you a printout that breaks down what you need to work on. I'm sure part of it is to sell their test prep books, but the printout will tell you what to study and even where in the test prep book to find it. For example, " Solve equations with one unknown. (TEAS V Study Manual Page 105 to 107)." It will also tell you how many things you got wrong to help you determine context. I got the previously mentioned suggestion to improve my algebraic problem solving because at 75% it was my lowest subarea. However, the printout also shows that there were only 4 algebra questions, so I'd only actually gotten one algebra question wrong.

turtlesRcool · Apr 20, 2014

I took TEAS once. I went in cold just to see what it would be like. I'd actually already booked a retest date for a month later. I planned to see how I did, and then study based on that. It turned out I did well enough the first time that I didn't need to retake. Of course, if it makes you feel more comfortable to study first, do so. But you'll probably be able to use your study time more efficiently if you've taken it and have a better idea of what you need to review.