Looking for Schools to Transfer to Outside of California

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Sep 12, 2023

Yasameen Gobar said:

Hi, I go to community college in california I recently just changed my major to nursing and I was wondering if there was any recommendations, for schools that were out of state and affordable. I really want to branch out but I'm scared that since so many schools have different prereqs I won't be able to fill in the requirements to apply.

You aren't going to find any affordable schools that way. If you are going to community college in California you are lucky, as the tuition is very cheap for state residents. The cheapest schools are public schools and in-state tuition is always a lot cheaper than out-of-state tuition. Private schools are way more expensive. Your best bet is to get your ADN from a community college, then you can get your RN by passing the NCLEX. Then get a job and do a bridge program to earn your BSN; most employers will pay for that. If you graduate from a community college with a 3.0 GPA or higher (double check me on this), you are guaranteed acceptance by a Calif state college/university or a UC school.

There are plenty of good schools in California, so I don't understand why you are looking outside of California.

As far as prereqs, every nursing school lists these very clearly on their website. Just check the websites. Most schools have very similar prereqs.

Other ways to save money:

If you have excellent grades, you may qualify for scholarships. California has special scholarships for nursing and nurse practitioner students. Similar scholarships are available from the federal government thru HRSA.

If you are low-income, there is a lot of financial assistance available.

Join the military, and they will pay for nursing school.

Yasameen Gobar · Sep 12, 2023

FullGlass said:

You aren't going to find any affordable schools that way. If you are going to community college in California you are lucky, as the tuition is very cheap for state residents. The cheapest schools are public schools and in-state tuition is always a lot cheaper than out-of-state tuition. Private schools are way more expensive. Your best bet is to get your ADN from a community college, then you can get your RN by passing the NCLEX. Then get a job and do a bridge program to earn your BSN; most employers will pay for that. If you graduate from a community college with a 3.0 GPA or higher (double check me on this), you are guaranteed acceptance by a Calif state college/university or a UC school.

There are plenty of good schools in California, so I don't understand why you are looking outside of California.

As far as prereqs, every nursing school lists these very clearly on their website. Just check the websites. Most schools have very similar prereqs.

Other ways to save money:

If you have excellent grades, you may qualify for scholarships. California has special scholarships for nursing and nurse practitioner students. Similar scholarships are available from the federal government thru HRSA.

If you are low-income, there is a lot of financial assistance available.

Join the military, and they will pay for nursing school.

The reason why I want to transfer out of state is because transffering from a california community college to a state or UC school is very competitive. My stats aren't that good since I recently changed my major, to be considered good competition. My community college doesn't offer an ADN so I want to transfer to get my BSN, and my school isn't offered a guaranteed acceptance for nursing at any school. So I'm kinda at a lost.

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Sep 12, 2023

If you have bad grades, then you can fix that. If you haven't taken the nursing prereqs, do so and get the best grades possible. If you have already taken the prereqs, then retake the classes you got a C or lower.

It is hard to get into nursing school. And if you do get in, nursing school is extremely difficult. If you can't do the work, then you should not become a nurse!

I am not trying to be mean, but just being realistic. It should be hard to be a nurse, because they literally have the power of life and death over patients.

I had difficulty when I first went to college, due to some severe personal issues. I flunked out of Yale, finished up at San Diego State, started out as a secretary, but ended up as a senior business executive. In mid-life, I decided to switch careers to become a Nurse Practitioner. Well, my undergraduate GPA just sucked, with F's, D's, C's, and Incompletes. I had a good number of As and Bs, too, though.

I researched the nursing schools and their admission requirements. I went back and retook all the classes I got bad grades or Incompletes in, to get them up to at least a B. (Took those at community colleges). Then I took my nursing prereqs and got almost straight As on those. Because of my business experience, I also earned a Healthcare Leadership and Management Executive Education Certificate from UCLA with straight As. I had outstanding recommendation letters as a result from both my work and healthcare/science professors. Finally, I wrote excellent essays explaining my initial poor undergraduate performance, but track record of success since then. Results: put on the wait list for community college RN (LOL), accepted by Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Long Beach State, and Univ of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing. I went to Hopkins because they have extremely generous financial aid, so it cost me less than UCLA.

Another option is to get the training/credential to do something like surgical tech, respiratory tech, even medical assistant, which you can do at a community college. Then get a job doing that, then reapply to nursing school. Since you will then have direct healthcare experience, it will increase your chances of getting into nursing school. I know NPs who started as medical receptionists, then became MAs, then LVNs, then RNs, then NPs or CRNAs.

Best wishes.

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Sep 14, 2023

I also want to make a note on earning an ADN at a California community college. These programs have long wait lists as they are the cheapest option and they are also excellent programs. However, please do not despair. Everyone I know who was on the waitlist was offered admission within 1 year, most within a few months. So apply to a few California community college ADN programs.