Los Angeles Nursing Schools?

[UNnamed66]

Hi, I'm new to A.N. and I have a few questions.

I've already finished the G.E., anatomy 10a, microbiology, and anatomy 10b at Mt. San Antonio College. But the problem is my science (anatomy 10a, microbiology, and anatomy 10b) GPA is 2.0. Most of the colleges require a GPA of 2.5 or above. The nearest community colleges that will accept this GPA is Santa Ana College but they now have a 3 years waiting list. I'm very frustrating right now and don't know what to do because I already spent 4 years on this. I want to make money to help my parents or get into any program as soon as possible. So my options will be private schools. I live around Rio Hondo college.

Is there any private schools that will accept this GPA? How much is the tuition normally?

Should I become a LVN first then enroll a bridge program to become a RN?

Any inexpensive private schools offer LVN programs? How much is the tuition normally?

Any other options?

[caliotter3]

Proprietary schools are expensive, running around $24,000 for the LVN course. If you can find an LVN course at an adult education center or at a community college it will be a lot more reasonable in price. Check into the nursing programs that you are interested in and see if you can repeat your science courses to raise your GPA. Might help.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

look, i'm not being mean here, but trying to point out some realities to you. with a gpa of 2.0 you are going to have problems demonstrating to nursing program leaders that you can do the academic work required in a nursing program, especially if that gpa was calculated based on the grades you got in anatomy 10a, microbiology, and anatomy 10b. those are crucial courses to nursing. that is why they have gpa requirements. nursing school is not just about going to lectures, taking notes, reading the textbooks and then spitting back the information on tests. nursing school teaches critical thinking and decision making which requires pulling together all that information you got that 2.0 grade average in which you will have to spend extra time reviewing because you didn't learn it adequately the first time around. no one expects anyone to remember everything, but they do expect you to know where to go to look for the information. open up my critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students and you will see how these subjects fit in with nursing curriculum.

here are websites where you can find all the approved lvn schools in california and all the approved rn schools in california. you will have to contact them individually to get details about their tuitions and admission requirements.

• http://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/education/schools/vn_schools.shtml - approved lvn programs
  
• http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/programs.shtml - approved rn programs
  

i would suggest that you stick to one goal at a time. either focus on getting an education or helping your parents financially, but do not do both at the same time. if you attempt to work while going to nursing school the likelihood of failing in school will be very high. community college programs are going to be your cheapest option with tuition at $20 a credit hour. going the lvn to rn route is a waste of time. the lvn role is very different from the rns role and the only value of being an lvn first is that you will know from your own experience what an lvn does. if you need money, get trained as a cna and work as a cna while waiting to get into an rn training program. take other courses you might need in that 3 year waiting period. i was surprised that you didn't have any biology, chemistry or psychology on your pre-requisite list. when i looked at santa ana's website they specifically have a freshman composition requirement (2 semesters). my california community college also required a medical terminology class before going into the nursing program. many rn programs are having their students get cna training as part of their beginning rn classes these days, so that will be something that will be helpful and make money for you.

are you sure you researched the nursing program requirements of santa ana college carefully? i went to their website (http://www.sac.edu/faculty_staff/academic_progs/departments/nursing/). there are 3 nursing classes you need to take while on the waiting list, registered nursing 103, 113 and 200 and that is explained here http://www.sac.edu/faculty_staff/academic_progs/departments/nursing/waitlist_info.htm. the teas test must be taken one semester before starting their program and you must score at or above 67% on it. the teas test

covers four general areas: math, reading, english and science.

• math covers whole numbers, metric conversion, fractions, decimals, algebraic equations, percentages, and ratio/proportion
  
• reading covers paragraph comprehension, passage comprehension, and inferences/conclusions
  
• english covers knowledge of punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, contextual words and spelling
  
• science covers science reasoning, science knowledge, biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology, basic physical principles and general science
  

half that test is an english test. the california community colleges have, for some time now, been really focused on pushing english comprehension and i know for a fact that the instructors have been told to assign projects to the students that involve the use of their writing skills. i wouldn't be too worried about this 3-year wait. there are a lot of requirements. no doubt many students do not complete them successfully which means people move up the waiting list more quickly as the time approaches their planned entry date. there are a lot of things that have to be done the semester before actual nursing classes start.