advice needed.. LVN or RN

Nurses LPN/LVN

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hello, My name is Alex I graduated high-school 2012 and I am interested in the medical field but confused about what school is legit and official to get my LVN or RN any advice in where i can go that is valid by the state of California?..thank you for your time..

Specializes in LTC.

Go on the Board of Nursing site (I believe it's on Ca.gov and linked from there?) you can access all schools from that and their NCLEX pass rates. Pick ones you might be interested in that have good pass rates. Now call the school and get the articulation rates. (How many people actually complete the course work). Theses are important because if a school only passes RN/LVN's who can pass the NCLEX for sure, but fail everybody who's even iffy they can boost their pass rate. For profit schools are bad about this little loophole. So if a school starts a cohort (nursing class) with 35 students but only 5 sit for NCLEX and they all pass, the school has an amazing pass rate, but those other 30 students all got failed, well maybe the school is not teaching the material very well. After you have chosen a few schools this way, call each and get their costs and pre-req's. then pick the best for you. I'd also say look further into job outcome in Cali... It's pretty bleak here post graduation ATM. If its in your heart, of course, DO IT. If its just a maybe, perhaps take a CNA, EMT, or medical assisting course to see if this is really what you want. Then before you spend a lot of time and money on nursing school you will be SURE.

Hope that helps :)

Specializes in being a Credible Source.

If you want to work in California, I'd generally encourage you to go the RN route in favor of the LVN route.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Advantages to LVN: faster way to become a nurse and more ways to get there (though for some of those ways you'd be limited to working in CA only) and generally less costly. Disadvantages: more limited in what you can do/where you can work when compared to a RN.

Advantages to RN: more career options and settings available than for LVNs. Disadvantages: takes more time, likely costs more...and in CA, if you don't go right for the BSN, forget it.

Which one is best for you? Only you can decide.

As far as schools go, check out the CA BRN and BVNPT websites for accreditation statuses and NCLEX pass rates to start with. Then follow up with specific schools as a prior poster has suggested.

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