My Introduction

mommyonamission · Jun 13, 2009

Hi and welcome to allnurses! I just joined this morning myself.

So, first of all, congrats on making this decision. Based on the overall vibe I got from your post, you seem enthusiastic and determined. Aside from being smart and caring I think those attributes are essential to making a nursing career a reality.

That said, you're right - there's a lot of information to digest. I think the specific questions to the Johnston CC program would be best answered by their nursing admissions folks. However, that said, I will say that it sounds like you can take A&P whenever but you can get accepted into the program and take them then too. Bottomline, it needs to be completed before taking any actual nursing courses (or so that's my interpretation).

As for the nursing shortage but the highly competitive admissions and low admission acceptance rates for some schools, I think the shortage of nurse instructors is another piece to the puzzle that most people do NOT consider. For example, I have a friend who is finishing up her PhD in nursing and her career prospects to instruct will be boundless. Schools have been forced to cap nursing school admissions fairly low just because of their lack of instructors. Period. I've even considered the idea of once getting a BSN then getting at least an MSN or PhD myself to contribute to growing the profession with qualified and skilled nurses.

As for all the steps involved just to get into nursing school I have sort of attributed this to the standards of health care education. Those standards will always (or should always) be high as we would have people's lives in our hands and the state of our nation depends on the contribution of healthy individuals. Healthy individuals that are alive and well because of a wonderfully sound and sustained health care system (ok start the dreamy Disney movie music here..lol)

Good luck at JCC! Keep us posted on your experiences and journey.

Hoping2BeStudent2010 · Jun 13, 2009

What a great post, thank you for that! :) I see what you mean now, about the shortage of instructors. I read that alot of the baby boomer nurses will be retiring soon so maybe some of them will decide to go into teaching as opposed to retiring all together. I love to teach and actually was planning to be a teacher before I decided on nursing. Maybe down the line in my career I'll decide to teach nursing as well! I know that alot of it will depend on me and my committment and my grades of course, as to whether or not I'll get in. I haven't met with an admissions person yet or nursing advisor, I'm going to call them on Monday and make an appointment. So far I've researched alot, applied to the college, and done the FAFSA. Now I'm working on brushing up on my math skills because I'll have to take a placement test and it's been a while for me! By the way, don't know if anyone knows the answer to this but I'll ask anyway. I went to another community college for 2 semesters about 5 years ago, I actually had to drop out 3 weeks before the second semester ended. At the time I had a 4.0 GPA but when I dropped out, of course my GPA went down the toilet. When I applied to this college I chose to not even put that previous college on my application. Is that okay? I assumed it was because I had applied for University of Phoenix a while ago and was told that it was optional. I realize I will have to take some classes over, but that's fine with me becuase it's been five years so I honestly remember very little from those classes anyway. I just didn't see the point because I don't want those credits to count, and I don't want anything to adversely affect my GPA at JCC.

mommyonamission · Jun 13, 2009

That's fine I guess. I do know that some schools for the ABSN programs I've been looking into (i.e. UNC) want you to mention every single college course and college institution you've been to, or else it's grounds for disqualifying your application for review. So as long as JCC didn't require that then you should be fine! :)

What a great post, thank you for that! :) I see what you mean now, about the shortage of instructors. I read that alot of the baby boomer nurses will be retiring soon so maybe some of them will decide to go into teaching as opposed to retiring all together. I love to teach and actually was planning to be a teacher before I decided on nursing. Maybe down the line in my career I'll decide to teach nursing as well! I know that alot of it will depend on me and my committment and my grades of course, as to whether or not I'll get in. I haven't met with an admissions person yet or nursing advisor, I'm going to call them on Monday and make an appointment. So far I've researched alot, applied to the college, and done the FAFSA. Now I'm working on brushing up on my math skills because I'll have to take a placement test and it's been a while for me! By the way, don't know if anyone knows the answer to this but I'll ask anyway. I went to another community college for 2 semesters about 5 years ago, I actually had to drop out 3 weeks before the second semester ended. At the time I had a 4.0 GPA but when I dropped out, of course my GPA went down the toilet. When I applied to this college I chose to not even put that previous college on my application. Is that okay? I assumed it was because I had applied for University of Phoenix a while ago and was told that it was optional. I realize I will have to take some classes over, but that's fine with me becuase it's been five years so I honestly remember very little from those classes anyway. I just didn't see the point because I don't want those credits to count, and I don't want anything to adversely affect my GPA at JCC.

NC Girl BSN · Jun 13, 2009

welcome to allnurses!!!

i am very familar with jcc nursing program. i applied 2 yrs in a row and did not get in. i am gonna try to answer some of your questions.

-in order to be competative at the jcc. you need to complete your prerequisted before applying to the nursing program.you can apply but chances are you will not get in until you have most of them complete. ap 1& 2, math 070, psy150, dev psy 241, eng 110 &112 and a few other are prerequites are required to get in the program. they are listed in the adn nursing curriculum because back in the day, you could get right in the nursing program and take those classes as you take the nursing classes. so if i were you i would start taking those classes this fall. i think its gonna take you at least 1.5 yrs to complete all your prerequisites on a part-time basis or 1 yrs plus summer school full-time. also you must get a-b's to be competative at jcc.

-you have to take the hobet which is a nursing entrance test and score high on it. the cut off is 60% but to be competative, i think you need to score 70-80%.

-jcc is very competative and have 300-500 students who apply each year for 60 slots( told this by my counselor 2 yrs ago!). so people who have all their prequistes done and have high hobet scores get in first. jcc does not have a waiting list. you either get in or reapply next year.

-i advise you to go ahead and try to sign up for a cna class now because they fill up quickly.

-i think that you should look at all the nursing programs in the area and applying to them in the future as well. don't get discouraged if it takes you 2-3 years to get in a local nursing program. its just kinda happens that way. you live in a very saturated area to try to get into nursing schools.

- try to pick at least 2 other colleges. don't be like me and apply to 8. yes 8! :bugeyes: i almost lost it trying to fullfill all the other school requirements. also try wilson community college, sampson community, central carolina community college. they are quite a distance away but just in case you can't get into johnston, you will have an alternative.

bottom line. keep plugging away at the classes and try to make good grades. in the end i got my rn in a totally non-traditional way. i got accepted into central carolina community college lpn program in 2006 and finished in 2007. i immediately enrolled in excelsior college virtual college in albany ny . i studied for 8 nursing test and took them at the pearson vue learning center in raleigh. i had to complete a 2.5 day clinical in utica ny and was then allowed to take the nclex rn.

good luck to you and pm me if you want to know more.

NC Girl BSN · Jun 14, 2009

What a great post, thank you for that! :) I see what you mean now, about the shortage of instructors. I read that alot of the baby boomer nurses will be retiring soon so maybe some of them will decide to go into teaching as opposed to retiring all together. I love to teach and actually was planning to be a teacher before I decided on nursing. Maybe down the line in my career I'll decide to teach nursing as well! I know that alot of it will depend on me and my committment and my grades of course, as to whether or not I'll get in. I haven't met with an admissions person yet or nursing advisor, I'm going to call them on Monday and make an appointment. So far I've researched alot, applied to the college, and done the FAFSA. Now I'm working on brushing up on my math skills because I'll have to take a placement test and it's been a while for me! By the way, don't know if anyone knows the answer to this but I'll ask anyway. I went to another community college for 2 semesters about 5 years ago, I actually had to drop out 3 weeks before the second semester ended. At the time I had a 4.0 GPA but when I dropped out, of course my GPA went down the toilet. When I applied to this college I chose to not even put that previous college on my application. Is that okay? I assumed it was because I had applied for University of Phoenix a while ago and was told that it was optional. I realize I will have to take some classes over, but that's fine with me becuase it's been five years so I honestly remember very little from those classes anyway. I just didn't see the point because I don't want those credits to count, and I don't want anything to adversely affect my GPA at JCC.

If you made A or B's in that community college it may be worth mentioning. Most schools just give you credit for the course and not the grade. You will establish your GPA the first semester at JCC.

angel_mishi · Jun 14, 2009

welcome to allnurses. i'm on the same track, u are.i'm jus ganna apply at GTCC. i wish u v gud luck and hope we both will make it.

Heogog53 · Jun 21, 2009

Just a note- since you have to take about two years of re-reqs, why not apply to the BSN programs, too, as a transfer student? If you got rejected by the ADN school(and I do know plenty who have been rejected and ended up trying in another county) and accepted by the BSN school, you are already ahead of the game; you'll have a degree that will set you up to go to grad school without having to backtrack and take about a year and a half of courses to get that BSN anyway....that'll be 6 years for a BSN instead of 4.

Think about it, anyway.

MotivatedOne · Jun 22, 2009

I would apply before and after completing the pre-req's. All they can do is tell you no, but at least you'll know what they expect.

If I'm not mistaken you're required to submit your transcripts from all previous colleges/universities. I don't think your GPA would transfer only the classes that you got a C or better in. Why be set back retaking classes you've already taken? You can always check a book out of the library to brush up on whatever subject.

I would recommend applying to every community college within commuting distance. Fayetteville Tech, Wake Tech, Nash, Wilson, Central Carolina, Wayne, and Sampson Community Colleges.

Mostly all of them have the same science pre req's. The only difference may be the type of entrance exams you'd have to take but you should be able to transfer your score to each school. Not only that but you don't have to pay an application fee like you would at a 4 yr school.

Regardless of which route you decide to take, I wish you the best of luck!

MotivatedOne · Jun 22, 2009

welcome to allnurses. i'm on the same track, u are.i'm jus ganna apply at GTCC. i wish u v gud luck and hope we both will make it.

I'll start at GTCC this Fall...

So excited!!! Thank goodness they have an alternate list!

My orientation is this Friday, can't wait to see what the program entails!

Good luck!

Hoping2BeStudent2010 · Jul 16, 2009

Just wanted to update you guys on my situation! Thanks so much for all the responses, they were very helpful and gave me a reality check lol!! I have taken my placement test at JCC and my admissions interview is next Tuesday at which time they will help me choose which classes I need to take this fall as well as hopefully give me more info on the nursing program. I have put my name on the waiting list for the Spring CNA class. Actually JCC is starting a new CNA program where you get both CNA and Phlebotomy certifications at the same time, which is super nice! So that's the program I'm signed up for. If anyone wants more info on this program just send me a PM and I'll give you the info I found and who to contact to get on the list. I did better than expected on the placement test (Accuplacer) and was placed in ENG 111. It didn't tell me which math I placed in, but my score was 88 which was in the 86th percentile so that seems pretty good. I think that will place me out of MAT 080, but I'm not sure which math I'll need. The nursing program requirements just say a "college algebra". I still do need my two science courses, but I'm not sure if A&P I and II will qualify for those, so that's something I'll ask at my admissions interview. Either way, I am planning to go ahead and apply for the nursing program after fall semester is complete, while I work on getting my CNA, so that I can get a good idea of what they expect. I am fully planning to have a 4.0 GPA so I hope that will score me some points. And when I take the HOBET, I am going to do my very best - I plan to buy the study guides and whatever it takes, study day and night if I have to, to assure that I do awesome on that. That way maybe I'll have a chance at getting into the Fall 2010 program. If not, I'll just keep working on my pre-req's and apply for Fall 2011 which is what I had originally thought I would have to do anyway. Since I did better than expected on the placement test, it pretty much eliminated one whole semester of what I thought I would have to do (MAT 080) so it put me ahead of schedule I guess!!

I'm really excited, can't wait to start classes!! I'm getting nervous though because the classes are filling up quickly and I wont be able to register until after my admissions interview next Tuesday. It's a shame but, nothing I can do about it. They are apparently swamped right now and they just have so many applicants and not enough staff so it takes time to get an appointment for the placement test and admissions interview. I applied early, at least it seemed early to me (June)....but my transcripts took longer than I thought to get to the college and then I didn't get to take the placement test for 2 weeks after they had received my transcripts, and now my interview is a week after that! I guess it could be worse! I'll update you guys after I register for classes next week!! Thanks again for all the great information!

jackson122 · Jul 25, 2009

I first want to wish you luck. I am a JCC grad and it is very competitive, not only to get into the program, but to stay in it. I can tell you that once you graduate from JCC's program, you have a very high chance of passing the NCLEX