Nursing Programs In California

[DenisseG]

I am currently taking all my pre-requisites to get into a nursing program but I am afraid of all of the talk about waiting lists, so when applying i'm going to try to apply to as many different schools I can. Any advice of which nursing programs are best?

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

ridiculous that schools with a wait-list wont let you apply while you do your pre-reqs i mean say you have everything done when you get your pre-reqs done and you still have to wait 2-3 years to get in.

if that was the case everywhere (which its not, thank god)

but you might as well get your bachelors in some stupid major like art and get your RN while in a masters in nursing program lol

If they let people apply before they finished their pre-reqs the wait lists would just be longer, there would be more paper work as a result if those that got on the wait list and then did not pass the pre-req class they were in when they applied.

All JC do wait list. At one point it was first come first serve and people would camp out like it was black friday the day applications were due. I heard at one time it was by merit but people complained stating that at a JC everyone should have the same chance of getting in. This is not always a good thing; for example, no one in my BSN program failed throughout the entire program, my friend who went to the JC had 6 people fail just the first semester; those are seats that can not be filled.

OP. If you do not want to be on a wait list have you consider applying to a USC or UC since they go by merit? If you have the grades it is only about a year longer of pre-reqs and transfer courses, that's less than a 2-3 year wait.

[DarkBluePhoenix]

If they let people apply before they finished their pre-reqs the wait lists would just be longer, there would be more paper work as a result if those that got on the wait list and then did not pass the pre-req class they were in when they applied.

All JC do wait list. At one point it was first come first serve and people would camp out like it was black friday the day applications were due. I heard at one time it was by merit but people complained stating that at a JC everyone should have the same chance of getting in. This is not always a good thing; for example, no one in my BSN program failed throughout the entire program, my friend who went to the JC had 6 people fail just the first semester; those are seats that can not be filled.

Not all JC do waitlist. Where on earth did you hear that? In my area the only waitlist JC is Mt. SAC. Other JC's like Chaffey, PCC, Citrus College etc.. are either on a points system or let you in based on academics (kinda like points system except w/o all the extras like CNA cert, volunteer, hospial exp etc)

And I have no idea how the CSU/UC/Private schools let people in. Most of them require other dumb classes like O-chem to get into the nursing program.

And as for the whole 'apply while your still finishing pre-reqs" thing; I meant that as in why can't they let you have ONE "in progress" class? (none of the JC's in my area let you do this) Like for example... I am doing anatomy this 8-week winter intersession, and I am doing physio and micro this coming spring 2011. Then since I have all the other "fluff" crap like psychology and humanities done, I apply fall 2011 to get into the following spring 2012. That is a whole entire fall semester WASTED!

So I mean I think they need to reform nursing school and its admission processes and requirements...especially since there is no 'shortage' and that by the time we have a real shortage come, people that actually love nursing and want to get into the field can get in w/o it being just as hard as applying to med school. IMHO