Oakland community college or Macomb??

I go to OCC. Have you checked to see how your credits transfer and how many more classes you need to apply? That might help you decide. I think the requirements are a bit different at each school. No waiting list at OCC but you need close to a 4.0 to get in.

From what I have been hearing macomb wants you to take their AP class as opposed to transferring it in which stops a lot of people from attending. Its a greuling 5 credit AP which puts both AP1 and AP2 into one class! Its crazy!! I would definitely look in OCC if you have the grades. Are you not willing to check out any other schools?

Both myself and my daughter go to Macomb. My daughter transferred from Baker and they did accept her A&P from there, however, she did retake the class (6 credits) because A&P is on the HESI and she wanted to make sure she learned MCC's curriculum.

At Macomb, there are 3 classes (A&P, Micro or Patho and English) along with the HESI that are required in order to apply for the program. GPA of the 3 classes is weighted at 50% and the remaining 50% is weighted on the HESI. Up to 1000 applications will be accepted and this year only 159 students made it into the program. (About 382 students were actually ranked - met all the requirements)

I was lucky and was accepted into the program, my daughter, unfortunately, struggled with part of the HESI and did not make it.

Good luck to you.

I think the biggest thing for a lot of people are the different requirements for both schools. I am planning on applying to both OCC and Macomb this year. The application deadline for OCC is Dec. 15, while Macomb's is February of 2011. OCC uses your grade point from the 11 required classes and ranks according to GPA. They accept about 220 students from the 1000 or so applications they receive. Macomb uses the 3 classes that zhockeymom77 listed above plus the HESI score. Neither school has a 'wait list'...you either make the cut or apply again the following year. The biggest difference to me is in the microbiology requirement. Macomb requires the microbiology class that has lab, while OCC will take either the one with the lab or microbiology of health and disease (no lab). I am currently taking the lab one so I can apply to both schools. I took the HESI last year as a practice (I'm taking it again this year, and they will take the better score). The other thing to weigh is the cost....if you live in Oakland county, OCC will be less expensive. If you live in Macomb county, Macomb will be less expensive. Personally, I'm hoping to get in to OCC, although the drive to Highland Lakes won't be all that much fun. The nursing courses are held there (not the prereqs, you can take those anywhere).

I hope that helps, and I didn't babble too much . Good luck with your decision!

jclore - just to clarify....

The counselor at Macomb should have told you that the next available start for their nursing program BEGINS in September 2011. There are 4 starts per year (Aug, Oct, Jan and March) at Macomb depending on your ranking. As I said, I was accepted THIS YEAR but because of my ranking, I will not even begin the program until March 2011. So the latest start for the next nursing program session would be March of 2012.

I also am in the OCC nursing program. At OCC there are 11 required courses. They are all pretty general... 2 writing classes, micro, A&P, sociology, psychology, political science, nutrition, a physical education type class, a humanities course (which can be basically anything...FL, art, philosophy), and another I cant think of off the top of my head. OCC is the largest nursing program in Michigan, so you definitely want to consider that when deciding where to go. I went to LCC before and they only accepted 75 or so. OCC accepted around 245 this year I think. BUT like someone else said, the GPA is high here. They take the GPA in those 11 classes and accept the top of the applicants. This year the GPA cut off was a 3.77 I think and for the accelerated program a 3.97. BUT, you also have to remember that those who did not get in this year have an entire year to retake classes for a higher GPA. In 2009 I think the minimum GPA was a 3.5???, so in a year it jumped to a 3.77. Next year the GPA will be even higher. I like OCC so far, so I would recommend this one.

I'm in the same position as Zhockeymom, starting the MCC nursing program this March.... just to clarify from reading some of these -

MsAshley, no, you don't have to re-take A&P if you come from Baker and go to MCC. I don't know where you heard that. I took A&P at Baker, and got accepted to both Baker and MCC, no problem. I got A+'s in both A&P 1 and 2.

You don't have to take all 7 of the pre-req's at MCC to apply, just A&P, English 1 and Micro, and you have to finish the last 3-4 pre-reqs by the time you get accepted and your starting date.... not a big deal at all.

Yes, MCC only accepts once a year, but they take 160, which is A LOT of people (not to mention a decent mind end up changing their minds, moving, dropping out etc., so they always take more than 160), so it's not that big of a disappointment/"bummer", unlike Baker, who only takes 80 a year total.

I wouldn't recommend going to Baker if you don't have to, because their classes don't transfer/barely transfer (4 out of 13 did) if you want to continue your education (which is a must these days) and get a BSN. Wayne and U of D don't accept most of Baker's credits.....so I'm re-taking a bunch right now at MCC while I wait to start the program in March, since U of d doesn't recognize anything other than A&P, Comp/English 2, Speech and Micro. They're also not NLN accredited like MCC and OCC.

I think it's ridiculous for a school to make you take so many specific pre-req's just to apply, like Baker (13) and OCC (11) do. It ends up being a waste of time/money if you dont make it. That's why I would say apply to MCC if you can, and not just because I'm going there, but because they're not making you jump through hoops JUST to apply.

To clarify, I made it into MCC with a 3.67 GPA (they only look at those 3 classes), and an 89 on the Hesi, I believe. It's been a little while, but I'm 99.9% sure of those scores.

LauJen: I applied for fall 2011 at MCC and have a 3.7864 with an 89 hesi. Do you remember what your rank was? Did you start the program? Our letters should arrive in the next week!!