Oakton Community College RN Program Info

This post is for anyone who would like a little more detail about Oakton Community College's nursing program than what the advisors provide. When I was looking for info about Oakton on allnurses it was generally outdated. I am new to the program, but I can explain a few things about the program.

Below are some things about the program that I found important.

1. You do not get to pick the times you will attend class or clinical; nor do you have say in who your professors are. This is done "randomly" by the computer.

2. They intentionally will not place you near a hospital that is close to you. According to the chair, this is unfair for other students.

3. If you have any outstanding sciences to take, e.g. Pharmacology, A&P 2, or Microbiology, you will be forced to take them in the first semester along with your nursing courses. Therefore, it's best to get these done before hand.

4. First semester books are about $515 through El Sevier. You must purchase them through El Sevier to receive online access, as there are many online components to the nursing courses. According to the faculty, you will reuse a lot of these books in following semesters. So you may need to only purchase one or two additional books for the next 3 semesters. Also, El Sevier gives you 3 year access to the online resources so you can use them to prepare for the NCLEX.

5. For the first semester we will have lab once a week with lecture and clinical twice a week. Some clinical days are 12 hours long, and you cannot switch or change to another clinical group. Thankfully, on the 12 hour days you only attend clinical once a week. Also, some clinicals are in the day and some in the afternoon.

Oh, and there is a mandatory 3 day orientation from 8am to 4pm. During this orientation, you will learn about the various things and practice your CNA skills to be tested on the last day of orientation. If you do not pass, you remediate and are tested again.

Hope this helps!