Please help me decide where to go to school!!

adamsmom · Dec 6, 2007

I am a senior at brandywine in fact I take my final in an hour. I graduate in May.

I have 2 young kids I am 43 and I live about 10min from Brandywine. I took all my pre reqs at Immaculata the year before I started at brandywine. You must get your prereqs done first. I can not imagine doing it all at once. You can take a&p online from Immaculata.

I enjoyed my nursing school so far, it is not perfect and it is the hardest thing I have ever done. I work at TelHai a retirement fac. in Honeybrook as an aide and they are paying for most of my school I have to work for them 1 year as a nurse. I know DCCC is a good program but my NET scores were not good enough for them and with brandywine being so close for me it was no decision. I had to pick Brandywine. They have a good NCLEX passing rate. So good luck and if you have any questions please feel free to email me

Lee

Deeks0 · Dec 6, 2007

I know someone who graduated from Brandywine and they loved it! I have applied to WCU BSN 2 Advanced program and have my interview coming up. I have to say that I have been very turned off by WCU. I will be graduating this May and will have all prereq's complete in time to start their program, but they have been very discouraging and down right rude about certain things. They only accept some 20-23 of the 100 or more applicants, but they are only looking at people with prereq's done. The other schools I have applied to have already sent me acceptance letters, and this lady laughed at me when I said I was graduating in May. She was like, " Oh you don't even have your degree,yet." (with chuckles). After all my hard work over the past years to get to where I am, I was highly insulted.

That may have come off more like a venting than advice. What I'm trying to say it that WC is a little discouraging and somewhat "stuck up" with their admission process. Brandywine and DCCC are great programs I've known people in both, who loved it and have great jobs today. Brandywine even offers a tution-forgiveness in exchange for your employment at their hospital for two years. They even showed me at the interview the type of pay you would start out with once you graduate... NOT TOO SHABBY!!

But best of luck with your decision making process, I know its not easy! Apply to many places so you have options. And there are other accerlerated programs in the area Villanova, Jefferson, Drexel, and I believe LaSalle, check them out!

Good Luck

codi1226 · Dec 6, 2007

Thank you both for your opinions!!

Adamsmom - Does one need Microbiology for Brandywine's program? I will only have time to take chem and a&p before I apply. Good luck on your test! I'm sure you will do great.

Deeks - Good luck to you! I am also a West Chester Graduate and I can relate to the problems with admissions, advisors, etc. They have a lot of improving to do in that area. Let me know what school you decide on!

adamsmom · Dec 6, 2007

You have to have A&P 1 and 2 but can take Micro online during the summer between years.

good luck

codi1226 · Dec 7, 2007

Adamsmom, a few more questions if you don't mind. (I'm sorry to be a bother, but it's hard to get answers to your questions from the nursing school recruiters). Do you know if I will be able to transfer some of my non-nursing classes from other schools, or do they need to be taken at Immaculata? Some of my classes are from DCCC and some are from West Chester U (like sociology, chem, psych, etc). Also, how soon after you applied did you get your acceptance letter into the program? I'm trying to figure out how quickly seats fill up, because I want to find out if there are still seats for fall 2008, or if I need to wait and apply for fall 2009. If I apply for 2009, I will have more time to complete my prereqs. And do they base your acceptance only on how well you do on the NET (how DCCC does it)? Thanks so much for everything!!!

adamsmom · Dec 7, 2007

I heard that DCCC only takes the top NET grades. Brandywine does take other schools classes, many of my classmates took their prereqs at DCCC and some at WC. Donna in the office has a list of the names of the classes they accept at those colleges. I am not sure if fall 08 is full at brandywine or not. You will have to take your NET before you get accepted I would take it ASAP. Good luck

Mommycakers · Dec 8, 2007

Hi, I am going to start the Brandywine program in the fall of 2008. They may still have spots open for the fall 2008 program. You will just have to call to find out how many. I know sciences are only good for five years. They do look at your past transcripts too so acceptance is not based solely on the NET. They wait until they have all your application paperwork before they review it and then call you to set up an interview. In my case, my interview was held up because they were waiting to receive one on my reference letters. As it turned out, the reference letter they were waiting for was not official enough. I then ended up getting one from my adviser at Immaculata.

They strongly recommend that all of your prerequisites are completed before the program. I will finish mine up this spring. You should check to see if there are any classes that you can CLEP out of. That will save you time and money. Good Luck!

codi1226 · Dec 13, 2007

Mommycakers- Congrats on being accepted! I am in the process of getting my application, reference letters (forms, actually) ready, and registering to take the NET in January. What do you mean by your reference letters not being "official" enough? I am asking my current employers (who are both doctors, I nanny for their daughter), a past employer (a school principal), and a third, an RN I did volunteer work for in the past. All of these are pretty much related to my previous field, which was education. Do you think that these will be official enough? I e-mailed the director at Brandywine and she said there are still seats for 2008. I will not have all of my prereqs completed before I start (if I am accepted in 2008). I will be taking Chemistry in the summer, so I will need to take A&P and Micro while in nursing school. However, I will not be working during nursing school so I can devote all my time to school. I also already have a Bachelor's degree and graduated with a GPA of 3.9 Do you think this will help with being accepted? I know that NET scores are also important, so I am working on studying for that for January. Is there any other advice you can give me for being accepted into the program? Thanks so much for your help.

codi1226 · Dec 13, 2007

Mommycakers- one more question. Which class do you think would be a good class to CLEP out of? I am taking Chem this summer, so I still need A&P, Micro and Nutrition. I feel like Nutrition would be a good one to CLEP, because I think the labs are important in A&P and Micro.

Mommycakers · Dec 14, 2007

Codi,

You should have no problem getting accepted to Brandywine. My problem with my references is because I have been a stay at home mom so it has been awhile since I worked full time. One of the references I used they considered it more of a personal reference. Your references will be fine.

I'm not sure if you can CLEP out of any classes if all you need to take is the classes that you mentioned above. I know they have a Chemistry CLEP test but I would think sciences would be hard to test out of. I took the CLEP test for General Psychology and I am taking the one for Human Growth and Development (Developmental Psychology) in January at Immaculata. CLEP website: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/exams.html

I have kids so that could be why they strongly recommend that I have all my non-nursing classes completed before I start the program. I don't know how much you plan to work while in school but maybe you can look into taking Chemistry this spring then A&P I & II in the summer. I took A&P I and II last summer and it was a lot of work. I took it online at Immaculata. I'm not sure where you are taking your prerequisites, but keep in mind that once you get accepted at Brandywine you get 25% off Immaculata's tuition.

codi1226 · Dec 14, 2007

Thank you so much for your help. Maybe I'll see you in the fall