Pre-Nursing for CA student at community college

I'll be honest, your chances of getting into a BSN program in CA, is very slim.

Have you ever considered the ADN route? It's cheaper, but still competitive.

Have you met with a pre-nursing counselor at your school? All the points admissions schemes at the schools in CA are so similar yet different, its best to talk to someone who is familiar with the programs in your area.

Luckily, you have what is generally a huge piece of the puzzle left - your TEAS. Have you started to study for it? As pp mentioned, you should expand your prospective programs to include ADN. I'm applying to MJC next month. Just glancing at your stats, you'd probably be a good candidate for MJC if you had a strong TEAS score. MJC also gives you 3 points if you have your CNA license, whether you work or not. Maybe a school in your area has something similar?

12 minutes ago, Nicole Reavis said:

@iCantDraw Why would you think my chances are slim? Just curious as I haven’t taken my TEAS yet, nor have I finished Physio (which I currently have an A in) & haven’t taken Micro yet. So there isn’t a whole lot of things defining defining my chances at this stage. I finished all of my co-requisites with A’s, & my only other B so far was a freshman English class. Surely applicants in CA got into a BSN program with B’s in science courses, especially of a B is a B is a B at their college, which mine is since there are no plus/minus grades. And no, I haven’t considered an ADN program because I would rather avoid going through those extra years to get my bachelors. Not to mention it’s hard to find employment in nursing without a bachelors, especially in CA.

Apologies, I only read the 3.00 science GPA part and just glossed over the other things, but I will say, that if you only manage one A out of the entire science Pre-reqs it will be difficult for highly competitive "BSN" programs. So do try even harder during Micro, which is honestly the hardest out of the Physio and Anatomy sections imo.

And getting a 90+ in the TEAS will help out a lot.

And let's dispel the notion that finding a job with an ADN is difficult, because it's not. Even BSNs aren't guaranteed a job. Having strong experience helps out a ton. And finishing a RN-BSN bridge online can take as little as 3 semesters.

4 minutes ago, Nicole Reavis said:

At my college we unfortunately can not petition to retake anatomy unless you get a D or an F, so that is out of the question for me. And while I do wish I had gotten an A, I was taking 4 other classes with it, & my family was hit hard with health problems that semester. Not going to justify getting a B because of those circumstances, but they define the played a role. Not to mention my anatomy teacher was a flat out piece of trash who really didn’t care much about his students & made it pretty clear he was only teaching at our school because we had a good handful of human cadavers. Currently I am keeping an A so far in physio and I hope I can keep it up so my GPA ends up being a 4.00 this semester. I’m surprised you thought Micro was the hardest, as most people I’ve asked thought it was anatomy or Physio. Personally I am finding the latter a lot easier. I know finishing an RN-BSN route doesn’t have to take very long, but from the people I have talked to through family members who are in medicine, they have told me it is difficult finding a job with an ADN. I’m sure having a strong background of experience helps, but that’s just what I have heard. I would also like to be able to experience college for myself, as I still live at home, and that’s another driving factor behind me going to a 4 year & finishing my degree. 

That's good to hear, you're doing well given your circumstances. And I encourage everyone to get their BSN first if they can financially. Totally nothing wrong in going into either route, both RN degrees in the end. Just depends where you want to be in the end.

I found Physio and Anatomy to be pretty straight forward in terms of memorization.

I guess it just depends what you took first, I took Micro before Anatomy and Physio, and thought it was a pain. Felt like we had to memorize a lot of specific processes and things in detail. And everything was at a microscopic level so I couldn't visualize it that well. But I will say that Anatomy was the most dense class in terms of things I had to remember, remembering the models and place of things on the practical and also remembering functions etc for the written exam were a pain. I had a 100 question anatomy test and one question was worth a point. Not a fun class, but everything is doable if you have a plan!

But I think you'll do well in Micro, since you have taken a lot of science courses already prior.

5 minutes ago, Nicole Reavis said:

 Totally agree with everything you’ve got here. Every student will sit for the NCLEX at some point, & whether or not they do it with a BSN or ADN, is all a matter of where they would like to be once it’s all said & done. I have the same problem with Micro related topics to be honest! I’m a very vidu learned, & using microscopes was my least favorite thing to do in Anatomy for looking at tissues & things of that nature since it’s all microscopic & my brain has a harder time grasping material I can’t readily see. And when it came time for our tests & my prof. would have almost an entire lab table full of microscopes with crappy slides that all had questions taped next to them on the table for us to answer, a little part of me died with every question. Debated dropping the class everyday, but the curve is what saved me. If there was no curve, the prof admitted that half the class would have gotten C’s, D’s or F’s. While the material was challenging in terms of the workload for sure, that says way more about the prof’s teaching than the students.

I can relate, the microscope slides are my worst enemy, especially since every sample will look different, even though they share the same properties.

Oh so you studied the different cartilages? well too bad, because the slides I prepped barely look identifiable. Muscles, bones, and other things like joints etc I was fine with.

Hi there!

I hope I don’t come off as harsh, I’m just trying to be realistic.

Here is a link to CSU Sacramento’s statistics for accepted applicants of spring 2019 (and prior). The average GPAs were 3.919 for not adjusted, 3.995 adjusted with average TEAs of 91.75%. The ranges are also listed, the lowest GPA were 3.6 and 3.7 for not adjusted and adjusted, keep in mind this doesn’t say which of these were bilingual or healthcare experienced.

https://www.csus.edu/hhs/nrs/programs/undergraduate/traditional/app_pool_stat1.pdf

Yes, this is only one CSU, however it’s impacted everywhere, especially the direct BSN. You can find the stats for any school you are interested in, but I’m under the impression it’s generally like this in every CSU.

you’re a good student and have options, but I also would advise you to expand your option to include ADN programs. I know you said you don’t want to go the private route and I also don’t recommend that unless you comfortable with a lot of debt or it’s you’re only option. But there are other options.

First, I throw this out to anyone that might not be tied down to CA. Is going out of state an option for you? It’s mind boggling how much easier it is to get in in an area that isn’t impacted.

Secondly, the CC ADN programs are a good, viable option! If you get your ADN, you can bridge online to a BSN after. Not as direct, but it’s an option!

But also, did you know that some CCs have bridge programs within them, so you can be in an ADN program but keeping pace with a CSU and graduate with your BSN at the same time?

I know Sierra College in Rocklin has this, they work with Sac State. And I don’t remember if it’s American River or Sac City, but one of those two do it as well with Sac State. I’m only really familiar with the Sacramento area since I’m personally tied down to the area, so check out the CCs in your area or anywhere you’re willing to go.

Whatever you do, don’t let your core GPA dip below 3.0 and study for your TEAs. And as far as classes being online, aside from labs for core sciences that should be on ground to remain competitive (in most cases)- every other class whether online or not, is equal as far as admissions go. (In this area at least).

Good luck to you!!