Hi everyone, this will probably be a super long post, but I would really appreciate any feedback anyone can give me whether you’re a current nursing student, nurse, or a pre-nursing student like myself. I’m a sophomore at a community college in the bay area finishing up pre-nursing courses hopefully by the end of this fall.
Cumulative GPA: 3.71
Core Science GPA (so far): 3.00
Haven’t taken the TEAS yet
Have worked at Starbucks part time since December 2016 while taking classes. No healthcare working experience.
Planning on gaining at least 100 hours of volunteer experience in the current outpatient surgery center I volunteer at every other week. Looking to move into an every week position.
Don’t speak any other language besides english.
I, unfortunately, have gotten B’s in my core science pre-reqs, except for at the moment I am holding on to my A in Physio. But in Chem & Anatomy I got B’s. The only other class I got a B in was freshman English during my first semester. I still have Micro and 1 more general ed class to take (Art history), and then i should be ready for transfer, at least credit wise. I have 1 W on my unofficial transcript, and that was because I had to drop my first stats class (4 units) during my first semester in college. However, I took Business stats online (3 units) the semester after and got an A. Many of my classes have been online because I am very adamant about not going without some source of income for myself, even though i am living at home, and only classes have been my saving grace.
I’m very concerned that schools will not even consider my application because of the B grades in the science courses, even though when I was taking anatomy i was also taking 4 other classes. Will these B’s hurt me? Will the fact that I don’t have a job in healthcare ruin my chances of being accepted? Is it worth it to retake chemistry to try for an A? In my district, we are not allowed to retake anatomy unless we received a D or an F, because they consider that unsatisfactory, and this is because this class is so heavily impacted with hopeful students. 7/14 of the classes i have taken are online (the 14 is including the one I’m in now), will this raise a red flag for schools looking at my application? I am very firm in doing what i can to go to a state school in CA, because I don’t want to go into a ridiculous amount of debt for a bachelors degree where i won’t be able to pay it off for 10 years. Will traditional, public BSN programs in California accept me based on my current grades alone, disregarding the fact I haven’t taken the TEAS yet?
I am also hesitant to leave my current job to pursue a healthcare related job only because programs around here are not very cheap, and they can chew up a good amount of your time so taking classes concurrently isn’t always great if you want to prioritize school. There is a CNA program near me, however, the program fils up super quickly with students well before it starts, and I recently took on a supervisor position with Starbucks to continue building leadership skills that everyone needs. Is it worth it to leave my current job, maybe get a spot in the CNA program, and then only get to work for a year or so (wherever they place you) and then have to quit to go to nursing school?
Let me chime in here. People need to let go of the preconceived notion that the ADN route should be a last resort. Agreed- that BSN is strongly preferred (right now many hospitals need to meet the 80% BSNs or higher and 20% ADN requirement.) But that does not mean that an applicant with an ADN cannot land a job. Sometimes, it may come down to the name of of the institution (ie. LA County's ADN program has been around far longer and students during their clinicals are often strongly preferred to work with by RNs over other CCs students because of how well-trained LA County's students are). I too held on to the opinion that I never wanted to even give ADN programs a chance (one of my first programs I got accepted into was a CC, PCC to be exact and I actually turned them down without having a backup, which may have not been the smartest idea). Also, I actually am a career-changer at 30 years old, with a MA in something completely different, but I wouldn't mind an ADN- if that's my only option. But I kid you not, I'm very happy I let that opinion on ADNs go, because if anything - it made my ABSN applications THAT MUCH STRONGER. The time I spent filling out CC applications made me work harder at my ABSN and MSN applications because the CC applications were sort of like "for practice". I got rejected from both MSNs I applied to (these were actually my last resorts anyway, I would have favored a cheaper ADN to BSN route than an expensive MSN), but accepted to both ABSNs I applied to. But if I hadn't been accepted to those, I would have been very happy with a school like LA County's ADN program (even though I got into my top choice ABSN, I'm still waiting on LA County and Glendale, which are both really good programs as well). So I would recommend this, while you're submitting your applications to BSN/MSNs, you have nothing to lose if you went ahead and just submitted a couple ADN applications as well. I could have easily just applied to JUST BSNs and above and eliminated any ADNs period, but that would have made me really nervous throughout my entire application process. And when I added ADNs to my list, it made me feel more at ease, because you never really know.
I don't think anyone was trying to put down an ADN program. I just know that in LA county, the Cal States fill up quick. I would also argue that the CC programs here are also extremely competitive ( SMC and PCC in particular).
TheAngryMan
26 Posts
I don't think anyone was trying to put down an ADN program. I just know that in LA county, the Cal States fill up quick. I would also argue that the CC programs here are also extremely competitive ( SMC and PCC in particular).