Aprils

Congratulations! Thank you for doing this. I'm currently working in the OR as a new grad, but I'm strongly considering getting some ICU experience to pursue CRNA after hours of observations and talking to my anesthetist coworkers. My undergrad GPA was subpar (also partied and didn't care), nursing GPA is a 4.0 so a similar upward trend like yours. My question is...would I hate being a CRNA if I didn't enjoy my ICU rotation during nursing school? I was fortunate enough to rotate to the neuro ICU, but I felt like it was "boring" in the sense that I wasn't able to do much besides observe.

You are only allowed to send 0 messages per day. Please try again later. I guess I'm not even allowed to send PMs lol

I was in your position before so I totally know what you mean. I wish someone had broken it down in an objective manner for me when I was making the decision between schools, but I made it through the program so I believe you will too. I wanted to add that GCC's grading scale is a bit tougher (not really sure why). GCC's "A" is from 91-100% and a "B" is 82-90% whereas at PCC it's 90-100% for the A and 80-90% for the B. Same minimum 75% to pass. Believe me when I say that 1% will make a difference haha One advise I have for you guys is to look into concurrent BSN programs. You'll take BSN courses during the summers. I believe we are officially partnered with CSUF, CSULA, and APU. Some of the clinical sites are only available to students who have a previous bachelors or are concurrently enrolled in a BSN program. I'm not sure if I should post the name of the hospitals, but if you get the chance just PM me and I'll let you know.

You might not meet the minimum post requirement to use the PM message. I believe it was 15 posts before. I enjoyed my time in the nursing program, but that was largely due to my peers. My experience would've been completely different if it wasn't for the awesome people in my cohort. My overall impression of the program is "you get what you put in" if that makes sense. You want to practice your skills? Use the open lab time. You want tutoring? There are tutors available every semester that are usually a semester or two ahead. You just want some guidance on navigating the program? Join the nursing club and become a mentor/mentee. There are resources made available to help you succeed if you choose to utilize them. I'm not sure if other junior college nursing programs have these extra resources for their students. The program wasn't impossibly difficult, you can get As if you put in the effort. My friend at another nursing program tells me that 'you can't get an A here. you'll be lucky to get a B' but I would see her update her IG stories with her partying/clubbing all the time lol. I had a good experience with the professors at PCC. All of them were very kind, helpful, and totally relatable. They genuinely want their students to succeed. There was one professor who everybody thought was incompetent, but I believe she has since retired. I was lucky enough to get the clinical sites that I wanted so there's that. One thing that I loved about PCC was that they weren't careplan-heavy, they wanted students to be more hands-on during their clinical rotation instead of on the computer gathering data for careplans. Again, it depends on your professors, but I was lucky enough to have clinical instructors who only wanted 1-2 careplans per rotation (this might have changed). We made up for the lack of careplans by utilizing ATI. I $#@#(*@& hated ATI with a passion my first two semesters, but I can't deny that it helped force me to learn more outside of lectures. Also, I want to mention that the community and clinical sites love PCC nursing students. We have access to a couple clinical sites that no other ADN programs do. Another random tidbit... there was a huge donor a couple semesters that gave $500 scholarships to every nursing student (that qualified) for every semester!!!! So there are current students who will obtain their RN degree for FREE. Okay maybe not completely free, but less than $1k for sure. PM me if you have any specific questions!

Congratulations to everyone who was accepted! I graduated from this program not too long ago, and would be happy to answer any questions.

It was not as difficult as I was told by some of my peers who attended the same program as me. An acquaintance of mine swore that I would never see another A again and I should be happy to get a B in nursing classes. The joke is on him because I never really got As during my first undergrad degree lol. Long story short, I graduated nursing school with a 4.0 GPA. The content wasn't difficult if you study, it was just a ton of busy work that took away an excessive amount of time that could be put towards studying for the exams. Also, I held a part time position as a tech at my local hospital throughout nursing school. There were single moms in my cohort who worked full time graveyard shifts while going to school and raising their kids...like how can you complain about your struggles after hearing stories like that!? Once you get the routine down you'll be fine.

You would think PCC is clear-cut about their selection methods, but unfortunately they're not. I would suggest you to apply to other programs. The RN program at PCC is not as great as it used to be. We just had very last minute schedule changes that affects a majority of us, but we have to put up with it. There will be an additional 20 LVNs added to the cohort during the 3rd semester of the RN program. A possible answer to "why is there only 29 people in the class?" is simple - limited clinical space. The director would love a full cohort, but only so many hospitals are still accepting ADN student nurses for rotations.

I know there were at least 5 alternates who were accepted within the last couple weeks before school started.

Like I said...PCC seems to almost choose their students at random out of a qualifying pool. Higher points doesn't mean that you will get chosen over someone with lower points. They take into consideration if you're a current PCC student, work experience, degrees/no degrees, etc. The director likes to form a balanced cohort; not a cohort where every student is in the 80+ points range.

Some people think that the students are selected at random sometimes. It's not based purely on points. You have to fit certain criteria for them to select you. What are the criteria? I'm not too sure, but it seems like they like to choose students that have high points, clinical experience, from PCC, or low income/difficult upbringing/etc. A student doesn't necessarily have to fall into all these to be selected, but it seems like current RN students fall into at least one of these categories.

In the end, a RN is a RN no matter where you get your license. I'm sure you'll adapt to the program as you progress. One good thing about PCC is that they have great clinical placements (in my opinion). Those sites tend to hire PCC students from what I hear.

I'm currently in the program and I can confirm that Urbanhound is speaking the truth. My only advice is to ask the administration as many questions as possible when finding out more about the program. I would avoid PCC if you despise computerized testing because ALL your quizzes and exams will be on the desktops/laptops. Also, google ATI if you don't already know what it is. PCC is one of the only community college programs in LA county to use this resource. You are expected to teach yourself the ATI material then take a comprehensive national exam at the end of the course which reflects on your course grade.

I have heard that CSUSM is a great school, but they've recently replaced the dean of nursing and are making changes to the program. What kind of changes? I'm not really sure. I have a friend who chose a local CC over CSUSM because of the costs. A lot of people are forgetting to factor in cost of living and expenses related to class/clinicals. It's more like mid-$70k if you can be really frugal. One thing that sucks about CSUSM is that you don't get to choose your clinical site and they vary from Riverside to Oceanside. This is another thing my friend didn't like. She didn't want to move from LA to Temecula just to commute 2 hour round trip for clinicals. But I was told that they are working to change that. Anyway, those are just the things my friend told me. She also advised me to look into CSUDH's "pre-bsn" program. It's basically like the CC-CSULA collaboration program, but you're not actually in any program, rather you're taking online BSN courses over the summer through their extension center. She just started her 4 semester ADN program this Spring. She'll take 2 BSN courses through CSUDH extension during summer 1 then another 2 over summer 2 and apply for the RN-BSN program going into her 4th semester. If everything goes according to her counselor, she'll be taking BSN courses concurrently with ADN courses for her last semester of nursing school. She'll be done with the BSN by Summer 2020. She's fine with that because it'll probably take her a few months waiting to take the NCLEX anyway (California BRN is notorious for being super slow in giving ATTs). Basically, it'll cost her $3k for the ADN program and $15k for the BSN program and it'll only take an extra 6 months compared to CSUSM's 24 month ABSN program. If money is not a problem, go with the ABSN program. But the ADN+BSN route is definitely more financially viable. Many hospitals in LA area are being lenient in the "BSN only policy" now that there is a shortage of nurses. A friend of mine working at CHLA actually told me that they are allowing ADNs to apply there if you're a student from one of the many community colleges CHLA affiliate with. You'll just have to sign a contract that you'll get your BSN within 3 years. It'll only get worse come 2020 when 1/4 of the older nurses retire. Do your research people!!!

There were lots of last minute application drop-offs this morning from what I saw. Best of luck to all of you.

It really depends on your comfort level of taking out more loans. I had a friend turn down CSUSM because he couldn't afford to take out more loans. When you factor the tuition + living costs it gets quite expensive. I can share more details with you, just PM me.