Aquarius30

Take a look at SCC's nursing website. They spell everything out very clearly. They allow points based on number of times applied.

I graduated in December 2010 in the Sacramento Area and I have yet to find a job. My classmates that I know of have relocated to Arkansas, New York and Nevada. It seems like a lot of New Grad positions are being posted for the Southern states as well.

You cannot take it personally. California is saturated with New Grad RN's. I think it really has to do with timing and luck. Competition is fierce, so you just have to keep persevering. It will happen.

My best advice to someone who is graduating from outside of CA is to find a job in another state and get your RN experience there. Then come back to CA AFTER you have experience. It is extremely difficult to get a New Grad position in CA right now. If you have the ability to get your experience out of state I strongly recommend it. I have had several of my classmates who I graduated with move out of CA to get jobs.

Thank you for the info Kneal. I really do appreciate it. I will get my ACLS immediately. Just after my NCLEX next week:) Best of luck to you:)

Question to Kneal, M3L1SSA, or mmsb01. Are either of you new grads and did you have your license at the time you took the assessment test? I just graduated in December. I took the online exam for CDC about a week ago. I applied for Folsom and Vacaville. I for some reason cannot figure out what rank I am in through the state website. I know I passed but received only a 75% as I do not have healthcare experience outside of clinicals. Just wondering if I ave a shot at even getting a call back. Any info would be greatly I appreciated. I am sure you all are extremely busy:)

"also the boomers will be retiring soon. i think there will be another "shortage" you know i have to agree with this statement. the economy is going to pick back up at some point and when nurses begin to retire the hospitals will be left with very few experienced rn's. the hospitals will be scurrying to hire old new grads that may have their license, but have not been able to keep up on their skills. hospitals are losing money right and left these days because of the huge unemployment population. everyone gets their health benefits from their employer. 12% of the population is unemployed with no benefits, but they still get sick and have health issues. it’s true, we have new grads sitting on a shelf waiting for a job because of the california nurse education initiative. arnold addressed the "shortage" and schools started cranking out new grads, but no one expected the market to tank the way that it did. hospitals are reluctant to hire new grads because we cost more to orient. we are probably more of a liability also. hospitals and schools would be wise to develop clinical residencies for the new grad. this way we could get some training before we get on the floor, and there would be less of a sink or swim environment. the hospitals should be integrating the new grads. this way when our beloved experienced nurses retire we (the new grads) will have had some much needed time with the nurses who know their job well. unfortunately the hospitals can't absorb every new grad each semester. i think given that cali is the only state that has legislation backing nurse to patient ratios, other out of state nurses may be more attracted to california (i dont know this for sure, it is an assumption). hang in there new grads!!!! we knew this was not an easy job, we are just having to jump through one more hoop like when we were trying to get accepted into school. instead of focusing on this "shortage" meg (if elected) needs to focus on bringing all jobs back to the state. that is my rant.........

Congrats to you!!!! Way to keep your head up:up::up:

yes, if you are in cali, you are going to have to get creative with the job hunt. the students who were offered jobs this last semester were diligent in their search. they took their resumes to each nurse manager on every floor and introduced themselves. our instructors are constantly telling us that you need to do whatever it takes to make yourself stand out from other new grads. volunteer at a floor you would like to work on, or consider ltc, because at least your keeping up your skills. true, they are not necessarily all of the skills in acute care, but you can stay on top of time management, knowing meds, etc. have you taken acls??? im in california as well and the job market is bleak, but it will get better. im sorry you are so frustrated, but hang in there. at my last place of employment, a job that requires only 15 behavioral science units, they are seeing master's trained therapists applying for these child care worker positions. the job market sucks for everyone in the us right now. maybe take a look at relocating. i hear austin, tx is a hot spot now.....take care.

I have been reading through everyone's posts here and I just want to tell you not to give up. I know how incredibly frustrating it is to endure the whole application/waiting process. I was in your shoes a couple years back. I started my prereq's in the summer of 2004. I finished my prereq's and started applying to every school in the area (SCC, ARC, Sierra, Yuba, etc), and finally after five times I got into ARC. I will be starting my fourth semester in August. I still remember how I felt after each rejection letter....Trust me when I say it just makes you stronger and more determined. Nakgir84, I can comment on the attrition rate. Most of those people are not leaving by choice. So please hang in there. Trust me when I say it will make it all worth it in the end. I hope this post helps....I can truly empathize with your frustration.

Trust me if you hang in there, it will be that much better...

did you take your prereq's at sierra? it seems most of the people that i know that have gotten into sierra did so on their first time. they all took their prereq's there. i know they have recently changed their admission criteria. also, i don't think it's a "lottery system" like arc is a lottery system. i had to apply five times to each school in sac before i got into arc. i am finishing up my first semester. i also don't think it is the counselor's place to say you will get in right away....it's highly competitive and you just have to keep applying. i know yuba has a waitlist. that is always an option. you have to keep trying. you should be hearing from arc/sac city probably in the middle of may...at least that's when i heard back from them when i was applying. keep your head up. believe me i know what you are going thru. the frustration is horrible. you will get in:)

Sierra is a very hard school to get into. Where else did you apply?

Oops!!

The math section and all other sections of the TEAS are timed. There is some algebra, percentages, fractions, word problems, graphs. Know how to find the hypotenuse of a triangle, ratio proportion, and metric conversions. My suggestion would be to study the manual and really practice those math problems if you are generally slow in math. We had maybe a little over a minute per question. Practice, practice and practice some more. As far as science is concerned, there is physics, chem, bio, and scientific reasoning. Study the manual!!! What helped me to ease anxiety was purchasing the practice assessment from the ATI website. You can take it twice, (same exact test), but it was the same exact format (not questions) for the exam. The practice assessment was 100 questions and the actual exam is 170 questions. The one thing I do advise is to not skip studying for english. It has the most questions in the whole exam. I studied so much for science thinking that I knew english already and english is what brought my composite score down. The english is kinda tricky, just make sure you go over it. You'll be fine:specs: When you do the math practice assessment, time your self, 45 questions in about 50 mins. Anything else you want to know just ask.....