scistav

Vision Screening for CA Schools Guide: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/documents/visionreport.pdf

Elprup, I am a school district nurse in the Bay Area and would be happy to answer some questions for you. You are qualified to perform the vision screenings. In CA, you are only required to screen for distance vision with a Snellen chart. Passing standards vary by age. You are right that you need an audiometrist cert to do the hearing screening. Vision and hearing screenings are required for all new IEPs and then every three years (called triennials or tri's). Perhaps your district was contracting with an outside provider to conduct the screenings before you were hired and that can continue until you have completed your certification.

I don't think so. I've attended a UC, a CSU, and a community college and some of the most difficult lower division science classes I took were at the community college.

My BA degree is in biology. I also have units from a teaching credential program. For me, as a second career person with small children, time was more important than money. So I chose a 12 month accelerated program at Samuel Merritt in Oakland. I'll be done in May. It's super expensive but means only one year without an income. For me, it works out. The application for CSUEB was very easy because I only applied to the university and not to a specific department. No GRE. I don't think I even needed reference letters. Now that you've decided what you want to do, there really are a lot of options. I went to the state board of nursing and checked out all of the schools in the Bay Area. And if time is not a big deal, don't forget about the community colleges. Many have a lottery system so as long as you meet the requirements you are really not directly competing with others. And some people do get picked the first time. If you want a BSN, you can then do the RN to BSN program at CSUEB while you work. Good Luck!

Some ABSN programs look only at your last 60 units not your entire academic history. I enrolled at CSUEB as an unclassified graduate student for my pre-requisites. It was easy to get in and as a graduate student I had priority during registration so I had no problem getting the classes I needed. I could have gone to the local community college for much less money but it would have taken a long time to get into classes like Anatomy. I had nine courses to complete and earned a 4.0. It raised my GPA significantly since my school only calculates the last 60 units. I completed the courses in 3 quarters and have started nursing school. It can be done!

My overall GPA was 3.8, science GPA 3.7, NET score 93. I have no healthcare experience. No interview was required!

Hello Sholmsen, I'm in the Summer Oakland cohort. We start on Tuesday! I also feel like I didn't learn much with online path and pharm though I received A's in both. It was a pretty common worry at our orientation. Two students from this year's graduating class were there and were asked this very question. They said that the instructors know that we have varying backgrounds in these subjects and will review as necessary. You learn the meds for each section as you go. The most reassuring part was SMU's stats. The ABSN program has nearly a 100% NCLEX pass rate and very high completion rates. The current graduating class has 47 of the original 48 students. The one who didn't make it had a baby and is completing the program with the San Mateo group. So the instructors must be covering/reviewing what we need to know. Good luck with admission!

At my admissions counseling appointment, it was explained that the NET is the first thing they use to eliminate candidates. They establish a cut off score and if you fall below the score, the rest of your application won't be looked at. I was told they were expecting that score to be around 70 for my application pool but it varies depending on the applicants. I would guess the actual number was a little higher since they received more applications than expected. The admissions counselor didn't mention the score also being used in formula later but that makes sense to me. For your specific question about whether they will combine scores from two tests, send an email to admissions. They were great about answering my questions during the application process.

The campus choice is right at the top of the first page of the application. It does depend on what entry date you applied for. I believe that only the San Francisco campus has a fall start date. So if you applied for fall, you should be fine. The start dates for each campus are listed on the web site.

I considered taking both Anatomy and Physiology at Samuel Merritt last summer. I needed to finish my pre-reqs quickly to apply for this summer's ABSN. Instead, I took A&P 1 and A&P 2 at CSUEB. They were offered back to back, five weeks each last summer. The cost was quite a bit lower.

Hello, I'm in the Oakland May 2009 cohort. Here's the explanation of reclassification that we received in an email from SMU. If you are waitlisted for the summer 2009 program: You have the possibility to reclassify your application by completing the attached reclassification form. We will use all of the same materials included in your original application. Any new grades that you provide to us will be used when recalculating your GPA. Please feel free to include any additional grades or any materials that you would like to be considered in your new application. Submitting this form will not take you off of the waitlist for the summer term. Once classes have begun for the summer term if you have not been pulled from the waitlist we will then reclassify your application. The determination letters for the fall cohort are sent out in late June after the start of the summer class and you will be considered equally with the other fall applicants. Good Luck!