ShannonW

I'm sorry that my reply offended you, but my message was in no way angry. I simply asked you to elaborate a bit. Honestly, what sort of reaction did you expect? You entered into a thread of messages by current and future WCCCD and post a message telling people to "run away," claiming that you were somehow damaged directly by the school, its programs, or its faculty, yet provide absolutely no proof or any details, and... what? Expect people to blindly heed your strange warning? I'm sorry, but unless you can provide any evidence that the school damaged you in some way, I don't know what you really expected. Also, I never claimed that emotional stress is not a valid reason for therapy - you didn't provide any details regarding the type of damage that was inflicted upon you, so I didn't know what sort it was, and therefore couldn't have made such a claim - but I know how stressful the program itself can be (I'm currently in the program), and you've never given any details to illustrate how your issues were the school's fault. As for the school being a "hole-in-the-earth" institution, I have to respectfully disagree. You're of course entitled to your opinion, but can I ask why you describe it so? As I said, I'm currently in the program and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I do know a few people with things less stellar to say, but I have never heard anyone claim they were so severely damaged by... well, I don't know what. Of course, you've no obligation to elaborate, but simply stomping in to a thread and warning prospective students to stay away for who-knows-why accomplishes absolutely nothing but inciting drama. If that's your intention, fair enough. I also noticed that you replied to me in the "WCCCD Spring 2010 starting soon" thread, though I can't really fathom why, as I didn't request any information from you. Maybe a name mixup? Anyhow, I disagree on all points there, especially the "no individualized attention" and "no choice" in the lottery, as well as people "sneaking up" during said lottery, but I really don't want to engage you in another thread, so I'll just leave that be.

How exactly did the school or its program traumatize you? No offense, but unless one of the professors assaulted you or something, I fail to see how any traumatization serious enough to warrant therapy could be the fault of the school, its program, or its instructors. :\

I'd be happy to! Unfortunately, I can't do so in this thread (against forum rules), but if you look in my profile under "Contact Info," you can send an email to my MSN email and I'll reply with some recommendations, any info I have, etc. I had some fantastic instructors for my pre- and co-reqs, and I'm always happy to pass on the recs.

Yep, that's the "hidden" pre-req. You do have to take it because you can't register for/take Bio 240 without first taking 155. If you look in the catalog (not the schedule book), you'll see Bio 155 as the pre-req for Bio 240. It would make sense for them to put 155 as a pre-req for the program the book, but maybe that's why they don't do it.

Before you can apply for the program, you have to take Intro Bio (Bio 155), Anatomy & Physiology I (Bio 240), Anat/Phys II (Bio 250), Microbiology (Bio 295), English I (Eng 119), and Intro Psychology (Psy 101). You have to take Bio 155 before you can take Bio 240, and 240 before 250. I took 155, then 240, then 250 and 295 together, with the Eng and Psych in my first semesters. There are also several co-reqs (classes you have to take before you can graduate, but which you may take while already in the program), and most nursing students will highly recommend that you take as many co-reqs before getting into the program as possible.

Hi! I'm not applying to start (been there, done that), but I might be able to help anyway. WCCCD uses a point-based system that, if I recall correctly, breaks down as follows: max 60 pts for GPA, max 20 pts for TEAS, 10 pts for all classes taken at WCCCD, max 5 pts for having all co-reqs done, and 5 pts for having some sort of certified, qualifying prior medical experience. I'm not quite sure whether the "all classes at WCCCD" is an all-or-nothing thing - meaning 10 pts if you've taken 100% of classes there, 0 pts if you've taken 99% - but it seems likely to me. As far as your GPA goes, whether a 3.3 is enough to get you in depends on your TEAS score and how many of the other points you can get, as well as the GPAs of the other applicants. If you're low on overall points, you might want to re-take Bio 155 to get that C up at least. You might be able to speak with someone in the nursing office (at the Northwest campus) about what you should do, but it depends on with whom you speak and when.

Unfortunately, nope: you can't apply until all of your co-reqs are finished. When you apply, there's a section where you write in your grades for each pre-req, so if you tried to apply in Feb, you wouldn't be able to complete the application because you wouldn't have a grade for BIO 295/Micro. Alas, you'll need to apply after the grade comes in. If it posts before the application date in May, of course, you can apply then. :)

If you finish Micro this Fall semester, and that's the end of your pre-reqs, and you've done the TEAS and have all of your documents together and apply before Feb 28th, 2011, you may be able to start in Fall 2011, which would mean you have Spring 2011 and Summer 2011 to do nothing. It could give you time to get some co-reqs (DT 130, ENG 120, etc) out of the way (which I *highly* recommend!) or to take some other classes that might help (Medical Terminology [officially called "Terminology for Health Professions," I think] is a very, very helpful class I can't recommend enough). Yes and no, I started the program in January, but I had a few things come up (fairly major surgery later this month, etc) so I have to take a "break" for a few months. Still need to talk to the Dean to finalise things, but I'm hoping to get back on track this Fall. Oof. Bad timing, no? Blah. As far as if I like it, absolutely! From my experiences so far, it's a great program.

The deadline for starting in a Fall semester is the last day of February (28th or 29th) of the same year; the deadline for starting in a Spring semester is June 30th of the previous year. Nope. The program at WCCCD is four semesters, which is about two years. At WCCCD, there are only three semesters: Fall, Summer, Spring. Fall and Spring are 15 weeks, Summer is 12 weeks. Fall is late August to early/mid December, Spring is Mid/late January to early May, Summer is mid/late May to early August. They only offer true nursing classes in Fall and Spring, not in Summer. So, if you started in Spring, you'd go Spring, Fall, Spring, Fall. If you started in Fall, you'd go Fall, Spring, Fall, Spring. The only nursing class offered in Summer (aside from some remediation classes, I think?) is Pharmacology. That means that if you start in Spring, you'd have to endure two empty Summer semesters (unless you take accessory/extra classes); if you start in Fall, you go through just one, meaning the program is ~3 months shorter if you start in a Fall semester. So, if you want to finish as quickly as possible, I'd aim for a Fall start (unless, of course, you can start in Spring first - obviously I'm not suggesting bypassing a Spring start to go for a Fall start ).

If you want to avoid wait-lists, focus your attention on schools without them, like WCCCD. Have you taken the appropriate tests for the school you want to attend? For example, for WCCCD, you have to take the TEAS before you can even apply - if you haven't taken it yet, that should be your next step. I believe it's good for two years, so you can take it before your pre-reqs are finished. If you're interested in WCCCD, I'd suggest attending an information meeting (you can find information about them at the Northwest campus, but you'll probably need to go there physically instead of calling); they'll have all the information you'll need, including application dates and what you'd need to apply. Besides, you can't apply until you've attended a meeting, and unless they've changed the rules, the paper you get at the meeting doesn't expire. Every time I'm at NW, the office is swamped with calls, and when it comes to wanting info about the program, they almost always (from what I've overheard) just say "go to an information meeting." Guess they're tired of saying the same things over and over? Heh.

The points system of which you've heard breaks down as follows: max 60 pts for your GPA (ex: 60pts for a 4.0 GPA), max 20 pts for your TEAS score, max 10 pts for having taken all courses at WCCCD, max 5 pts for having finished all co-reqs, and max 5 pts for having some sort of (certified) prior medical experience. (At least, that was the points breakdown when I applied.) As you can see, your GPA carries the most weight, but the TEAS score is quite important as well. Whether or not a 3.3 GPA and 72 TEAS score will get you in depends on the scores of the other applicants. Keep in mind that WCCCD looks at two GPAs: the average GPA of just your pre-reqs, and the GPA of your pre-reqs and whatever co-reqs (DT 130, BIO 252, ENG 120, etc) you've taken; they use whichever is higher. (Again, this may have changed - I applied in June 2009, before the TEAS replaced the NET, so things may have changed.) If your overall GPA of 3.78 includes classes not associated with the program (math, etc), you can ignore that - the nursing dept doesn't look at your overall GPA if it includes irrelevant classes. Anyway, criswithnoh's right - it's too late (by just a few days) to apply for Fall 2010, but you have until the last day of June to apply for Spring 2011. That's not enough time to re-take anything, but you could always apply and then take a class or two over in Summer - if you don't get in, you'll have at least a bit of a higher GPA to apply for Fall 2011. Good luck! :)

Hate when that happens! I've heard they couldn't get ahold of jenp313's instructor, which isn't good (correct me if I'm wrong?). In our (Western) case, though, the instructor wasn't to blame, at least - apparently no one had told her she would be teaching our class. "(She) is your instructor; she doesn't know it yet, but she is." Whoops!

I take it you're talking about NUR 110 (Theory/Foundations) at WCCCD Western? Or maybe a nursing class at NW? (Similar things happened at WE and NW.) If not: crazy coincidence! If you *are* talking about the 110-at-Western thing, I'm in the same boat/was there. At least I got to exchange numbers with a few people - but still, ugh! As I understand it, though, it wasn't ****'s (can't name names, but you probably know who I mean) fault, just a breakdown in communication. Way to start the program, eh?

Quick question for those in pods 11 and 12: are you wearing your sweats "uniform?" I know 9 and 10 have skills lab Tuesday, but I'm not sure if we (11 and 12) do. Then again, I'm the paranoid type: I'm going to end up wearing the dang thing just in case. (* I seem to recall that we don't need to wear the sweats/etc for Theory, but since my notes are upstairs and I am not, I may be wrong here.)

Oof. Mine are still a little out of whack. I'm in pod 12, so I have 110 T/R 3-5pm, 111 R/F 8am-2pm, and 118 Sa 8am-12pm. In webgate, the times for 111 and 118 are fine, but 110 is still M/R 3-5pm. All of us in Western pods/pods 9-12 have 110 together, though, so I'm not even worried about that: I doubt that for some reason, I am a special snowflake and have 110 on M/R instead of T/R. How's the reading going for you guys? Thank goodness for weekends, because I'll have to catch up on said reading this weekend! XD