wisewoman83

I'm in the same boat as you. While going through prerequisites, I decided to volunteer for some experience. After a semi-lengthy procedure, I'll be volunteering on Thursday, in the OR. I wanted ER but it was taken....even volunteering is really competitive. I'm in LA and I'll be volunteering at providence in Burbank, CA, a block away from Jay Leno's studio.....maybe I'll finally stop in for a taping. I love providence hospital and I hope to work there, after I'm done with nursing school....which will probably take forever, because of waiting lists and such. Sorry that I'm being a Debbie Downer, it's just every counselor keeps bringing up the fact that nursing schools accepted 50 students out of 500 applicants and they don't even look at applicants who have a GPA of less than 3.6. Volunteering is important, because it shows that you're serious about becoming a nurse and it'll look good on your application for nursing schools. Yes I say nursing schools because you'll probably want to apply to more than one nursing school....I'll be applying to 25, both 4 year and 2 year programs. You can also add volunteering on a job application and in your resume. You can probably even get a letter of recommendation from charge nurses and volunteer coordinators. My teachers are even giving me extra credit for volunteering. Even though you and I as volunteers won't be involved in patient care, it's still a great way to get a feel of the nursing profession, plus you'll make friends, network and sort of get used to the hospital dynamic. In other words, do as much as you can to stand out in your application because nursing schools are extremely competitive and volunteering helps you sort of stand out. You can even volunteer at more than one hospital (if you have the time that is). Maybe you can even go through a CNA program and get a part time job as a CNA.....that will look even better on your application. I'm going for my EMT certificate, mostly because I want to stand out from the competition, plus I'm thinking maybe I'll one day have the opportunity to work as an ER technician, while going through nursing school. Good luck, don't give up and do the best you can to stand out from the rest.

Hands down LAVC is the right choice! Why? It's a great school overall.... My mother graduated and transfered from LAVC to CSUN. I'm currently going to that school to finish up my prereqs and we have a whole new Allied Health Building and new equipment! The teachers at LAVC are amazing and it's in a better neighborhood of course. Plus LAVC has been around way longer than Antelope Valley College. Lancaster can be a scary place too.

Damn what's your secret to getting into two schools? These days someone will be lucky to get into one nursing school rather than two! The clear choice is, LAVC of course! I've been to both schools and I'm currently attending LAVC. I hope you chose LAVC! We have all new equipment not to mention a whole new BUILDING for the nursing department. I have classes in that building and it's great!

I'm also an LAVC returning student and I will apply to the nursing program in April of 2010. I hear the competition to get in is tough so I'll be applying to a few colleges, including Cal State LA. My favorite college of all time has to be Mount St. Mary's and I'll be applying for their 2 year program as well. The sad thing is, I don't know if I can afford it. If I can get scholarships and grants, then forget about LAVC. But I'm glad to be back at LAVC. here's the link for more info: http://www.lavc.edu/VocEd1/VENursing/Nursing.html

My first advice is to try really hard to get into a community college LVN program. The only community colleges that I know of, that offer LVN programs are Pasadena City College and Antelope Valley College. Those colleges may be quite the distance for you but worth it, tuition and education wise. If you can't take advantage of a community college program, go to a non-profit school instead of a for profit school. For profit schools are nothing but sales people with promising sales pitches and high tuition fees. I've heard too many horror stories about American Career College, Concord College, Everest, Kaplan and the rest. Those schools also have a bad reputation in the workforce, as they are not taken seriously. Non profit schools curriculum is a little harder but that's good because you'll have a higher passing rate. I read that Casa Loma has a 93% NCLEX passing rate and those for profit schools have very low passing rates like 67%. That's an indicator that they're not teaching what you need to know or that they're not teaching you at all. Casa Loma even has a 4 day intensive, NCLEX preparation program, to help students build the skills and apply the strategies needed to pass the exam the first time! If you want a really good intensive program that will teach you what you need to know, then go to either community college LVN programs or to Casa Loma College. Getting into an LVN program has it's advantages. 1. You won't have to wait in a waiting list, to see if you get accepted into an RN/ADN program at a community college. 2. there are a couple of highly recognized medical universities like Loma Linda University, Azusa Pacific University and even Mount St. Mary's University, that offer an LVN-BSN bridge program. So you can skip the ADN/RN and go straight to BSN. Obviously having a BSN is much more beneficial to having an ADN.