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Go online and look at the graduation rate for undergrads at CSULA. Only 9% of undergrads graduate in the planned 4 years and only 36% of ALL undergrads graduate at all. If you compare these rates to the other schools in the area they are MUCH lower. Yes, this is a graduate program and I'm sure the graduation rate is a lot higher, but these stats just point to vast disfunction throughout the university. As for the SON, you will find a couple faculty that are nice. The vast majority have a tendency to treat students like they are children. They will mess up on grading and you will suffer the consequences. If you try to bring it up with them, they get defensive and won't listen to your case because you are just a "stupid student". Even if you think you are the smartest person in the world and the perfect student, be prepared for poorly written syllabi, arrogant faculty, and dumb rules to get in the way of your success. The financial aid office screws up everything. I mean everything. If you are someone like me who really relies on financial aid to survive, you will likely have a very hard time at this school because you will almost never get your money on time. And it will be months not days late. The textbooks are crap in this program. They use nursing textbooks to teach you medicine, and nurses inherently seem to write bad textbooks. Other schools use actual medical textbooks. You'll end up buying these medical textbooks to make up for the bad nursing ones, so get ready to spend a lot of money. A lot of time is wasted on worthless classes (research, nursing policy, what is an np?).... time that should be spent learning to diagnose and treat patients. After wasting all your time on fluff, you end up really only getting 1 year to learn medicine. That is not enough. Lastly and most important. The nursing school is very resistant to change. Much of the program structure (course content, syllabus, etc.) must be decades old. It's also poorly organized and communication is really poor. I know many people that have tried to step up and make changes to these problems only to be told by the director herself that they are just whining or being difficult. I can't speak for everyone obviously, but for me, this program was the worst decision of my life and I would give anything to go back in time and chose another school. This program has taken my money, my dignity, and my happiness and it could take yours too. Good luck everyone, and please think carefully before choosing. This decision could affect your life a lot more than you think.

FYI, I go to CSULA and I will warn you guys this is probably the worst nursing program in California. Unless it is your only choice of school or you are the world's most docile person I would not wish this school on my worst enemy. Get ready for terrible professors, useless textbooks, a dysfunctional financial aid office, and the worlds most apathetic director of nursing. Please, save yourself some heartache and ask to speak to some current students before making your decision to attend this school.

Hi Susan007, My feelings are mixed about this program. There are some great aspects--small close-knit cohort, some great clinical instructors, living in SoCal, finishing fast! There are also some very frustrating aspects--disorganization of CSULA financial aid, increasing costs of the program, a few "difficult" faculty members. Almost all of the issue's I've encountered were eventually resolved but dealing with the beaurocratic stuff can really put a strain on your learning. That said, some people feel that it's still worth it to get your RN in 1 year and your NP in another 2-3 years versus going somewhere than gives a BSN or an MSN (non-NP). As for the 2nd year, I assume you mean the MSN part. I'm in the end of the 1st year of the MSN program and so far, it's been similar to the ELMN part. It's a lot of hard work and studying, but it's doable. As far as working during the program is concerned, some people do it but it's pretty tough. Still, it is recommended for finding a job and connections to preceptors during year 2. As for applying to the tracks, most of the people got their 1st choice. Unfortunately, I was one of the few who did not. It all depends on how many apply to each track and it is almost completely based on GPA regardless of what they may tell you---so keep your GPA as close to 4.0 as possible if you want your 1st choice. In our cohort, I think 14 of 22 chose FNP and only about 8 were allowed into FNP so the remaining 6 were put into ANP. All the ACNPers got their 1st choice, as did psych people. Nobody chose Admin or Education or ANP that I know of so those would have been easy to get into. Still, I think cohort 8 is more interested in ACNP so it will depend on what's popular during your year. As for the preceptors issue, I'm glad you thought to ask about this because I did not and am finding myself in a predicament trying to find a preceptor so I can continue the program. Unfortunately the school provides little to no help with this, so if you are new to the area, expect it to be a struggle and start networking from day 1 of clinicals. Let me know if you have any more questions and congrats on your acceptance!!

Congrats to you all! I am a student from cohort 7, currently in the master's program, so please let me know if you have any questions about the program!

Gigipgigip, I applied to USD last year (it was my 1st choice), was asked to interview, and then was waitlisted but did not get in. My stats were as follows: 3.2 undergrad gpa, pre-req gpa somewhere in the 3.4 range, GRE Math 680/English 490. Hope that helps. If you get an interview, make sure you prep well on the topics they give you and make sure you know why you want to go into nursing, as those are the only things they concentrate on in the interview. Good luck! PS I am now at CSULA; if you don't get in at USD, someone will take you :-)

I'm on the waitlist and still haven't heard anything.

Hi guys, I am attending the ELMN program as well and also am a little anxious about the financial aid stuff. I know we were supposed to get a form signed by the nursing dept. to prove our classification as a graduate student, and to turn in a summer aid request form (due 4/5). I have not done any of that yet as I am coming from out of state. Hopefully it will get sorted out at orientation but it might be good to start looking into private education loans in the meantime.

Right now I'm planning to attend CSULA. If I get in, it's going to be a really hard decision. CSULA is a nurse practitioner program and it's half the price. But I loooooove San Francisco! I'll let you know if I hear from them!

You mean regarding the CNL role? I've spoken to a current student at USF about it, and with the faculty/other applicants at USD during my interview there. There is some information online: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/CNL/about.htm too. Like I said, it's still seems a little ambiguous, even to nurses themselves.

Anyone else waitlisted at USF? I got an email saying they were going to have 10 more spots in the program open up, plus however many open up from the original set of acceptances. I'm thinking my chances are good but I wonder how many were waitlisted.

I think the CNL nurses are generally practicing as a regular staff nurse, although are able to move into leadership roles more easily and have an edge for hiring over ADN and BSN nurses. If you want to eventually be an NP, and already know what specialty you want to do, then I suggest checking out direct-entry NP programs. If not, the CNL role is a great way to get your feet wet before deciding if you want to go into an advanced practice role. CNL is still a very new term and has yet to find it's "place" in the nursing world. There are generally not specific jobs for CNL's, its more an academic term. It's best to think of it as a general master's degree in nursing.

I had a 3.16 in undergrad and higher in my prereqs (maybe 3.3-3.4), a 480 verbal, and 680 math on my GRE, and about 4 years of healthcare experience as a research coordinator and administrative assistant. I was accepted at Mass General Hospital IHP, Cal State LA, Cal State San Marcos (BSN), waitlisted at Univ. San Diego, Univ. San Francisco, Oregon Health Sciences Uni. Nurse Midwifery program, and Univ. Vermont, and rejected at UCSF, UW, UCLA, and Northeastern Univ. From what I've heard, the east coast schools are a little easier to get into than West Coast schools (esp. public schools), even the big names ones like Columbia. Also, you'll probably have better luck at schools that are a little less "popular" like Thomas Jefferson (great program). I applied to 12 schools and found that that was a little excessive, and it was tons of work and $$$. Most people seem to have applied to only 5-10 schools and seem to have done okay. Make sure to apply to a couple backup schools (mine were Cal State LA and San Marcos and got into both with flying colors). I think overall, I was a middle-road applicant so you'll probably get into a few more schools than I did. Also, really think about what kind of program you want BEFORE you apply and save yourself some money. Do you already know what specialty you want? Do you want to be an NP or are you ok with the CNL programs at USD and USF (CNL is NOT an advanced practice nurse)? If you want to have some time to decide on your specialty after starting the program, then a program like Columbia or Thomas Jefferson is great because you don't have to declare a specialty until well into the program. Also, programs that give you a BSN on your way to your MSN are great because you will have an easier time getting a job earlier in the program with a BSN. If you can't tell, I would have changed a lot of things about my application process, but unfortunately it's hard to predict what it will be like until you've done it. I think you will definitely get in somewhere as long as you chose strategically and write a great personal statement. They are looking for people who REALLY WANT IT so let that show through in your application and interview and you'll be fine. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

I just remembered, after I took the GRE I read the book "And the Bank Played On" by Randy Shilts and this book was LOADED with GRE words; like, the EXACT words that I had memorized from the flashcards. Awesome book too! Just a suggestion, if you haven't already read it.

I think memorizing words and practicing the techniques taught by Kaplan or Princeton Review are the only ways to really prep for this section. I found a book that helped me learn words by using them in sentences, etc. rather than just memorizing them off of flash cards. Also, you might want to check out SAT vocab books too since some of these words end up on the exam as well. Good luck!

I'm on the waitlist too! This is the 4th school that waitlisted me; ridiculous!! Anyone know how many people they accepted and for how many spots in the program??