Leilani1983

I highly doubt the lowest score to get in was a 96%. I am in the last semester at Carrington, and when I was accepted I scored a 94.5% and got right in. I would think you'll be fine.

I live in Reno, NV ( I know NV isn't one of the states you wanted) but we have a big new grad program at one of our hospitals here. They hire new grads into the ICU program every 4 month. This time it was around 16 people. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less. It's a cool program because you get to rotate through 3 different ICU settings over a one year period. Cardiac ICU, and then two others...one is known as more of a trauma ICU and the other more medical. The hospital is called Renown you can look it up if you are interested.

It all really depends on where you live. I'm in Nevada and the class that's graduating now (they walk tomorrow) all have jobs and they haven't even taken their nclex. Well, all but 2 people have jobs. During my clinicals I was asking RNs if they know how the hiring has been for new grads and they told me new grads are hired on all the time. They looked at me like I was crazy when I said I had kept hearing that it's impossible for new grads to get hired! So I think it just really depends on where you are.

I just finished that CNA course and on one of our last days we met with a rep you organizes all of the tests here in Reno. She said it totally depends on when your graduating. Even within your semester. If you are one of the first classes to graduate, you'll probably get right in. Remember some CNA courses are only 6 weeks long. My class was a full semester and ended Dec. 8th which was one of the last classes to graduate. So she told us we probably wouldn't get in until Feb. They also only do the testing once a month and sometimes it's at the begginning of the month and sometimes it's at the end. It all just really depends!

Thanks for the reply LIFE IS GOOD! The employee I was shadowing was a Critical Care Tech, that's just her official title. She is basically a CNA, she said she got hired right out of school and wasn't required any other training besides her CNA certification course and passing her exam of course. It does sound like things have changed quite a bit since you were there. I would love to have the experience that you had! I am starting nursing school Jan 3 2011 and would absolutely love to work in the ICU and move my way up like you did...I"m just not sure they do that anymore??? I will definitely do some research and find out. I"m also not sure if I'll have the time! How was working while you were in NS? I'm just nervous to take on too much! Are you still working in the ICU? Would love to hear what you think about it and if you would recommend. :)

I recently took the hesi a2 but I only had to take the math, reading, and vocab sections. The math section of the study guide is exactly like the test. The vocab was a bit harder, quite a few words that weren't in the study guide. I would study a little basic medical terminology. The reading is very simple, very short paragraphs and it stays on the screen while you answer questions so you can go back and read it again if you need to. As far as the other sections, I'm sorry I can't be more help. You may want to just search other threads about the hesi a2 because there have been alot of discussions on this. Hope that helps :)

I wouldn't say she was lazy. She was actually great at the part of her job that I saw her do, she just didn't do much patient care. I think they are a little short-staffed when it comes to CNAs right now and she really had ALOT of stocking to do. It just really wasn't what I expected. Most units that I have been on, the CNA has a bunch of tasks relating to patient care that they are responsible for. In the ICU that I was in, it seemed like the nurses took care of everything and the CNAs are just there to help where they are needed. She asked each nurse numerous times if they needed anything and they all said no. I'm sure each ICU is different but that was my experience.

Hi LotteryGirl! Everything is going great. I'm about to be in my 6th week of clinicals for my CNA course. I decided to do the full semester program in Reno @ TMCC instead of driving to Fallon @ WNC everyday for 6 weeks! I'm liking the class. We are learning a lot of information that I think will be really useful when going into a nursing program. I'm getting comfortable working with patients and just seeing how everything flows in the hospital environment. I would definately recommend taking a CNA course if you have the time. I suggest getting into my teachers class, her name is Dolores Wonder. There are currently 4 CNA courses and I'm pretty sure we are the only class that gets to do clinicals in the hospital. Most classes have to do all of their clinicals in LTC which is NOT fun in my opinion! We were lucky and got to do 4 weeks at Renown and 4 weeks at Renown's LTC facility. I am still in the process of applying to Carrington. They base admissions primarily off of the hesi exam which I took about a month ago. I scored 94.5%. They take the top 32 scores so I'm hopeful that will be enough to get me in for January. They send letters out November 12th so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I already met with financial aid and got that all figured out. It is really expensive but I got almost all of it covered with financial aid, which surprised me. I had a pretty good salary in 2009 (which is what they base your 2010 FASFA off of) and I got everything covered but around $5,000. If you're still considering Carrington you may want to meet with financial aid and talk with them. I met some of the current students who are about to graduate in Dec. and they love the school. I worked with a couple of them during clinicals and they seemed to know just as much as the experienced nurses which made me very excited! Anyway, I hope all is well with you! Let me know how everything is going :)

Hi again kjsquared...sorry it's been over a month! I didn't know you had replied to me! I'm actually in the middle of my CNA course. I've been doing my clinicals once a week for the last 5 weeks. Going into it, I also thought I wanted to end up in critical care. I had the opportunity to shadow the current CNA at Renown working in the ICU and it was NOT what I expected. Working as a CNA in the ICU at Renown wouldn't help you at all with your nursing. Her job mainly is to make sure all the nursing supplies are stocked! I was so surprised. The only interaction I had with patients was helping the RNs turn patients and that's about it. I was pretty disappointed. If you ever do decide to be a nurse tech or CNA while still in nursing school, I would suggest doing it on one of the Tele floors. You will do ALOT more and they still consider that critical care. Anyway, hope nursing school is going well for you :)

the good thing about you not working once you're in school is that you'll have to re-apply for financial aid each fiscal year. carrington blocks out the cost in 3 "years". 2 semesters for each year. the 2nd year is the really expensive one. so you may receive less financial aid at first because of your current income (which is okay because the first year is the least expensive) but then you will probably get more the second time you apply because you're financial situation will have changed due to you not working. i hope that makes sense. anyway, i'm doing the cna course through tmcc. they actually have a course through wnc that is only 6 weeks! i think you go 4 days a week. but, you'd have to wait until january. you could still do that before starting nursing at carrington in may. i really recommend it. i'm learning so much and working directly with nurses in my clinicals. it's actually really fun.

kari72- when i did the info session with carrington there were alot of people who had been planning on doing their nursing program with wnc or tmcc and are just sick of waiting. it's totally understandable, i don't want to wait either. in fact, i didn't even want to wait until january to start so i ended up enrolling in a cna course for this semester just to learn as much as possible before nursing school. i was too late to apply @ carrington for the aug. 2010 semester. i actually started my clinicals for my cna class today which was very interesting. i think it will help me alot when i get into the real nursing stuff later on. anyway, to answer your question, as soon as you pass your hesi above 75%, the director will contact you to set up an interview with her and then you'll go directly to financial aid. i was surprised at how much i received in student loans. i had a pretty solid income in 2009 so i wasn't expecting to get as much as i did. after the student loans, i will owe about $5,000 either by payment or personal loan. not too bad in my opinion. definately worth it. let me know if you have any other questions and good luck studying for the exam. i'm sure you'll do just fine :) if i could give you any advice on the vocab it would be pay attention to grammar. the exam will throw words in there that you've probably never heard but if you pay attention to what works grammatically, it cancels out most of the possible answers. again, good luck and i am more than happy to help.

Kari72. Sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to you...I used the Mosby Elsevier Admisson Assessment Exam Review 2nd edition. That's the study guide that Carrington suggested. I didn't use anything else but the information that's in the study guide. I made flash cards on quizlet.com that REALLY helped me. Especially for all the conversions. You can probably find them on that website just search hesi and look for the sets created by me. I'm under the same name on that site. Let me know if I can help in any other way. Yes I'm trying to get in for Jan. 2011. Why are you guys waiting til May??? I heard they're getting more and more applicants each semester. Sometimes up to 150! I'm just hoping that a 94% is high enough! I don't find out until mid-November.

I took the Hesi a2 yesterday and got a 94.3% overall. I only had to take Reading, Vocab, and Math. I scored 98% on Vocab and Math and only an 86% on the Reading! Oops. It told me I was bad with conclusions. Math was very easy. If you memorize what's in the study guide, you will have no problem. The vocab was alot harder than I thought. I had every single word in that study guide memorized plus a bunch more medical terminology words that I found on a separate study guide. I would say, only about 1/2 of the words on the test were in the guide. Going through that section I thought I was in serious trouble! But what helped me what knowing which words were grammatically correct in that sentence. Even if I didn't know the meaning, I knew which words didn't fit because either an er, ly, ing, or whatever on the end. So pay attention to that. The only other suggestion I would have is to study as much medical terminology you can and do practice reading comprehension tests online. As for the science sections....I have NO idea. Wasn't required for me.

Just an update...I took my Hesi today and got a 94.32% overall. I only had to take Math, Vocab, Reading Comp. Everyone is right about the vocab....most of the vocab words from the exam are NOT in the book. Much more in depth medical terminology on the exam.

I used quizlet.com and made flashcards for the conversions. It really helps. I haven't taken my test yet either but I'm pretty confident I will do well. You can actually search other peoples flashcards on quizlet and you may be able to find mine. Hope that helps.

Don't feel dumb! When you don't do that kind of math for long periods it's easy to get confused! BTW...I meant to say, find the highest common denominator to reduce it...not the lowest. In your case, it would have been 40. I'm also freshening up on my old math skills to prepare for the hesi entrance exam....multiplying and dividing fractions!!!! Yuck.

40/240 is 1/6 you just have to find the lowest common denominator and reduce it down. e.g 40/240= 20/120=10/60=1/6....Does that make sense? It's all the same.

Where is the link? I am not a fan of interviews. No matter how much I prepare, I'm always SOOOOO nervous!

Well I'm excited for you LotteryGirl. It's nice to hear positivity on here instead of the people saying "don't do it, they aren't any jobs, Nv sucks" blah blah blah. Like you, I am very excited about pursuing nursing. My goal is to work in ICU for a year a so after I graduate and then go on to a CRNA program. I have zero pre-reqs so I think Apollo is the obvious choice for me. I'm then going to do a RN-BSN program online once I start working, and then into the CRNA program once I get accepted! It's alot but I think it's important to have a goal and never stop learning and moving forward. Although, I've heard CRNA programs are INSANE! Not only to get into, but also once you're in! I have been running my own small business for a couple of years now so I haven't had to do the whole college thing! I haven't been in school for about 10 years so I'm a little nervous. After hearing about the CNA program through WNC I think I'm going to do it. I've read a lot on this site that it REALLY gives to an edge when you're graduating and trying to land a good job. I'll be finished with that before I even start the Apollo program. The timing is kind of perfect...so thank you for filling me in on that one. The only problem is the whole Fallon thing! I live way out in Spanish Springs so driving all the way to Fallon and back is going to be such a pain. And I have a 14 mo old baby so that makes it even more challenging! But I know I can do it!!! It's good chatting with you! Keep me updated on what new :) I'll let you know how the CNA thing goes.

I'm not trying to have a huge debate with you orange juice. All I'm saying is there are jobs out there. I'm not sure what you expect. Every job, in every industry, is going to have lots of applicants. I own a tanning salon in Reno and when I have positions open up, I have probably 100 applicants for a minimum wage job! All you can do is apply to all of them and try to stand out in some way. I'm sure the "new grad programs" at the big universities take quite a few applicants at a time so that would probably be a good way to go. Good luck and don't give up.

Oh No! Well keep your eyes and ears open and maybe a position will open up. I'm not starting school until Jan and I heard WNC in Fallon does a CNA program starting this Aug that is only 6 weeks long. I was thinking of doing it because I think it will really help when graduating from nursing school and looking for work. What do you think? It is too much to take on???

I'm talking about postings that specifically say "new grads considered". I just saw that UCSD does a "new grad" program that they are taking applications for. It actually said they don't take applicants with experience. Good Samaritan in LA is hiring for their "new grad training program". New Grad L&D positions is San Lois Obispo. "New Grad" Program in Glendale, CA. Huntington Hospital in Pasadena "New Grad" for $29 starting salary. Also postings in San Francisco, La Mesa, Sacramento...... these are all recent listings

LotteryGirl- What made you choose UNR over TMCC or Apollo? How long will that end up taking you? I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Apollo just for the fact that all the pre-reqs are included. I have owned my own business so I have zero college credits at this point. The only thing I'm scared about with Apollo (and I've done some research on this) is the fact that their accreditation is from ACICS, which is a national agency instead of regional. That could create a problem for me down the road if I continue on to a masters program. Well good luck with everything :) Sorry I got WAY off the point of the original thread.

I'm so confused by all the people who CANNOT find new grad positions. Go on indeed.com and search for "new grad RN" even in CA (where people are saying it's the worst) a TON of positions come up. These are all specifically for new grads! Maybe you're resume and/or interview skills aren't working for you because there are jobs out there.

I live in Reno, NV and there are a bunch of jobs listed on both Renown's and St. Mary's website. Not all of them say experience is required. Some say "experience preferred" but I would apply anyway.