marielo

The girl who posted above is correct in that pretty much the only "external" difference is where you do your clinicals. Other than that, I am a (proud) csulb nursing student with only less than a year to go till graduation and I am also in the trimester program. While graduating faster definitely seems great, many times I have wished I had done the basic program-3 years-no summers. I do believe that would have made my gpa higher as I wouldn't have been so stressed. With the trimester program, you get one week off from spring to summer classes, and it's terribly taxing. I say that not as a single mother/nonsingle mother (lol)with 2 kids (like some of my peers are), but as a UC transfer (biology major, too), single, in my early 20's, and only working about 1 or 2 four hour shifts--basically no working. I've found csulb nursing to be just as difficult, or even more so, than bio at UCLA. There is just so much knowledge, you can't just get by being "smart" like in high school where if you're really good at math you can still ace the exam doing less hw. It doesn't work that way. you HAVE to put in the time, and professors are really supportive of you becuase they have to be--or else many won't pass. So while professors are REALLY GOOD, the classes are also REALLY CRAZY HARD. Also, to get your BS, you need to take upper division classes at CSULB to meet graduation requirements. If your in trimester, that really sucks... Moreover, with the budget crisis and the sad state of California's economy, there are immense numbers of people competing for spots into new grad resideny/jobs. I know a girl who graduated with a high gpa, great clinical performance, and she still can't find a job in CA (or most of the west coast for that matter, since hospitals tend stick to hiring new grads from surrounding nursing schools unless the applicant has years of experiance). I am worried about having to maybe take extra (un needed) classes so that I can put off having to pay my student loans should I not secure a job out of nursing school, which is highly possible. All the professors, etc, are saying that CSULB grads are nabbed right away for great jobs, I mean, of course they want to say the best about their own program : ) but from what I've heard from previous semester's grads that simply isn't the case. The economy should improve in two or three years. Right now, it's hard to find a job for ANY nursing schools, even UCLA's program, which is ranked top 5 in the nation last i checked. Was it really worth it for me to graduate sooner with bad job prospects and have to pay more interest on student loans or better to graduate later with a better job? I know people that graduated when the economy was good and they went straught to ICU. I also know people who graduated when the economy was bad and they went to work for home care agencies / nursing homes where you don't even need to be an RN, and they are worried that when the economy finally gets better the hopsitals will see that their critical care experiance/med surg clinical was from two years ago and wonder how much clinical skills they've forgotton? Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but i don't think that rushing graduation is the right choice for most people, unless you are very focused, don't work (at all) and are o. k. with very little free time. Even then it's difficult. I guess that's why CSULA and loma linda (which as a private school has REALLY good placements and more accomdating professors --most private schools do) are 2.5 years-3 years--becuase in nursing you need that extra time to apply what you've learned instead of just cramming it down your throat in 2 short years. ~enough of my rant~ I needed it : ) I do love nursing though, and csulb--socal is beautiful.