ElenaH.

For the Perinatal Department I heard the number of people who were chosen for the interview was 16 for 6 positions.

Haven't heard from L&D Maternity

Rachelynn,I'm half way through this program in San Mateo. The clinicals are all over the peninsula with majority of them in San Jose. The school does ask for student's preference but it doesn't always happen. A lot of us carpool, so I don't find it problematic to commute to a far hospital twice a week.Counselors are available in all campuses but I still went to Oakland because of the time conflict. I hope it helps. Good luck :-)

Hi, NishA I don't know what exact TEAS you consider low. Mine was 86% and I got in. I wrote pretty nice essays though and I also submitted my GRE score (even though it's only for Master's programs but I just thought it's better more than less). I also submitted 5 recommendation letters instead of 3. What I know from our faculty, they actually do read those essays very carefully. You said you already applied. And I want to tell you "now just relax" but it's not that easy. I know how it feels... you're weighing in your strengths and weaknesses to somehow predict the result. Try to focus on something else instead, distract yourself from thinking about your chances for now. They took more than 6 months to let us know if we were accepted. I was seriously going crazy in the end of this waiting period but nevertheless... I don't know how many people applied and how many got it. The faculty never shared this information with us. But I have a feeling almost all applicants got in. I hope it helps somehow.

Thank you, Sika. I had a feeling that our scrubs will be somewhat different. I guess, I'll wait until the orientation to try them on.

Hey, guys from San Mateo campus. I still am available for a get-together sometime during weekends. This coming Sunday though I'm having a CPR class from 9 till 1 in San Francisco. So we could plan for April 28 or 29, which are Saturday and Sunday.

Sika, I have a question for you if you don't mind. What uniform are we supposed to buy for clinicals? I saw a funny video on youtube with the nursing students from Samuel Merritt dancing in white scrubs. Do you know if we can buy those scrubs specifically from SMU because probably they have logos embroidered on them, or we should just buy whatever brand we want as long as they are white?

I started my application with Discover bank and they said that my interest would be 4.25% but it's variable somewhere between 2.5 and 10.5 or so. Also, I asked for only 23K... maybe the amount matters too.

Eastbay: I had only 3 months of volunteer work at CPMC ICU and zero medical work experience. I volunteered 12 hours a week so I would be done by the application deadline, finished 100 hours. I speak another language and I sent 5 recommendation letters instead of 2 that Samuel Merritt was asking for. I prepared those 5 for UCSF that I also applied for and decided since I was asking 5 people for recommendation letters for UCSF, one extra copy for Samuel Merritt wouldn't hurt. I sent them all to SMU and got accepted right away.

pnlu007, you're right. The difference in the end won't be that big. I'm applying for all sorts of loans now. Maybe it won't be that bad. I also went to my Provident Credit Union. They don't give student loans but they offered me an interesting thing. I could take a loan from under my husband's car. It's a 2010 car and according to the blue book, we could get approximately $20K for 5 years for 2.875% (since I'm a member there, 3% for non-members). It's better than student loans that I've seen so far. But I would need to start paying off right away. So I plan to take it at the very end of the program.

[color=#454545]wannabenurse, i also was born in 81. we are in similar situations. my husband and i did some math and it appears that we could afford this loan. but we also want to buy a house, interest rates are very low now, so we would need to take out another loan soon, if we are lucky. so obviously it's a big financial commitment. [color=#454545]thanks for your input. i really hope you'll get into the program too. good luck!

Thank you so much for your advice, pnlu007! This is my second round of applications. Last year I had a pathetic #123 on the waitlist in the community college and this year two offers at the same time. I myself tend to sway towards SMU because of what you've said and also the fact that I want to start having kids ASAP as I'm not getting any younger. At least two nurses who I know told me that they got laid off or were on the brink of firing for not having a BSN. So it's important for me as a new graduate not only to get a job but also to keep it in the future. Thanks again for taking your time to type such a long response this morning :-)

Can you believe it? I have a choice now. I got a congratulations letter from College of San Mateo (2 years, ADN, $2,500 for the entire program). Gosh, this is difficult. I asked around and nurses who I know are all saying to go to Samuel Merritt but the price of it is way beyond what I could have paid in the community college. And what's interesting, mandatory orientations for both Samuel Merritt and College of San Mateo are on May 11th. What do you think about my dilemma guys? I'd appreciate any input.

tigo, I want. LovePaws wants too. It's just that I work full time and come home pretty late but that's only on weekdays.

I had the same question as I also need to do CPR.