Mesencephalon

I received a call from the OR manager. I didn't get an offer but it was nice of him to call. Best wishes on your careers, everyone. :)

You and I were cut from the same cloth. I studied political science at Berkeley with the intention of going to law school (like you, because of family pressure). After shadowing/interning at a law firm, I decided that (again, like you) I didn't like sitting in a chair for 8-10 hours a day. I decided to pursue nursing because I wanted a career where I can have a direct positive impact on another person's life; as well as something that was more technical and hands-on. Plus, my mom had been a nurse and I grew up listening to her awesome nursing stories. I was close to finishing my BA so I decided to keep at it, graduated, and immediately began taking pre-reqs at a local community college (much cheaper than UC tuition). Getting into Berkeley CS is very impressive. I have a few college friends who did CS at Cal; they're all super smart. I'm sure you'll do wonderful things in nursing, especially now that you're doing what you want to do. I wish you luck on your journey.

Hi! I'm a fellow Cal Bear (UC Berkeley c/o 2010). I completed the direct-entry RN program at USF. How many nursing schools should I apply to? Nursing school admissions are very competitive. I would apply to every nursing school in the area. Do you plan on staying in the Bay? USF, SFSU, CSUEB, Dominican, and Samuel Merritt all have great BSN programs. Many community colleges offer ASN/ADN programs (also highly competitive) but keep in mind that many hospitals in the area will only hire BSN/MSN nurses into new grad programs. If you were to go ADN, you can always enroll in an ADN to BSN program. How much is health care/volunteer/work experience weighted? I had about 500 hours of hospital volunteer experience before I applied. Some of my classmates worked as CNA's prior to nursing school (very good idea). How much are outside activities weighted? I don't think nursing schools weigh extracurricular activities as heavily as the UC's. If the outside activity is related to nursing or community service, then it's definitely worth mentioning. I will be working part time, any advice on this?I have several friends who did this. It's totally possible if you are great at managing your time. Should I complete all my prerequisites before Fall 2016, so that I will have grades for all of them by time of application, or can I leave one or two classes to be done in the Fall? It depends on the program and their rules. For the USF program, all of the pre-reqs had to be completed by the time of application except for public speaking. For any recent admits to a California school (and privates), what were your stats? I'm not really a recent admit (entered Spring 2013) but I had straight A's in all my nursing pre-reqs and a very high undergraduate GPA; so did many of my nursing school friends. Any other advice? Definitely try to get a CNA job (especially in a hospital)! It will help you a lot in landing your first nursing job after you graduate. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

Congrats, peds_nurse111 and apedsnurse!! :)

The waiting is the hardest part; especially if LPCH is your dream hospital. Good or bad-- I wonder if they'll let us know either way. For now, I guess as long as you haven't heard anything bad, you're still in the running.

Your time frame is pretty typical (not too long). It took me five semesters (about a year and a half)-- #1: General Biology + General Chemistry #2: Statistics (summer session) #3: Anatomy + Organic Chemistry #4: Physiology + Microbiology #5: Public Speaking ("in progress" as I applied to nursing school) Began nursing school right after I finished public speaking.

For flashcards, a trick that I learned is to keep them in a particular order (e.g., have all of the facial muscles together, all of the abdominal muscles together) and flip them in that order. Don't shuffle your flash cards until you can guess, before flipping it, what muscle will come next. The brain works on patterns and associations. This method helps establish some kind of order/structure. Wynn Kapit's Anatomy Coloring Book is ultimately what helped me learn my muscles. I also created a chart with four columns: the muscle, origin, insertion, and function-- helpful if you're a visual/diagram learner.

It might help you get job interviews if the nursing school has a clinical partnership with a hospital that you want to work at. Prestige-wise, it doesn't matter where you get your nursing degree.

Don't worry about pharm too much. I only remember three pharm questions on my NCLEX and I had never heard any of those drugs before-- never learned about them in school or read about them anywhere. Though, I did figure out one of the drugs since it had a popular suffix (that might be a useful study point). Honestly, I feel that if you did well in school, you should do fine on the NCLEX. Go easy with the studying on the day before the exam (don't cram) and try to do something enjoyable to alleviate your anxiety. Good luck!

I know a few people who only did Qbank and passed on the first try. But, it depends on the individual. If you feel that you have a pretty good grasp on the material (med-surg, pharm, etc), then just do the Qbank to help you get familiar with the NCLEX-style questions. Good luck! :)

In SF, the major hospitals are SFGH and UCSF. There's also Stanford/Lucile-Packard in Palo Alto if you're willing to travel. The Bay Area is a WONDERFUL place to live (diversity, food, weather) and if you can land a job here, you're basically set.

The unit WAS amazing-- so team-oriented and very high tech!

This is so true! I didn't like med-surg that much but I LOVED my OR day. I think it's because med-surg and OR are like night and day-- one patient vs four patients (for California), working alongside a team for an entire operation vs working independently for most of the day (when assessing, charting, giving meds, providing wound care). My mom was a med-surg nurse before she worked in OR/PeriOp and she feels the same way. I guess the two specialties attract different types of people.

I interviewed for the OR on Monday. The manager and educator were so nice! :) It would a dream to work at LPCH's OR! I was told we'd hear back sometime next week.

Lauren-- thank you so much for the insightful info! Do you know how many people they are interviewing/will be accepting? What was the unit culture like in the OR when you precepted?