gingersnapper

@slaybee, information about quarterly tuition and fees is available on the CSUEB website. It occasionally changes and what you pay may be dependant on how much aid you apply for and receive. I would recommend that you find this information, apply for as much free aid as you can, and consult with the CSUEB financial aid office.

Hi again Paisleybird, At the Concord campus, our schedule was typically Mon-Thurs with the exception of a possible Friday simulation lab or Fri/Sat clinical. The Fri/Sat clinical schedule only applied to a few possible rotations in the second year. I usually had clinicals Mon/Wed and classes Tues/Thurs. My classes the first year were all during the morning or day, then in the second year, there were a few night classes. The clinicals were anytime between 6:45am-9pm, depending on the shift we were on. For the first quarter of the nursing program, we had a seminar class that did an educational outreach project working with elders in the community. We had some direct patient contact, but it wasn't a traditional clinical. The second quarter, we had clinicals twice per week, and that's generally how often we had them each quarter after that. Hayward and Concord campuses have different schedules. I would recommend asking a Hayward student to share their typical schedule as well. During the second year, Concord and Hayward students shared classes for the respective clinical theory classes that went along with our clinicals, so you may have to commute to another campus for 5 weeks if it's held there. A clinical is a period of time that you work with your patient(s) under your clinical instructor's and nurse's supervision. Our nurse for the day was whomever was assigned to the patient(s) we picked to work with. In the 2nd quarter (our first traditional clinical), we picked our patient during the clinical beforehand, as we were in a skilled nursing facility, where the patients didn't get discharged as often. After that, we usually visited the facility the day beforehand to pick our patient(s) and collect the information we needed to prepare for working with the patient(s) the following day. Preceptorship can be called by many different names (senior capstone, senior practicum, etc.), but it generally refers to a period of intense clinical experience in the senior year of a nursing program. At CSUEB, we work under the supervision of one nurse (our preceptor) and a faculty member who serves as a clinical liaison. We work the entire shift, rather than leaving earlier as we did in our clinicals. By the end, the goal is to be able to take excellent care of the maximum amount of patients assigned to a nurse in that setting (i.e. 5 in a med-surg setting). We also have a weekly preceptorship seminar class at the same time. It's a chance to transition from being a student nurse to the experience of being a professional nurse. At CSUEB, it lasts an entire quarter and is a minimum of 240 hours. This is a pretty high number of hours for the area, which gives us a chance to get as much experience in our preceptorship as possible. I remember being so confused about all of these clinical components when I was about to start nursing school. These are great questions!

Paisleybird, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have as long as they do not violate our program policy. The same rules apply via private online message. Let's keep our discussion public. There isn't anything I would tell you privately that I wouldn't say on this forum and I'm sure other potential students would benefit from the answers.

I would love to answer this question for you and for other potential CSUEB nursing students, but according to our student handbook, we can "not discuss or post any information about faculty, peers, patients, family members, or any clinical facility on any electronic venue." I'm assuming that means listing clinical sites as well. They also differ between the Hayward and Concord campuses and may change depending upon availability. I recommend contacting the nursing office for the campus you requested and asking them directly.

@luckyduck'17 and @rawritsyuri I was in the same boat a couple years back and chose CSUEB because SFSU was implementing a new curriculum and I heard that they had removed the preceptorship. This will now be the 3rd year of the curriculum, so the kinks are likely all worked out. And, instead of the traditional preceptorship, it sounds like they replaced it with another clinical rotation. A current SFSU student describes it here: https://allnurses.com/online-nursing-schools/sfsu-bsn-fall-836202-page5.html#post7889282 A major thing to keep in mind is where you ultimately want to work. Clinical rotations give you great networking opportunties and a chance to see where you would like to land after school. Choosing a nursing school with clinicals in places you would like to work is a great idea. @rawritsyuri, it sounds like you really like SFSU's clinical sites. Also, I really like CSUEB, but my friends at SFSU learned to insert IVs a whole year before we did. I was jealous. We do have classes they don't have, like Legal Nursing and a Periop rotation. I would ask current students at SFSU what their experiences are. Good luck!

I think it depends on you. You would have a job and a commute, so you'd have to be really good at time management. A lot of my classmates work more than 10 hours a week or have other heavy commitments. They have to become really good at getting things done quickly and potentially lower their expectations for their GPA.

It really depends on you and what else you have on your plate. The people who didn't work and didn't have other heavy commitments seemed to have an advantage. The folks who had a long commute, small children, a job, or any combination of the three definitely felt the crunch. If a 10-hour per week job is the only other big commitment you have, it sounds feasible. If it is in a setting where you hope to work as a nurse, it might be worth it to keep the job, because you will be much more likely to score an RN position if you already work there. Tuition changes from year to year, so I would recommend checking out the university website for that. Book costs were mostly up front with a few exceptions, as I bought all of the books on the list they gave us. You will need to buy uniforms and a stethoscope. There may also be occasional skills lab fees and charges for the Kaplan program (pre-NCLEX practice) from quarter to quarter. I would contact the nursing office about those or wait to hear about it at orientation. At our orientation, they recommended that we review medical terminology, anatomy, and physiology with emphasis on the neuro, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary systems. My advice? Review at a pace that feels comfortable, but don't go overboard. Have fun, rest up, and form effective self-care habits so you can hit the ground running when you begin school.

Yeah, the 5 week thing is intense. They do tend to pair the harder classes with the less challenging ones, so it's not the same level of intensity for every class. Each professor decides how many tests and assignments to assign, so it won't always be a midterm and a final. People often form study groups, share study guides, and online flash cards.

For patho and pharm, they are 10 weeks each. They are doable, but very challenging and time consuming. I did well in them, but I wasn't working and gave my life to those classes. As for the pace, in the second year of the program (level 2), the 10-week quarter gets cut in half. You have a clinical rotation (pediatrics, geriatrics, medical-surgical, labor & delivery, psychiatrics, perioperative) and its corresponding clinical theory over a 5-week period along with other classes. The 10-week classes felt really doable for me coming from a semester system. 5 weeks is pretty nutty. You just have to jump in right away and not miss a beat. Cramming a whole nursing subject into 5 weeks, sometimes with just a quiz and a final, makes it very hard to do really well in those subjects. You have so little time to do all that reading and study the lecture content, especially with all those 10-20 page care plans you are pumping out. I believe CSUEB is switching to a semester system in 2018, so the intense 5-week class thing may not be an issue in the future.

Jnnlm, one important thing to consider about commuting to CSUEB is that in the second year (level 2) of the nursing program, many the of clinical rotations will require that you go to the hospital the day beforehand to prep on the patient(s) for the next clinical day, which may start as early as 6:45am. For many students commuting from far away, this creates a serious time crunch for them. They have to drive to the hospital, pick a patient and get the relevant info, drive home, do their prep(s), then drive to the hospital again very early in the morning. These preps can take anywhere from 2-8 hours each, depending on how many meds and labs the patient(s) have, the particular requirements of your clinical instructor, and how quickly you can pump them out. CSUEB preps/care plans are no joke. They are EXTREMELY detailed and time consuming. This can make for very late nights before clinical, which does not always set folks up for success when working with patients. Just something to think about.

ajohn2015, I probably spent about $2000 during the orientation for books and other fees, but I bought the most expensive bundle of textbooks that the school offered. Many of the current students I talked with at orientation said they recommended buying the bundle, which contained many of the books needed for program in advance and had the advantage of corresponding online versions. I personally got a lot out of having both the hard copy and the online version, so it was the right choice for me, but I talked with other students who never ended up using the online versions and felt like they would have been better off buying the hard-copy books used as they needed them. It's up to you how you want to get the books, as long as you get all of the ones on the list they will give you by the time you will need them for class. I personally don't think that you have to spend all that money up front if it isn't feasible for you.

Hi Jnnlm, I'm not very familiar with the program at SJSU, but as a current nursing student at CSUEB, I'd be happy to answer any questions you or anyone else has about the program from a student's perspective. I found the nursing administration staff to be very helpful and forthcoming during my application/acceptance process, so they are your best resource for general questions about the program and acceptance process. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Hi Nanonano87, I am in the CSUEB program now, and having come from the semester system, it definitely feels more fast-paced, but I like it. After the second month, I am usually ready for the class to be over. In semesters, there is another whole month. In the quarter system, when I am really feeling done, the class ends. This does mean that there really is very little time to procrastinate at CSUEB, especially during level II, the second year of nursing coursework. The quarters are cut in half for various clinical rotations (Med Surg, Peds, Geri, Peri Op, and Psych). The 5 weeks of accompanying clinical theory clinical theory feels like an accelerated program. It's a lot of information in a very short time. I would have liked to have known that when making my decision. I don't remember anyone discussing the pace of level II on this forum. I was in the same boat as you in deciding between SFSU and CSUEB. I have friends in the SFSU program that say that their program feels very disorganized due to the new curriculum. Chances are, they will iron out the kinks. They have not reached the last stretch yet, so I don't know what the advanced Med Surg clinical in place of preceptorship is like. I realize that you likely have already made your choice. What did you decide?

I'm sure they'll contact everyone very soon with an orientation date. I would wait (without sacrificing your standing at potential backup options) until your acceptance to do BLS, background check, physical, and drug screen, but you can start on the other requirements, as they are similar for most programs: Tdap, MMR (measels, mumps, rubella), Varicella, Hep B, and Flu vaccines if you have not had them; Measels, Mumps, Rubella, Varicella, and Hep B titers; TB Test (for CSUEB Concord: one skin test if you have had one within the last year. Otherwise, two TB skin tests 1-3 weeks apart, or just one Quantiferon Gold Blood Test). Also, they will require you to have health insurance. CSUEB Concord's program for the first year has been Mon-Thurs for us with occasional Fridays. Clinicals are the biggest wild card, as they are dependent upon the facilitiy's availability. During the second and third year, they may be at other times.

@katekrave - I messaged a user that I know got into our program who is a veteran and asked if he or she could shed light on your question. Based on last year's thread, it sounds like CSUEB gives heavy priority to veterans who meet the minimum requirements. If I were you, I'd contact the nursing departement directly to ask what their current policy is. As far as where to live, Concord and Walnut Creek are the closest cities to the Concord campus. Many of us commute from much farther away, as there is always ample parking. I've never seen the lot even halfway full. There is also a shuttle that runs from Concord Bart to the campus, though its schedule is limited. What are you looking for in a neighborhood?