Marty McFly

I live in Sacramento and know nurses that work for the various hospital systems in the area. I can't really add much but just echo everyone else's sentiments. The job market here is extremely competitive. The Folsom area is probably the most expensive city in Sacramento county, but it's easily one of the nicest (the newer developments over there are beautiful). Redding is nice but its very different and personally it's not somewhere I could live. It's just very separated from everything else. At least here in Sac you're not only in a large area but you're still close enough to the Bay Area and Tahoe as others have mentioned. Good luck!

I appreciate the response.It's one semester of General Chem where I am here in California. I found some "Algebra for Chemistry" workbooks. I wonder if that may help. Thanks for your help!

I've been trying to figure out my best course of action in regards to the pre-reqs needed to get in to the various nursing programs around here. I don't foresee a BSN as a possibility at this time the more I look at it, given the stringent qualifications to the programs out here in California. I've decided to get my A.S. and will then go for an RN to BSN program down the road. It will most likely take some time to get in to the Associate's program, since all of the community colleges around here run lottery systems with no wait lists. Given that, I'd like to start on the required courses but am wondering specifically what the math is like in Intro to Chemistry. I was never strong in math. I took and passed a Statistics class in 2008 so I could feasibly start Intro to Chem right away this Spring. I don't want to jump in and do poor -- I strive for A's. But given that I see A&P requires both this chemistry course AND college algebra, I don't want to get in over my head. Because of the Statistics course I took, I wouldn't need to take any additional math courses if I didn't want to (the pre-req being algebra) because of my catalog rights at the community college I attend. I guess you could say I want to skirt the math if I can but am worried that I'll end up flunking out. Anyone been in a similar situation?

You're right, SSU let's you. The only three schools I've seen that do are Sac State, CSU Fresno, and SSU. Kind of limits my options, but I hope to get a head start on all of this (even though it's 2 and a half years away).

I'm in a similar boat. LB might mean CSU Long Beach? They no longer allow one to re-take pre-req courses. If you receive a 'D' or 'F' in any course, you can apply for what is called academic renewal at your community college to basically have that grade count less towards your GPA. If you retake the course, certain CSU schools will accept the second attempt (San Jose State being one of them). I know it stinks when you don't get the grade you want. I got a C in Statistics and its really prohibiting me from being competitive because it's going to weigh down my Pre-Req GPA.

Does anyone know specifically which CSU BSN programs allow a second attempt at a pre-req? The caveat for me is I received a 'C' in Statistics way back in 2008, and now that I'm finally able to pursue a BSN I'm seeing this will greatly affect my application in a few years (I'm anticipating Fall of 2017 to transfer because of all of the math I'm going to need to take again). I've been looking on the various CSU websites and most of them seem to have a strict no-repeat policy. Realistically, I'd have to get an 'A' in all of the science pre-req courses just to get a 3.0 for the separate "Pre-Req GPA", which I don't think is competitive at all (although my overall GPA is closer to a 3.6 or so). Has anyone been in a similar situation? I don't want to set unrealistic expectations for myself since it's going to take me about a year until I can even start taking A&P I with all of the math classes I still need to take (I took Stats my 2nd semester back in college with essentially no math background). Thanks for your help!

I guess I chose the wrong forum! Could someone move this to the proper one?

Hi everyone, If you can't tell by the username, I am a male. I've recently come to the conclusion that I've been prohibiting myself from being able to do what I've wanted to do for some time, and that is nursing. If you'll indulge me, let me give you a brief background. I'm 28 years-old and live in Sacramento. I've lived here for 8 years. I was never a math or science person in high school. Taking those courses in college scared the pants off of me. I took statistics and geology as "easy" ways out. I'll be graduating in December from a local community college after 6 long years with three (!) A.A. degrees, which won't amount to anything. The plus side is I've gotten most of my general ed out of the way. I've been on my own since I was 17 years-old. I've supported myself without any sort of family or many friends for support. Since then, I was unintentionally thrust in to healthcare. I started working in medical billing about 7 years ago. I've changed jobs twice since then, and now currently work for one of the largest hospital systems in California. Why did I decide on nursing? Well, simply put, I can't think of another career that really defines my personality and passion. I've met plenty of great people over the past few years (working alongside nurses who have gone on the back-end to where I am), but I was scared to take that plunge. Doing any sort of math or science freaked me out, and knowing how intensive it is (coupled with work), I just shrugged it off. Well, me shrugging it off wasn't the answer. I was set to transfer to Chico State in an online liberal arts degree program this next spring, but it's not what I really want. So, after contemplating and realizing where I want to be in 5 years, I decided to start over at square one. I still qualify for financial aid (I'm only at 60 units at C.C. and the cutoff is 90), but my company has a generous tuition reimbursement program for employees. I've been in my current position for 3 years doing billing for our radiology department, but once I'm eligible in the early winter I'll be looking to get a more hands on role in our clinics where a MA friend is. Since I have all of my Gen Ed complete, after I take the nursing pre-reqs the plan is to transfer to a CSU. I have to start at the bottom for math -- that's going to be my biggest concern, and what takes me the longest to get up to speed. It seems to be a basis for a lot of the science classes, but I took the Pre-Algebra assessment test (for fun) and I was struggling. Because of the math, it will take me 2.5 years to complete all the pre-reqs (assuming I believe enough in myself to get through all of these classes with A's and B's). After that, assuming I'm "competitive enough" (hate to think I could go through all of this for nothing!), I want to continue on for the BSN. It's hard enough wanting to be a nurse, but male nurses sure seem few and far between! Thanks for reading my little story.