BCAN

so this was posted years ago. I just wanted to say that I run into it and decided to call. I already had the name. The person I called said that I would have better luck with the nigh shift manager and transferred me. The night shift manager looked at my resume right there and then and gave me an interview. It's my dream field, so I'm excited.

From graduation to your NCLEX date... ( assuming you are taking it as soon as possible) I'm graduating this week and I hear of people who graduated in December who still haven't been able to test. If you are taking it soon in CA when did you graduate? how long did the whole process take? If you just got the green light to schedule the NCLEX when did you start the process?

I applied 3 weeks before graduation and it says pending.

Did anyone apply to the RN to BSN? It said they would let us know within 30 days of application. They closed 2/15, so I'm guessing they will let us know this week, but the suspense is killing me.

The books are like $900 for the first semester. There is no way around it bc you need the codes to take the PrepU tests every week and access videos, skills sheets, etc. I used a lot of my savings to buy them, uniforms, shirts, etc... then you have to pay for Kaplan but you can make payments of $150 X4. Shoes: Some of my friends bought "nurse mate" shoes and the white layer is peeling already and they look old. I got the Timberland ones (only like $30 more expensive than the Nurse Mates) and a few of my friends are gonna switch to them because they are so comfortable and still look like new ( and I wipe them with bleach before leaving the floor every clinical day) You will wish you had nice shoes. Seriously.

its a loooooong class. We have to do quizzes before class ( you keep taking them over and over till you reach a certain level, so if you know the material you take fewer quizzes bc you get the answers right, if you don't you could be there for hours, so it forces you to read the material) , so you already kinda know the material, and the professor just solidifies whats important. We aren't supposed to show up not knowing anything about the topics.

I should add.. I wish I knew these things. It's very hard to fail one of your classes, so take a deep breath. There are remediation opportunities. Last week I failed my skill competency.I could not sleep the night before. I was so nervous because we had 4 or 5 skills and got tested on one at random, so you need to know all of them really well because you don't know which one you will get. They just told me what I did wrong, I went to practice, then I passed it almost perfectly an hour later. If you fail one of your care plans you talk to your instructor and redo it... they don't just say "Oh well, you failed... moving on" you know. I don't know about exams because I haven't failed any. You have to have at least a 75% in all your exams combined to pass (before they add other points from computer work) , so if you have 73% for all your exams even if your computer work brings you up to a 79% you don't pass. Makes sense? I heard of people going "on contract" which I guess is when you aren't doing so good. The idea is to catch it before it gets too bad ( instead of people just failing or waiting till the last exam to try to save the semester), so being on contract keeps you more alert and the instructors more aware of who is struggling.

For the regular cohort : Lecture is once/week, skills is only the first semester once/ week. 2 days of clinicals (630-2:00 or 2:30?) So 4 days the first semester, then 3 days the rest of the time I have 2 kids. It's hard and I feel guilty all the time, my husband is very supportive and takes them out most Saturdays so I can study/ do work. His mom picks them up from school when I'm in Stockton and keeps them for an hour or 2 till my husband picks them up. Most people in my clinical group are parents, some work. I quit working in December. One of my friends is a single mom of a toddler and gets As all around. it's doable. With a kid that small you should take as much help as you can. Time is flying by!. Your kid will benefit from this for the rest of their life. Mom guilt is real, but don't let it stop you.

ok so regular cohort had lecture and skills with us. Half the class did skills Monday morning , the other half in the afternoon. Lectures were Thursdays 1230-5.pm . The regular cohort has more options when it comes to clinical sites and they go from 630 am to 2 pm I believe. Fasttrack only gets 2 options. You take one class at a time, so nursing 1 finished right around spring break, then we started nursing 2. The math test I failed I was just stupid. I forgot how many oz were a pound or something like that. it was only 5 questions. It was about measuring meds ( not IV). I grew up abroad, so I learned Math a different way, and Mrs Porter insisted that I do the work the standard way and it messed me up. It was like trying to write with my left hand. I lost all confidence and got really nervous. I knew the material, but it was week 2, so it snuck up on me. They won't remind you that you have tests coming, so keep up and write everything down on your schedule. The workload isn't SO BAD. I spend most Fridays and Saturdays studying or doing school work all day and I did well. With our schedule I couldn't get much done during the week. I commute, so I spend about 8 hours/ week driving to a from school. It sucks, but the drive gets better the more you do it.

Hi! I'm on the fast track program now. Started in January. When I got in the cut off was pretty low I think. I was in the high 70s and got into the fast track, but they also took an extra 20 students ( 60 total). One girl got in the first week when a guy didn't show up, so the waitlisted people shouldn't give up yet! We get a week off (this week) and start summer on Monday and don't end till mid August. Summer is 2 mornings of lecture and 2 12 hour days of clinicals/ week. I graduate next May. I love my clinical group. The only negative thing about fastback besides the summer school is that we have afternoon clinicals. They are at an odd hour and a lot of the procedures are done in the mornings, so by the time we get there it's a little slow...then we get 2 hours with night shift nurses and they usually want to do their assessments and stuff, so they don't really want to teach bc they are busy. You need to show your nurses that you want to learn and take charge of your education. Don't expect the nurses to come get you to do stuff or offer you procedures. You have to be assertive. My advice to those starting is to stay on top of things, but don't panic. I had like 3 panic attacks my first few weeks bc I didn't know what to expect, the load seemed impossible to handle, and I failed my first math quiz, but then you learn to juggle it. Within the first 2 weeks we had to learn do a complete 20 min physical assessment, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is if you've never done more than just check your own temperature like I had. It's not impossible to get As. The second half of the semester is an easy A if you are a good student. I stopped reading the book like I did at first and now I tend to skim through the chapters while doing the prep Us (tests you have to take online before lecture). reading 500 pages a week is pretty impossible if you have a family or a job.

Can somebody clarify this for me just so I can figure out my childcare situation now. The first 3 weeks are mornings regardless of what your schedule says, then we go back to the afternoon schedules we were assigned? So the first 3 weeks we all start at 630 am most days?

How long did it take for your drug test results to come back? It says up to 5 days, but I was wondering it would be faster since the 48 hour paperwork review is usually less than 24hrs.

Dameron

Did any other people get in from the waitlist? How many people from the alternate list got into the fast track? I just got the schedule last night ( I had counted my points wrong, so I'm in) I still haven't done my drug test and they didn't like my TB paperwork, so I have to get that fixed before Friday.

I'm starting school In January and I noticed that the pants are really see through. The paperwork says we have to wear white or nude underwear, but I was wondering if there are any thin base layer bottoms that you recommend. Something that won't overheat me, but will make the pants white without being able to see my skin through them. Looking on amazon seems like a hit or miss.