Questions about Brookdale Community College program

I just graduated in December and I am very familiar with the program. The program itself is designed to be a 5 semester program. Since there has been a waiting list most students get all of the prerequisites done before the program so that it is literally 1 nursing class each semester.... These classes are around 7-9 credits each. The program can be very intense and anymore than 1 class at a time would be near impossible. There are two side nursing courses that must be taken in the summer as well.

If you do the day or night track you will have class once a week. The first semester you will not have clinical but you will have 1 day in the lab. After the first semester you will have to do either two days of clinical (6 hours each day) or a full day Saturday clinical. From the 2nd semester on you will also have labs to do on your own each week. These are what they call either a skill test out, peer test out, or simulation. They can be very time consuming as you are required to go to the lab and perform a certain amount of practice time depending on the lab skill. Then you must test out with an instructor. On top of this you will have to put in hours upon hours of study time. You will learn very fast that a nursing exam is nothing like any other exam you have taken. Preparing for these exams is very challenging and will take a lot of time.

CNA, PCA, and Home Health Aide courses have always been okay. Medical Assistant is not usually accepted because it does not give direct patient care which is what they are looking for you to know before the program (bed baths, changing diapers, bedpan, etc..) My friend was turned down with his Medical Assistant from lincoln tech.....

The program is very intense and will require you to put your life on hold for a bit. Working full time still is possible and I have seen it done but it is very very challenging. Most of my graduating class were in their 30s-40s with kids so your situation is possible but you must be dedicated. My class started with around 200+ students and we graduated with only 40.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

You have your choice of Riverview Medical Center, Jersey Shore, Monmouth Medical Center, and Centrastate. The wait for me was two years but I hear now it is about a year or less.

I am about to graduate next week! woot woot! I went in as an LPN and took the challenge course so I dont know about the whole program, I came in in the last year. The labs are definatly time consuming but they have flexible hours to get there and test out for that subject that week. I took nurs 163, 165 and 261 together. It can be done, but I wouldnt recommend it. I thought I had to have them done at that time or I would have taken them before starting clinical. 163 is a group project, not so bad and 165 just a research paper. So as far as ft or pt..you have to be in clinical twice a week 5 hours a day or night depending on which track you choose. I chose nights so that was 5-1015pm wed and thurs. So it kinda is like part time already. But like I mentioned before, you do have to complete some test outs at the lab and you end up spending a few days a week there to practice that skill. I worked during the program as well, but I do home health and I work nights so I could study and some weeks I barely worked. Flexible job is key. Good luck to you! I did some tutoring to lower class students so if you need help PM me!

Hi,

I have been on the waiting list for about 8 months I was hoping to get a call for September but I did not. I have everything I need went to the information session etc. Do you know if they Call students for Spring semester in January?

Thank you,

Katie

Hi everyone, I see that you guys are grads or near grads from Brookdale. I am an out of county student looking to take some prereqs online to transfer over to Rutgers for their BSN program. I have a few questions since I called the school and the woman I spoke to had a bad attitude and was very unhelpful. She said I would have to apply there, and take a placement test. I am just wondering: will I be able to take the classes that I want to take to transfer, or will I be expected to complete the program? Any info would be VERY much appreciated. Thank you in advance!!

@michelec, this is a slight change of topic but I did several out of county online classes for the Rutgers program, and I did them at places less expensive than brookdale/with specific matching codes that matched the equivalents on NJ transfer. Specifically, I did Camden, Salem, and Atlantic. Not sure if that helps but it definitely saved me $.

@michelec, this is a slight change of topic but I did several out of county online classes for the Rutgers program, and I did them at places less expensive than brookdale/with specific matching codes that matched the equivalents on NJ transfer. Specifically, I did Camden, Salem, and Atlantic. Not sure if that helps but it definitely saved me $.

This is very helpful! Thanks so much. Brookdale is actually cheaper per credit than my current CC and because I will be taking online classes, I'll be able to pay what in-county students do, so that has been sounding pretty good to me. I will definitely also look into the schools you've mentioned. I actually first heard of Brookdale on this site as it is pretty far from home for me, and I've looked into what classes match on njtransfer and thankfully there are quite a few.

If you wouldn't mind, could you perhaps tell me which classes you took at the other CCs for RU? I plan on taking about 6 classes at Brookdale but if I can do better elsewhere, I'm open to other options.

Thanks again!

Sure!

I took the lifespan psych through Camden, nutrition through Salem, and communication through Atlantic, all online. I took A&P 1, microbiology, stats, and chem 2 at Bergen. I took A&P 2 (hybrid) at Hudson.

Planning to take Hesi test very very soon.... I know you get put on the waiting list after you take Hesi. About how long is the current wait list?