RN Programs in SoCal?

caliotter3 · Jul 23, 2010

Do not expect an easy time to get accepted to any CA nursing program. Also, keep in mind that it takes one year to establish CA residency.

alizard · Jul 26, 2010

Santa Ana College also has an ASN program.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jul 28, 2010

Since you will be in the wildomar area I will give you a heads up as not all those programs are withing driving distance.

San Diego State, Cal State Long Beach would be about a 2 hour drive. Same with San Diego City College and Point Loma

I believe Cal Baptist in Riverside has a program now?

THe closest program to you would probably be Mt. San Jacinto College, and I would say because it's a slightly more rural area, probably your best chance for getting in the program eventually. Some programs do not do waiting lists, they just pick the best candidates every year, others are 2-4 years long of waiting after you have finished your prerequisites. The higher your grades, previous health experience, second language seem to be your best bet to get into a program. Most people have to apply several times to gain entrance, but some get in quicker.

heartbeats · Jul 28, 2010

Wow, caliotter3, that wasn't really encouraging nor was it helpful. On a more positive note, I'm in Temecula, so I'm right by where you plan to relocate to. I'm applying to Riverside Community College and Mt San Jacinto College. Neither maintains a wait list and accept people by way of a point system. Mt San Jacinto is strictly wait list. They're pretty particular about deadlines in terms of transcript evaluation. I'm applying for Spring 2011 and the deadline has already passed to submit transcripts for evaluation. The deadline for Fall 2011 transcript evaluation submission is December 1st. They accept 12 people for the fall, and 24 in the spring. Since space is so limited, I've heard that unless you get lucky and win a lottery spot, you need to have a 4.0.

Riverside Community college awards points for prerequisite GPA as well as for your GPA in degree required courses. They also award additional points for having a degree, foreign language, and life experience.

Palomar College would be the next closest ADN program. It's about a 40 minute drive south. Traffic can get kind of bad in the evenings coming home, but not too bad at all. They're in the process of moving over from a wait list system to one that is point based. By the Fall 2011 application period, 50% of the people accepted will be based upon point based criteria. Check their website for specifics.

Mira Costa College is in Oceanside and not too much further than Palomar. You would travel south and then west. It would be about a 45-50 minute drive. It has also adopted a point system and is accepting 90% of applicants from their point based criteria. Here are the specifics.

The other ADN programs you might consider if you're okay with an hour plus commute would be San Bernardino Valley College, College of the Desert, Grossmont College and Mt San Antonio College. Given traffic, anything in Orange County will run you 1.5-2 hours each way. This might be taxing, and I'd definitely do a couple of trial runs before committing to the commute.

A BSN program is much easier to gain entrance to. Cal State San Marcos actually has a nursing campus in Temecula and would be very convenient for you. San Diego State is pretty far and traffic can get kind of bad. Cal State Fullerton is an option too, but you'd also be faced with bad daily traffic on the 91. Cal State San Bernardino might be a good option, but it would take about an hour each way without traffic.

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with any other questions! :clown: