Samuel Merritt ABSN San Francisco

[rachelzheng82]

I am currently taking the prerequisite courses and planing to submit my application as soon as I finish the courses, but I am now working 3 day a week, sometimes 2 days in order to support myself. I am wondering whether I am still able to work part-time if I got accepted, does any of you guys worked while you were in the program? Thanks.

[blustar46]

Congrats!! I'm still waiting. I'm on hold right now... trying to get someone on the phone. This really seriously blows.

[poolmom]

Let us know what you hear blustar...we're all dying here!

[blustar46]

Hey guys.. this may be discouraging information... So I apologize in advance. There is still hope for those of you out there though.. you still got tomorrow and friday to find out. Turns out there was 133 waitlisted people.. meaning that these people were all very qualified and they wanted to waitlist that many. But couldn't. So they had to cut the waitlist short. Meaning that the rest of the waitlist got denied. However, because we were such highly qualified denied applicants (as I was told), the fee for the application will be waived. I had an 84.1 on my TEAS; 3.921 cummulative GPA; and 4.0 science prerequisites; with a year of volunteer in the ER at Stanford Hospital. But honestly, because the competition was so fierce, I think experience has a lot to do with it. Another girl got pretty average scores, but had a lot of experience as she was a CNA. SOOOoo..... I guess it's onward for me. No other choice but to go onward. Good luck everyone. It really does feel like my high stats are nothing. I didn't even make it on the waitlist. To clarify above: there is still a waitlist, just not that long of a one (with the 133).

[lunaflaura]

blustar46, THANK YOU for the information, although it is discouraging! Did they say whether or not they are done calling the accepted people? I feel like throwing up right about now!!! Your stats look great, I am thinking there is NO hope for me at this point if there were that many other super qualified applicants!

Wow, this is brutal. 133???? Ahhhhhh!!!

[blustar46]

nO, I'M SORRY i didn't ask that. i was just numb about my results. Hey lunaflaura. just keep hoping until you can't hope anymore ok??!! Some girl got avg. stats and she got an acceptance call cuz of her CNA experience. You still got a shot. 133 were all qualified... that's not the waitlist total. not sure how many are actually waitlisted. they wanted to waitlist all 133, but that would be too much. so they cut it short. Oh holy hell... I'm gonna go have a drink.

[aldeur]

Wow, how crazy. I've heard in AZ they don't have enough people to fill the slots in the nursing schools yet in the bay area there's gazillions of qualified applicants. I wonder if we are just lucky enough to be in a star stunning cohort, because in the info session I went to they said often they don't have enough qualified applicants to fill the pool. They also said that volunteer experience didn't matter, but that is obviously not the case. Tough cookies. I'm getting tempted to leave my phone at home, because waiting is driving me batty.

[carolc415]

hi all,

I've been reading your posts here and wanted to share: I was 99.9% sure I would not be admitted to the program because I have no human healthcare experience...zip, zero, nada. My NET was 90, my GPA for last 60 units was probably 3.5, my science GPA probably the same. Prereqs was probably a 3.8.

I'm pretty sure their decision to admit me was largely based on my essay, since many other applicants have much higher GPA's and healthcare experience. I'm an older student and really refined my essay to speak about life experience and surviving a really screwed up home life growing up. Anyway, they really do weigh all these things, otherwise I don't think I would have had a chance of getting in.

Congrats to those of you who heard good news....and I'm crossing my fingers for those of you who haven't heard yet. Please keep posting here in the thread...I think tomorrow may be a big day for calls, they'll want to finish them before the holiday weekend maybe...

[lunaflaura]

Thank you carolc415! I have pretty much given up hope, but what you said gives me a spark back... I have my fingers & toes crossed... But still am starting to give some serious thought to a plan B... Congratulations to you, you deserve it!!!

[carolc415]

thanks lunaflaura....I still have a plan B (and C and D) in place due to the cost of the program. I meet with a fin aid advisor in two weeks and I'm scrambling to find some scholarship info. The news that I was accepted is a mixed bag of relief and anxiety...I think a good backup plan is to get on the waitlists for the ADN programs that have them. That is also part of my backup. With the insanity in the increase in apps to programs, I feel better knowing I have options other than SMU if it just doesn't work out financially.

[biggiecali]

Not that I really feel it will matter anyway, but I just figured out that I left my phone at home today...miserable, now I just get to wonder if it is ringing or not. This whole thing has been hard, at this point I just want some finality about it, either in or out so I can stop wondering and waiting and thinking and blah blah blah, I just want to know one way or the other so I can move on from this horrible middle ground.

[lunaflaura]

I 100% agree with you biggiecali! I just want to know, one way or another, so I can breath again! There is a part of my that will be relieved (yet still disappointed) if I dont get in... The thought of taking out such a massive student loan, especially with the grim economy & statistics about finding a job after graduation, well... You know what I mean I am sure...

I am just curious, what is everyone else thinking about for plan B? State schools? Re-applying for Oakland in May? I'd love to get more ideas from other folks in the same boat!

[biggiecali]

My plan B hasn't been thought of yet, unfortunately I put all of my eggs in one basket. I don't know what to do. I read a post on here about new jobs for grads and it made my eyes pop out. It said that the new grad program at Cedars Sinai had 1700 applications for I think 70 jobs...that is just ridiculous. I don't want to put my family in $55K + debt and then not have a job for a year or more like some other people are experiencing. I think my plan B might be to just wait a few years and try again. I don't know at this point.