Tacoma Community College 2016 Winter Cohorts

Hey Everyone! I've been following previous nursing threads for some time now and decided to make a new one.

This last Tuesday on August 11th, 2015 I got my acceptance letter for admissions into the nursing program at Tacoma Community College starting this coming winter in January 2016 (YAY!). I want to start by saying I am completely grateful and excited for this experience. Thank you to who ever is up there for allowing me into an accredited nursing program!

I figured I'd make a break down of choosing the right college for me, the pre-requisites, grades, TEAs test, and my weighted points that got me into the program--for those of you in the process of any of the above stated.

First off, Tacoma Community College was my first and only choice for nursing school application this year due to not getting my NAC certificate required for the application process in Centralia College, and I received a B in Anatomy and Physiology 2. That cut SPSCC from my list as well. I think its very important to look into your college of choice for accreditation because this will be a determining factor for the RN to BSN programs. University of Washington Tacoma and Seattle both state on their pages that you must receive your RN degree or equivalent from an accredited college in order to be considered for admissions (If you need to see it for yourself, here is a link to their page: Admission requirements: BSN | UW Tacoma). So if you are looking to go from your ADN to BSN, go to Pierce or Tacoma Community College if you are in the Pierce County down to Clark county as far as perimeters of the south Puget Sound area.

Pre-requisites and pre-nursing route: I'll save you a bunch of time and a car ride to Pacific Lutheran University if you are looking at the BSN route through pre-nursing. I went to their nursing orientation last month and the advisors were pretty awesome and realistic. They are GPA based, they broke down what the average yearly cost is and the average of what students receive in financial aid. Both PLU and UW were pretty honest and upfront that they prefer students who completed the pre-nursing route and maintained outstanding GPAs.

Bust your butt off on your science classes and keep your GPA up if you want to be competitive. I was told by the advisors at Centralia that you need a 3.5 or better to be competitive. You need a B+ or better in your science classes to get into SPSCC. I was one of those students who had to retake A&P twice to get my 4.0 (I was considering moving down to the Bay Area in California for nursing school until a. You are automatically disqualified for retaking more than 1 science class, and b. There are over 800 qualified applicants fighting for 80 spots). Tacoma Community College is ok with a B or better, you do get up to 5 points for A&P1 and 2 as well ask Micro. If you've already got a B or better and are thinking of retaking your science classes and applying at Tacoma Community College, don't do it unless you absolutely without a doubt know you will get a 4.0. They do deduct 5 points for retaking those classes.

Honestly, my GPA sucked. I was a biology major prior to starting nursing prerequisites. Calculus, chemistry, and biology made my accumulative GPA look like crap. Overall I have a 3.0 but my GPA with nursing prerequisites is a 3.6. There are actually a ton of benefits from being a previous biology major in going from a ADN to BSN. My math beyond statistics, 2 years of foreign language, english and composition, and humanities/diversities/electives are already done for when I apply to get my BSN at UW.

TEAs test: I was lucky enough to have gotten a pretty good score without really studying. I got an average score of 76 but scored in the 93rd percentile in the Science area (which means nothing because they are looking at your overall score). You have to pay to schedule your TEAs test in advanced. I thought I could schedule my TEAs test a couple weeks before taking it so I could have a week to study. I was wrong. I went onto the testing site webpage on a Saturday and the only slot to take the test was a Tuesday morning. You are given 4 hours to complete your test. I barely studied and finished mine in about 2.5 hours.

Weighted score: My weighted score was in the low 50's. Pretty darn low. Out of the 223 qualified applicants with 100 spots, I got a spot for Winter quarter with only 16 qualified applicants who had scored less than me.

Good luck to everyone applying for Nursing School and I will see any future classmates in January!