UCLA MECN Fall 2014?

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Hi- Is anyone applying to UCLA's MECN program for next fall?

Congrats to everyone who has submitted!! Quick question - does anyone know if it's okay to have one letter of rec submitted a few days late? I sent out the emails months ago (with regular reminders!) and one recommender hasn't submitted the letter yet. I just found out they're on vacation until the 4th, so I'm not sure what to do...

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@peppymint, I think it's prob. OK b/c they will not get around to reading them until after the holidays I think. I don't know where I heard that. But I don't think that would be a problem as long as it gets done asap.

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Hi Everyone- I submitted my application after writing 7 versions of my SOP. Finally just had to let it go! It seems from reading last year's thread on here that people who were wait-listed didn't hear till all the way through June!!

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@ceecoxy - I really liked ONCO; so much so that I stayed for three of my four rotations! Now that I'm reading Peppymint's post, I wish I had thrown in the CCU rotation, too. I stuck around on ONCO because I got along with the staff and really admired the relationships they had with their patients. My first rotation was at Ronald Reagan in the cardiothoracic unit. I don't recommend that one!

@ShirleyRex: did you hear great things about any other departments? I am mostly interested in Onco and Hospice nursing but would like to get a wide variety of experience like Post Partum. (I had both my kids at RR via c-section so Post Partum is very personal to me!) I have loved Onco too! Seems like I just got used to it and got to know people and am leaving. I'll stop in and see a couple of the patients I got to know too. Anyway, hope you all had a fun Halloween! Have a great weekend.

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@peppymint, I'm in the same position & I called the admissions office today. They said LORs & transcripts can come in after the deadline. They recommended that my LOR writer try to get the letter in within a week. Hope that helps!

Congratulations to everyone who applied! Felt great to submit the application finally :)

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Hello Everyone! I submitted on the day of the deadline...cutting it close I know. This is my second round of applications, I applied to some insanely competitive ones last year. I only applied to 3 but they were in the top 5 and received three rejections :(. I'm looking forward to this round...BC, USD (CA), NYU, USF (CA), and Vanderbilt. I was going to apply to VCU but dropped last min due to how strict their app was with references. Anyone else in the same boat?? ShirleyRex, my volunteer hours are from 2011-2012 as well, I don't think the time matters just the hours and your experiences from them. I'm still doing hours now and submitted verification of it. I wrote my SOP on the reasons I chose nursing as well as what the asked for in the admission criteria. They stressed that at the open house that I attended back in August. For those of you wondering about STATS, I'm retaking two prerequisites at this time and my GPA is average. Mostly B's in the prereq's.

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Hello everybody! I submitted my application about a week ago. I picked up a Psych degree at CSULB and had a 3.5 GPA, which barely gave the cum laude points. I finished most of the prereq's with 3.7 GPA. However, Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology were all A's. I volunteered at a NATO medical unit and worked as a casualty liaison for NATO in Southeast Asia. I finished a CNA course to complement the app. I did my clinical hours at the Palos Verdes Convalescent home, where I learned many patient care skills. I interned with the Greater Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Hospital conducting homeless outreach through the Community Care department. I acted as a social services assistant and conducted lead research in regards to military veteran populations at the Department of Children and Family Services. This was pretty groundbreaking stuff because the populations are unknown. I am working on a publication for the Center of Innovation and Research at USC for Military Behavioral Health Journal. The publication is under program evaluation. However, I think my statement of purpose was kind of lame. I grabbed recommendations from a professor at CSULB, Supervisor from my internship, and some dude from the Department of Defense that supervised my NATO gig. I am a born and raised California resident from Compton/ Long Beach.

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I only applied to UCLA, so hopefully I get in.

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Mgh26 - thanks for the help! I was camping and wasn't able to get cell service to call UCLA. Thank goodness they could be sent in late!

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MIB23, I don't know how you could have a "lame" statement of purpose with that kind of experience. Sounds great! Best of luck!!

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Hey yall, I submitted my application the last week of September. I feel anxious waiting. I hate this feeling. But jumping into the the conversations, I too was a CCE back in 2008 till about 2009. I used that as some of my experience. Hopefully is helps and the experience is more important then the timing.

Good luck to everyone!

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Hi guys, I submitted my app on Oct. 31st and I'm already dying to hear back!

I just graduated with a BS in Biological Sciences at UCR with an overall GPA of 3.38, and a last 90 unit GPA of about 3.73. My pre-req GPA probably isn't as impressive as I would have wanted because of my lower grades in chem, ochem, and micro during my first two years of undergrad. I'm hoping they'll take into consideration that these courses were at a university level, but I'm not sure that they will :/ I have around 400 hours of volunteer experience through the Clinical Care Extender program over 2 years (in ED, OR, NICU, OB, DOU, and Post-Partum), as well as leadership experience as a Department Coordinator and Recruitment Coordinator through the same program over the last year. I also have 3 years of leadership experience through some organizations while in school. I'm currently working as an ER scribe, which I hope will help when it comes time to use an EMR. I got recommendations from 1 nurse, who I met through volunteering, and 2 professors, who I'm hoping will vouch for my academic ability to compensate for my imperfect grades. I think my statement of purpose was good, but maybe not as strong as it could have been.

I've been reading through allnurses posts since last year, and I always tend to feel intimidated with some of the UCLA applicants' amazing credentials! I'm still very young - I just graduated (and finished my pre-reqs during undergrad), but I'm hoping UCLA will still consider me to be a strong candidate. If you know anyone with similar credentials as me and has been admitted to this program, please let me know!

Good luck to all! :)

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