UNC Chapel Hill or ECU

Amisadai, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2011

Hello There!

Well I know a little about each program. I am a graduate from a non-nursing program at ECU and I will be attending the UNC Chapel Hill ABSN program in January

Having your CNA before transferring will not hurt and it will in fact look good. UNC doesn't require you to have it, but I bet it would look good on your resume, especially if you have worked as a CNA. ECU also does not require it, but it highly recommends it (Last time I applied to their program was last year so I do not know if the requirements have changed). If it is still in effect, they have a ranking system that uses points and having your CNA will give you one more proint (I think max points is 13 or 15? don't quote me). ECU also requires you to take a nursing pre-entrance exam and you must score above the 50th percentile (may or may not have changed). If you check their website all their requirements are there. You can get most points from just having a really high gpa, which is what killed me when I applied last year. their website is nursing.ecu.edu ( i used to live in their website).

As far as chapel hill, they look at more than just grades. Granted, they will not accept you with a C in a prereq course. You have to write 2 mandatory essay and if you want (which is highly recommended) you can write a third optional essay. The first two are questions stated by UNC and the third is more of giving them a chance to know more about you and kind of explain yourself if you had some bad grades, or tell them what you have done as far as volunteer activities and the such.

As far as best nursing progam, UNC is number 4 in the nation in nursing according to us news rankings. Both have very high NCLEX passing scores (which speaks highly of the education or maybe their students are just that good at taking stressful tests.) You can google the NC nclex pass rates and you will be able to see their past rates.

When you graduate from a nursing program, you graduate as a general nurse, meaning you are trained to work in any nursing area be it ER, l&D, med surg, peds, etc. If I am not wrong, students begin to lean towards a certain specialty during their clinicals where they get to see so many nursing areas. Once you graduate and take your NCLEX, you can apply for jobs in a specific field that caught your interest. The cool thing about nursing, is that if you find you dislike that field, you can switch to another one. You can always start applying for jobs before your nclex and if you are lucky enough you can be hired pending your NCLEX scores. I know someone who did this.

Hopefully I did not overload you with info. If you have any more questions and if I have the answers, i will be glad to answer them!

Good luck!

jonrasta61 · Apr 13, 2011

Thank you so much for the info!!!

hershmeister · Jun 13, 2011

CNA is a MUST for UNC for their BSN pathway. It is mandatory to receive your certification and work as a CNA or extern during one of the sessions. It helps to get your foot in the door and make you more acclimated to the hospital environment. Also, being a CNA helps you to learn skills and then you can turn into a CNA II during your nursing school career which makes you practice more advanced nursing skills that you couldn't perform as a CNA I. Plus more money :)

mkcg22 · Jun 23, 2011

You don't have to be a CNA to get admitted to UNC, but during your coursework you can get certified as a CNA I or CNA II. You are required to have your CNA license to do a nursing externship which is one of your options for the summer before your senior year.