West Coast University - BSN Program

DomoniqueH · Jan 28, 2018

Had you already done the FAFSA when you had the appointment?

noemiz19 · Jan 28, 2018

Yes, they asked me to do last years fafsa as well az this years fafsa. I did both before going in for my appointment.

rochelle002 · Feb 23, 2018

Dear past and present WCU students and even future students like me, I am having difficult time deciding whether I should go to WCU or keep trying to apply for community colleges. I am kinda getting tired of the waiting period . I have completed all paperworks except for the financial private student loan part lol. It just scares me so I am kinda stalling on that part just until I fully decide for sure. I am planning to start this April or June 2018 at WCU for LVN-BSN. I would like to know how was your experience with clinicals and classes/exams? ati? and especially for the past students, how are you doing with the loans payments now? I have not decided yet as it also depends on what classes transferred in and what class I still have to take and the schedule. However, they will not tell me exactly until my financial status is situated. Do you guys know if they give all of that class transfer/schedule information once they know you are approved for private student loan? or do you have to sign everything like terms and condition with the bank THEN the school will give you the class schedule information? How did that process go for you guys? I still have to possibly take First Year Seminar, College Math, Stats, Critical Reasoning, Pathophysiology, and GE Capstone. How were those classes like? I am so poor at high level math and will need to refresh my memory lol. what was your experience with those classes? how is the intense level for either of those classes? or overall classes for the whole nursing program including core. Sorry for all the questions, it's just been such a roller coaster deciding whether this school is worth it. Any feedbacks or advices would be greatly appreciated :)

rochelle002 · Feb 23, 2018

Hi Jazzperez91

How was your experience with the math class so far, I still have to possibly take College Math and Stats but I am nervous because I am poor with high level math lol.

EDKrystal · Feb 23, 2018

Dear past and present WCU students and even future students like me, I am having difficult time deciding whether I should go to WCU or keep trying to apply for community colleges. I am kinda getting tired of the waiting period . I have completed all paperworks except for the financial private student loan part lol. It just scares me so I am kinda stalling on that part just until I fully decide for sure. I am planning to start this April or June 2018 at WCU for LVN-BSN. I would like to know how was your experience with clinicals and classes/exams? ati? and especially for the past students, how are you doing with the loans payments now? I have not decided yet as it also depends on what classes transferred in and what class I still have to take and the schedule. However, they will not tell me exactly until my financial status is situated. Do you guys know if they give all of that class transfer/schedule information once they know you are approved for private student loan? or do you have to sign everything like terms and condition with the bank THEN the school will give you the class schedule information? How did that process go for you guys? I still have to possibly take First Year Seminar, College Math, Stats, Critical Reasoning, Pathophysiology, and GE Capstone. How were those classes like? I am so poor at high level math and will need to refresh my memory lol. what was your experience with those classes? how is the intense level for either of those classes? or overall classes for the whole nursing program including core. Sorry for all the questions, it's just been such a roller coaster deciding whether this school is worth it. Any feedbacks or advices would be greatly appreciated :)

Hi Rochelle. I attend WCU.

Thinking back, I believe the order I went in for admissions was the initial meeting, the orientation, the HESI, then brought transcripts to see what transferred, then went to financial aid. I think they need to know what transfers, to know how many classes you will be taking at WCU, so that they can give you a solid number for the loan amounts, etc. You apply twice a year for the loans, so for me, minus the cal grants etc, I think I take out $15k-ish every time. It does add up but if you can live frugally upon graduation, you can pay it back quickly (in my opinion). Then once the enrollment portion is completed you get the schedule. I am lucky that I do not have to work while going to school, I have two young kids and I think I would have a much harder time if so, but many of my friends who are LVN-BSN continue working and are doing just fine time wise. First year seminar is really dumb but they require it, it is like a common sense and time management class, 2 classes on ground, the rest online. I am not a math person by any means, so I was really apprehensive about the algebra, stats, and chemistry, but I passed all of them with no problem. The math professor is great, he has a way of breaking everything down so it all makes sense. I'm older, I noticed the kids fresh out of high school had an easier time in those classes because they were still fresh for them. But there are TONS of tutoring programs and resources if you need it. Critical reasoning, eh, another fluff class but some of it helps in regards to NCLEX questions so there is that. Pathophysiology is not too difficult, especially if you paid attention in Anatomy and Physiology, it was pretty interesting. GE Capstone is pretty much a class where you take a bunch of aspects of general ed learning and write a large paper using different facets. The trick with the 10-week courses is to not get behind. It's a little intimidating because you think, minus finals, you have about 8 weeks to learn the material, but if you break it down and stay on top of everything, you should do OK. I saw some posts saying you don't get to choose your schedule which isn't really true. You DO have to take the classes the term they assign them to you, but the daily part, they will send out a schedule to choose from a few weeks in advance then they have open enrollment for you to sign up for the ones that best suit you. Sometimes you don't get what you want, but it's really rare. It's never happened to me. It goes by really fast, I've been there for 18 months and it's really flown.

Kelli_squared · Mar 4, 2018

I applied to other nursing schools for about 2 years and kept getting denied so I decided to check out WCU. I went to the information meeting and signed up that same day, gave my unofficial transcripts and got my proposed schedule a few days later. I started my first term January and now just chose my schedule for next term. They tell you what classes you need to take but they let you choose your class day and times at a specific time like at other schools. So far I love this school and I made such a good decision. I start nursing core in just and so excited for that. The price deterred me at first but now that I go here I don't even think about it.

mjesscan14 · Mar 12, 2018

How do they do Speech online exactly??

green09 · Apr 9, 2018

Hi guys,

This is my first post but I have have been lurking around before I was even in nursing school. I also went to WCU, LVN-BSN. I graduated in early April 2016, passed my NCLEX in late may 2016 and had a job offer by June 2016. The new grad program that I got accepted to however did not start until august. I have worked as a telemetry nurse for about 1.5 years now. Here is my honest take on the school/program:

MONEY: First advice, do your your prereqs somewhere else. It will significantly lower your loan. I worked about 32 hour work weeks while going to school as an LVN so I did have money coming in to which I paid some to the school on a month to month basis. If you can do that, even better because paying some cash out of pocket will definitely lower your loan. I still had government and private loans though. Also, do not fail any of your classes, if you do, it will set you back a term or two which you will have to pay again. Lastly, if waiting and time is not an issue, community colleges and cal states are still the better option financially imo.

PROGRAM: I think in a lot of ways, it has similarities to other nursing programs. You have good and bad teachers I went to a CC for my LVN and I had the same mix of professors honestly. Some classes felt like I was just teaching myself while others felt so encouraging and enriching. Only do the program if you are 100% all in. It is fast paced and you will have very little time for anything else. If you think it will be a walk in the park, it is not. Do not fail any classes, you can only fail so many times before they kick you out and from what I have heard from other people, WCU is not very friendly on readmitting students who have failed in the past. Take those math/dosage test very seriously, I have known people who got pushed back by 1-2 terms because they failed the dosage/math test at the beginning of the term. Lastly, form genuine and supportive friends in nursing school because you will go crazy if you try to do it alone. My friends from nursing school are seriously one of best groups of people I have met in my life. They truly made nursing school bearable

FINDING WORK: Honestly, I had a very good experience with finding work with WCU. Their career center is very helpful about notifying you of job openings and job fairs. They also did mock interviews which helped a bit. I applied to 3 places, got interviews in all of them and was offered by 2 hospitals a position. I ended up choosing a hospital with a 1 year nurse residency program and is a 10 minute drive from home. In my batch of new grad program, there were 30 new grads total. Out of 30, there were 9 from WCU. We all got hired in different departments (ER, Tele, Obs, trauma ICU, CICU, neuro ICU, L & D), no new grads were placed in NICU or peds though, which is understandable. Most of my nursing school friends found a job within 6 months of passing their NCLEX. I think average is probably about 4 months.

PAYING STUDENT LOANS: Biggest advise I can give you is if you can, try to live with parents or roommates as long as you can and tackle that student loan aggressively. I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't hurt me when I see my money going to my student loans. But the way I see it is this, I am still earning more now as an RN even with my student loan payments than I was as at my previous LVN job. I still see that as a positive thing. I also only work 3 days/week now vs 5 days which gives you an option to do extra shifts or work a per diem position somewhere else.

IN SUMMARY: If you have time and if you are willing to wait, I honestly still think CC and cal states are better options financially. If you have your prerequisites but is having a hard time getting into the other programs, I think WCU is a good option. I don't think you should start WCU without any college prior to it because it is very expensive. I still complain about my student loans and I still wish that Salliemae would miraculously disapper but I didn't regret my decision. I did what I could in my given situation. Do what is best for you and what suits your timeline. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me questions!

Cindy_mora · Jul 27, 2018

when you mean classes are only 10 weeks log do you mean for the semesters? and then you start the next session and do it again?

Adrina133 · Aug 20, 2018

I have a question regarding the class schedule. Do they give you classes within the hours of 8 to 5 ? Any classes that they assign at night? And have u got to the clinical part yet ? Thanks!

Mandi Mae · Aug 27, 2018

I have a question regarding the class schedule. Do they give you classes within the hours of 8 to 5 ? Any classes that they assign at night? And have u got to the clinical part yet ? Thanks!

Hi! I attend WCU. As far as the schedule, you usually get two or three days/times to pick from when you're scheduling your next term, but each term's times may be completely different from the last set of classes. For example, I'm in my last term and I have a class Tuesday 1-6, and another Friday 5-8p. I'll be working out my clinical schedule this week because I'm in preceptorship, but in other terms you know at least a few weeks in advance what your clinical schedule will look like. But in other terms I've had early morning classes, late night classes, and even some weekend classes. So while you do get some ability to pick from the options presented each term, you pretty much have to be able to have a flexible schedule. You definitely wouldn't be able to do it if, for example, you had a M-F 8-5 job that you absolutely couldn't miss. It hasn't been bad, though. And I just see the limited schedule options as a small price to pay to be able to go straight through a BSN program with no delays. Hope this helps! :-)

rochelle002 · Aug 27, 2018

Has anyone recently taken the FYS yet? there's a new policy that you will need to take Teas for this class even if you've taken it before . Just wondering how was the smartprep pretest like and the modules that you will have to do.