West Coast University-Orange County

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This is one of the main sources I used when researching everything about nursing programs in Southern California. I have spent hours here and with my recent endeavors I wanted to leave something helpful here. I see many mixed reviews on WCU because it's for profit and SO expensive. Which, yes compared to ADN to BSN routes there is a huge price difference.. but do not let this deter you.

I will be attending WCU-Orange County starting in April as a BSN student. I've had a tough time getting into ADN and ABSN programs in my area. I have a previous Bachelors degree, and finished all pre-requisites that I can do prior to entering. Completing all of this dropped my cost from $136,240 to approx. $88k. This price still scared me- until I looked at programs like NYU for over 100k also. Now, I did not get to walk in and start this nursing program. They still consider test scores and GPA etc, and you can still be denied from this program.

Due to having issues obtaining a private loan to cover what I didn't receive on FAFSA, I mentioned the scholarship WCU offers. Which is now paying close to half my yearly tuition due to my points calculated for eligibility. This is not something my financial aid advisor openly brought to my attention, so do your research! You will also be required to apply to several other scholarships, which your financial aid advisor will walk you through during your meeting.

Overall, I've had a great experience with WCU so far. Immediately my admissions advisor was in touch, followed with the registrar figuring out class transfers and proposed schedules and my financial aid advisor. Each and everyone has been very attentive and I am only sad I had't taken this leap sooner.

I do have a friend attending LA campus in January and it sounds like she has not had the same experience. It may be different because of conditional/unconditional acceptances... but Orange County has been wonderful. If you are hesitant, take a visit and talk to advisors and see where it gets you. Be persistent to get what is yours and you may end up in a great spot! Don't let the judgement of others scare you off, decide what's best for yourself- do your research!

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That’s great to hear! I’ll also be starting in April 2020 at the OC campus :)

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Hi,

I wanted to know what is the next step after speaking with your financial advisor, info session, sending transcripts? How do you know if youre accepted and if your prereq transferred? Do you need to apply to loans asap or can you wait before classes start?

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12 hours ago, thngmnvng said:

Hi,

I wanted to know what is the next step after speaking with your financial advisor, info session, sending transcripts? How do you know if youre accepted and if your prereq transferred? Do you need to apply to loans asap or can you wait before classes start?

After those appointments when they are done reviewing your transcripts the registrar should reach out to you with a proposed schedule and a breakdown of what transferred and what will not transfer. (Check out the TES- transfer equivalency system on their website to get an idea of what classes of yours will transfer). I decided to complete a few more that they didn't accept through a local CC and Straighterline prior to starting.

After this your advisor will let you know your status such as conditionally accepted, unconditionally accepted, or denied depending on your GPA & test scores etc.

You should have spoken to your financial aid advisor about completing your FAFSA, applying for private loans, which they want you to do ASAP along with applying for scholarships.

You need to apply for loans/secure your finances asap before they can secure your seat in the term you applied for. I was unconditionally accepted for April, but they could not finalize that until I was able to cover all costs for the year.

Feel free to email me, I have more information that could be helpful in the process! [email protected]

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Can any current students tell me if West Coast University charges tutition by semester or by units? Also, if anyone could tell me the cost they had to pay after transferring prerequisties? I don't get grants because I already have a bachelors degree and the cost is making me hesitant to go to this school. Any advice?

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I already had a bachelors degree so I am in the same boat. Tuition is done on a yearly basis (to start April I had to have all my loans and everything to cover until Jan 2021). I transferred all Pre reqs and it is about $35k a year, I’ll be done June 2022 so it’s just about 2 years.

my email is above if you’d like more help.

6 hours ago, thngmnvng said:

Can any current students tell me if West Coast University charges tutition by semester or by units? Also, if anyone could tell me the cost they had to pay after transferring prerequisties? I don't get grants because I already have a bachelors degree and the cost is making me hesitant to go to this school. Any advice?

I already had a bachelors degree so I am in the same boat. Tuition is done on a yearly basis (to start April I had to have all my loans and everything to cover until Jan 2021). I transferred all Pre reqs and it is about $35k a year, I’ll be done June 2022 so it’s just about 2 years.


 my email is above if you’d like more help.

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Hi! CONGRATS on starting the program at wcu. I'm starting this June and graduate august 2022. I was wondering how are all your classes going during the pandemic? Did they tell you if you'll be able to go to any clinicals or to sims lab when you start nursing core? Any advice before I start maybe on things to buy or study? Thanks and goodluck!!

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23 minutes ago, mimindenise said:

Hi! CONGRATS on starting the program at wcu. I'm starting this June and graduate august 2022. I was wondering how are all your classes going during the pandemic? Did they tell you if you'll be able to go to any clinicals or to sims lab when you start nursing core? Any advice before I start maybe on things to buy or study? Thanks and goodluck!!

Classes are good.. So far simple for FYS and PHIL and We’ve been all online as of right now. They should be reaching out to us students starting core in August with our clinical packet and meeting time this next week, where we will get more information. I doubt my clinicals will be affected but I’m not stressing about it right now.

There isn’t really anything to study or prepare before you start. If you have previous college experience/a previous degree you may find that the workload is actually light at least for this first term (unless of course you have to adjust to the quick pace of things). if you don’t have precious experience you’re in luck... the first term is really about preparing you and helping students navigate. My previous degree and all the classes I took were 8 week formats so the 10 weeks is easy for me, however a lot of people have to adjust to the quick pace. There’s plenty of resources and help along the way so wouldn’t think too much into it! good luck!

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23 hours ago, atrzyna said:

Classes are good.. So far simple for FYS and PHIL and We’ve been all online as of right now. They should be reaching out to us students starting core in August with our clinical packet and meeting time this next week, where we will get more information. I doubt my clinicals will be affected but I’m not stressing about it right now.

There isn’t really anything to study or prepare before you start. If you have previous college experience/a previous degree you may find that the workload is actually light at least for this first term (unless of course you have to adjust to the quick pace of things). if you don’t have precious experience you’re in luck... the first term is really about preparing you and helping students navigate. My previous degree and all the classes I took were 8 week formats so the 10 weeks is easy for me, however a lot of people have to adjust to the quick pace. There’s plenty of resources and help along the way so wouldn’t think too much into it! good luck!

Nice that sounds good! How are those two classes going? Fairly easy content? I have a 4 year old who has to stay home from school so I'm nervous about the workload and handling my crazy boy. I just finished my aa with math and science at my local community college so it just so happened that wcu took all of my classes which helped save time and some $$$. I'm starting out with those same two classes plus medical ethics in June. I just hope they don't cancel simulation labs. They look so cool!

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I'm still hesistant to attend. Is getting loans with sallie mae worth it? private loans would be about 70k and federal loans would be approxiamtely 15k. Also the debt would increase with interest. Could anyone tell me there experience with private loans & how much interest had added up?

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