MATC or WCTC??

wctcsn1 · May 18, 2012

I just finished up my first semester in the nursing program last week. There are many rumors floating around out there, so here goes. First of all, you DO have to be a resident of Waukesha County to enroll in the program. There are a few students left (living outside of the county) who were grandfathered into the program because they started before the rule was put into effect. When you first enroll at WCTC you are automatically enrolled into the "pre-nursing" program. It will take you 2 - 3 semesters to complete your prerequisites (general and advanced A&P, Microbiology, along with additional courses). You are required to be enrolled as a "pre-nursing" student for ONE YEAR before you will be eligible to petition to get into the nursing program (even if you transfer most of your credits). You also cannot petition until ALL of your prerequisites are completed. This includes taking the Nursing Assistant course (can be taken outside of WCTC) and being certified in BLS for Healthcare Providers (CPR - American Heart Association). Once you finish all of your prerequisites, you can petition to get in. Some students are accepted the first time they petition, some are accepted the second time. I found many of the rumors - instructors like to kick people out, etc. - to be untrue. My instructors were a wealth of knowledge and were willing to help me whenever I needed it. With that being said, they are not going to hold you hand through the program. If you're experiencing difficulty, it will be up to you to initiate intervention. WCTC has a learning lab with tutors available for somewhere around $5.00/ semester. They also have math and writing workshops available for students before the semester starts. The program is a lot of work. You start out the semester taking Nursing Fundamentals, Pharmacology and Nursing Skills. They throw a lot of information at you the first two weeks, so you have to be very organized. If you procrastinate and get behind in your reading/assignments you may not be able to catch up. The first Skills class is a challenge for students. You have to pass this class (runs over 8 weeks) with a 79% or you cannot go on to your Clinical assignment. Basically, students who practice in the Skills Lab pass Skills. Students who don't practice don't pass Skills. Your first clinical assignment runs over the last 8 weeks of the semester. I had an excellent experience, as did most of the student I talked to. You will be assigned a patient the day before and are expected to go home and prep on your patient. You have to come to clinical prepared to take care of your patient. If you are not prepared your instructor may ask you to leave. Just like everything else in the Nursing Program, you will get out of it what you put into it. I talked to a nursing student from MSOE. He bragged to me about how he went through 3 1/2 semesters of school without wiping a butt. This will not happen at WCTC. The instructors there believe in giving you the most challenging patients so you are prepared when you get out in the real world. Good luck wherever you choose to go and if you don't want to work your butt off, pick another major!