UCI/UCLA/CSULB Nursing Program....ADVICE PLEASEEEEE!!!!!

College Search & Selection
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Hi guys! I’m new here and one of the reasons I joined was to get advice from people who may or may not be going through the same problems as me…Anyways, I’ll get straight to it:

My dilemma is that I want to go to a UC/CSU school, but apparently, it’s very difficult to get accepted into the program. My dream school had always been UCI, but I heard they only accept <80 students from the approx. 2000+ that apply each year. My parents were suggesting that I go into West Coast (since there’s one about 30 mins away from us) because apparently you’re enrolled straight into the program and graduation time is about 3.5 years. Even if it costs a fortune, they said they’d crawl for my education.

The problem is, I really want to experience what it’s like to live in an unknown place away from home…Also, growing up, we knew A LOT of people who wanted to become nurses but didn’t get to because they didn’t get into the program. They either became Nutritionists or something of the like…So far, only one has become a nurse and it took her 6 YEARS and to my knowledge, she was enrolled at CSULA to be a nurse but wasn’t accepted into the program…so she had to resort to West Coast to finish.

Should I just stick with the West Coast plan? What are the chances of me getting admitted to any of these schools? What are some other schools with good nursing programs and nice campuses? What SAT/ACT scores should I aim for (since my school enrolled me at some SAT prep class that only about 15 other people are taking because they believe we have a chance of getting high scores)? What other extra curricular things/classes should I do?

My Stats (so far) are as follows:
SAT: haven’t taken it yet
ACT: haven’t taken it yet
Overall Weighted: 3.9
Overall Unweighted: 3.6
UC/CSU GPA: 4.05
I’m in the top 2% of my class

Clubs/Extra Curricular: AVID club, CSF (3 years), NHS (Secretary), Tennis (for the past 2 years), been playing piano for about 8 years now, church pianist for about 4-5 years, altar server for about 7 years, lector for about 3-4 years, church folk dancer nearly every summer for the past 4 years.

Next year my schedule would be (if it follows through):
IB English year 2
Theatre Production
AVID 4
Chamber Choir
Piano 3
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB

Right now, it’s in the middle of the second semester of my junior year.

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Go to West Coast? Maybe, but read this thread: Does a degree from west coast university transfer to cal state? - California Nursing

You really need to decide what’s important to you in life. Do you want a career in nursing? Or an enjoyable 4 years in college? In an ideal world you’d get both, but if you constrain your choices by insisting you have a “nice campus” then I don’t think you are serious enough about the career.

Looking at what you’ve done up thru 11th grade, I see one notable thing missing for a prospective nurse. Volunteer or paid experience in a medical setting. This is key and you ought to get started on it right away, as in now.

For one thing, thinking “I want to be a nurse” is different from spending 100-300 hours working with nurses and seeing if its really right for you after the glamor wears off. Furthermore many nursing programs have a supplemental application that asks about relevant work experience. Look, for example, at http://www.csuchico.edu/nurs/documents/AdmissionCriteria.Rev.6.13.11.pdf You can check admissions sites for other schools. Chico gives points towards admission for experience, and many schools are going to want essays explaining why you want to be a nurse. UCLA, for one, asks (see http://nursing.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=53 and look at the supplemental app) Saying “sounds like its right for me” because you haven’t done it yet has a different ring than essays that can talk about a moving experience that really happened. To say nothing of a strong rec from a nursing supervisor who can write about your strengths (most nursing schools ask for recs in their supplemental app).

With the competition to get in, as you noted, it is a good idea to find direct-entry programs. I don’t know if there are any in CA, but you can look at the thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/nursing-major/859704-master-list-of-direct-entry-nursing-programs-p1.html