Applying for jobs as a recent Samuel Merritt University Graduate

Hi,

I made a post regarding my experience in the 2022-2023 Samuel Merritt University cohort, and long story short it wasn’t great. The biggest problem was not having a preceptorship. The school promised us that preceptorships would not affect our chances to landing a job in the Bay Area, but that has turned out to be untrue.

Initially, the school had us sit with recruiters from Stanford Hospital’s nurse new grad program where they showed that they hire about 10% of SMU grads in their cohorts. However, we later found out that the students who were hired did have some form of preceptorship. There was still hope in that Stanford does not explicitly ask whether we had a preceptorship in their application.

It has been about 7-months since graduating and 4-months since getting my RN license after taking the NCLEX, which I thank in large part to UWorld not SMU. I have had multiple interviews with Kaiser, Stanford, and county hospitals and I’m starting to get a different picture of the applicant pool. Most non-SMU applicants I’ve talked to has had a preceptorship (I.e. Evergreen community college, state colleges, etc.). Most of my interviews, the interviewer asked if I had a preceptorship. I’m trying to apply to John Muir’s new grad residency program, and they require a letter of recommendation from our preceptor.

The bay area is a super competitive environment for not only new grad programs but also RN clinical I positions, so any edge will be taken into consideration. I have not received any job offers despite my extensive medical background experience, high GPA, and letter of recommendations. Most of my cohort peers landed jobs due to already having a job lined up with their previous employer. Others are working SNFs or odd jobs while waiting to hear back from job apps. A few have found jobs outside of the Bay Area including out-of-state.

I’m writing this as a warning to prospective applicants, preceptorships will have an impact on your chances of landing a job in the Bay Area. If you got not other choice, then here’s some advice:
1) Start practicing UWorld questions around the last section (last 2-3 months of school) and plan to take the NCLEX right after you get your registration code. Fight early and message SMU often to get the code on time.
2) Start applying to jobs around the last 2-3 months of school (maybe earlier). Some will say they require RN license but just send any way. Some hospitals will require it 2 weeks before your hire date. Just start practicing interviews while all your nursing knowledge is fresh.
3) Don’t rely on the school for anything. Advocate for yourself and just push through. They don’t know what they’re doing over there, and they’re giving outdated and bad advice to students.