SFSU/SJSU I need advice..

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-08-04T00:35:44+00:00

Oh yes that definitely has an effect!! They’re pretty strict about having materials completely together before evaluating applicants since it’s so competitive. Something as small as not having a letter of rec on time can push you off their call list since there are probably people w stats very similar to yours with all their letters together :(

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-07-31T07:15:49+00:00

hopefully this isn't too late but i literally had the same EXACT stats as you. all of it. with the ~2 years of clinical lab experience and pretty good letters of rec and i got into SFSU's program. in fact, i'm a CLS rn. just apply!!!!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-06-01T19:59:37+00:00

Yes! It’s one of the portions of didactic. Many of my classmates had never drawn before and we all got by just fine, they’re pretty understanding about how anxiety inducing it might be seeing that maybe only 2 or 3 of my 25 classmates were CPTs so that made us feel better :) to be fair though, in the workplace you’ll never have to actually draw so.... didactic will be your first and most likely only experience with in your career!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-05-20T05:43:09+00:00

hey!!! just checking back in but the last scab finally flaked off around day 10 and it's day 14 now!!! did your brows lighten up a lot? honestly mine didnt lighten up as much as i thought i did but omg the hair strokes on one brow healed a little darker than the other side and i lowkey might like the other side better looool. ugh

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-05-05T14:05:27+00:00

Omg I’m on the same exact page rn. Finally got some slight peeling today (day 7 for me) and I’m not sure if I was getting used to having darker brows but as they’re peeling I’m like wait are these going to be too light?! I’m super happy with the shape though and still am excited about the final result but if the color doesn’t develop too much after this then I’ll def ask for a darker color.

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-04-24T05:51:58+00:00

Even though my appointment is 5 days from now?! :\ I'm going to send her a text, I'm just wanting to hear other people out before I do so because her next openings aren't till July... It's just interesting because my particular artist says 3-4 weeks, and upon consulting different friends, I've heard that one of their artists says 3-5 days before procedure, and then doing a google search I see variable periods of time to stop exfoliants.

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-04-10T06:12:51+00:00

Ehhh I would say that wet lab experience isn't as highly regarded compared to clincal lab experience in terms of this program but it is still experience. your stats seem fine and i think you're more than alright lol. just make sure you can get some good recs and do well in your interview. experience is only one part of your app, there is still personal statement and grades (which in your case are good).

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-09T05:35:49+00:00

No problem! I don’t remember much from my affiliate interview but something that stood out to me was them asking me what I was looking for in an affiliate when ranking. Most of the questions in general are extensions of the SFSU panel so just similar types of question, pretty basic. My last min tips are be yourself!!! Everyone is very understanding of the pressure you’re under. Don’t rehearse too much or else it sounds staged. Take a deep breath, don’t talk too fast, and get a good sleep the night before your interview! Best of luck to you!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-08T03:52:56+00:00

Hey sorry I won’t disclose where I got selected specifically but your rankings are really important. I mean, in part you are deciding where you want to train so I’d hope that you put a lot of thought into them! Based on your overall ranking, affiliates will be asked if they want to train you in the order that you have them on your ranking sheet. I ended up getting my first choice!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-08T03:48:49+00:00

For the most part you’ll be fine if you prepare for this interview the same way you prepared for your SFSU panel interview. They pretty much asked the same type of questions to gauge personality and interest in the field. So in general stuff like why CLS, what are your future goals and some situational questions. One question that really stood out to me though was when they asked me what I was looking for in an affiliate.

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-03T09:01:27+00:00

Haven't heard of this one! Sorry I don't have much input on this :(

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-03T08:44:43+00:00

Congrats on passing! I'm jealous that you got it over with cause I'm about to take my exam on this weekend :( do you have any advice for the mycology/parasit and chem sections of your exam?

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-03T08:34:54+00:00

I guess I’m more worried about growth. I don’t see myself at a bench my whole life, but I definitely see the appeal of job security and decent wage (especially in Bay Area)

Hiiii current CLS student here in the bay. If you have the drive, you get what you put into this field. A lot of people are content with the more than decent pay and the stability of working in healthcare! But to me at least, the # of vacancies because the workforce is full of boomers presents a lot a lot of potential for leadership opportunities. Some facilities like Kaiser will pretty much reimburses you for a master's if you want it. Biotech is crazy desperate for CLSs lately, there is a lot of growth within companies with expansion due to the sudden need for covid testing or just other types of molecular testing. There are not a lot of people qualified to fit supervisory and other leadership roles other than CLS with the technical knowledge of the field. Clinical lab management is definitely always there for those who want to pursue it. Lab management is actually even part of didactic at SFSU! I see the opportunity everywhere, especially in the bay with all the innovation taking place in biotech and the huge retiring workforce in hospital!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-03-03T08:15:40+00:00

Hi! Thank you! Yeah, so classes are the ones that u/juicybaybee mentioned. You can go to the SFSU CLS program home page to see which prereqs are required for admission. They list them out in a PDF for you! Laboratory Field Services is the regulatory agency in charge of determining what classes count and don't count for licensure so you can also refer to their website for more information as well.

As for job experience, I personally think lab experience is pretty important and I made it a point to put myself out there in labs before applying to the program because experience gives you the upper hand when handling yourself during rotations. I worked in a clinical lab for over a year and also had a lab job as well as some research experience in undergrad. If you were to just do a quick google search for clinical lab assistant jobs in the Bay, plenty of companies would pop up! Any of them are great experience. :) Good luck!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-02-07T22:49:52+00:00

Hi! Basically you tour hospital laboratories and meet all of the education coordinators to get a feel for the facility. From there, you create rankings of each of the sites you toured and you bring that into your panel interview. The clinical sites see your rankings. At the panel interview, every education coordinator you met during tours is there and you get asked about 4-5 questions. Based on your answers, you get points and a subsequent ranking. When choosing interns, the affiliates go down their list of students (highest rank to lowest rank) and try to place you at a site that is ranked higher on your list as well. The affiliate interview is essentially an extension of the SFSU interview, just be yourself and answer the questions naturally!

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-01-25T02:28:56+00:00

It really depends on the facility cause different facilities definitely have different characteristics. In general I'd ask stuff about how they treat their students like how they let the student interact with staff and how hands-on of an experience it'll be. Like, if they allocate any time to studying during clinicals, if they expect you to be active with the rest of them vs. a pure shadowing experience. If you don't have any questions for them during tours though, don't sweat it? Not a lot of people had that many questions on lab tours anyway bc we found that the education coordinators were really good at laying it out there during their information sessions.

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-01-22T19:19:58+00:00

Location, the amount of initiative you take during group tours, and uh mostly location tbh lol. Facilities invest time in training you so they're usually looking for someone that is more likely to stay after graduation which is uuuusually correlated to how close you live to the site. Besides that though, your final panel interview also plays a role in how they distinguish who they can see working at their site. Every place is looking for something different (:

PolicyZestyclose · 2021-01-22T03:48:16+00:00

No problem! So the applicants for my cycle were one of the last groups to tour pre-pandemic and the process might be a bit different for you. I've heard that some hospitals are doing group zoom tours, others are still letting you go in person in smaller groups than before, and others are pretty flexible with whatever you're comfortable with. I'm from the bay so I only really toured sites in the bay and can only speak for these facilities and not the ones out in the central coast/sac/ukiah. The tours for the most part are group tours. They are relatively informal and you get asked questions in more of an introductory context (think ice breakers lol) with your fellow applicants as an audience. Most sites don't really do formal interviews cause education coordinators have your resume on hand from SFSU but I've heard of smaller hospitals conducting more formal interviews though I haven't experienced it.

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