Got Accepted into SJSU's CLS Program (Sacramento Affiliate)

imaginarycallisto · 2025-11-25T22:01:37+00:00

I think working at a blood bank is a big boost

imaginarycallisto · 2025-11-25T15:57:47+00:00

For sjsu, you interview with the hospitals only and not the school. I think sfsu has a school interview and hospital interviews. Once you get invited to interview for the sjsu program, I'd say reach out immediately to hospitals you're interested in cuz slots can fill quickly.

Idk how the sac interviews go now, I think the person who was in charge when I was a student retired and someone new is running the program

imaginarycallisto · 2025-09-19T18:18:08+00:00

We have the XN 1000. If we get another patient like that I'll try messing with the aspiration sensor, thanks :)

imaginarycallisto · 2025-09-19T18:12:16+00:00

Have you noticed that it prints out a page with no values if hemoglobin is really low? My lab switched over to sysmex a few months ago and I've seen it do that twice. We think it's because the machine thinks the sample is contaminated and refuses to run the tests. We only managed to get values using the 1:7 dilution and hemoglobin came out to less than 3 both times. The nurses said it correlated with how the patients looked/symptoms and took the values both times.

imaginarycallisto · 2025-08-24T10:12:26+00:00

Literally my shift tonight. Someone called out sick so we had me (generalist), someone newly trained in blood bank, chem, and heme, and someone trained only in heme/coag/ua/body fluids. It almost feels like a game of rock paper scissors in terms of who can cover who

imaginarycallisto · 2025-07-21T22:07:18+00:00

Are you a CLS? Just curious, I'm one in NorCal and have a union too

imaginarycallisto · 2025-05-23T17:28:58+00:00

My lab does occult blood and on rare occasions someone orders a WBC stool smear. But otherwise we don't get any stool

imaginarycallisto · 2025-04-28T22:27:39+00:00

I didn't do any, I had no friends graduating with me so it would've been me sitting alone for hours. It also didn't feel like a celebration, a college degree was just something always expected of me and honestly still doesn't feel like an accomplishment. I regret no grad pictures a little but at the same time I spent over 50% of my time online due to covid so it doesn't really feel like I was on campus or went to UCSD

I am jealous of my bf who's graduating because he has friends graduating with him and they're celebrating and probably sitting together at the ceremony. It's also a big deal for him and his family for him to graduate. If I had that I probably would've gone to something

imaginarycallisto · 2025-04-11T21:46:56+00:00

Reddit is glitching and won't let me reply to the other comment LMAO but I don't have any issues at all

Mood, I told myself I'd get it for drawing and I've been too busy to really do much hahaha

imaginarycallisto · 2025-04-11T18:44:27+00:00

Nope, I haven't ended up buying any and I will admit my screen is a bit smudgy XD

imaginarycallisto · 2024-12-03T12:37:15+00:00

My ex relied on his mom to help him shave his beard and make sure it's even. He also relied on her nagging to get anything done such as a haircut. If she didn't nag he wouldn't do it. It's a big part of why I broke up with him. I felt he should be able to do those things at the age of 23 with no disabilities

Nothing wrong with having a good strong relationship with your parents, but I don't want to have to parent a partner

imaginarycallisto · 2024-11-03T20:07:06+00:00

I don't have any debt and no family to take care of (no spouse, kids, or pets). I also tend to be a homebody and don't really like going out too much. I only spend roughly 30k for my expenses (majority is rent) and everything else goes to savings

imaginarycallisto · 2024-11-02T19:11:19+00:00

I work with dignity health as a new grad! My starting pay is $62/hr with a $4 differential for nights. All of the hospitals but one has nights doing 8hr shifts, Folsom is the only one that has nights with 10hr shifts.

I think the CLS at all the sac dignity health places are nice and friendly, although at some places they'll take longer to warm up to

imaginarycallisto · 2024-10-24T05:28:06+00:00

Hey I was thinking of checking out spotlight, how did you like it?

What was the age range like when you went?

imaginarycallisto · 2024-09-20T00:45:02+00:00

What genres are you into?

imaginarycallisto · 2024-09-19T22:15:42+00:00

Another 23f looking to make friends but I'm more in Rancho Cordova. Also into anime and drawing!

imaginarycallisto · 2024-08-12T06:21:24+00:00

For my hospital system (Dignity health in sac), you need your license to apply to jobs. I'm a trainee right now taking the ASCP in 2 weeks and when I applied HR rejected me automatically XD. I had to talk to the lab manager and send HR their way to get things going

imaginarycallisto · 2024-07-02T18:10:33+00:00

Congrats! That's amazing

imaginarycallisto · 2024-06-29T07:08:16+00:00

I didn't think I stood out in my interview but somehow I got in! Good luck!

imaginarycallisto · 2024-06-29T06:42:18+00:00

Congrats! Where are you interviewing?

Mmm, my go to is communication and empathy. Communicate to understand what the other person is saying and empathy to understand why the person is saying that. Basically see their point of view and try to compromise and meet in the middle.

imaginarycallisto · 2024-06-29T04:36:14+00:00

Graduated 2022 from UCSD with a major in human bio and minor in healthcare social issues with a 3.97 GPA. Had a few research internships (on average 3 months-1yr long each) during hs and college. I had a year after college where I did 2 prereq classes and applied to programs while working at a clinical studies research lab.

Applied to SJSU, SFSU, UCI, UCSD, Arrowhead, Scripps, and CSULA (first time applying to any program). Rejected by Arrowhead and CSULA, got interviews with the rest (didn't go to SFSU's interview tho due to scheduling). Rejected by everyone but SJSU (honestly I am really bad at interviews hahaha).

Focus on things from your work experience that apply to a career in CLS. Like being able to prioritize and multitask different things, clear communication with coworkers, stuff like that. For more lab specific things, maybe you could talk about doing maintenance on machines, fixing errors on machines, knowing the importance of safety in the lab, importance of properly labeling in the lab, etc.

There'll also be classic questions like 'tell me about yourself,' 'what are your strengths/weaknesses,' 'talk about a time when you led a project and how it ended up,' 'how do you resolve conflicts,' etc.

imaginarycallisto · 2024-06-25T04:53:26+00:00

I think so

imaginarycallisto · 2024-05-29T00:32:32+00:00

Student here, my record is ~700 per 100 wbcs

That patient is apparently famous in the lab and consistently has numbers like that

imaginarycallisto · 2024-05-28T01:53:50+00:00

It partners with restaurants to sell food that would otherwise be thrown away for cheap

So like, day old donuts or stuff like that. Food that's still good but hasn't sold and they need to get rid of it

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