When Anna Tada was 9 years old and a recent immigrant from Japan, her mother was hospitalized, facing surgery and fearing she had a cancerous cyst.
Tada was terrified and said although the experience was traumatic, “the nurses were amazing. I knew then and there I wanted to be a nurse. It’s all I wanted to do.”
Thirteen years later, mom has long since recovered from the noncancerous cyst and Anna Tada is on her final rotation at Mission Hospital, on course to graduate in May from the California State University Fullerton School of Nursing with a bachelor of science in nursing. She also will be the first member of her family to earn a college degree.
Tada hopes to use her degree and skills to specialize in geriatric patients.
Being a graduate of Cal State Fullerton will be a bonus on her resume.
In a couple of state and national surveys of nursing schools, Fullerton gained top marks.
Although rankings of nursing programs can fluctuate and vary greatly, CSUF recently earned high marks for its graduate programs from U.S. News and World Report and for its affordability by Best Value School.com.
The nurse anesthesia doctoral program, offered in partnership with the Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia, was tied for fourth place nationally in the “Best Graduate Schools Report” by U.S. News and World Report. The master’s degree in midwifery was No. 21.
The 2020 list by Best Value Schools ranked Fullerton No. 4 nationally and No. 1 in California for best value and offerings for the money.
In many ways, Tada is what the CSUF School of Nursing is all about: an immigrant with the passion, compassion and drive to succeed as a caretaker.
Penny Weismuller, director of the School of Nursing, which accepts only about 40 incoming first-year students each year out of 2,000 applicants, said CSUF is in the enviable position of being able to choose top candidates.
In recent years, the school also has made a concentrated effort to look beyond the pure metrics of academic achievement to the heart behind the head.
“We admit bright, competitive people. They have to be strong in the sciences and soft skills,” she said. “We look for students that demonstrate both.”
That breadth also stretches to areas of racial equity, where Fullerton is trying to build a student body of future nurses that better reflects the community
“One of the things is we have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Weismuller said.
Over the past four years, the School of Nursing demographics for prelicensure nursing, which includes incoming freshmen or students with degrees in other fields, is 51% Asian/Pacific Islander but only 17% Hispanic and 1% Black.
By contrast, for incoming students with registered nurse credentials seeking four-year bachelor of science degrees, which accounts for more than 50% of the School of Nursing, the breakdown is 41% Hispanic, 26% Asian/Pacific Islander and 24% Black.
Toward the end of diversifying the incoming non-nurse pool, last year the School of Nursing incorporated a holistic approach to admitting new students.
While still requiring academic rigor, Weismuller said the school also interviews prospective students. It also reviews letters of recommendation and essays that reflect life experience, drive and passion that aren’t always reflected by pure numbers.
Weismuller pointed out an unnamed candidate for the school who is not only a strong student but daughter of farmworker parents with only grade-school educations. She would be the first in her family to attend a university.
“That’s the kind of person who has a commitment and will be a great addition to the nursing profession,” Weismuller said.
About the significance of having health providers that reflect their communities, Weismuller said studies demonstrate the importance of cultural awareness and identity, particularly in underserved communities.
“If a (health) provider is like them, the care is perceived as better. And it is better,” she said.
In a recent Titan Voices column in the Orange County Register, CSUF President Fram Virjee wrote, “the measure by which we judge nursing programs has rightfully changed over the past year — not just in how faculty, staff, students, and alumni respond to the pandemic, but also in how they emphasize social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The Cal State Fullerton School of Nursing has graduated more than 4,000 over 40 years. Classes run the gamut from beginning to graduate levels.
During the pandemic, CSUF was able to maintain a variety of its agreements with hospitals to allow students to continue their clinical rotations.
“At first hospitals were hesitant to have nursing students,” Weismuller said.
In lieu of rotations, students have taken clinical simulations or volunteered at the Orange County Emergency Operations Center, vaccination sites or children’s centers.
Weismuller says rankings can be taken with a grain of salt and that most accredited public and private university nursing programs, those at for-profit colleges notwithstanding, are strong and very selective.
“If you want to be a nurse, apply broadly,” she said. “Pick schools you feel good about. It’s important that the school fits with you and your values.”
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