you are right about the nursing program being an impacted major. it's extremely impacted because it's a great field to work in and there are shortages everywhere. however, the economy has not treated the nursing program well in the past few years. a lot of students who graduate and become nurses have a difficult time finding jobs because they don't have experience. hospitals nowadays want to hire "experienced" nurses but none of the new graduates are experienced... nevertheless, once you find a job which most people do eventually, you can do many wonderful things with your RN license and choose a big variety of jobs. another thing is, hospitals like it when graduates from nursing school are from a Bachelor's program (Bachelor's of Science in Nursing - BSN - from Cal States or Universities) and you are more likely to get hired with a BSN rather than an ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing - obtained from community colleges like Mt Sac).

yes, before the actual nursing program you need to take prerequisites (pre nursing courses). for cal state LA (CSULA) specifically these courses are one sociology course, microbiology, anatomy (2 classes), english, communications, chemistry, and psychology. there are specific ones to take but to apply to cal state LA you need those. Community college nursing programs require less to apply. they usually just need english, anatomy, microbiology, and some want chemistry. 

CSULA selects students based on a grading scale. the higher your GPA, the more points you get. They grade you on like 4 or 5 criterias... your overall GPA and your GPA for the pre nursing courses, if you have a medical related job, if you have volunteer experience and a Pre Nursing Entrance Exam...etc. you get points in each criteria and in the end if you have like 23 out of 25 points, then you are in good standing and have a high chance of getting into the school. about 500 people applied to CSULA when I applied and only 90 spots were open for that year. Now with the poor economy and budget crisis in California, only 50 spots are open each year.

Mt Sac and many many manyyy community colleges (but not all) choose their nursing students through lottery system. They pick randomly from a pool of many applicants. I'm not sure how many Mt Sac accepts; each community college is different. This is a really difficult way to get into the nursing program because you are never guaranteed. It is better to just do your best and get the best grades in those pre nursing courses and try to apply for a program that accepts through a ranking system like most Cal States. this way, you don't have to wait for a reply which could take forever at a community college.

i did my pre nursing courses at CSULA. I started September 2006 and applied for the CSULA nursing program September 2007 and they replied June 2008. You don't have to be finished with the pre nursing courses to apply (at CSULA), they give you until (in my case) June 2008 to finish. then I officially started on September 2008.

it is your choice to go to a community college or Cal State to do the pre nursing courses. I have heard it is really really crowded at mt sac right now. pre nursing courses are also difficult to get in there but it is still possible. Pre nursing courses are easier to get into at Cal States however it is just unpredictable everywhere. 

i hope this answers your questions. if i did not clarify anything well or if you have more questions, you can ask me :) i'm sorry it sounds so depressing but we are hoping the economy can help us out in the near future. just remember, nursing is still a really great choice...