Accelerated BSN program at ASU

agentarjuna · Jun 26, 2009

Hey all. I'm currently a student in ASU's accelerated nursing program. It seems like you've gotten most of the information you needed, like how high our GPAs are and how many people are accepted. (This year they took 16 people instead of 15, but that's obviously not a huge difference.) My GPA was a 3.47, and I was the first alternate. I got in after a guy dropped out because he wanted to work while going to school (that's not possible with this program; you're in classes 40 hours a week at times, and that isn't counting the outside-of-class work).

It's an incredibly intense program, but it is doable. Fundamentals & Essentials, your basic learn-how-not-to-kill-someone nursing classes, happen in 2 & 1/2 weeks. Other classes which last a semester in the traditional program are 9 week courses for us. In our case: we had those 2 classes in August, we carried 4-5 classes at once throughout the fall & spring semesters (with 8-hours of clinical per week, usually on Friday but on Wednesday for one particular class), we had 2 online classes in May, and now we're in our big clinical rotation phase: 10 weeks of 3 12-hour shifts per week. Frankly our clinical rotations are just like working.

One of the biggest indicators of our success to me is that when we come onto a floor at St. B or NEA Baptist (the 2 hospitals in Jonesboro), the nurses are happy to see us. Just Wednesday, as I was charting at a nurses' station in St. Bernard's, the charge nurse asked me where we'd be on rotation next week. I looked at my phone and told her we were back on her floor all 3 days, and she did a happy little dance right in the hallway. "We LOVE when you guys are up here!" That alone tells me that we've been well-prepared for working in the hospital. Every floor we've been on has told us how much they got done when we were there. All 4 of us who have applied for jobs, even before we graduate in August, have gotten them.

Like I said, it's HARD. It's extremely intense; it's like drinking knowledge out of a firehose, or having the dump truck of nursing backed over you. :typing But 2 people dropped out at orientation, and the rest of us made it through: including the 4 of us with kids (2 of us have toddlers, one has an infant, one has elementary age kids). One of our classmates is due with her first baby on the day of our graduation! I do not think she'd recommend you try that, though.

agentarjuna · Jun 26, 2009

hi, i am planning to apply to ASU for acce BSN ,my GPA is 3.90. do i need to finish all the pre-reqs b4 application? gpa of my undergrad and preqs ,what else would be their criteria for admission ,does any knows?

Your previous degree must be a bachelor's degree. You must have finished all the pre-reqs before starting (but if you're taking the very last one over summer, that counts, I believe). Your GPA will be fine. Those are the only criteria for admission: GPA, previous degree, and completion of pre-reqs.

ArkansasFan · Jul 8, 2009

I had the app to enroll in the upcoming ASU accelerated class, but I elected not to go that route. I'm not so sure that nursing is the medical venue for me, plus I don't want to live on that side of the state. However, the big drawback for me was the inability of the faculty/staff of that program to provide me with any relevant information.

sserrn, BSN · Mar 9, 2010

Hey guys! I know this is a somewhat old post. Wondering if anyone here is applying for admission this fall? Apps due May 15!!

kitkats4breakfs · May 24, 2010

Ok, So I am looking at ASU's Nursing pre-reqs and it's a long laundry list of about 16 classes? ... is that correct, because usually the pre-reqs for nursing programs consist of only ANP I&II, Chemistry, Nutrition, Psych, Sociology, and microbiology. I will have an Associates degree by spring 2011... if that makes a difference.

agentarjuna · May 24, 2010

KitKats, you're looking at the wrong program if you have an associates. This thread is about the accelerated BSN program, which is only available to people who have a previous bachelor's degree (in any field). The traditional program, I believe, has a much shorter list of prerequisite classes.