I was so glad to get the the part where you said you will just keep plugging along! The two years or whatever it will end up taking you will pass very quickly whether or not you pursue your RN.
Couple of pointers from someone who just finished a bridge program and looks for the shortest most painless route for everything:
1. Meet with the director, dress professionally, bring a resume and copies of your former school transcripts. EVERYTHING in academia is negotiable. You should not have to repeat anything other than possibly science classes and I would go over them with a fine tooth comb to find ways to get around that.
My A&P1 was over 20 years old when I talked the dept. chair into waiving me into A&P2...got an A and then my old A&P1 became acceptable for 4 other colleges. I got a waiver into Statistics without ever having a college Allgebra, again got an A and it will be enough to get me through to my BSN.
2. Find out what they will let you CLEP and get on it. I did 3 different English as well as Sociology. I'm working on studying for a Humanities CLEP now toward my BSN.
3. Take as many summer classes as you possibly can do well in. They are usually very short, challenging but often 1/2 the time. Online classes are awesome time savers also.
4. Find out what gen ed classes you could take while in the LPN to RN bridge program. My school let a couple of students in with a some classes that they needed to finish before graduation. I had finished all mine before starting but did one extra class a semester toward my BSN so even though its hard it is doable and since you have been a LPN for so long I don't think you are a stranger to hard work. Best to you.
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for the courses that are "outdated because they are more than 5 years old" or b/c this program requires, nutrition, but this one doesn't..this one requires..microbiology within the last 5 years...but this one will take it, but you have to take religion instead, this one requires public speaking but this one doesn't...good grief..what a ruckus! Oh and by the way..we give credit to the LPN's that recently graduated from our PN program, graduates from other PN programs will be considered on an individual basis, but the PN's from our program are going to get extra admission points.
OK, thanks for letting me gripe...and I'll just keep plugging away. Best of Luck to every "experienced LPN beyond the 5 year mark" and to all LPN's period!!
Re: LPN to RN 1+1 program doesn't exist for experienced LPN's
I started my so-called bridge program, but basically I had to retake everything because it was so old. I finally became discouraged and gave up on it. I had 5 kids at home by then, and the time and money were frustrating to take classes I had already taken before.
