New Here and ?? about applying to nursing school...

[kcTXdoula]

Hello :)

I'm new to the board and would like to briefly introduce myself.

I'm the mother of 3 lovely children, 2 girls and 1 boy. Ages 6.5, 4.5 and 3 in a couple days. I have been married to my husband for 7 years today :) We use to live in Canada but moved to Texas 2 years ago. I love it here.

I have worked as a birth Doula for 6 years and also do pospartum work with moms and babies, helping them with breastfeeding, emotional support, answering their questions. I have also worked at a Birth Center as a postpartum caregiver where I performed many skills, like taking BP, temp, heart rates, FHT, uterine massage, preparing them for discharge, helping the moms get breastfeeding established.... I also have apprenticed with a home birth midwife and have attended many births.

I would like to apply to the nursing program this year. I have been looking at the college and university programs. I think the ADN program will be better suited for my needs. Since I am not a permanent resident of the US, I would have to pay an International rate to go into the Nursing Program. It would be about $20,000/year.

After looking at the application process, I'm quite nervous. I graduated high school in 1993! I did go to University for 2 years and did a year in college. It has been about 8 years since I have been out of school. Plus going to school in Canada our grading system is totally different. My average when I graduated high school was almost 80% which in Canada would almost be an A-. I have no idea how that would transfer to a GPA.

To apply to the ADN program I would have to take a Hesi Admission Assessment Test. I'm very nervous about taking this test. They use this test in ranking you for your acceptance. Has anybody else had to take a similar test? Is it hard? Is there anyway to study for this test? I would also have to take 5 prerequisite courses. Generally how long are these courses? Can you take 2 or 3 at a time?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm going to go to the local college this week and put in my application so I can start the process and hopefully get registered for my prerequisite classes. Has anyone else been out of school for a long time. Did you find the prerequisite classes hard? From what I have seen, it looks like for the last semester over 350 people applied for 74 places. YIKES!

Thanks,

kcTxdoula

[klone, MSN, RN]

There are MANY of us here who graduated from high school 10+ years ago, and are just starting back to school.

Honestly, I don't think you need to worry about high school transcripts. All they want is to know you hold a diploma. I didn't have to prove it or anything, just list my high school name and city, state.

As far as college transcripts - just have them sent to your school and they'll take care of figuring out what transfers. I'm sure all schools are different, but my school did not look at grades, other than to see if it was at least a "C". All classes that I got at least a C in transferred to my new school. But those transferred classes did not factor into my GPA at the new school.

I can't help you on HESI, but if you do a search of this forum, I'm sure you'll come up with lots of threads that discuss it.

As far as how difficult it was to go back - I found it incredibly easy. It's amazing what maturity and motivation do for your study habits and school performance. I'm in my 3rd semester now (doing prereqs at this time) and I've got a 4.0 GPA.

[mom and nurse]

Hi, I'm married, the mom of 5 kids. I'm in my final semester of a BSN program. I returned to college after 20 years to take the nursing prerequisites and I remember the weird feeling of sitting at a classroom desk again....kind of like being in the Twilight Zone. Cellphones everywhere on campus and laptops. the neatest thing is research on the internet and Microsoft Wordprocessing instead of poring through old journals by hand and typing on a Smith Corona typewriter.

I actually found school easier for me the second time around (Even with the husband and kids. I was more focused for some reason.....). My hardest class was Statistics, Microbiology and that scary chemistry lab (in which I only broke a couple of things..and had to get used to those strange looking goggles).

When I applied to nursing school, they didn't ask for my high school transcript. I remember I just had to write my high school and they looked at my previous college coursework and gave me credit for some previous courses.

The hardest thing was making the time to study. But the children were old enough to know when mom had to study, write a paper, etc. and my husband was supportive. I've also learned to block out background noise and solve conflicts among children while studying. I learned to make time for the husband and kids and for myself.....though The house is not as clean, dinner is not as fancy (and my husband cooks), but I have only 3 more classes and so far have made it through nursing school with my sanity intact. It can be done.

[kcTXdoula]

I really appreciate your responses. It is good to know that this can be done even with young kids and being out of school for a long time.

I went down to the college today and put in the general application. I have to go back tomorrow because I have to bring in some documents to prove my residency status in the US so I don't have to pay the international student rate. Then the next step will be to meet with a counsellor so I can apply and register for the prerequisite classes. The deadline for the summer semester in March 1st. There are 5 prerequisite classes that I need to apply for the nursing program. I also have to attend an orientation session. I can't take the HESI test until after I have completed A&P I and A&P II.

As far the high school transcripts, I did have to bring them to the Admission office, luckily I had those with me.

Thanks again.