Transferring schools while IN a program...any considerations???

Fun2, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2005

Hi adriennenicoll, and welcome to AllNurses.com!

My only advice to give is to contact the potential school's nursing program. Do they have websites? I have noticed that some program websites have information online for transfer students.

Good luck!

We are getting the opportunity to move back to Portland after four years in Madison Wisconsin. There is NO way I will not take this opportunity - I just miss the nortwest and my extended family too much. Besides, I'm over shoveling snow in the winter!!! I'm in the nursing program at Edgewood College, first semester. My grades are great (I've got a 3.9), I'm a post-bacc student and a mother of two. I've noticed all programs are not created equally. Anyone have any advice for me when transferring and trying to gain entry to another program?

grannynurse FNP student · Oct 19, 2005

We are getting the opportunity to move back to Portland after four years in Madison Wisconsin. There is NO way I will not take this opportunity - I just miss the nortwest and my extended family too much. Besides, I'm over shoveling snow in the winter!!! I'm in the nursing program at Edgewood College, first semester. My grades are great (I've got a 3.9), I'm a post-bacc student and a mother of two. I've noticed all programs are not created equally. Anyone have any advice for me when transferring and trying to gain entry to another program?

Contact the potential program, send them copies of your transcripts, and course descriptions. They can tell you what they will accept and what you can challenge.

Grannynurse:balloons:

LauraWA · Oct 19, 2005

Nursing programs here in the Portland/Vancouver area are difficult to get into. There are generally 40 applicants for each slot. There is usually only space for a couple of students to re-enter a program each quarter. You have great grades and that will help you help in making a transition to another school. Be careful, take the advice of others and be sure that you don't get yourself left out or having a long wait to get back into school. And since it takes several months to be accepted into a program (January deadline for Fall) it could take awhile. Be very proactive and get all the information that you can before dropping out of your current program. We have people out here that finish their pre-reqs to enter into programs in other parts of the country where the demand it not so high.

adriennenicoll · Oct 20, 2005

Thanks Laura, that is just the information I needed. I know the competition is tough in the Portland area, but I had not been able to get a feel for information like 40-to-1 odds of being accepted. I know how to go about finding BSN programs, how to research them and analyze what makes a good fit for me as well as talk to nursing school directors. I have already laid this groundwork. I guess I should have clarified that in my original post. Any other ear-to-the-ground info I'm not privvy to because of my isolation in another part of the country?

I got my first undergrad in Marketing from Western Washington University and also took classes at Clark College. I have oodles of transfer credits. My GPA is awesome in the sciences. The only prerequisite class I need that I don't have is nutrition. I can take this next semester here in Wisconsin or take as a distance learning class from University of Texas. (I'm adding this information for others who may find themselves in a similar situation of needing a class and wanting to do it in your own timeframe, like inbetween semesters or in addition to your schedule. allnurses.com is, after all, a great information board, I'm finding....)

I'm hoping to really play up my post-bacc status. I'm also a lot more mature now than I was when I got that Marketing degree. I've got more experiences to draw from in life than the students 15 years younger than I. I also think I may be able to get some good reference letters - I hope, I hope.

Any information anyone has on this process of application or program gossip would be greatly appreciated...in the meantime, I'll be reading other related threads....Thanks in advance to everyone who replies!