Is there away around the nursing school waiting list?

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Hi, I hope I am not being repetitive here, I already posted this question in the Florida forum because that is where I live. I have a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from 20 years ago, (I am 41), and I am looking at a career change. The local community colleges offer two-year nursing programs, and I am now taking A&P I and pre-algebra to get my pre-requisites out of the way. However, my understanding is that it could take me a while to get into nursing school because it is madly competitive now, and then most of them have waiting lists of two or three years. Is there any way to get around this? Get an LPN degree first and work in a hospital for a year or two? Get a paramedic certificate? I am ultimately hoping to work in the E.R. or ICU. Is there any other medical career path I should be thinking of that would have similar high demand, and decent pay?

Polk county? Winter Haven, Hanes City and Lake Wales? Out by Highway 27?

I spent one year living in an orange grove out on Tilden Road out in Winter Haven. snooooooozzzzzeee!

Hi there!

I called USF's nursing program a few weeks ago asking some of these same questions and I'll share what they told me.

First, they DO have an accelereated BSN program for those holding a Bachelor's in an unrelated field. Beware though, as these programs are ineligible for some of the financial aid available to the traditional RN programs. You CAN take their tradition RN program as a Junior transfer, as long as you have completed the prerequisites. Here is a link to their program offerings:

http://hsc.usf.edu/nocms/nursing/Programs_of_Study.html

As far as prerequisites go: USF does NOT have a age limit on the previous credits. Nor does Hillsborough County's ASN program. However, Polk County's CC's ASN nursing program DOES require all the science prereq's be under 5 or 7 years old (can't remember which). Something to think about.

USF told me they had NO waiting list...however, that the average GPA for those who WERE accepted this fall was 3.5!!! :uhoh21: Their minimum requirement is 3.0, though.

Another resource I thought I'd share was the Florida Board of Nursing's NCLEX Passing Rates by school. Although I had also heard good things about Florida Hospital of Health Sciences, its percentage of students who passed the exam for last year was only 80.7%. (For perspective, USF's pass rate was 96.5%). That is not the only aspect to look at of course, but it is pretty compelling. Here is the webpage if you are interested:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/nursing/NCLEX_2003_%202004.pdf

Best of luck to you. I will be applying for Summer 2006 myself!

Michelle

This is very good information! I appreciate it. That's quite a difference in the passing rate. It looks to me as if going to a traditional four-year college (as a junior or with an accelerated degree) would be the best option. I would have to complete a whole bunch of prerequisites because all of my science classes from college are way too old; so one option might be picking the four-year college where I have the best shot of getting in to a nursing program, and taking all of my science prerequisites there. Hopefully that would be USF, since they have such a high pass rate! I think I need to look at how many students apply for how many slots in the nursing program - I just wish there was some way to know how good a chance I have of being accepted to a particular program (other than making sure I keep my grades up, obviously!)

Hi there!

I called USF's nursing program a few weeks ago asking some of these same questions and I'll share what they told me.

First, they DO have an accelereated BSN program for those holding a Bachelor's in an unrelated field. Beware though, as these programs are ineligible for some of the financial aid available to the traditional RN programs. You CAN take their tradition RN program as a Junior transfer, as long as you have completed the prerequisites. Here is a link to their program offerings:

http://hsc.usf.edu/nocms/nursing/Programs_of_Study.html

As far as prerequisites go: USF does NOT have a age limit on the previous credits. Nor does Hillsborough County's ASN program. However, Polk County's CC's ASN nursing program DOES require all the science prereq's be under 5 or 7 years old (can't remember which). Something to think about.

USF told me they had NO waiting list...however, that the average GPA for those who WERE accepted this fall was 3.5!!! :uhoh21: Their minimum requirement is 3.0, though.

Another resource I thought I'd share was the Florida Board of Nursing's NCLEX Passing Rates by school. Although I had also heard good things about Florida Hospital of Health Sciences, its percentage of students who passed the exam for last year was only 80.7%. (For perspective, USF's pass rate was 96.5%). That is not the only aspect to look at of course, but it is pretty compelling. Here is the webpage if you are interested:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/nursing/NCLEX_2003_%202004.pdf

Best of luck to you. I will be applying for Summer 2006 myself!

Michelle

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