Nursing degree

[Debb_A_]

I live in California and I am trying to be a Nurse. I would like to be a pediatrician. I am trying to go to Palomar or MiraCosta community college and then transfer to California State University or University of California. Which ever is better for nursing. I needed help on what classes exactly I needed to become a nurse. Starting with my associates then bachelors and so on.

[A&Ox6, MSN, RN]

Do you want to be a pediatric nurse or a pediatrician which is a doctor? Or do you want to be a pediatric nurse practitioner maybe?

These are all different and require different education levels and paths.

[JBudd, MSN]

My opinion is, if you want to be a pediatrician, go to med school.

If you want to be a nurse, go to nursing school. There are nurse practitioners who special in pediatrics, but they aren't pediatricians.

If you are still in high school, take all the advanced math and science that you can. Those help in either career. Every nursing school has different pre-reqs, so you need to look at specific schools and their requirements, just go online to their websites.

Just FYI, you don't have to do an assoc. before a BSN; everyone's lives and circumstances dictate the best paths or directions for them as individuals.

[loriangel14, RN]

A pediatrician is a medical doctor.If you want to be a pediatric nurse you need to research which BSN program you want o apply to and what the the prerequisites are. then you have to complete the prerequisites before you can apply to the BSN program.I wouldn't bother with the Associates, just go straight for a BSN.

[Debb_A_]

I want to be a Pediatric nurse. A nurse for babies. I am not in high school.

[JBudd, MSN]

So, you have a couple of options, either a Labor and Delivery Nurse, caring for moms and babies; a NICU nurse, which is intensive care for very small babies, usually premies; or a pediatric nurse, on a peds floor that usually cares for kids of all ages, toddler up through teens.

Again, look at the programs at the schools you are interested in. There should be descriptions of the programs, and in the course catalogue the prereqs for each nursing course. Also, every school I know of has an advisor to guide you through the steps for pre-reqs and applying.

In general, you'll need English composition, algebra, possibly statistics, biology, chemistry and organic chemistry, some social study hours, psychology and anatomy & physiology. Our A&P requires biology first, etc.

[ScientistSalarian]

Getting all of your general ed and nursing prereqs knocked out at a community college and then transferring into a CSU/UC BSN program is a solid plan, though as the pp mentioned it's not necessary to get an associate's degree before transferring. You need to follow either the CSU or IGETC (for UC's) transfer pattern for your general ed classes in order to qualify as an upper-division transfer student. You'll also need to complete all of the prerequisites specific to the nursing programs you'll be applying to (usually anatomy, physiology, micro, nutrition, psych, etc); BSN programs in CA tend to have slightly different admissions requirements from school to school so just make sure to read all of the fine print before you apply anywhere. Assist.org is a great place to start and will tell you EXACTLY which classes each nursing program requires, and it would probably be a good idea to meet with a counselor to make sure you're on the right track. Good luck!

[krisiepoo]

noone can really tell you the specifics of what classes you need exactly because school curriculums vary from place to place. contact the admissions dept (or look online, most colleges have all that info at your fingertips) to find out what you need to take for their program