Why are there no nursing schools with built-in prerequisites?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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It seems like a natural combination, lab sciences and nursing school, and yet everywhere I look the learning sequence is artificially split.

So many of the stories I read are "take your prerequisites and wait 1-3 years for a cohort." My problem with this is that life has to be put on hold while waiting, you cannot take on any substantial work because you might be pulled away in 6 months or 2 years.

Am I simply not seeing schools that, once accepted, give the full education? Or is there a historical or practical reason that I'm overlooking?

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
It seems like a natural combination, lab sciences and nursing school, and yet everywhere I look the learning sequence is artificially split.

So many of the stories I read are "take your prerequisites and wait 1-3 years for a cohort." My problem with this is that life has to be put on hold while waiting, you cannot take on any substantial work because you might be pulled away in 6 months or 2 years.

Am I simply not seeing schools that, once accepted, give the full education? Or is there a historical or practical reason that I'm overlooking?

*** Lots of schools don't have pre-reqs. For example here in Wisconsin the community college nursing programs do not have any college class pre-reqs. High school chemistry, CNA, background check and immunization is all that is required. One starts and four semesters later you graduatte with an ADN. Most of your BSN programs do no have pre-reqs. One enter as a freshman out of high school and four years later graduates with a BSN.

I think the problem is that you have limited your search.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
Am I simply not seeing schools that, once accepted, give the full education?

You are apparently overlooking bachelor's degree programs.

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It seems like a lot of bachelor's degree programs require pre-reqs to get in and you aren't guaranteed a spot from the start. There are some that will admit you as a freshman but I haven't seen many of those in my search. I already have a degree so those programs don't apply to me so maybe I just didn't notice them. University of Maryland has one in which they say if you get a 3.0 in your pre-reqs/first 2 years of BS, you'll be automatically enrolled in their nursing program. Otherwise, you can also apply to their nursing program after finishing your pre-reqs.

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Specializes in critical care.

There is a reputable private school in my area that has a 2-year ASN. Students start clinicals the first semester, even straight out of high school. Two year later, they receive an ASN and are eligible for their RN. If they choose, they can then go for their BSN which is another 2 years full time.

Come to think of it, I have no idea how it's accomplished. Now I'm interested to see the curriculum. But anyway, I know people who have done it, so it is possible!

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Specializes in critical care.

Just looked it up... here is the course progression for the program I referred to in the above post:

NURSING COURSES ARE SEQUENTIAL

ASN PROGRAM - SUGGESTED PROGRAM OF

STUDIES FOR A FULL-TIME SCHEDULE

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TD]FALL - FIRST SEMESTER: [/TD]

[TD]CREDITS [/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]FYE 1000

FYE 1001

BIO 107

NUR 110

NUR 111

ENG 101 [/TD]

[TD]First Year Experience

First Year Experience Service

Anatomy & Physiology I w/lab

Adult Health Nursing I Concepts of Nursing

College English [/TD]

[TD]2

1

4

4

3

3 [/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]TOTAL [/TD]

[TD]17 [/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]SPRING – SECOND SEMESTER [/TD]

[TD]CREDITS [/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]BIO 108

RS 231

NUR 120

NUR 121

NUT 200

TOTAL [/TD]

[TD]Anatomy & Physiology II w/lab

Morality & Cont. Healthcare

Adult Health Nursing II

Health Assessment

Nutrition [/TD]

[TD]4

3

6

2

3

18 [/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TD]FALL - THIRD SEMESTER

[/TD]

[TD]CREDITS

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]BIO 121

SOC 2000

PSY 100

NUR 210

NUR 211

[/TD]

[TD]Microbiology w/lab

Society & Global Diversity

General Psychology

Pharmacology in Nursing

Complex Adult Health Nursing*

[/TD]

[TD]3

3

3

2

6

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]TOTAL

[/TD]

[TD]17

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]SPRING – FOURTH SEMESTER

[/TD]

[TD]CREDITS

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PSY 200

PHL 2000

NUR 220

NUR 221

NUR 222

[/TD]

[TD]Developmental Psychology

Encountering Ethics

Maternal-Child Nursing*

Behavioral Health Nursing*

Nursing Transition & Role Dev

[/TD]

[TD]3

3

5

3

2

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]TOTAL

[/TD]

[TD]16

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

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Specializes in L&D.

My BSN program has built-in prerequisites for those who want to start their education at their school without transferring in from another school. I transferred in, so I started nursing classes rather than general ed.

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Specializes in E.P. tele ccu er home health.

Way back in the day-cant believe i said that- RN diploma schools were set up that everything revolved around nursing and strickly adhered to-IF you can go to school full time try to find a smaller school that only focuses on a few career choices-VS the big boys with 100s of choices and a lot of young adults that really dont know what they want. Associate programs r a quick way tyo get ur degree- work as a RN and go back to finish at your pace-pay is no different fgor a bsn or ad-

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Specializes in Cardiac/Tele Unit.

Around here (NJ) there are several universities that are now offering accelerated BSN programs for people that already have a bachelors degree but want to go back and go to nursing school. Thomas Jefferson is one of them. Also the associates degree programs are now getting together with the BSN programs and offering duel admission for their students. Several of the associates programs in the state have recently closed so the BSN schools are coming up with different ways to admit students. It's also making the waiting lists for the ADN programs that are still operating extremely long and more difficult to get into.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

For BSN in classes, prereqs are general done in the first year or so. Most ADN classes need at minimum 2 years of clinical time, so they must be done beforehand.A&P, micro, math, and basic English really need to be done, before one starts clinical nursing classes. You will be writing reports and using the math skills starting day one. And in most cases, you must have a firm knowledge of the others within weeks of starting, as one is expected to speak the language of science and the understand the basics of A&P to fully grasp clinical issues.

Having said that, some programs allowed one to start clinical classes before finishing A&P II, and Micro. Of the students, 100% of those that tried that, failed either the clinical

classes or the science courses or both. Most clinical courses are so heavy, there is no time to study for the other.

That said, clinical courses for nursing are very impacted, having dozens of applicants for each position, d/t limitations of clinical placements, liability, etc. My first A&P class failed about 60% of the students, the second one failed about 40-50%. That helps reduce the number of applicants for clinical nursing courses substantially.

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It seems like a lot of bachelor's degree programs require pre-reqs to get in and you aren't guaranteed a spot from the start. There are some that will admit you as a freshman but I haven't seen many of those in my search.

Most 4 year universities with competitive programs don't admit many freshmen. Add on the number of people who switch majors and you'll find that a ton of students who aren't in nursing still have to apply to their chosen major while enrolled in college. My husband had to apply twice to the program he wanted when he switched majors.

Nursing is unique (or less common) in that each class builds on the previous one and therefore pre-reqs cannot be skipped. While my husband had a general course sequence, he could double up or take some out of order and had many requirements that were fulfilled by "Take one of the following 3 or 5 classes." It was ok that he didn't take his last science credit until his final semester, because it really didn't matter. In nursing, it does.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

I know of a couple schools like this at the BSN level, but many of the students don't go far and are not allowed in clinicals if their prerequisites aren't good enough. I prefer to do my prerequisites wherever, and then apply to any school that will accept them.

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My University offers a traditional BSN program, and most of the students enter directly from high school. In the first year students take human biology, A&P, history of nursing, and general education classes. Nursing skills/interventions, client assessment and the first clinical course occurs in the second (sophomore) year.

There are not many schools that spread out the nursing curriculum over all four years nowadays, Most BSN programs are 2:2 (two years of general education and prereqs and then 2 years of nursing classes only).

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