AA or BSN? Online pre-licensure BSN?

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Hello, my name is Matt.

I am from California. My fiance and I moved to New York because she was accepted in a Graduate program. I work at a hospital as a Mental Health Technician (same as a PCA but I work in the psych unit). I would like to go to nursing school but I am having trouble mapping out my plans.

I would like to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, from there probably get my PH.d in clinical psychology. The hospital I work for in New York will basically guarantee my acceptance into nursing school and pay for my schooling as long as I give them four years of service (otherwise I just pay them back, this is what I will have to do because I'd back home after nursing school)

Here is the difficult part....We are moving back to California after My fiance' is done with school. Our family wants us back home ASAP and we want to go back home to California.

Another thing is....I do not have my RN license. I have 96 Units and I don't know what to put them towards. If I go for my AA and RN license It will take me a year to meet the prerequisites and two years after that to finish nursing school (3 years total). It makes more sense to get my BSN and take the NCLEX since I already have 96 Units.

The difficulty with going to nursing school at all is by the time I finish my prerequisites and begin my first semester I will have to move back to California. I don't know how hard it is to transfer? will they even accept me? Would I be able to get a job at a California Hospital that might pay for my college, or have a program similar to my current workplace?

My best bet would be to find a pre-licensure BSN program ONLINE but I cannot find one for the life of me. Has anyone heard of a program like this? I know that Kaplan did a study on the effectiveness of a pre-licensure program but nothing has come of it yet.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Why don't you just stay until you are done school? What is the reason you have to move before you are done? You say your family wants you to move home. Are you underage or are you an adult?You need to do what is right for you, not follow the dictates of your family.

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How tough are BSN programs to get in typically? How long would it take with my general education done and 94 units completed (non-nursing).

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Specializes in ICU.
How tough are BSN programs to get in typically? How long would it take with my general education done and 94 units completed (non-nursing).

It really, really depends on the school. You need to set up appointments with the advising department for the schools you would consider (ADN and BSN)...bring copies of your transcript and ask these questions. Based on the information you get you'll be able to make a better choice.

Also, your 94 units may or may not transfer. They may not apply towards either degree. They may put you ahead of the game, or they may be useless. One school may give you credit while another does not...that's why you really need to go in person and have your specific situation addressed.

Transfering in the middle of a nursing program is generally not a great idea. The two programs would have to be on the same schedule with similar information covered in the semesters that have already passed (like if one semester does med-surg I clinicals first semester and the other school does geriatrics or psych or who knows what, if you tried to transfer you might miss out on one clinical roatation and end up getting two clinical rotations in the same area - not helpful! And it doesn't make you a well-rounded and fully-educated nurse, so most likely that school would not accept you as a transfer student and you would have to apply, maybe be waitlisted, and probably start over.)

Honestly there's so much variation it's really hard to predict what might happen in your situation.

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California (state) is broke. Hospitals are strapped. Don't count on help paying for your education. If you don't have your RN... typically, you will have to attend a brick and mortar school where you have clinical supervision. One exception to this is Excelsior which is run by the New York State Board of Regents. (I think I have that right.) Under that program you take all your courses on-line or via mail but you must be employed in a position where you will have a nurse-mentor. After you complete your courses, you have to spend a few days in some city where nurse educators closely watch your clinical skills and judgement and either pass or fail you.

My daughter is an Excelsior graduate and she hammered her NCLEX and is a fabulous ER nurse (and I'm totally objective about my children.) I would look into that.

Alternatively, there are in some areas "for-profit" schools of nursing that have the virtue of offering accelerated programs. with your pre-requisites done, you could probably graduate in 3 (15 week) semesters.

You did not mention to which city in California you will be moving, so it's hard to say what will be available to you. There are waiting lists for entry into almost every school of nursing in the state of Nevada... some of them very long. Don't know what California looks like but I think the trends are the same.

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Those 93 credits are more likely to hurt you than help. I don't know your GPA, but it seems to me that the programs in Cali are either superhigh GPA, super long waitlist, or super expensive private school.

If you can swing it stay in NY for your schooling since you have a way in.

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

If your goal is a PhD in clinical psych, why not go for a BA in psych instead of nursing school and a BSN?

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i need help writing writing an appeal letter to excelsoir collge

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help with writing an appeal letter

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