Accelerated Nursing Programs

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[color=#002060]hello all,

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[color=#002060]i am very new to the forum and have been thinking a lot about doing an accelerated nursing program. i currently have a bs in communications, in nyc where all the schools offer the accelerated program, you need a ton of science courses to e. has anyone been in this position? i want to start the prerequisites as soon as possible, but will have to continue to work full time while i do that. i would like to do some online courses that will offer me the flexibility i need for my prerequisites, does anyone have any good recommendations for the online courses that would help with my prerequisites, like chemistry, microbiology, statistics and things of that nature.

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Online courses for credit to use as prereqs? General psych, growth & development psych, algebra, statistics, possibly nutrition (depends what your college says is a valid nutrition course for RN), a basic human structures (probably won't be credits toward the degree but will be enoumously helpful for A&P), intro to sociology, an ethics course.

For A&P you memorize all bones of the body and various features on them and also muscles + origin + activation + insertion -- all that you can do on your own now b/c you do it on your own in the class, lol.

A&P I & II, microbiology -- The labs are such a huge part of them that you should just take the lecture / lab in a classroom, I think. Some schools omit the lecture in a self-taught / online version but still have students going in for labs on Saturday or something. In micro, we had labs 2x per week and worked with all kinds of bacteria, so also do that class in person. People here have taken totally online versions, but their schools still made them do an actual lab.

This is a list of typical non-nursing courses that I assembled while I was reviewing several nursing programs. It's kind of rambling, but...

Always required, for college programs or diploma programs:

Human Anatomy

Human Physiology

Microbiology (might be General, or might be a special nursing-oriented one, so check what's accepted by your program.)

Nutrition (you might need one that makes you do diet plans - definitely check what your nursing program accepts or requires)

English -- College Composition I

Psych -- Introduction to Psychology

Psych -- Human Growth & Development

CPR for Health Care Providers and possibly also a customized First Aid training

Chemistry - for some diploma programs. You need it for BSRN. So take it anyway.

Very likely for a college degree program and maybe for a diploma RN:

Chemistry -- freshman chemistry , one or two semesters, may or may not include much organic chemistry

College Algebra - will never hurt you, you need (parts of) algebra for med calcs.

Comp 101 general computer use course for using Microsoft Office

English -- Business and Professional Speaking

phys ed - at least one semester

Soc -- Principles of Sociology

Statistics -- intro course

Sometimes:

Psych -- Abnormal Psych (need it for BSRN anyway)

Ethics (usually a philosophy course)

Strategies for Academic Success / College Study Skills (a freshman level "study habits" class)

Those are general requirements that I found most schools require.

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Specializes in ICU.

I have a previous BA (in history, so much like you I had all my sciences still to go) and took all my pre-reqs for my accelerated BSN program while working full time.

I did take as many courses as possible online, but for the "hard sciences" you'll probably have to take an in-person class, at least for the lab portions of Anatomy, Physio, Micro, and Chem. Check out the schools in your area and see what is offered. Do any schools have an online lecture + do at home lab (my school offers online courses where you buy a "lab kit" at the bookstore and do your labs at home and e-mail your lab report or pictures of your dissection or whatever) or 1-day-a-week format? I took Micro at a local community college last fall as a 6-hour Saturday course...3 hours of lecture or testing in the morning, a lunch break, and then three hours of lab, every Saturday for the semester. Not fun, but if you need to work full-time, you just find a way to make it fit. Look for evening class if you work during the day, or morning classes if you work a nights/weekend job. Just make sure that whatever classes you take will be accepted by the school/s you're thinking of applying to for your ABSN.

Going to school full time and working full time can be totally compatible if you need them to be! Especially if you don't have a lot of other demands on your time (children, spouse, health issues, family issues, etc.) and can just push through!

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I did the same as the poster above, took pre-reqs night for a year and a half while working at my prior career...got into a 2year accelerated masters program and got 7 more months to go..this last 3years has felt like 10 but the best decision I ever made,best of luck

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Thanks guys, I'm taking my pre-reqs at BMCC now!

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