Advice

[sakaki]

Hello I am a new member on this site and I need some advice as to which direction I should take as I further my nursing education. I hope that someone reading this will be able to help me out.

I am a transfer student at Rutgers and am currently a sophomore looking to transfer into their nursing program. As some of you may already know, in order to transfer into their nursing program, you must first complete 24 credits and apply for a school-to-school transfer after 1 year. I am currently in this process but, I do not find about any decision made on my application until June, which I think is very late. I am very tentative about staying at Rutgers because due to the high amount of students applying to Rutgers in general, I know that I must realize that despite having a good GPA, my chances of getting into their nursing school as a transfer student is very slim. My other concern is that if I do stay at this school, I will have to retake some classes that I worked very hard to earn A's in at my previous school (these classes include chemistry and microbiology and their associated labs). If I do get into their program, it will take me even longer to graduate and I am really not looking forward to retaking science classes that I have already completed. I really want to start my nursing classes by next year at the latest! If I don't get into their nursing program, I am really not sure what I am going to do because I really don't think that choosing another major will be worth it since that would mean losing even more of my hard-earned credits, thus delaying my graduation.

For this reason, I also decided to apply to the Georgian Court Meridian Health School of Nursing. I was happy to hear that I got accepted into their Transfer Fast Track Program, which is 6 semesters long. It looks like this school will be accepting all of my credits and because of their partnership with Meridian, I think that this is a good program for me since I actually would like to work there one day. Additionally, I'll be able to start my nursing classes this fall, which is a plus for me! I can't wait to start clinicals, so I think the sooner I get to do rotations, the better it will be. I also like GCU because it's a small and quiet school, which is the complete opposite of Rutgers.

My question is:

Would it make sense for me to transfer again, this time to GCU? Or, should I just wait until June to hear back from Rutgers since I am already here, despite knowing that there is a high chance that I won't be accepted into their nursing program?

Please give me your honest opinions. I am so worried and stressed out about what my next step should be. I would like to hear someone else's perspective about my situation.

[umbot, BSN]

The biggest downside I can think of to transferring again is that GCU is the cost -- it's 16K/semester for nursing students, which is about twice as much as a full-time Rutgers BSN student. How many more semesters would you have to complete at Rutgers to get your BSN?

I'm also frustrated by the "you'll hear by the end of June" stuff from Rutgers Nursing, though I'm waiting to hear back for their ABSN. Other schools want deposits sent in way before then. When does GCU want to hear from you?

[sakaki]

It looks like if I stay at Rutgers, it would still take me four years to earn the BSN, assuming that the credits accepted by the School of Arts & Sciences will be the only ones accepted by the School of Nursing. I've technically completed my prerequisites, with some classes taken at Rutgers and some others taken at another school. Rutgers is very picky and will give me transferable credits for some of my classes taken at the other school, but I don't think having a transfer credit is the same as having actual credit for a course?

As for GCU, I need to make a decision by May 1. I'll have to pay $250 to reserve my spot.

Would you be doing the ABSN program at New Brunswick or Newark? And how is the ABSN program different from the general BSN? Are the prerequisites the same?

[umbot, BSN]

I would strongly recommend talking to someone in the nursing admissions office at Rutgers to determine what courses would be fulfilled by your transfer credits. Generally, if you're being given a transferable credit, I think that means you DON'T have to retake that class at Rutgers and the credit WILL count towards your nursing degree. But if I were you, I would check with the School of Nursing, rather than trusting some random person on the internet :)

I'm hoping to do the ABSN program at Newark, since it's a lot closer to me. The ABSN program is for students who already have completed a Bachelor's degree in a non-nursing field, and it takes about 15 months. It basically has all the same nursing content, and at the end of the program graduates are awarded a BSN. The main difference is that you have to have a lot of coursework completed prior to starting the program, and the ABSN program does not contain any humanities courses. You can compare the curricula for the two different programs: Accelerated BSN vs General BSN.

If you already have a lot of your general education requirements completed for Rutgers, you might be able to complete the Rutgers General BSN program in less than 8 semesters. Again, I think talking to someone in the admissions office at the School of Nursing might help clarify this for you.

Honestly, you might just have to figure out whether you're willing to spend the extra money (or take on the extra debt) that switching to GCU would require. People on this forum tend to be very against taking on debt if at all possible, and with good reason, but you ultimately have to make that decision for yourself. Good luck!

[sakaki]

Yes I think you're right. i'm not sure if it will be worth the extra debt. Plus, GCU still hasn't gotten back to transfer students about financial aid, which is making me worried. On the brighter side, I'm going to be meeting with the nursing advisor at Rutgers so hopefully I'll get a lot of things clarified.