Am I on a decent track?

[JPolo]

I am interested in going to nursing school, however I am currently at a business college getting a degree in Medical Assisting. Its kind of a long story how i got there, I will be graduating with an associates degree, and certification as an MA. I took my teas V test back in December of last year (2010). I was applying to the local community college for their nursing program and wont hear anything back from them until late March or so. I scored a 70 on it ( my first attempt, not much studying) and i dont feel that is good enough. The paper they printed out said its above the average for my school but somehow to me that seems awfully low. Alot of the questions on the test Ive never even heard of throughout my highschool and college career inthe science field ( all my of teachers passed over DNA and things like that saying ill never need it... guess what, i do.)

Im trying to figure out what i have to do in order to get accepted to a nursing school so that when i graduate next april ill be on track. i have SOME general ed pre req's from my many years of college, but not all.

Is it better to go to a Community college for an associates in Nursing and become an Rn that way, or are the hospital schools of nursing okay too?

im really confused at this point, all i know is i eventually want to become an RN. Any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Since many nursing schools rely on TEAS or NET scores for admission, if you want to maximize your chance of being accepted at the school of your, it would be logical to do whatever you need to to do to get the highest scores possible. This would mean getting hold of some good review materials for the relevant test and thoroughly prepping for the test.

As far as ADN vs BSN, my recommendation would be to go for the BSN. There is a trend toward requiring the BSN as the minimum credential for hiring and more and more job postings now state "BSN required". This is actually more than a bit ironic, since it is often more difficult to get into a CC nursing program than a BSN program. While far from decisive evidence on this question, I can tell you that something like 80 - 90% of my graduating class from CC have not been able to find nursing jobs. The percentage of BSN grads unable to find work seems to be substantially lower.

Good luck and YMMV.

[LostButMakinGoodTime]

Don't worry about the BSN/RN thing. We have a bunch of openings that aren't being filled by ANYBODY. I have two degrees (BA/BS) and a diploma from a hospital school of nursing. Since graduation in 2006, I have done the CCRN and I'm 9 credits away from my next degree (BSN). The hospital paid for the BSN. Our new hires are split evenly between RN/BSN. My daughter just graduated from a hospital diploma program and was hired into an ICU position at a large hospital in Pittsburgh a week later. She loves it.