Are there ways around the dreaded waiting list?

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Hello all, I live in Florida and am currently working in a completely unrelated non-medical field - which I'm leaving out because I don't want my bosses to read this! I have a liberal arts bachelor's degree, but I want to go back to school to be an RN and right now I am taking Anatomy & Physiology I and pre-algebra. My understanding is that I must finish my prerequisites before I can even THINK of applying to nursing school, because it is so competitive these days, and then when I apply everybody now has incredibly long waiting lists, (of course I'd apply to every school within a couple of hours drive in Central Florida, and I'd consider further) - and THEN if I get accepted somewhere, no school will have an open position for me until at least two or three years from my date of acceptance.

Is there any way around this? Would it help if I got my LPN first, and then worked in a hospital for a couple of years, and then did a bridge program? Would a paramedic certificate and experience help? I don't want to wait a minimum two or three years AFTER acceptance to start school! Is this the situation all over the country, not that I really want to move?

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Money................there are private schools that do not have much of a wating list..........

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Money................there are private schools that do not have much of a wating list..........

Thank you! Any recommendations in the Central Florida area? I'm certainly willing to look into all options. What do you think about the LPN idea? (Go to an LPN program so I wouldn't have to wait so long to get into school?) Once someone is an LPN, is it faster to get into an RN or even ADN bridge program, than it is to start from scratch?

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The LPN route will not be any faster, if your goal is the RN. Many programs have waiting lists for that as well, then the time before you can get into an RN program................I personally would not even consider it.

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Specializes in Emergency.

As they say location, location, location. I know when and where I went to school being male... sorry ladies... was all but an automatic in for the full two year program. It was a ladder program ie after the first year you could test for LPN. Some people get in for one year others for the full two. At the time admissons were based soley on a test called CQT. They are not using it, I think they use the NET test, but I do know there still is no prerequisites as it takes students right out of highshool.

So in short if one wants it bad enough they should be willing to go where ever they need to to meet that goal.

RJ

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Specializes in ICU.
Thank you! Any recommendations in the Central Florida area? I'm certainly willing to look into all options. What do you think about the LPN idea? (Go to an LPN program so I wouldn't have to wait so long to get into school?) Once someone is an LPN, is it faster to get into an RN or even ADN bridge program, than it is to start from scratch?

FLORIDA HOSPITAL COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES! NO WAITING LIST, IF YOU HAVE DECENT GRADES YOU CAN GET IN.

http://www.fhchs.edu

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FLORIDA HOSPITAL COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES! NO WAITING LIST, IF YOU HAVE DECENT GRADES YOU CAN GET IN.

http://www.fhchs.edu

Thank you, I will call them tommorow! Do you have any idea how many students apply for how many slots? I do tend to get decent grades these days. (With my original bachelor's degree I didn't, but now that I'm a grownup and paying for my own classes I actually study hard!)

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Specializes in Burn/Trauma PCU.
Thank you, I will call them tommorow! Do you have any idea how many students apply for how many slots? I do tend to get decent grades these days. (With my original bachelor's degree I didn't, but now that I'm a grownup and paying for my own classes I actually study hard!)

Floridanurse2B:

On Monday, September 19, FHCHS is having an Open House from 6:30-8:30pm. Don't know if you can make it, but I thought I'd throw it out there, and anyone who attends and applies will get the application fee waived ($20, I think). The phone number for the school is 407/303-9798 - I don't think you have to call ahead or anything, but in case you need directions (I don't know where they're going to be!).

Hope this helps!

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FLORIDA HOSPITAL COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES! NO WAITING LIST, IF YOU HAVE DECENT GRADES YOU CAN GET IN.

http://www.fhchs.edu

I recently got my AA degree, and I wanted to ask you if this school you mention also offers Bachelors BSN in nursing.

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Specializes in ICU.
I recently got my AA degree, and I wanted to ask you if this school you mention also offers Bachelors BSN in nursing.

Yes they do. I believe you would have to go through the AS nursing degree first. Its a pre-req for the BSN.

Good luck to all of you!! Sorry I've been gone for the forum for so long, but know that am actually in the program, i cant manage to have time for anything else.

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I am in the same shoes as Floridanurse2b: I have been a teacher for 5 years but can't live on a teacher's salary anymore. I have a Masters' in Education and I don't even reach $37K while nurses with just an AA degree make well into the $50s.

I took a year of leave to work on my prerequisites (anatomy, chem, etc) and looking forward to getting accepted later into nursing school but already I was rejected by Barry U in Miami Shores. A friend of mine with a 3.5 GPA can't get in anywhere so I am getting really scared now that I may have to apply far from where I live (Miami) to get in SOMEWHERE! Is this a problem in just the big cities or everywhere?

QUESTION: DOES ANYBODY KNOW OF COLLEGES THAT DON'T HAVE A LONG WAIT LIST FOR ACCELERATED OPTION (ONE-YEAR) B.A. NURSING PROGRAM? (Accelerated Option is for people who already hold a B.A. in another field.)

Please someone advise!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.
I am in the same shoes as Floridanurse2b: I have been a teacher for 5 years but can't live on a teacher's salary anymore. I have a Masters' in Education and I don't even reach $37K while nurses with just an AA degree make well into the $50s.

I took a year of leave to work on my prerequisites (anatomy, chem, etc) and looking forward to getting accepted later into nursing school but already I was rejected by Barry U in Miami Shores. A friend of mine with a 3.5 GPA can't get in anywhere so I am getting really scared now that I may have to apply far from where I live (Miami) to get in SOMEWHERE! Is this a problem in just the big cities or everywhere?

QUESTION: DOES ANYBODY KNOW OF COLLEGES THAT DON'T HAVE A LONG WAIT LIST FOR ACCELERATED OPTION (ONE-YEAR) B.A. NURSING PROGRAM? (Accelerated Option is for people who already hold a B.A. in another field.)

Please someone advise!

http://www.discovernursing.com has a list of schools with no waiting list. Look under the how tab.

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