I am trying to decide which nursing program would be the best for me. I graduated from College 2 years ago and so I already hold a bachelor's degree (in another field).
I am thinking I should just do a 2 year program (like Christ Hospital, Good Sam or Galen in Cincinnati) so that I can finish sooner and then I can go back later to get my bachelors. They don't require any pre reqs that I don't already have.
However, I have been thinking about doing an Accelerated BSN because it would make a lot of sense and some get done in 2 years as well. The only drawback to this for me is that the school (NKU in northern Kentucky) I am looking into requires Pre Reqs like Anatomy, Microbiology, Nutrition, etc. that I do not have. That means I would have to take an additional year of classes before getting into the Accelerated BSN program.
Does anyone have any advice on what you think I should do? Has anyone gone to NKU's accelerated program? I just want to make sure I am doing the best thing for me.
Hi CrufflerJJ! thank you so much for your response. It has really helped me make sure I am doing everything correctly! Good Luck on the NCLEX! I am sure you will do great though!
I have a question about where you did your Pre-Reqs and some other info if you know. What school did you take your pre-reqs at? I will mostly be doing them at Cincinnati State cause its the cheapest, and some i will have to take at the main campus, and i believe one of them i will have to take a raymond walters. I have to basically take all of the courses. However as I am looking at some of them, some have pre-reqs for that course! One of them is Pharm. I was initially planning on doing this this spring because its only offered in the spring, but it says that only UC college of nursing students can take it and then you have to have a pre-req of an intro to nursing course too!! what is that about!? another course is the child psych course. i looked at that at Cincinnati State and it said that i had to have taken intro to psych 1 and 2! do you think i would have to take allll of those as well?
if so, this may not be the best program for me by having to take pre-reqs to get into my other pre-reqs!
HELP!
"Pre-reqs to get into my other pre-reqs" - Yup...been there, done that!
Step 1 is for you to submit your past transcripts to LC (UC accelerated program graduate advisor). He will send (or email) you back a form showing what classes you need to take as prereqs.
Luckily, because of my prior degree (chemical engineering), I was able to get out of the chemistry prereqs for the microbiology or A&P classes that I took. I DID, however, have to take an Intro to Psychology class before I could do the Lifespan course (which included child psych).
I did all but one of my prereqs at Sinclair Community College in Dayton. I highly recommend it, if you're into commuting. I did some classes (both psych, the basic nutrition course, and a statistics course) via distance learning. For most of these classes, you go to the testing center on campus to take the actual tests. Some quizzes were done from home online. Note that I DO NOT recommend the distance learning pharm course at Sinclair. The course is challenging enough when taken face-to-face. I wouldn't want to try & do it without the instructor's guidance.
In my "copious free time", I was also doing some of the prereqs (statistics & sociology) for Wright State University's accelerated "Beacon" nursing program. This was a "just in case" thing, in case I didn't get accepted to the UC program. Wright State required even more prereqs than UC.
You MUST look closely at the course description & prerequisites for each of your accelerated prereq required courses. You do not want to come down to your last class, needing to get it done by a certain deadline, only to discover that you need 2 prereqs before being allowed to sign up for the course. I almost got smacked by this myself. As you've discovered, some classes are not offered year-round. If all else fails, you can try to complete some of the prereqs via distance learning.
In my case, the "near-smack" occurred when I was all ready to sign up for the Nutrition & Disease course at Jackson Community College (Michigan). Unfortunately, I was looking to sign up in early February. It was THEN that I discovered that their "Spring" quarter started in freakin' JANUARY, not in March or April like my local community college. As a result, I had the honor of doing the N&D class down at UC (which ended ~11:45AM), then flying up I75 to Dayton to get to my 1PM Pharmacology class at Sinclair. Fun, fun, fun!
Talk to the admission counselors at the community college (Cinci State, I guess), letting them know what classes you need for the UC Accel program. They should be able to look over your past transcripts & tell you what classes you need to take, versus the classes that can be waived. Don't be afraid to push things a little & try to avoid taking basic prereq courses, if you feel that prior coursework has covered the subject material. I'm not sure how open the counselors are at Cinci State, but a fellow classmate was able to avoid the Psych prereqs & go directly into the lifespan course.
Talk to LC about getting you into the UC pharmacology class. He had to help me get into the Nutrition & Health class on campus, since it was full. He "forced" me into the class, which I guess is a way of sticking more students in the class than it was originally supposed to have. Remember that once you're accepted into Phase I (which can happen before completing all your prereqs), you ARE a "UC College of Nursing" student, so you should be able to take Pharm on campus. I did my pharm course at Sinclair, so didn't have to hassle with any sort of intro to nursing class.
Yes, it can be a hassle making sure that you take the right classes at the right time. It's worth it, though. You CAN do it! One step at a time......
you may want to look into seeing if you can "clep" out of any of the pre-req classes that you have to take. i hadn't taken lifespan development, but my school let me take the clep test for that course and i got credit that way. i studied with a test review book for that course and passed. it cost about $60 to take the test and it credited me the class to get me into my accelerated program.
i'm not sure if the school you are looking into accepts that... but might want to look into it just in case. it sucks learning the stuff on your own, but lifespan is basically memorizing stuff so it wasn't that horrible and if it means you can get into your program it might be worth it! good luck!:)
I have a similar situation. I already have a BA degree in Psych which I earned 7 years ago. I was thinking on the Associates Degree in nursing mostly b/c I do not want to stop working FT (I really can't afford to). However, after that, I do want to for a MBA. Would I have any problem entering ino a MBA program after having completed FIRST a BA and then an AD? Anyone has any insight?
CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P
1,025 Posts
"Pre-reqs to get into my other pre-reqs" - Yup...been there, done that!
Step 1 is for you to submit your past transcripts to LC (UC accelerated program graduate advisor). He will send (or email) you back a form showing what classes you need to take as prereqs.
Luckily, because of my prior degree (chemical engineering), I was able to get out of the chemistry prereqs for the microbiology or A&P classes that I took. I DID, however, have to take an Intro to Psychology class before I could do the Lifespan course (which included child psych).
I did all but one of my prereqs at Sinclair Community College in Dayton. I highly recommend it, if you're into commuting. I did some classes (both psych, the basic nutrition course, and a statistics course) via distance learning. For most of these classes, you go to the testing center on campus to take the actual tests. Some quizzes were done from home online. Note that I DO NOT recommend the distance learning pharm course at Sinclair. The course is challenging enough when taken face-to-face. I wouldn't want to try & do it without the instructor's guidance.
In my "copious free time", I was also doing some of the prereqs (statistics & sociology) for Wright State University's accelerated "Beacon" nursing program. This was a "just in case" thing, in case I didn't get accepted to the UC program. Wright State required even more prereqs than UC.
You MUST look closely at the course description & prerequisites for each of your accelerated prereq required courses. You do not want to come down to your last class, needing to get it done by a certain deadline, only to discover that you need 2 prereqs before being allowed to sign up for the course. I almost got smacked by this myself. As you've discovered, some classes are not offered year-round. If all else fails, you can try to complete some of the prereqs via distance learning.
In my case, the "near-smack" occurred when I was all ready to sign up for the Nutrition & Disease course at Jackson Community College (Michigan). Unfortunately, I was looking to sign up in early February. It was THEN that I discovered that their "Spring" quarter started in freakin' JANUARY, not in March or April like my local community college. As a result, I had the honor of doing the N&D class down at UC (which ended ~11:45AM), then flying up I75 to Dayton to get to my 1PM Pharmacology class at Sinclair. Fun, fun, fun!
Talk to the admission counselors at the community college (Cinci State, I guess), letting them know what classes you need for the UC Accel program. They should be able to look over your past transcripts & tell you what classes you need to take, versus the classes that can be waived. Don't be afraid to push things a little & try to avoid taking basic prereq courses, if you feel that prior coursework has covered the subject material. I'm not sure how open the counselors are at Cinci State, but a fellow classmate was able to avoid the Psych prereqs & go directly into the lifespan course.
Talk to LC about getting you into the UC pharmacology class. He had to help me get into the Nutrition & Health class on campus, since it was full. He "forced" me into the class, which I guess is a way of sticking more students in the class than it was originally supposed to have. Remember that once you're accepted into Phase I (which can happen before completing all your prereqs), you ARE a "UC College of Nursing" student, so you should be able to take Pharm on campus. I did my pharm course at Sinclair, so didn't have to hassle with any sort of intro to nursing class.
Yes, it can be a hassle making sure that you take the right classes at the right time. It's worth it, though. You CAN do it! One step at a time......