BA in physics, 2+ years of med school, interested in nursing.

[Lint Davidson]

Hi there. Back in the early 1990s I got a BA in physics and minored in math and chemistry, but really thought of myself as pre-med. I did in fact get accepted to med school and secured a military scholarship to pay for it. I enjoyed it and did well, but two clerkships into my third year I lost my scholarship for a medical condition that's no longer relevant, and wound up not finishing.

I'm now 44 and mulling over returning to health care. Even if finishing med school would only mean finishing my third and fourth years, I'm not interested in becoming a doctor, and not merely because I'd be over 50 by the time I could practice. I am, however, interested in pursuing a BSN and becoming a nurse, even though I think that in many ways it would be harder work.

Since I had anatomy, physiology, biochem, microbiology, etc. in med school and took all of the standard pre-med stuff in college, I assume I have few to no prereqs to complete. With that in mind, how, exactly, would I go about getting a BSN someplace? I know there are accelerated programs, but haven't gotten as far as even looking into costs (I am hardly made of money and that's an issue). And I don't know how online options compare to others. I figured a forum like this would be the best way to get the basic answers.

Thanks so much!

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I think you might find you have to take the science prereqs over because of the length of time that has gone by. You will have to see if this is the case and what your options would be such as tested out thru CLEP.

[Delicate Flower]

Hi,

I was in a similar situation to yours, though I had a BS and MS in non-nursing fields and had done pre-med courses but not med school. When I decided on nursing, I chose ADN simply because I had to continue working full time professioanlly while I completed the ADN. There were no BSN evening/weekend options. I ended up getting a full ride for my ADN which was awesome. Like you, most of my pre-reqs were already on my transcripts, so I started on the nursing program pretty quickly.

That was 8 years ago, and I still have not bit the bullet and bridged to BSN, mostly because I've been able to meet my career goals without doing so. When the time is right and the cost burden will be a little easier to bear (or if my employer wants to pay for it), I'll get it done (probably WGU). Maybe. :)

Getting an acute care hospital job out of school with an ADN can vary from nearly impossible in some areas of the country, to fairly easy in others. Look at the job postings in your area, or talk to hospital nurses to see who they are hiring on their units. Since you said cost is an issue, ADN may be a fair compromise because you can get the program done a lot quicker and get to working, and owe a lot less in student loans.

Check your local community college's nursing program to see what the preqrequisites are, and whether there is a time limit (some math and science courses may have a 10 year expiration date, or you may need to test out of them).

If you don't like the ADN idea, look at accelerated BSN options. I don't know about online BSN programs for initial licensure; I would tend to recommend brick and mortar schools for that. But I have not researched them much so I could be wrong.

[krisiepoo]

It's very likely you'll need to take all the classes over again. At my school, 10 years was the longest credits would transfer but I had to retake all my sciences.

you cannot get your first RN online (to my knowledge)... there are RN-BSN programs online but those are for people that are already ADN RN's furthering their degree

your first step is looking at colleges in your area that offer nursing programs and see what you'd need to do

[mhy12784]

Just because you were premed I would imagine you might also want to look into PA programs. Since thats more the medical tree (instead of the nursing tree)

Id definitely look into nursing too, just see which seems more viable for your goals and interest

[labrat2nurse]

I started nursing as a second carer when I turned 50. Did not have to repeat a single science class taken 30 years prior. What the

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Repeating sciences would depend on each institution. It's of such relevant importance to nursing that I believe you would need to repeat them to be successful in nursing school unless you have been working in a field that uses this information regularly. It would seem an accelerated BSN would be great for one in your position but I think you would probably still have the old sciences issue. The other issue with that is that accelerated BSNs are pretty expensive; at least in my area. The local State university charges right around $1,000 a credit hour for the nursing courses in accelerated BSN.

If you choose to pursue the ADN, please do your due diligence and investigate the new graduate hiring environment. In some areas it is extremely difficult to get hired (as a new grad) if you have an ADN and even with a BSN.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

It depends on the school. I did not have to retake my credits I earned 15 years ago. Not sure if it was because it was the same school or what but I did not. Please know that while doctors and nurses are both important members of the health care team they are entirely different jobs.