Chamberlain: Can you take nursing classes in whatever order you want?

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Hi,

I will be entering Chamberlain's BSN program (not the RN-BSN) in 2017 and am trying to get the full picture of how registering for the classes works. I will have completed almost all non-nursing courses with the exception of the following:

Culture & Society

Intro to Chem

Critical Reasoning

Public Speaking

Statistics

I plan to complete Chem, statistics and public speaking at GTC before transferring.

So I will probably be starting there officially by Fall 2017. That being said, I have already been in another program that I left for personal reasons, and figure that there must be some kind of logical order in which at least some of the nursing courses are completed. But which ones can I take at whatever semester or session I prefer? I am about 40 minutes away from the campus, so I am trying to take courses in a similar order to that of GTC. I have a family member who will be starting there at the same time, so covering the same major courses, such as fundamentals, pharm, adult health 1 & 2, Peds/OB, and adult health 3 and transitions, would make good sense to do together so we can study together close by home. I will have extra courses that are seperated such as fundamental skills, assessment 1 & 2, and fundamentals pt care, but that is all covered in GTC's fundamentals class as a whole for 16 weeks rather than 2 sessions each being 8 weeks.

My hopes were to take the classes as described below:

Fall 2017 Spring 2018

-assessment 1 -adult health 1

-fundamental skills -health & wellness

-pharmacology -adult health 2

-assessment 2 -nutrition, health & wellness

-fundamental pt care

Summer 2018 Fall 2018

-Culture & Society -Pediatrics

-Mental Health Nursing -Transitions into the Nursing Profession

-Critical Reasoning -Obstetric Nursing

-Information Systems in HC -Evidence Based Practice

Spring 2019 Summer 2019

-Adult health 3 -Pathophysiology

-Ethics -Collaborative Healthcare

-Community Health -Capstone Course

I am open to moving some around (not that it will be my choice if it's set in stone by the school ^^).

I just wanted to understand what flexibility I have to work with.

Thank you for reading through all this, and any help will be greatly appreciated!

NNM

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There's very very little wiggle room. Almost all classes are pre-reqs for other classes. Check out the actual course catalog to see what I mean.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

Edited to delete because I have no idea how Chamberlain does it.

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You have to take assessment, fundamentals 1 and 2, proceed to adult health and then complete the specialty class . Speciality classes are in order the school finds clinical site. You dont get to choose.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Thread's been moved to our Chamberlain College forum.

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Where can I locate this catalog?

Thanks!

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So basically peds, OB, and mental are the specialty areas?

Thanks!

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Where can I locate this catalog?

Thanks!

Chamberlain College of Nursing Catalog

(course descriptions are on page 67)

The other posters are correct, for the most part you have to take your NR courses in order. There is some wiggle room after Adult Health II but clinicals cannot be taken together. The earliest possible time to complete the program, transferring in your first year, is two years plus a semester (7 semesters).

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You can't choose your order or what classes you'd like to take together. I wish you could or I'd have myself graduating way earlier. Lol Your advisor sets it up for you during your initial sit down meeting with him or her. You may have a slight say so with certain classes but not too much. They will map out your whole schedule for the next two or so years. Certain classes have to be taken before others before you qualify to take the next.

I do do like how you get options of choosing different times. For example for my January/March session I registered for two weeks ago, I was able to pick Adult Health I times for class ranging from Mon/Wed 7:30 am - 10:30 am, 11:30 am - 2 pm, or 1 pm - 4 pm. It's different with every class, though. Some but not all nursing classes are available online, like Pharmacology or Nutrition. Clinicals however are a set day and you have no control over where, what time, or location.

So I guess to answer your question you have some flexibility on classes but only on picking the available class times that they offer but with clinicals, absolutely no flexibility.

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Hi,

I've never taken a nursing course online. Pharmacology I took on campus. So how would we receive lectures? Or do they basically just post due dates, timed exams from home and powerpoints for study materials? Are thereally courses you would advise I take on campus?

Thanks!

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If you think you may find it challenging to take online courses then I would just stick to campus ones. Advisors even recommend taking classes on campus but I prefer online when I can due to the fact that I'm comfortable in an online environment. Some of my classmates hate online though. I think it totally depends on what you can handle.

Online classes require for you to pay close attention to deadlines, participate in "class" discussions, read available notes and textbook, and take the online timed exams. They say no open book or notes but I'm sure they're are people who break that rule. Lol

Pharmacology is one you'd probably want to take on campus, as well as Pathophysiology. I took Patho online the same time with Health & Wellness and I'll have to admit it was a little challenging but doable. I am scheduled to take online Pharmocology next session but I feel for myself I will be fine because I'm an LPN and am already familiar with a lot of medicines. However, A LOT of my classmates are taking this on campus (also the campus professor is super sweet and great at helping people understand) the online professor is someone different but I still think I'll be okay.

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Awesome!. I use to struggle with online courses in the very beginning of my studies, but that was a loooong itme ago. I am comfortable with online courses, but honestly, regular classes aren't like nursing classes. That being said, not sure what to think of them. I've done plenty of them before though, and made all A's in them.

I forgot to ask you an important question. GTC nursing courses have a test average you must meet regardless of your overall class average to continue on to the next course. Theirs was a 75% didactic cutoff. They don't round for even 74.99%. Does Chamberlain do anything like this? Is there any other kind of cut offs for moving forward? GTC also did dosage calcuation exams with 10-25 problems to solve. You had to pass at the start of each semester to stay. 90% was the minimum accepted grade. If you scored below that, you got one more attempt and then you are out. I know check-offs are another one. I passed all of my check offs in GTC's program and only had to retake my last one (IV-insertions).

Thanks again!

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