Complete Noob to Nursing/College (Chamberlain?)

[DrZaius]

Hello folks, I've been checking this website and the internet in general for information about my specific circumstances and have not yet found them listed anywhere else. I will be 27 in September and have been out of high school for almost ten years. I never took my SATs and spent my twenties traveling and racking up some great experiences and memories. Now that I am settling down and looking at my future, I'm not necessarily regretting any of my decisions but I am wishing I had thought more about my future. For about two years I've been looking at nursing as a career not only because it runs in my family but because the qualities it demands fit me very well. I have had a history of not following through and over thinking things; not anymore, I have set my mind to this and am going completely for it.

However because of my history (or lack of) with school, I am completely lost on what to do here. I was looking at Chamberlain because they offer the "fast track" program to get your Bachelor RN in three years, but their admission requirements list a need for your high school GPA, ACT scores, college GPA etc etc. I have none of these, and since I've been out of high school for so long I'm not sure I can even get my transcripts anymore, not to mention that they aren't any reflection of who I have grown into since. It's also worth mentioning that although my girlfriend and I will be living in Phoenix for another year, we might move next year. She is a teacher and although we like much of what is provided here, it's just not quite home for us. Do the nursing credits and/or schooling transfer well to other nursing programs? I know that you can transfer to another Chamberlain school with a few stipulations.

So I'm a 27 year old guy, smart enough to realize that I am an intelligent and well thought individual with the characteristics required to be a nurse with zero higher education experience and no high school history to brag about. I lived in Pennsylvania my entire life, and will have lived in Phoenix for a year at the end of this month. What are my best options for pursuing my future as an RN? I apologise if this thread is a little open!

[Asystole RN]

You need to call Chamberlain and talk to the academic/enrollment advisers. They will order your transcripts for you, you just have to sign a form. Don't worry about your high school transcripts, they are not as important to you as an adult learner.

[abernie]

I'm starting Chamberlain on 9/4. I was required to provide my high school transcript and each and every college transcript that I have attended, including beauty school. If you have college experience, you will still need to provide your high school transcript but those grades won't be taken into account. They take all of your college transcripts and you need a cumulative GPA of 2.75 for the enrollment advisor to recommend you for admissions. I just barely squeezed by with a 2.75 because my freshman year of college, I didn't put as much effort in as needed. You do have the chance to explain this to your enrollment counselor as well as write a letter to the admission committee. If they can see that it was several years ago, they will definitely take that into account. I never took the ACT and they didn't ask for those scores. You have to take the HESI and as long as you score above the 85% mark that they are looking for, then you have a good chance of getting in. If you don't have that great of a GPA, you need to score really high on the HESI. I had a poor GPA but scored high 90's and that helped me a lot.

As for the credits transferring, that would definitely be something that you would want to talk to Chamberlain about. I know coming from a private college into Chamberlain that none of my credits transferred over, even though it was an accredited school. I would think it would be very similar unless you transferred to another Devry location. Have you already completed your prereqs? Maybe if you know for sure that you will be moving in a year, you could take some prereqs in that time frame at one of the CC's because those will definitely transfer over. Hope that helps- sorry I couldn't answer all your questions. I will say that the enrollment counselors at Chamberlain are very helpful and not pushy at all and could probably provide you with some really thorough answers.