Confused about applying to nursing schools from a community college!

I'm doing community college for my pre reqs now and applying to a four year school. Every school has its own policy on accepting transfers into their school to complete 2 years of upper level nursing classes and get their BSN. He schools I'm applying to consider their own students and transfers the same because they look at the highest GPAs or test scores in their applicant pool. And yes both a BSN and ASN are RNs, one is just a higher degree.

See if your community college/transfer school of choice has an articulation system called artsys that tells you what transfers and what doesn't. My nursing school of choice also tells you on their website whats classes they need you to have completed. I suggest calling up your 4 year school of choice and ask what pre-reqs they want, no sense in wasting money and time taking classes you won't need. I'd say that the solid classes that most schools these days are looking for is a basic english composition class, a college level math class, microbiology, anatomy and physiology I & II, Chemistry, and nutrition.

To clarify your other question a BSN in a Bachelors of Science in Nursing, this is the typical 4 year degree, where as an ASN is an Associates of Science in Nursing and are typically completed at a 2 year community college. Don't be fooled though, both are highly competitive and take top students. BSN is better for nursing management and preparing you for masters studies if that is in your plan.

I don't think that completing your pre-reqs at a community college would hurt you. I do suggest maintaining a high GPA, I personally am aiming for a 3.5 or above (definitely at least a 3.5 in my science classes). Also begin to prepare for your TEAS test (again check with your 4 year of choice to see if this is the entrance exam they use) any volunteer work at a hospital or health care related facility would be a plus. Start also thinking about WHY you want to be a nurse as this is the question most schools use for their essay prompt.

Oh oh, you should have decided on 2-3 nursing schools that you wanted to apply to BEFORE starting to take your prereqs. You are making it harder on yourself because now you are working backwards and may have to spend longer taking prereqs because of it.

Step #1 Decide on 2-3 nursing schools--look up several nursing programs and decide on 2-3 that closely fit within your current GPA and the prereqs you have already taken. More than likely, there will be a few that you haven't taken that you will need to take for those schools, since you didn't look over the different prereqs requirements for nursing schools before starting to take classes. Most of the time, no two nursing schools have exactly the same prereqs unfortunately.

Step #2 Call each nursing school you are interested in and ask if they have any restrictions on transfer credits or any other special requirements you need to have to apply--CPR, TB test, physical etc. Most nursing schools have information sessions a few times a year this is the best way to find out about each program and ask any questions you may have.

Step #3 ADN or BSN? ADN is usually a 2 year program and it is an Associates degree in nursing and usually offered at community colleges, county or teaching hospitals. BSN is a Bachelors in nursing and is a 2 (accelerated)-3 year program is usually offered at state colleges & private colleges. The ADN & BSN aren't really that different in terms of one being "better" than the other you can get your RN license with either degree but the ADN is the faster route that most people take BUT! alot of hospitals and other places are phasing out hiring ADN's and hiring only BSN nurses. The best way to find out which is the best route to take is to look at the job boards for the hospitals and clinics in your area. If 95% of the job boards are looking for BSN's, then there's your answer on what program to go into. If you find/run into alot of listings for ADN's, then go for that. Then work as an ADN for a little while to get some experience under your belt and then just do an RN-BSN bridge program a year or two later. Tada! :)

Hope that helps! Anymore questions you can PM me, I'm always glad to help folks :)