From dreams to reality... Help!

[deckles12]

I currently attend UNC Charlotte, but used to go to the University of Georgia. Since UGA got rid of their nursing program and out of state tuition was pricey, I transferred to UNCC. That being said, my freshman year I was taking all Georgia state requirements/pre-reqs and when I got to UNCC and saw all of the nursing pre-reqs, it was like starting all over as a freshman again! Long story short, UNCC has a ton of pre-reqs (chem, microbio, anat&phys, nutrition, etc) but with the professor/class cuts there are NO classes left and NO waiting lists for classes! In order to apply to the nursing program you have to have your pre-reqs done, but that's impossible if you can't get into the pre-reqs in the first place!

So, I am aiming for another route. I decided rather than waiting around, I am going to get my associates in Nursing and then go back to UNCC for the RN to BSN program. Does anyone not recommend this? This would put me graduating 'on time'-2012. And I could work as an RN while I am getting my bachelor's in nursing.

Any advice? I really hate to wait around for a program I may not even get into with the competition so high, and then I have wasted my time waiting for UNCC when there are a lot of 2 year programs that I have heard are just as good! ALSO, I recently received my North Carolina CNA... does anyone recommend working as a CNA in a particular environment? Hospital? Nursing home?... I have heard experience as a CNA helps tremendously in clinicals.

Any advice on any of this is greatly appreciated!! :)

[elkpark]

Are you wanting to stay in the Charlotte area? There are a number of good ADN programs in the Charlotte area, and your plan is perfectly reasonable. That path (ADN --> RN-to-BSN) is one lots of people take.

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons: Best wishes for your journey!

[mystic2fire]

CNA route makes a huge difference. As a nurse who has "ducklings" (aka nursing students) from time to time, I can definitely tell a huge difference, I can tell who has been an aide and who hasn't without even asking them. As a CNA, you may not know everything or fully understand why a nurse makes the decisions that they do, but the experience exposes you to a vast array of conditions / behaviors / time management / organization skills that will help you for the rest of your life. From my own experience, when I was in the LPN program and studying everything, it was a heck of a lot easier when I could relate it to a patient that I had taken care of-the "Oh ya, that's what (the resident) had" light bulb came on in my brain quite often. That made it a heck of a lot easier for tests and whatnot.