I am a licensed LVN in California with only a few month of experience
in infant recovery care.
I recently inquired with various CA junior colleges who offer an LVN
to RN "advanced placement program".
The requirements are always the same:
To just apply for the 2 semester program, they require an LVN license,
completion of 5 unit classes in Microbiology, Physiology, and Anatomy.
Then there is a 2 to 3 year waiting list. Then you can finally do the
full time 2 semester program, then you have to do your RN board exam.
It is very difficult to do more than one class at a time for the 3
required classes in Microbiology, Physiology and Anatomy, given that
they all have extensive lab and homework requirements. So that
represents 3 semesters of studies.
3 semesters of studies, then 2 to 3 years of waiting, then 2 semesters
in the program, that is a total of 4 years of time to just go from
LVN to RN.
If I count the time required from the High School degree to the RN
degree, I come up with 6 to 7 years of study to get just a
AA degree in nursing and an RN license.
If you don't go through the LVN step, the waiting time to get into
the full 4 semester RN program is a solid 3 years usually, so it is
still 6 to 7 years of study.
If one goes to a State college, one can get a Bachelor's degree
in Nursing and an RN license in just 4, maybe 5 years.
So why would anybody choose the junior college path?
Did I miss something?
Happyanne