New to college and don't understand

Nurses General Nursing

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Okay, I am starting college for my pre reqs for RN and I am confused:uhoh3: I have never been to college before and this whole pre req stuff is confusing the stew out of me. I have a few questions if you all don't mind helping me out because I am lost.

1.) Why do colleges ( At least this one) make students take pre reqs that aren't required? I a, not talking about intermidiate classes. I was talking on the phone to the college advisors and she said if I didn't hurry up and get my schedual for my classes the classes would be filled and I would be stuck taking classes that aren't required????? Why would people even take them if its not even going towards anything?? I don't get it.

2.) What is the estimated full time stud hours? (BTW I am going next week to speak to an advisor and just thought I could get some insight here) Is it M-F 8:00-3:00 or is college diffrent than regular school?

3.) I was looking on the college websit and it said "Pre Reqs required for nursing" Here they are....

Prerequisite for Admission to Nursing Program Semester Hours

*MATH 1020 MATH FOR ALLIED HEALTH* 2

^ENGL 1010 ENGLISH COMPOSITION 3

^HUMANITIES/FINE ARTS ELECTIVE** 3

^PSY 110 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I 3

^BIOL 2010 HUMAN ANATOMY &

PHYSIOLOGY 4

BIOL 2020 Human Anatomy and

Physiology II 4

BIOL 2230 Microbiology 4

NUR 111 Foundations of Nursing 9

NUR 112 Nursing Care I 10

NUR 113 Introduction to Pharmacology 2

NUR 211 Nursing Care II 10

NUR 212 Nursing Care III 10

NUR 213 Dimensions of Practice 2

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Footnotes:

Refer to Nursing Course Descriptions for prerequisites/corequisites.

General Education course prerequisites must be taken as identified in Nursing Course Descriptions.

Nursing courses must be taken in sequence.

*MATH 1020 must be completed prior to admission and within one year of admission into the Nursing Program

* The Humanities/Fine Arts elective (one course) must be completed from the following: ART 1010, ART 1020, ART 1030, ART 1040, THEA 1030, PHIL 1030, PHIL 1040, PHIL 2030, MUS 2110, or MUS 2120.

Is the NUR 111, 112,113,211, 212 and 213 The acual nursing program????? Or is all this just the pre reqs to get in the RN????? ( okay, I know I am starting to sound very ignorant when it comes to college pre req's but the best way I know to learn it is to ask.)

Thanks to all and any that took time out to help me understand this. I really do appreciate it.

Specializes in Psych, LTC, Acute Care.

When you first start out in college you will be at the bottom of the barrel when picking classes. Most colleges have different registration times depending on your status. For example: Senior pick first, then Juniors etc. When you are a freshmen, you register last. So depending on how fast you register will determine if you get the class. It gets easier to get into the classes the more hours your have. I can remember sitting by the phone at midnight trying to phone in my classess the minute the lines opened up. It took a while but I got in. So don't be suprised if you go to registration and a class is not availible. You may have to take a different class just to get your foot in the door.

One thing I suggest when you look up nursing curriculum. There should be an outline of classes to take each semester. For example. 1st semester: English 101,College Math, Psychology, A&P 1. 2nd semester: English 102, Developmental Psy, A&P 2. Your advisor should be helping you map out a plan to complete your prerequistes. Go back to them and ask them to do that for you.

Full-time status in my area is 12 hrs or more. Most people getting financial aide have to take 12 hrs for fulltime status and 6hrs for partime. Good Luck to you!

I started college after being out of school 35 years. Our first professor told us not to look at the forest (all the classes) but look at the tree- one at a time. It does put things into prospective. Then when you graduate you do have a FOREST!!!!

Besides that I was older than all my classmates and most of the professors.

Good luck! :nurse:

Breath! Breath! The most important thing to do right now is relax and breath. It seems like a lot, but it's not that complicated once you get into the swing of things :).

The way a lot of colleges work is they actually have their own set of classes that are needed for you to graduate with a degree, or the gen-ed requirements. These classes may not necessarily be needed to get into the nursing program, but may be needed to graduate from college. For instance, my nursing program does not require that I take a foreign language. My college does. So I have to take 2 semesters of foreign language to get my degree, but not to get into the nursing program. It also depends on whether you're going for your ADN or your BSN, and the college that you're at.

You may have to take classes that aren't required, or "fillers" if the classes you need fill up and you have to maintain full time status. For example, if you need a math, but they're all filled up, and you have to take the class so you'll stay full time, you may have to take something extra to fill in the extra hours you need. The reason for this is a lot of scholarships and loans require that you maintain your full time status so that you can be eligible for the funds they're providing you. If you drop below full time, you may not be able to get them anymore. Your full time status is based on how many hours you take. 12 hours is usually full time. So, for example, if you're in a math that's counted as 4 hours, an English that's counted as 4 hours, and a psych that's 3 hours, you'd only be at 11 hours. But say your scholarship said you need 12 hours to be eligible. You'd have to take another class. But all the classes you need are all filled up. In that case, you'd want to take a filler class so that would put you at full time status. Since this is your first time in college, I'd recommend going with an easy filler class, maybe a music class or drama or something, that way you can put your focus on the main ones you need for nursing.

Now onto scheduling. Freshmen students don't really get to pick the best classes...that comes with seniority and gpa lol. So basically you'll get what's left, which usually means early morning or evening classes. So you could have a class that meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 in the morning, another at 7:30 at night, and another on Mon Weds Fri at 8 in the morning, and yet another one that only meets on Weds nights at 8 pm. It all really depends on what's open. Your admissions office should have a course schedule or can direct you to where you can get one for free. Also, if you have your username and stuff for the online access to your school's website, you should be able to find it on there.

Some colleges require you to take nursing courses before you can actually get into the nursing program. Mine is one of them. I guess it's so they know you're serious about it, or maybe so that once you're in the nursing program you already have some background on the subject. Either way, some colleges just make you do it that way. Some of those courses look more like the actual program, but your advisor would be the best one to ask about that. Just stick to what your advisor says and you'll be fine. Remember, they do this as a job, so they can answer any questions you have.

Above all, just relax and take it as it comes. I know that's easier said than done, but just remember that every student in your class and even the professor has been through the same thing you're going through now. If you need help finding something, just ask. If you need to, send your advisor an email and they can clear anything questions up, and it's usually easier to get ahold of them that way then in person. There's also usually career counseling services or admissions offices with student advisors who can help you at. Working with first year students is their job. There's probably tour groups you can join to walk around the campus, especially over the summer with all the new students coming in. If you stop by the admissions office and ask they can give you all kinds of welcome info and groups and stuff that will help you out. Good luck! :wink2:

Congrads!!!! on your A :yelclap: I start in August and I am nervous as well. I am going to pray my way through this. My goodness 5 Chapters and not even started yet YIKES! should I run now...lol.. Maybe after your through you can give me a few tips;) of what to expect ...lol.... I hope the best for you. Can't wait untill I get there.

Breath! Breath! The most important thing to do right now is relax and breath. It seems like a lot, but it's not that complicated once you get into the swing of things :).

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! So that is whats with those "filler" classes. I Get it now! Thank you so much!

No problem...I've been doing the college thing for a while now (switched my major literally 6 times before I decided on nursing lol) so I've got loads of experience in the "Holy crap, I have to do WHAT?" area haha.

Thanks to all for the help! Pray for me!

Try to make sure that any classes you take actually count toward degree requirement fulfillment! What an expensive waste if they don't! True, lots of classes broaden us, deepen us. But taking them just to hold a place in school, while the classes aren't actually going to count toward graduation doesn't seem wise, unless you have the money to freely spend - and maybe you do.

Your advisor should be able to help you figure these things out. And the advisor at the Nursing school you hope to attend should also be able to help you figure out what classes to take, in order to ease your acceptance at that school eventually.

Thanks, I hope I don't have to take any classes that are not going towards my degree. We well see but hopefully not.

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