Why Is It So Hard To Get Into Nursing Programs If There Is A Shortage For Nurses???

Nurses General Nursing

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Why Is It So Hard To Get Into Nursing Programs If There Is A Shortage For Nurses??? Then you have schools that only accept 30 students a semester. It's so frustrating.

Specializes in emergency, trauma, psychiatry.

Hi khiasdestiny,

I got your message but for whatever reason I cannot reply to it, if you want to talk

write to me at [email protected]

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Ana

I don't know :( I'm getting ready to graduate from A&M (don't hate!) and I have a B.S. in Microbiology. I need to get a B.S. in Nursing for my military commission but I don't know too much about nursing schools or how they work. I know about accelerated programs and about the nursing programs as a second degree. Unfortunately my GPA is just a little under the wire for most of these programs, does anyone have any suggestions?? I could REALLY use some help. Thanks ya'll!

-Shannon

Why Is It So Hard To Get Into Nursing Programs If There Is A Shortage For Nurses??? Then you have schools that only accept 30 students a semester. It's so frustrating.

Sort of a Catch-22 dilemma here:

Part of the reason for the shortage of nurses is the lack of capacity in nursing schools.

Add to that the average age of nursing faculty--nearing retirement--and one foresees a situation that won't get better any time soon.

Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

A part of me is sitting her grinning. You know when I first applied to school I was told there was a waiting list and it might take a year or longer to get into school. Not everyone who applied was accepted, many in the program dropped out, or were asked to leave. that was 30 years ago

the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Historically, there were too many nurses and not enough jobs. Many nursing schools have been closed because of that. This created a shortage of nursing instructors. Not too many people want to teach. Also, in some states hospitals are trying to phase out the LVNs and replace them with RNs. Therefore, preferences are given to people who already have nursing education. There are different bridge programs. You can get into LVN school, than take a bridge program to a higher educational level. It is hard to get in into nursing schools. Most of the schools require high GPA in prereqs. And there is a reason for it. While you are in a nursing school, there is no time to go over A&P, micro, chem in a great detail. You are expected to know your staff. Nursing courses build on your previous knowledge. So the better you know your staff, the better off you are.

A lot of these posts are several years old. Let me update the answer to this question from my experience.

Let me preface any of this by saying that I have 2 previous degrees in a non-nursing related field. I have a BFA and have worked at the top of my field (graphics) for over 20 years. I've had a successful career in that field, but, like many, that field has tanked so I'm forced to get into something that will carry me through to retirement. Nursing is of great interest. Seeing 2 parents in and out of hospitals over the course of 10 years and spending in depth time in that atmosphere peaked an interest and further investigation into the field lead me to believe that I could contribute a great deal to that field as well as the one I'm departing.

Since my previous career was non math/science related, I had to pick up a lot of pre-reqs to get ready to enter a nursing program. I started taking pre-reqs almost 3 years ago. I still work, so I can only take one class at a time. In that amount of time, the requirements to get into this field have changed drastically. The TEAS test is now required. as little as 4 years ago it was not. Based on friends who are now in a nursing program, the questions on the TEAS have changed in difficulty in the past 2 years. A friend who took the test 19 months ago said she had only 5 science questions. Now there are 54, and as I study the practice test for the TEAS I realize that you almost have to had already taken college level anatomy and physiology prior to taking the test. I have already taken 4 semester of college level algebra to prep for this test, but now realize that most likely I need to take at least 2 semesters of anatomy and physiology to pass this test.

It's very clear that they are ramping up the difficulty level to get into nursing school because they have too many students for the instructors available (a point made several times in these posts). I have no doubt that a professional like myself could handle the coursework to make it through an ASN program, but getting in is nearly impossible. I know that you don't want just anyone getting into the program, but the nursing field is missing out by making it extremely difficult for transitioning professionals like myself to get into this field.

I've asked successful nurses (who are friends) who have been in the field for 10 years or more if they had to jump through all of these hoops and every one said "no." They do tell me that the coursework once inside a program is challenging, but all of them indicate that there was never any difficulty getting into a program. Plus, if any of you have been in a situation where dealing with nurses one-on-one, it becomes very obvious that there are some extremely good nurses out there. . . .but there are also some that you wonder how on earth these people made it through school. Which makes me wonder, with all the challenges involved. . . .how did they make it through school. . .and why am I having such a difficult time. It's very frustrating.

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