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I'm currently a senior in high school and want to know what you think about me taking LVN courses and then transfering to RN. U think it's a good idea? Do u know how many years this whole process may take? Thx for any replies.

well since you are young like me>20 years old. I'm doing my pre-reqs for the RN program. I say go straight to the RN program if thats what you want to do. Why waste your time transfering and just get it done>just my thought. Good luck to you!

welcome to allnurses

I'm currently a senior in high school and want to know what you think about me taking LVN courses and then transfering to RN. U think it's a good idea? Do u know how many years this whole process may take? Thx for any replies.

I agree with the other poster, just go straight into an RN program. If cost is an issue, go for an ADN RN instead of an BSN RN at your local community college (You get pay the same at the entry level once you pass the board exam). Then if you are interested later, do some kind of bridge program to a BSN and hopefully the institution you work for is willing to pay for education also.

There is one scenerio I could think of where you would want the LVN route. The scenerio is that all the local RN schools are impacted real bad (which is very likely) and a school has a LVN to RN bridge program where there is no waiting list. I can see that after you done all the prereq for RN, you would apply for LVN school (with the intend to bridge to RN in case you keep waiting and waiting for the acceptence to RN) while at the same time you wait for acceptence to RN school.

You are going to take prereqs when you are in college. If you are set for RN, do NOT take the LVN version of some of the courses. For example, some school, for LVN, they have a different version of Anatomy/Physiology than RN. Take the RN version because that will be accepted in both schools. If you take the LVN version, you are going to have to take the RN version again which will cause delay.

Usually the prereq require you to take the following (not exhaustive, check with your school counselor real carefully)

  • One year of Anatomy/Physiology, biology major version
  • Intro to Microbiology - Check school as some school will not other school's microbiology and you can't transfer it (especially between semester and quarter schools)
  • Intro to Nutritient (again check school, there are different versions)
  • Some kind of public speaking or oral communication class (yes, classes like this can be very useful in nursing)
  • Intro to Psychology
  • Intro to Human Development in psychology (this is from birth to death, not just child development)
  • Math - at the algebra level. No calculus needed
  • English requirements (check school)
  • Inorganic and organic chemistry - For a BSN, you are going to need this. For for ADN program, this is not a requirement. You don't need to take the chemistry major version, take the easier version (but not the easiest version, check your school).
  • Sociology Intro
  • Others I can't think of ...

-Dan

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I agree with the others - go right for your RN. And since you're young, I'd suggest considering enrolling in a University and going right for a BSN, rather than an ADN.

As far as how long it will take - an ADN usually takes three years - one year for prerequisites and 2 years for the core nursing program. For a BSN, I believe the whole thing takes 4 years (possibly 5?).

As far as how long it will take - an ADN usually takes three years - one year for prerequisites and 2 years for the core nursing program. For a BSN, I believe the whole thing takes 4 years (possibly 5?).

Given your situation (fresh from high school), an ADN probably will take actually 4 years also because you need to get other Associate degree requirement out of the way also. Also it is not likely you will get into A&P classes until at least 1, if not 2 years of taking other classes because some schools are so impacted that you won't have high enough priority to get in since it is base on how many units you have (Everybody takes A&P from premeds to respiration therapist to nursing to...). Take a look at the school you are interested.

All things being equal, go for a BSN straight which is 4 years in lots of cases. With a BSN, you have a lot more flexibility to move around in your career if you choose to.

For ADN, as mentioned before, it usually has a cost advantage.

Let's see... you can go to a community college and get your lower division out of the way and then transfer to a 4 year university. Class sizes usually are smaller in a community college and a lot cheaper.

While I am at it... look at http://www.ratemyprofessors.com and see if the school you are interested is in there. I use this site quite often in picking which teachers I want. So far, it is working well for me. Just keep in mind that just because the teacher has one or two bad comment, it does not mean the teacher is bad (it could be the student just didn't study and had a grudge). Don't look at the rating so much as the detail comments. For example, if mulitple people say the teacher has a sense of humor, then that probably is true.

-Dan

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Given your situation (fresh from high school), an ADN probably will take actually 4 years also because you need to get other Associate degree requirement out of the way also. Also it is not likely you will get into A&P classes until at least 1, if not 2 years of taking other classes because some schools are so impacted that you won't have high enough priority to get in since it is base on how many units you have (Everybody takes A&P from premeds to respiration therapist to nursing to...). Take a look at the school you are interested.

Not necessarily. I completed my prereqs in one year. I did have three classes that I took a decade ago that transferred to my degree (Psych, Comp I and College Algebra), but I was also only going to school part-time. Had I gone fulltime, I could have easily done those three classes in that year's time, as well. IMO, it would be VERY doable to get your prereqs done in one year, even straight out of high school. And there are creative ways of getting some of the difficult-to-get-into classes done (such as through an online venue like Rio Salado).

Not necessarily. I completed my prereqs in one year. I did have three classes that I took a decade ago that transferred to my degree (Psych, Comp I and College Algebra), but I was also only going to school part-time. Had I gone fulltime, I could have easily done those three classes in that year's time, as well. IMO, it would be VERY doable to get your prereqs done in one year, even straight out of high school. And there are creative ways of getting some of the difficult-to-get-into classes done (such as through an online venue like Rio Salado).

In my area, there are "creative" ways to get the difficult-to-get-into classes. One of them is to go to a community college that is about 50 miles from where everything is. That college is not impacted and it's courses are transferable within all the local college system. Another is what you suggested, some kind of distant learning type of class, but you have to make sure it is accepted. The lab related class, I don't know how you do distant learning for it howevery.

-Dan

i would say go for your rn. i recently had to make similar choices... the rn program that requires a lot of general ed classes or the lpn program that requires no pre-reqs... here are few things that helped me decide. things are different for each school so you may want to actually go and see an advisor at both schools for added guidance.

1. if i did the lpn program i would more than likely have been very limited in my job areas. lpns in my area are more often seen in doctors offices and scattered throughout the hospital. the latest trend that one of our local hospitals has done is eliminating hiring new lpns (they have offered tuition assistance to the lpns currently on staff to go for the rn)... but they have had a lot of time filling the missing spots... so they have now rotated the orders around and will only put lpns in particular fields in the hospital... but an rn can work anywhere. given that i want to be in the or it was a big factor to me.

2. cost. the rn program is at my local community college and the lpn program is taught through a private school. to get my lpn it would cost be as much if not a little more than to get my rn.

3. time. it was 11mos for the lpn program (most range between 11mos-18mos) and in that time frame i could complete all my general ed nursing classes. becoming an lpn only knocked a semester and 1/2 (5 week summer) off the program... to me it wasnt much of an incentive.

4. if i had become and lpn first i would still have to take all of the pre-reqs to bridge over to the rn program... so either way i would have to take the classes and there was no skipping this one or that one.

one thing i will warn you of... make sure you look at the pre-reqs for the pre-reqs. our school actually only says for pre-reqs that the student had to in high school have a year of bio, chem, and algebra and pass them all with a c or better. if they did not have them then they must take a college level course (but they do not require the lab... it is a pass/fail type class). the problem with that is to get into a&p and/or micro you will need to have in most cases bio 101 and bio 102 (2 semesters of bio) so i could see where it might take a student a little longer to complete those classes. we actually have the general ed classes worked into the nursing program (a&p, micro, psych, eng, pub speak, socilogy, ethics, etc) but they encourage you to take them before hand. it is also next to impossible to get in without those classes because of the point system (5 pts for a&p and micro, 2 points for each other gen ed class).

if i were going straight out of high school again i would think about going the university route for my bsn. although i am still young, i messed up big time my first couple of semesters in college so transferring to a university was not as likely for me (they would have laughed at my old gpa! amazing that it is so easy to lower it but you have to work your butt off to bring it back up!!!!)

i guess another question would be... are you still in hs or have you graduated? i know that one of the local lpn programs works with the city hs to intergrate the seniors into the lpn program their senior year... if that was the case i think i would have gone for my lpn but now being out of school i can not really see the total benefit of going the lpn route if your ultimate goal is bridge immediately into an rn program.

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
The lab related class, I don't know how you do distant learning for it howevery.

-Dan

I did all of my science/lab classes through distance learning (Bio, A&P I and II, and Micro).

2 reasons I wanted to take LVN-to-RN is because (1) RN classes are full and (2) More experience before entering the RN field (Is this true?).

O yea, I plan to go to Saddleback Community College in CA, then transter to 4 year college.

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