getting into nursing school

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Has anyone did great on their prereq's and then had to be put on a waiting list to get into the nursing program? What is the likelihood of this happening to someone who does good on the prereq's?

Specializes in Emergency Dept, M/S.

Sonja -

The NLN is a pre-admission exam for nursing school. It is one of the widely used ones, but there are others. It is normally given at all schools that have a nursing program, usually once or month for some, or less for smaller colleges/tech schools.

It is accredited and scored not by the college, but by the National League for Nursing (NLN - the have a website - nln.org). Your scores are sent to you and to any schools to whom you are applying for the nursing program. You put special codes onto the test (which are available from the schools you are applying) and your scores are sent directly to them also. It doesn't mean you HAVE to apply to those schools, but if they have them already, you're one step up. I think it is $10 for each school you have your results sent to. I'm not sure about the other pre-ad tests - I've only taken the NLN.

Your results give you a mean score about how well you do compared to those applying for diploma nurse programs, associate's degree programs, and bachelor's programs. Some schools look for your scores to be at or above a certain number, other's don't put a lot of weight on them - it all depends on the school, but it is usually spelled out clearly what they expect in terms of NLN scores in their admission requirements.

There are study guides for the NLN. It is in 3 sections - Reading, Math and Science. I think there are like 70 questions in each section, and you get 90 minutes to complete each. If you are not happy with your scores, I think you have to wait a couple months before you can take it again, or you can appeal to a school to have them let you take it again. I'm not too sure how that process works though.

Anyway, the website is a great source of information. Let me know if you have any more questions. I've learned a lot after applying last year and this year to different schools, and now how overwhelming all the information and paperwork can be! :)

I really think admission criteria for a lot of schools

depends a lot on how many spots are open compared

to how many people apply for those spots.

My school has a published set of criteria and utilizes

a point system. You get a certain number of points for:

- Each pre-req completed with a grade of C or better.

- Cumulative GPA of required Biology and Math classes

- Overall GPA of all classes taken

- PSB-Nursing School Aptitude Exam

You are ranked according to how many points you have.

(16 is the highest)

There are a lot more applicants than open spots in

our program, so the competition is tough. They do

consider residents of the area who have taken the

bulk of pre-reqs at the school over non-residents

when there are space limitations. They do this

because it's a community college supported by local

real estate taxes (and business donations - but that's

another thread).

PSB-Nursing School Apptitude Exam tests on five

areas: Spelling, Reading, Natural Sciences, Total

Academic Aptitude, and Vocational Adjustment.

I need to find out what that last one is all about before

I take the exam.

Samantha

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