Going back to school for nursing degree does one have to start over?

[Magnicious]

Hello,

My girlfriend would like to go back to school for nursing. She went to school for Bachelor of Elementary in Education (BEED). However, she is under the impression that if she goes it will take 5 years. In America (where I am from), usually the first year or so is math and other general education so when you transfer in a bachelor's you do not have to start from scratch. She's doesn't want to spend 5 years back in school again as that is what she thinks it will be. Does anyone have any idea on how long a program will take if you transfer in a bachelor's and coming back in for a second degree? I want to pay for her to go back to school (I'm American) and she is highly interested in going and I want her to have a skill. She has a baby on the way and she was going to take to restructure and prepare for her future career so I was hoping she could use this time to go back to school while I support her.

[vince_reads, BSN, LVN, RN]

What she can do is to visit a nursing school and have her transcript get evaluated. Might as well visit her alma mater, the school where she went for BEED if that school has a BSN program. She might not need to retake those minor subjects she did. The BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program in the Philippines is set to have pre-reqs and major programs for 4 years. So if she did some of the pre-reqs (minor subjects) during her BEED program, then she doesn't need to repeat them. Those will be credited and she will only take subjects that are still needed prior to being placed in the major subjects.

When I was studying BSN in the Philippines, I had classmates who were second-coursers. We call them that if they already have a previous degree and they are in the BSN program. It's like the equivalent Accelerated BSN program we have here in America.

For reference: A "subject" in the Philippines is a "course" in America. Example, a history subject is same as history course, and so on.

[Fiona59]

• Going to nursing school with an infant is not easy. If the plan is for her and the child to move to the US, she'd be better off childcarewise being a teacher. No shiftwork to cover and school holidays.