Going from corp world and into nursing

[NCGal78]

Hi everyone!

I've been kind of lurking around on this site for some time, and finally decided to sign up and join in the conversation!

I'm 35 years old, and I am about to begin a whole new chapter in my life. I am going to get married early next year, and relocate from NC to WV and begin school full time to get a BSN. I am looking into either Fairmont State U, or WVU in WV... the WV board here is not very active. Any graduates or members that live in that area??

Anyway, I am in college now part time, and never knew what I wanted to do with my life. I've always been interested in all things medical, but wasn't sure I had what it takes to be a nurse. I'm beginning my training soon to start volunteering in the ED at my local hospital (High Point Regional in NC), and I am very excited!!! From what they've presented to me, I can get as much out of that experience as I'd like. They seem to really care about those of us who want to join the healthcare field, and want us to gain some experience through volunteering.

In conjunction with this, I know I need some pre-reqs to get into a nursing program. I am missing most of the required sciences, but I have a lot of the liberal arts requirements taken care of. I'll probably have to go through statistics too as well. I plan on meeting with the nursing admissions staff at Fairmont State in March, and I'm wondering what types of questions should I be sure to ask? I've already looked up the NCLEX pass rates for the schools there. Any other tips or words of advice?

I hope to be active on this board, as several of you have been very helpful from what I've observed so far. I'm excited and very nervous to start this new path. It's a huge change from what I'm doing now, but my job is not very fulfilling. I make a good salary, and will likely take a cut to become a nurse, though hopefully I can get back to where I am now after some experience.

Thanks!

Nicole

[BusiestBSN]

I cannot speak for Fairmont State University, but I am familiar with West Virginia University.

I applied to WVU for nursing school almost two years ago. I was able to interview and meet with the faculty. Because of their demographic, they try to accept as many instate people as possible before non WV applicants. I am out of state and got wait listed because of this. I did eventually get in, but I was already accepted to a school in my state and decided to go to that closer school instead.

WVU is an excellent school that can get a bad rep for being a "party school". Yes it is that, but it is so much more. There are multiple hospitals in Morgantown (Ruby Memorial & the university hospital next to the stadium) so you would have a lot of options for employment, volunteering and clinicals.

My advice is to finish your science pre reqs at a community college so you just need your nursing courses. Then apply to a bachelors program. I hope this helps :-)

[NCGal78]

Thank you, BusyBSN!! Yeah, I checked to see how long residency status for the state takes. It looks like it's 1 year. FSU offers their 2 year nursing which transitions into BSN, I just don't want to "waste" time on classes that may not benefit me. I definitely need to get those pre-reqs, so that'll take some time for sure! It's a good heads up that they give in-state students the preference.