Graduating high school early

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Due to personal issues as well as my strong motivation to be a nurse, I will be graduating high school next year (with diploma and all) although I am now only 16. Personal issues aside, I've wanted to be a nurse since I was 8 and I really want to be on the right track to get there.

I was thinking that during what would be my senior year of high school, I could take gen-ed courses at a local community college to get them out of the way. Maybe I could even take some nursing prereqs. Do you think this is a good idea? Also, if I wanted to enter college the next year as a freshman, would that be possible? Or would I be a "transfer student?" Thank you so much for reading and for your help!

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I'm not sure what state your in but if you have a diploma you should def start taking classes at a college.

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Specializes in Hospice.

That's awesome! Good for you. And you may not even need gen ed because the requirements are usually "High school BIO, or equivalent(meaning Intro BIO) and high school CHEM, or equivalent (another intro course)". Both of these you probably have had. So you would need your pre reqs, like ENG 111 (even if you placement test out of ENG like I did, my nursing program still requires ENG 111), BIO 141 and 142 (A & P), a health course, a humanities course, possibly a math course. I would make an appt to see the counselor at the college you wish to attend, they can answer all your questions for that particular schools nursing program.

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That's awesome! Good for you. And you may not even need gen ed because the requirements are usually "High school BIO, or equivalent(meaning Intro BIO) and high school CHEM, or equivalent (another intro course)". Both of these you probably have had. So you would need your pre reqs, like ENG 111 (even if you placement test out of ENG like I did, my nursing program still requires ENG 111), BIO 141 and 142 (A & P), a health course, a humanities course, possibly a math course. I would make an appt to see the counselor at the college you wish to attend, they can answer all your questions for that particular schools nursing program.

Great, thank you! I'm not exactly sure what college I want to go to yet (or if I'll be able to go where I want, the schools I like all seem to cost a ton), but once I have a better idea I'll definitely meet with someone.

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Maybe you can go to your local community college and have a talk with a counselor. That would be a good start.

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If you just take a few college courses your would-be senior year, the next year you may be able to enter college as a freshman. It usually depends on how many hours you take. If you check out some colleges and speak to a counselor or two, they will help you understand it.

On the other hand, why not just start as a freshman the year after you graduate high school?

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I graduated at 15 :-) I went straight to community college and now have 48 units and will get my associates 4 months after my 18th birthday. Definitely start chipping away at your prerequisites, you will have the lowest priority when you get there and taking general Ed will help. Try to get as much out of the way as possible and you can totally start NS by the time you are 18

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Specializes in CVICU.

Hey there. I did not graduate high school early, but I did start taking college classes at the age of 16 (my junior year). I started the fall semester after graduating high school with 38 credit hours, so don't let your age hold you back. Definitely start taking basic classes at a local community college. Stick with universal classes that all colleges would require for graduation, such as English Comp 1 & 2, Government, History, Speech, etc. It would be best to look at what university/college you want to get your nursing degree from, and see what the prerequisites are for that program. I personally am going to nursing school at the same school that I did my concurrent enrollment while I was in high school, so this was easy for me. Remember that it's possible some classes won't transfer to your new college no matter what you do, so if you can obtain a list of what classes those are, avoid taking them at your community college.

I am in agreement with post #6 that you should do as much as you can. I just turned 19 and I will be starting nursing school in August.

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Thank you for all of the responses! I'm definitely going to start prerequisites as soon as I can and will look up some gen-ed classes that are typically required by some of the colleges I want to attend. I really appreciate all the advice, thanks again :)

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Specializes in CVICU.

Another piece of advice: do your own research. Sometimes, counselors at colleges have no clue what they are talking about, or don't know much about a specific major and are too proud to tell you that, so they put you in general classes you don't need. Look on the school's website and see what classes are required for the specific nursing degree, so you can ensure you are putting yourself in the right classes.

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So you would need your pre reqs, like ENG 111 (even if you placement test out of ENG like I did, my nursing program still requires ENG 111), BIO 141 and 142 (A & P)...

Keep in mind when stating what courses people need that the course numbers only pertain to your college. She might need ENG 104, not 111; she might need BIO 201 and 202 and the ones you mentioned don't apply or exist.

Point is she needs a college-level English, A&P Part one and part two, etc.

Might seem a trivial distinction but since she's just starting out, muddying the waters looking for numbers that aren't even in her course catalogue might not be helpful.

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Keep in mind when stating what courses people need that the course numbers only pertain to your college. She might need ENG 104, not 111; she might need BIO 201 and 202 and the ones you mentioned don't apply or exist.

Point is she needs a college-level English, A&P Part one and part two, etc.

Might seem a trivial distinction but since she's just starting out, muddying the waters looking for numbers that aren't even in her course catalogue might not be helpful.

Very good point because colleges in Texas usually have 4 digit course numbers. The only 3 digit classes we have are remedial and do not count toward degree programs. Very important that those don't get mixed up.

Also, I agree with doing your own research about what classes you are going to need. I know on several occasions our community college has just given everyone a generic list of classes to register for and some end up being a waste of time and not transferring. Plus, most nursing schools have different pre-reqs(at least a class or two different) and each extra class you take is more money and more time wasted.

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