Has anyone gotten into nursing school without taking pre-reqs/pre-nursing first?

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 21, 2006

Depends from school to school. Some want all of your pre-reqs out of the way before you begin core nursing classes. Others will have you do co-reqs at the same time.

Can't you transfer a lot of undergrad credits over? I did and only had 4 pre-reqs, which are science courses I didn't have in college - A&P I/II, chem and micro. I'm finishing up A&P II right now, will take chem in the fall along with my 1st semester nursing courses and micro is actually scheduled by the school as a stand-alone summer course. Find out what can be transferred and go from there.

WannaBeMaleRN · Jun 21, 2006

I really dont think you want to take pre-reqs along with your actual nursing. Pre-reqs are hard enough on their own. My school wont let you in untill you have most or all of your pre-reqs done, there is two many people wanting seats who have completed them. Its hard enough getting in with them all done!

barbnyc · Jun 21, 2006

At the community college in NYC, you need to have completed four pre-requisite courses before being able to be eligible to be a nursing candidate. Other programs offer 15-17 credit semesters for those who do not have the prerequisites.

I have taken all of my pre-requisites and all non-nursing courses. When I start nursing school in the Fall, I will only have nursing courses to complete. The private school I'm attending would only accept my A&P courses if I took both A&P 1 and A&P 2. They said any student who had just completed one A&P course somewhere else would have to repeat it.

The science prerequisites are extremely demanding and time consuming. A&P 1 is a 4 credit course which cannot be compared to a 4 credit liberal arts course. The study load for one A&P course is more like an 8 credit course. Biochemistry was also demanding.

Nursing students who are taking science courses while taking nursing courses are at a higher risk of failing out of the nursing program because of the pressure.

I would guess if you are going to do an RN program without having taken any prerequisites, you would need at least 60 hours per week for both classroom and study time. That minimum amount of time would be required for at least 2 consecutive years.

Personally, I'm grateful I took all of my pre-nursing courses at night part-time while working. When I start nursing school in the Fall, I will only have to attend two days per week. This will enable me to work part-time and have enough time to prepare for the NCLEX exam.

MIKelly · Jun 21, 2006

At my school you are required to have the five prereqs completed before you start the nursing program. You can apply before you have them done, but they are supposed to be done before nursing school begins, especially anatomy and physiology. I think it would be very difficult to take the science courses alongside nursing classes.

L&D_2b · Jun 21, 2006

I'm kinda curious here...I'm starting to think I made a mistake by applying for a nursing program without actually starting on pre-reqs first...I could very well be wrong, but hey! Here's my story:
Maybe six months or so ago, I started having doubts as to whether or not I wanted to stay in my current field (education). I looked for alternatives and started to ask myself where I could utilize my people person skills and my willingness to help others. Clearly healthcare is the way to go...I wasn't even thinking about pay...just the skills that I currently have and what I'd like to develop into/learn. So I began researching schools and started to say "Hey, I think I could do this," so in April, I went ahead and started requesting transcripts. I applied for an ASD program run through a hospital. I didn't know whether or not to apply for nursing or pre-nursing, but the application had a table on it which included average high school GPAs, college GPAs, and SAT scores for applicants for each program. My scores were above the minimum averages for both programs, so I decided to give nursing a shot.
I've read and heard that you can take your pre-reqs while in the actual nursing program, but it makes life a bit harder. I did take college chemistry courses and made an A in one section and a B in the other. I took a year of biology also, but it was general biology, not A/P.
In reading many posts on this forum, it looks like most people began on pre-reqs and were on waiting lists for some period of time. Should I go ahead and mentally place myself on a waiting list before the college does so for me? :) Or is it really possible that the admissions departments see some transcripts, say "This person might be able to handle the extra load," and put enough faith in them to put them directly into nursing? If anyone has a story to share, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for all your posts--I'm learning a lot everyday!

At my school, you only need college biology and chemistry (within the last 5 years) and a minimum 2.5 gpa (whether that be from college or high school) to APPLY. However, I have never heard of anyone getting into the program without having atleast their science prerequisites done.

While you are in limbo about acceptance, why not start working on the prerequisites? Many people that visit this site not only take them at their local colleges, but also online as well. I suggest you take a look at http://www.edukan.org or http://www.ccconline.org or http://www.riosalado.edu

Just a thought!

Good luck! You can do it!

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jun 21, 2006

Took all my courses together each year in BSN program. ADN students at community college did same thing back in 70's and early 80's. Wasn't until wait list started tdue to popularity of ADN program in late 80's that taking prereq started as a way of "proving" grades and wilingness to complete requirements.

manofbess · Jun 22, 2006

Thank you to everyone who commented. I guess it's a matter of where you apply and what their preferences are. I'll be looking at some evening classes or online classes very soon!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2006

Even the most lenient of RN schools won't let you start nursing classes until you have taken anatomy. They'll let you take physiology and microbiology along with nursing as long as you finish physiology by the end of semester 1 of nursing classes and Micro by the end of semester 2 of nursing classes. The reason they allow this is because the content that you have to learn for the nursing classes in semester 1 is more hands on stuff which frees you up more for the more intensive study you need to do for physiology. I was someone who took micro along with my nursing classes. I don't remember it being all that stressful for me.

Most nursing schools have established rules regarding how they admit students and how placement into the nursing program is done. You'd have to contact the specific school and ask them just how your name gets to the top of the list and is there any way for it to move up faster. At some point you have to take a leap of faith and decide that you will get on the list and get chosen to justify why you are going to start taking anatomy/physiology and micro while you are waiting for something to "happen" with the list.

arciedee · Jun 22, 2006

Even the most lenient of RN schools won't let you start nursing classes until you have taken anatomy. They'll let you take physiology and microbiology along with nursing as long as you finish physiology by the end of semester 1 of nursing classes and Micro by the end of semester 2 of nursing classes.

That's not necessarily true depending on where you are. I know that the state ADN programs here technically only require high school level algebra, biology, and chemistry for admittance (plus passing the NLN pre-test). A&P, micro, etc., are all listed in the schedule as co-reqs. Of course there are a lot of people who take those courses in advance, many because they are also balancing a job w/ nursing school, and thus want to have everything done before clinicals. And I've heard that some programs will give preference to students who have taken the sciences already. But it is not mandated. You really have to check with the schools you are interested and find out what they have to say about it.

smk1, LPN · Jun 22, 2006

I'm kinda curious here...I'm starting to think I made a mistake by applying for a nursing program without actually starting on pre-reqs first...I could very well be wrong, but hey! Here's my story:
Maybe six months or so ago, I started having doubts as to whether or not I wanted to stay in my current field (education). I looked for alternatives and started to ask myself where I could utilize my people person skills and my willingness to help others. Clearly healthcare is the way to go...I wasn't even thinking about pay...just the skills that I currently have and what I'd like to develop into/learn. So I began researching schools and started to say "Hey, I think I could do this," so in April, I went ahead and started requesting transcripts. I applied for an ASD program run through a hospital. I didn't know whether or not to apply for nursing or pre-nursing, but the application had a table on it which included average high school GPAs, college GPAs, and SAT scores for applicants for each program. My scores were above the minimum averages for both programs, so I decided to give nursing a shot.
I've read and heard that you can take your pre-reqs while in the actual nursing program, but it makes life a bit harder. I did take college chemistry courses and made an A in one section and a B in the other. I took a year of biology also, but it was general biology, not A/P.
In reading many posts on this forum, it looks like most people began on pre-reqs and were on waiting lists for some period of time. Should I go ahead and mentally place myself on a waiting list before the college does so for me? :) Or is it really possible that the admissions departments see some transcripts, say "This person might be able to handle the extra load," and put enough faith in them to put them directly into nursing? If anyone has a story to share, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for all your posts--I'm learning a lot everyday!

It will depend upon your school. At many (probably most) you have to have certain classes done before you are eligible to be selected into the program. Also realize that many programs are on a points based system so even if it is not "required" to have all of your prenursing classes done, you will have no shot at getting into the program if you don't because you will have less points than everyone else you did get them done. Minimum GPA is just that. Ours says 2.5, but noone got into the program with less than a 3.5 in the last few years and lately the cut off has been 3.8 and above. Some schools run off of a lottery system and essentially throw everyones name (who met minimum requirements) into a hat and pull out names randomly to pick students. I guess my point is made in the first sentence. Good luck to you, oh and if by chance you are looking at a school where you can take all the prenursing classes as coreq's, I just want to advise you that the reading required for nursing classes is really above the norm, so you need to think about time, same for doing writing careplans etc... A&P is time consuming as well and can be difficult. I personally would not have wanted to take the prereqs with the nursing courses. Also you may be at a disadvantage because you will lack the foundation of knowledge from Micro, nutrition, A&P, psych etc... that will make understanding the concepts in nursing courses a bit easier. It can be done, but it won't be easy. Good luck.

tookewlandy · Jun 22, 2006

My school has a LPN/ADN program, ALL students take Nursing 1 and 2 together and then after nursing 2 you decide to go one more summer semester and become an LPN, or Go The summer then Fall then spring for a total of 3 more semester to become ADN.

Now there are to ways to get in. GPA or NLN. They take 100 students each Fall. They chose 15 from 2 combined NLN-PN exams and then the rest from GPA and LPN's transitioning.

I got in from the NLN, i actually did not have to take these courses now, so i still would have gotten in, but i opted to get as many as i can out the way so now all i have to take is Micro, Composition 2, and Humanities Elective.

But to answer the question at my school it is very possible to get in without taking the pre req's but you gotta take them one way or another, either with nursing or as many as you can before.

ANdy