How long is nursing school?

[HopefulNurse90]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering why all the nursing schools in the bay area are 5 years long..the BSN ones...how come they aren't 4 years long? Also, does anyone know how long the nursing program is at San Francisco State Univerity and San Jose State University...i know that cal state east bay's nursing program is a 5 year one, but im just not sure about the other two..

also, do you guys think that the semester schools will be accepting applicants for spring 2012, because thats when i may transfer...im just kinda scared because they aren't accepting spring applicants for spring 2010 either...

[smileyperson]

If all you have is a high school education, count on at least 3 years to get your RN. The reason is all the prerequisites that are required (english 101 & 102, psychology, A&P, chemistry, microbiology). It depends on the requirements of your specific program. On the other hand, you can get your LPN in about a year and there are no pre-requisites other than a HS diploma.

[jean36]

when we give advice to potential nurses concerning length of program, i think it makes perfect sense to let people know that pre-requisites ought to be added on to the length of studies because a lot of people think bsn= 4 years and adn=2 years, that's not true, it usually takes more than that,having said that, there are some fast track programs and some isolated schools that would let you do the crash program, but these are not the norms.

[HelloRose]

Oh ok thanks. But does sjsu and sfsu have the option of choosing between a 4 yr program vs a 5 yr program?

I'm not sure about SFSU, but SJSU is a "5 year" program. That's means it's minimum 2 years prereqs, 3 years nursing classes. The nursing semesters are typically less than 14 units each, so it's not a terrible class load. They dropped their accelerated program a few years ago because funding ran out. Currently, the SoN offers a BSN, RN to BSN bridge program (2 semesters I think), and MSN. :)