I need some advice please!!!

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Hi my name is Meg and I would really like to become a nurse, I am a military wife and we are about to move to our next duty station and will be there for a solid 4 years. We are not 100% sure where we have 2 options. I have taken some pre req's such as Intro to Psyc, Developmental Psyc, College Algebra, English 101 and 102, US History. We are more then likely moving to Yuma, AZ or Cherry Point, NC. My question is what can I do to best prepare myself for becoming a nurse. I looked at NAU's courses and it looks like their program would take my 6 years by the time I've finished my pre req's and done their nursing program. I thought becoming a BSN would only take a total of 4 years. I just really want to become a nurse and I'm not sure what route would suite me best seeing as to how I have 2 small children. ADN - BSN ?? I would just like some advice! Thanks y'all!

Also I don't think LPN is even an option for me. I really have my mind set on either a ADN or BSN. Thank you for all the advice about it though!

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Curiousme.... I have seen that same layout from NAU I'm wondering if it takes 6 years because they also (along with this course layout) have a bunch of pre-req's that they require.

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Curiousme.... I have seen that same layout from NAU I'm wondering if it takes 6 years because they also (along with this course layout) have a bunch of pre-req's that they require.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. It doesn't take 6 years. The pre-reqs they require....are the first two years (of 4) listed on the document I posted (which is from NAU's website). You don't have to take them there, you can transfer in those classes from any accredited college. They just need to be done before you start the program. That's why they mentioned to apply to the program during the 3rd semester (Fall of Sophomore year).

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CuriousMe..... You're going to think I'm the biggest pain in the butt lol, but I'm still a little confused....I get that they have the two years of the nursing pre-requisites but I'm talking about the other prerequisites they want you to have before even applying to the nursing school. (along with the ones listed in there 8-week layout, in the PDF you attached)

Prerequisite courses are:

Course Prefix Course Title Hours:

ENG 105

OR

ENG 101 & 102

Critical Reading & Writing

OR

English – 2 semesters

BIO 181 & 181L

OR

CHM 130 & 151L

Unity of Life & Lab

OR

Fundamental Chemistry & Lab

MAT 110

OR

MAT 114

OR

STA 270

College Algebra

OR

Quantitative Reasoning

OR

Applied Statistics

PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology 3 C

PSY 240 Developmental Psychology 3 C

NTS 135

OR

NTS 256

Applied Nutrition and Food Selection

OR

Medical Nutrition

BIO 201 & 201L Human Anatomy and Physiology I & Lab 4 C

BIO 202 & 202L Human Anatomy and Physiology II & Lab 4 C

BIO 205 & 205L Microbiology and Lab 4 C

*STA 270

OR

PSY 230

Applied Statistics

OR

Intro to Statistics in Psychology

**Liberal Studies All NAU Liberal Study Requirements 35

http://www2.nau.edu/~nurse-p/docs/Trad_BSN_Application_new.pdf

all of those along with the 8 semester layout that they have to get your BSN, that would take closer to 6 years wouldn't it?

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curiousme..... you're going to think i'm the biggest pain in the butt lol, but i'm still a little confused....i get that they have the two years of the nursing pre-requisites but i'm talking about the other prerequisites they want you to have before even applying to the nursing school. (along with the ones listed in there 8-week layout, in the pdf you attached)

prerequisite courses are:

course prefix course title hours:

eng 105 freshmen year 2nd semester

or

eng 101 & 102

critical reading & writing

or

english - 2 semesters

bio 181 & 181l freshmen year 1st semester

or

chm 130 & 151l

unity of life & lab

or

fundamental chemistry & lab

mat 110

or

mat 114 freshmen year 1st semester

or

sta 270

college algebra

or

quantitative reasoning

or

applied statistics

psy 101 introduction to psychology 3 c freshmen year 1st semester

psy 240 developmental psychology 3 c sophomore year 1st semester

nts 135 sophomore year 1st semester

or

nts 256

applied nutrition and food selection

or

medical nutrition

bio 201 & 201l human anatomy and physiology i & lab 4 c freshmen year 2nd semester

bio 202 & 202l human anatomy and physiology ii & lab 4 c sophomore year 1st semester

bio 205 & 205l microbiology and lab 4 c

*sta 270 sophomore year 1st semester

or

psy 230

applied statistics

or

intro to statistics in psychology

**liberal studies all nau liberal study requirements 35

http://www2.nau.edu/~nurse-p/docs/trad_bsn_application_new.pdf

all of those along with the 8 semester layout that they have to get your bsn, that would take closer to 6 years wouldn't it?

everything i wrote above in green is from the nau document that i posted above. those required classes are taken in the first two years of the 4 years shown on that sheet. you apply to the school of nursing during the first semester of your sophomore year.

if you've already taken the equivalent of some of those classes....you don't have to take them again. if you've taken the equivalent of all those classes....you can just apply to the nursing program and finish out the last 2 years on that document.

so the program only takes 4 years. does that make sense?

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Wow, I feel like an idiot, I didnt see those in the 8 semester layout, I thought it was the pre reqs then you go and do the 8 semesters...ugh sooo sorry about that! :)

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Wow, I feel like an idiot, I didnt see those in the 8 semester layout, I thought it was the pre reqs then you go and do the 8 semesters...ugh sooo sorry about that! :)

No worries, I sometimes think there should be a class on how to become a nursing student :D

I wish you the best as you go forward with your schooling!

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I am a military wife as well (and based on where you say you might be stationed, I'm guessing we're both Marine Corps wives), and I just graduated from nursing school. I used my own GI Bill, so for the first year, I just took loans for tuition and used my GI Bill payments for child care (I have 3- they were 1, 3 and 4 when I started), and for the 2nd year, I had the post-9/11 GI Bill, so part of my BAH was used for childcare, since we already had my husband's BAH to cover our mortgage. One thing to consider is that when they look at loan amounts, they do figure in cost of living, so the total amount will include an estimate for "rent," which you could take out to cover child care. Also, you can submit a supplemental request for financial aid, telling them how much child care will cost you and asking the school to take that into consideration (since the FAFSA does not do so). A difficulty I did find, in being a military wife with kids, was the need for flexible childcare (since unlike many other students with kids, I lived no where near family). I had an au pair, which really helped me with needed flexibility. Her hours were limited, but piecing together programs offered on base and occasional help from friends/ a hired babysitter, it all worked out. My husband was deployed for all of my 2nd/ last yr of school and was gone for a good part of the first year doing work ups, so I had very little help from him. Good luck with finding the right school. I was lucky in that we were at Pendleton, so there were varying options. Yuma and CP might be more limited in options, but hopefully something there will work for you. Definitely hit up the education center on base, too.

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@ Curiousme, there really should be a class on it!!

@ the second response with no name, thanks so much for taking the time to respond on here for me! It's always nice to meet a fellow military wife! Especially one in the marine corps ;) Who's in your same situation!

As far as paying for child care goes you brought up a couple of options that I hadn't really looked too far into, how does the GI bill for the spouse work? Who do you talk to and what do you do to get it? I used my pell grant, which for one semester was not a lot, and I pulled out a subsidized loan in order to get by for this semester. To be honest the pell grant that I got pretty much covered my costs of the classes and after that the amount leftover would be no where near enough to cover child care.

I told them the amount what our rent is but it seems as though they didn't compensate me on that, because if I was having to pay even half our rent I wouldn't have anywhere near enough. Maybe if I had pulled out a unsubsidized loan as well but that's a path I'm a little scared to go down since it's gains interest while I'm still in school. Anyways, I feel like they just assumed that my husband takes care of the rent.

My dream lol (and I say dream) would be not to be head over heals in thousands and thousands of dollars in debt because of child care when I'm done with school, I'm well aware that I'm going to accumulate debt through out school. It just seems like there isn't as many options out there for help with child care as I thought there was going to end up being. I was surprised that they don't have more to help military wife's (esp. with children) get through school. And I refuse to send my children somewhere that I don't feel completely and utterly confident with just to pay a lesser price. Babies safety is always number one, you know what I mean?

We were in 29 palms for our last enlistment and it was so weird how the desert grows on you. We're originally from Austin, TX so when I first moved out there (my husband had warned me) I was in culture shock and thought everything was completely ugly and hated it at first, in order to anything other then your daily life things (grocery shopping, gas, bank, and a couple of fast food places) there wasn't anything to do unless you drove an hour away. I was used to having everything at my fingertips and only having to drive about 5 mins. to get to wherever I might need to go. Over time it wasn't bad at all. About 3 1/2 years into last enlistment we got a rare opportunity that worked in our favor (as you know that's not something that happens very often in pretty much any branch of service lol). They told my husband he had the option to deploy or to move to Oceanside and attach to the artillery unit there since at the time they needed more Cpl's and Sgt's, so we OF COURSE jumped on it and moved to Oceanside and I absolutely loved it there, other then the cost of living and other nit picky things.

We lived in base housing in Oceanside which in 29 palms we tried out for a couple months and ended up moving out in town, it was a bad experience with their maintenance and they were in the middle of remodeling, Oceanside's housing we were pretty impressed with! Thankfully we got one that was new and remodeled.

Now that my husband has re-enlisted and changed his MOS we have 3 options it's either back out to 29 Palms,CA, Yuma,AZ, or Cherry Point,NC....I know from experience that in 29 palms the school is a drive to get to. I've looked at Cherry Point and from what I can tell all of the schools there are a long drive as well. In Yuma the school is about 10 min. away, so I'm rooting for Yuma!

However if we end up in NC or back in CA they both have Community Colleges that are closer, in that case I'll definitely just do the ADN program and then later do a bridge program.

LOL I've really rambled here, but it's 5:00 in the morning and my little guy is laying on the floor WIDE awake so I'm sorry you had to be at the brunt of my boredom and being up way to early lol.

Take care and hope to hear back from you soon!! :)

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Specializes in BSN Class of May 2013.

Hey MMDearing. I actually live in Yuma, AZ and just applied to NAU & Arizona Western College (AWC.)

AWC's program does not have a waiting list. HOWEVER, you basically have to complete ALL of your prereqs AND coreqs in order to get in. Usually people apply in the semester they are finishing their last couple of co-reqs. Here is their info packet:

http://www.azwestern.edu/learning_services/career_and_technical_education/Nursing_Department/downloads/305%20Nursing%20%20Program%20Admission%20Application%20rev5-25-10x.pdf

And basic info about their program: http://www.azwestern.edu/learning_services/career_and_technical_education/Nursing_Department/

It SAYS you can apply after you take ENG 101, A&PI, & CHM 130, but because they use a point system (points for pre-req GPA and points for completed co-reqs and starting in 2011 they also use the HESI A2 exam to configure your points [total of 500]) because they use this system, you do need to have ALL BUT 2 or 3 coreqs completed to even be considered. (Same application process for LPN - all the same "drama")

Once you get to that point, you can apply to AWC and then you end up just taking the nursing courses. All of those pre-reqs and co-reqs (plus: another humanities, nutrition, and statistics) are the PRE-REQS for NAU. (Basically NAU's pre-reqs are the same as AWC's pre-reqs and co-reqs combined with the addition of those classes.) Here's their info packet. It has A LOT of information, and it is very helpful:

http://www.azwestern.edu/learning_services/career_and_technical_education/Nursing_Department/downloads/305%20Nursing%20%20Program%20Admission%20Application%20rev5-25-10x.pdf

And basic info about NAU Yuma's program: http://www2.nau.edu/~nurse-p/undergrad/yuma/overview.php

If you think you will end up staying in Yuma, the BSN program at NAU is (right now - may change) 2 days per week. 1 day of "class" and then 1 day of clinicals. You have 3 classes online along with clinicals.

I am hoping to get into NAU because of that! I have 3 little boys 8 & under. Hospitals DO like to hire BSN RNs whether they say it or not. The AZ State Board of Nursing has an article about new grads and their employment.

One word of advice: keep EVERYTHING!!! Syllabus, 1st day handouts, homework, all of it! I have seen many people come to Yuma & their classes didn't transfer or they didn't have the syllabus & ended up re-taking classes.

Another thing: You can take classes at RioSalado (online college out of Phoenix) and they almost all have an 8 week option. (I am taking Nutrition there right now) They are comparable price-wise to AWC, and you can take one class after another. You do your work from home and take tests at AWC's testing center if it's required. They are very helpful and have a good setup for online learners. :)

((Just a word of caution: be careful WHO you talk to at any of these colleges. Sometimes the "clerk" is an uneducated student that will give you the wrong info [or no info] if someone tells you something that goes against what either of those packets say - talk to someone else!!! I've seen A LOT of drama because of this...))

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Specializes in BSN Class of May 2013.

Oh & if you live in Yuma, EVERYTHING is close. :) The MCAS is about 10 minutes from the school & everything else is about the same. :) I hear 29 Palms is verrrry boring... Good luck with whatever happens.

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Thank you Chrissy! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Yuma! It will be the most convenient for the next 4 or 5 years of our lives. I don't want to end up back in 29 Palms, it grew on me in some ways but by no means would I ever choose to go back lol. You have 3 little boys!!! If I end up in Yuma we'll have to get our little ones together for a play date! I have 2 boys, one will be 3 next month and the other will be 1 in February! Do your children go to childcare out there? If so, if it's not too personal for me to ask, what are the price ranges I'll be looking at and have you heard good things about the childcare places in general out there. I'm really picky about who watches my children and so I have issues sending my child to somewhere that has a bad rep, I'm sure you know what I mean :) Take care!

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