I NEED HELP ASAP!! Should I transfer out of Stony Brook ?

rnhopeful82, ASN, RN · May 13, 2019

If you want to do nursing, and you are only a freshman, why continue for 4 years and pay tuition at a school that can't offer classes you need?

jfast · May 13, 2019

There are many facets here and no easy answer. As rnhopeful mentions, if they do not have the courses you are seeking, it does not seem like the best option to stay for three more years pursuing something you don't truly want to do.

That being said, if I was your advisor, I would look to dig a little deeper into that reason for looking to transfer. You first mention that you are looking to transfer because of your GPA. To me, that is very different than transferring because they don't have the program you are looking for. The former reason seems like a "rash" decision ("I'm leaving because I'm not doing as well as I would like"), while the latter would seem very well-reasoned ("I'm leaving because my career goals do not align with this university").

I would recommend using this summer to explore (and potentially apply to) transfer universities where you could take your sophomore year finishing up prerequisites for their BSN program. That way, you could really "establish" yourself at that university during the sophomore year, then dive into nursing school in junior year, and still finish in about 4 years (with a degree you actually want to use). There are many possible paths to take from your current position but that is what I would look to explore in the immediacy.

amoLucia · May 13, 2019

Wise assessment by first respondent.

I'd caution that it doesn't sound if as if you are truly committed to nursing 100% at this time. You DO need that 'spark' to get you through the tough times that are sure to occur as one proceeds along in a nsg program.

Second poster seems to think along the same lines as myself and she offers some good advice.

nurseL64, BSN, RN · May 14, 2019

Hello!

I hope i can be of help to you as a current ABSN student and Stony Brook grad. So for anp, you're correct they don't offer 2 semesters of anatomy. They take ANP 300 if you get into THEIR nursing program, but any other program (literally anywhere) won't take anatomy from stony brook. This is for different reasons:

1. most schools want you to have 2 semesters of anatomy or 8 credits (which is basically the same as 2 semesters). ANP 300 is offered as a 1 semester course (which btw makes it EXTREMELY difficult considering they mush all of the material into one semester)

2. they also offer the health science version of anatomy, which is 2 semesters. However, the lab is online only. Many nursing programs only accept anatomy with a "wet" lab, meaning not online.

I took anp300 and then the health science one (i think han202?) and it wasn't accepted anywhere i applied. I ended up re-taking anatomy at Nassau.

If you definitely want to do nursing it would make more sense to just take your pre-reqs at a community college, get your ADN, and then work as a nurse at a place that will cover your BSN later on (pretty common). Also, if you really want to go straight for your BSN, I would recommend taking the courses you need at Farmingdale. I took my pre-reqs at Farmingdale (bio, biochem, nutrition, etc) and the professors were amazing. Literally way better learning environment than stony. The classes were smaller (like 30-40 kids in my bio class) so the professors can actually answer your questions in class instead of being on a mic in Javits with 400 other students lol. And the pace is way slower, the exam questions are actually targeted at you learning, not the typical "weeding you out" questions that many classes at stony make you feel like you're experiencing. Nursing school is already stressful enough, no need to have it be even more stressful.

Looking back, I definitely wish i transferred out of Stony. Don't get caught up on the whole "its a good school, the name means a lot" bs, because at the end of the day it just matters what your gpa is and how well you learned. The only reason i'm doing an ABSN program is because i didn't know early enough during undergrad that i wanted to be a nurse. If you know this already as a freshman, I highly recommend pursuing your pre-reqs and BSN or ADN somewhere you feel like you are actually learning from good professors who want to teach you.

Hope this helps :)

Nekrom · May 15, 2019

Hi I'm a senior at Stony graduating this month!

I would highly highly recommend you transferring out if you can! SBU is honestly horrible in pre-health, especially if you are certain you want a career in nursing.

It is so weird that they do not offer A&P like other schools, not to mention BIO203 and ANP300 (no curve!) are absurdly hard compared to other schools. If you take the 203/300 sequence, you're basically bound to apply for SB's own nursing program. The 152/331/332 chemistry sequences is also a mess when you try to apply to professional schools. I tried to use 203/300 to apply for nursing programs other than SB and it gave MAJOR trouble.

I didn't choose SBU for pre-health so it's already kind of too late when I chose to do nursing (I already took 203, 152 etc.) So if you're certain of doing pre-health I would highly recommend you transfer out. I liked the class content and they really teach you a lot, but the system is just sooo incompatible with other schools. I spent so much money and time taking nursing pre-reqs in community colleges, to the point I was wondering what's the point of being in SBU anyways.

_Cecilia_, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2019

To be honest, I was in my first semester of sophomore year at Stony Brook when I decided to become a Nurse.

I did end up going through the route of taking ONLY Science classes at Suffolk Community, and I ended up receiving A's on those courses. When I applied for the program, I had around a 3.3 - 3.4 GPA with strong recommendations and student leadership experiences.

It may be challenging to increase your GPA and if you aren't involved on campus, it may make it more challenging to make yourself a competitive candidate. Knowing this, if you feel that you are able to manage leadership/involvement and aim for A's/A-'s in our future courses, I would say stick with SBU. Stony's Nursing program really sets you up for success and it's evidenced by their high NCLEX passing rates.

However, if you are feeling too overwhelmed, I would suggest transferring to another university that allows many of your courses to transfer over AND still has a good Nursing program.

Good luck with your endeavors! I hope this can help.