I want to be a nurse.. what do I do next?

[divsky]

Currently I am in the U.S. Navy in a field not related to nursing at all (I'm in the navigation department of a fast-attack nuclear submarine). I get out of the Navy July 17th. I've known for years that after the Navy I want to go to college, and recently I've been thinking hard about what I want to do. Unfortunately it has not been until recently that I've really committed on a decision: I want to become a nurse.

There's many reasons why I want to do this, which I won't go into here, but I need to know this: What do I do from here?

Here's a few things I know for certain. I grew up in Iowa City, Iowa. I want to return there. I know for certain that the University of Iowa has an excellent nursing program. My plan is, hopefully, that I can start attending classes during the fall semester. I want to begin at a local community college, Kirkwood (http://www.kirkwood.edu) and then transfer over to the University of Iowa (http://www.uiowa.edu/) in hopes of finishing a 4-year BSN degree.

My eventual goal is to be a nurse in Iowa City. Between the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, the huge VA hospital and Iowa City, and the regular Mercy hospital in Iowa City, that should be no problem. Nursing is one of the major occupations in Iowa City, and they are always looking for more people. With the money I've saved up in the Navy, plus the Montgomery GI Bill, I should be okay financially to do this.

But I know if I want to make this happen I need to act now. I've already applied to college at Kirkwood. But, before I can attend school, do I need to take the NET test? What do I do and where do I go to make this happen? I'm not at all worried about passing the test; I've always been exceptionally good at tests like these, but I just need to know if I have to take this before my first semester. Also, are there any other things I have to do before I start school? Do I even have a chance of making this happen in this short of a time-span? Or should I wait until the spring semester?

Also, any helpful advice is greatly appreciate. I know this is short notice, but I really want to make this happen.

[NYNurseRN]

A friend of mine whom I graduated with was a med tech in the airforce for a long time before he got into nursing, it sounds like you guys have a few things in common, if you pm your email, I would be glad to pass it along to him!

[WayneStateKatie]

Hey Divsky congrats on your decision to enter nursing. Take a big breath and relax:loveya:

You won't have to take the Nursing Entrance Test before you even start prerequisite classes. Since it sounds like this will be your first go around at college you're probably going to have to get all the basic classes out of the way before you can even apply to a nursing program. You're just going to be taking classes like rhetoric, psych, and bio at the community college so there is certainly no need to take the NET to sign up for those. If you have questions consult a counselor at your community college-- they should have a transfer table that lets you know which courses transfer as which courses at U of Iowa.

It looks like their program has 8 prerequisites. You should go talk to someone at UofIowa to check how they admit students and it looks like you don't even have to take the NET at all for their program (I didn't have to take it to get in my program at WSU either I think that's really mostly for community colleges)

You have plenty of time to figure things out. You're going to have at least a year of courses before you'll be able to get into a nursing program. Good luck at getting into classes at your CC (all the ones that are nursing program prereqs usually fill up very quickly and are almost impossible to get in around here) and set up an appointment with an admissions counselor. Ultimately they will be more help than anyone on this website will be.

Good luck in your future endeavors!