I Want To Be A Registered Nurse

DoGoodThenGo · Jul 25, 2012

Ok first off Hello, I'm a new memeber of this site. I've been wanting to be a Registered Nurse for quite some time. I have no college credits at all. All I have a high school diploma. I live in Manhattan, NY. Uptown if anyone can relate. I work fulltime 9-5 M-F. So what I think is appropriate is taking some online prereqs and the rest in a local community college. And from there go to a good Nursing Program.
So my question is the following; What should I do? Where Do I begin? I don't know what steps I should take. I hear some of the local community colleges are no good ( CUNY ). If any body can offer advice for me it would be great.
Thanks

Welcome to a very crowded club! *LOL*

In any given month you and hundreds more all wish to become RNs. While the goal is a noble one it must be said that not everyone who wishes to become a Registered Nurse should or even can become one.

With that out of the way you should know that a spot in either private or public nursing schools are *VERY* competitive to obtain. CUNY programs, both BSN and ADN because of their affordable tuition and overall good education/training have very long wait lists and are only taking the "best of the best".

CUNY schools like many other private nursing programs have recently upped the minimum GPA for sciences and or entire pre-nursing sequence to a 3.0. Mind you for several years anyone less that that stood a snowball's chance in heck of getting in, but now it's in writing.

If you are taking online courses it's best to research what schools you'd like to attend and see if such credits will be accepted and or on what conditions. Beware also many schools have a minimum "in house" credit requirement before students can apply to the nursing program. That means usually one or two semester's worth of credits must be taken *AFTER* being formally admitted to the college/university before one can apply to the nursing department.

As noted before good to excellent grades are going to be required for entry into any NYC nursing program. Even just having a 3.0 often isn't enough as you are up against 100, 200 or more applicant who have 3.5 to 4.0 GPAs.

Virtually all programs will require you to take the NLN, TEAS or similar pre-nursing exam as part of the entry process. You can either go online or stop by a book store to look at the practice questions. If you are serious about entering nursing school it pays to obtain the recommended test's practice book and start to work. Many nursing programs now base admissions on part GPA and part NLN or other test scores, so your best chance for entry is to do well in both areas.

Finally consider how you are going to finance your nursing education. Many programs will tell you upfront they do not suggest anyone work whilst in school. If you must and or otherwise violate this suggestion and your grades suffer you may not get much sympathy. Should your poor grades cause you to be expelled from the program, that can and often is the end of your chances to become a RN.