Intro and help questions about University of Phoenix

[phoenixstu]

Hello everyone,

My name is Stuart and I am very interested in becoming a nurse!

Here is my situation. I am currently living in Japan however, I will be moving back to the states in January. Florida to be more precise. I wanted to help in securing a better future for myself. I think though I may have rushed into things a bit without a better understanding of things.

My friend told me about University of Phoenix and praised it highly. So I looked into enrolling. I am 34 and know very little about college so this is why I think I rushed a bit.

I enrolled in UoP Health Care Administration/medical records. I am waiting until Monday until my classes are assigned.

Here is my dilemma. After talking to a couple of friends, it seems that I cannot go directly into nursing with the above mentioned classes. Is this true and if so, what can I do to try and salvage this to my benefit. What will I need to study to make this? Will I have to take just prerequisites and then see about enrolling into another college?

Any help would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Stuart

[Phread01]

You absolutely cannot become a nurse through any UOP program. If you are already a nurse, they can provide paths to higher degrees in nursing, but if your goal is to become an RN (or an LPN for that matter), drop your classes at UOP, accept your losses and look into local community colleges (community colleges are less expensive than private nursing schools or 4 year universities) in the area of FL to which you're moving to start working on your prerequisites for nursing school admission.

[elkpark]

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

In order to get licensed as an RN, you must have completed a program of nursing education approved by your state Board of Nursing. (You have to go to nursing school, the same as physicians go to medical school to become physicians and lawyers go to law school to become lawyers.) There are several paths to licensure -- hospital-based diploma programs, AAS/ASN programs in community colleges, some trade/vocational schools (some issues with those ...), or BSN programs through colleges/universities. But, whichever one works out best for you, it needs to be a program with NURSING in the "name" of the program/degree, and the description of the program needs to state that it prepares/qualifies you for the NCLEX-RN (national licensure exam) and licensure. There are many, many healthcare-related degrees, certificates, etc., out there, but they won't get you any closer to being a nurse. This can be v. confusing for those just starting to look into nursing.

There is a lot of useful info available on this site. Best wishes for your journey!