Is it hard to get into ASN program in Oregon without having any prior certifications?

[Kellywon]

I will be going back to school in the fall to take nursing pre-reqs at PCC. I have most things already completed, because I used to be a science major, and I have an associate of science degree and an AAOT degree from PCC. The only pre-reqs I need are the A&P sequence, microbiology, and nutrition. I am also pregnant and will have a baby in august/september, so I am thinking of maybe just going part-time next year to complete the pre-reqs, and use some of my time to volunteer at a hospital.

My problem is, I don't have any prior certifications (like cna, emt, lpn etc.), and I don't have any military experience. The healthcare experience I do have is I volunteered at a hospital for a couple months about 2 years ago, and I shadowed a doctor for a month.

I am planning to start volunteering at a hospital again right now while I am pregnant, and next school year when I will have my baby. But will this be enough? I could try applying to all the asn programs in Oregon. I don't really care if I will get into ocne, I just want to be an RN at least. An associates degree will do just fine. And I am okay with going to rural oregon to study nursing for a couple years.

I am not sure how to calculate my gpa, do I include just science courses or the other non science pre-reqs as well? Do I include science courses that are not pre reqs such as gen chem? I mostly have A's and B's. One C in general bio 252 (I took at Psu) and one C in general chem 221 (toon at PCC). Otherwise A's and B's in science.

Will I get into a nursing ASN program in oregon with these stats? And with just hospital volunteer experience? I am thinking of applying for 2017-2019.

[Mbells.]

You only include the pre-reqs. All of them. Its not cumulative or anything.

[Kwakle]

I'm not sure about other schools but pcc has a point system. Having a license is not necessary but it does allow you to earn more points. If you just volunteer, you get 1 point. If it's with patient care you get 2 points. Then they give more points if you have so many hours if you work as a cna, Emt, etc. they also only look at the gpa for your prerequisite classes. You might want to download a pdf from the school you want to apply at. For pcc's pdf file, just search for "pcc nursing"

[Pdxstudent]

I just came across your post and thought I'd chime in. Like the previous comment said, at PCC it's all point based. I think any program that you're interested in applying to you should check out online or speak to a guidance counselor about their nursing program to see what it is they look at. You don't have to have experience as a CNA or EMT to get into most programs but it can help if your points are low when it comes to GPA. I will be starting at PCC this coming fall and I have no experience except for 40 hours volunteering...but I do think if you're going into the application process without experience then your GPA needs to be competitive enough.

[gere7404, BSN, RN]

All OCNE schools have a basic point scale where they award up to 51 points, and some have extra discretionary points you can get for having patient care experience -- most have some form of point reward for having experience in health care or nursing specifically.

GPA is the largest component of the points, however. If you have a C in any prereq, check to see if the program you are interested in has a penalty for retaking courses -- if they don't, you might want to consider retaking those classes. From the people I talk to that have applied previous years and this year successfully, most have very high GPA's, I don't think I heard anyone say they had less than a 3.7, I had a 3.9.