how long did it take you to complete your pre-reqs?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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so...i researched all the universities in my area and was pleased to find several have the "second degree BSN" or "accelerated BSN" programs since i already have a bachelor's. this excited b/c they all seemed to be 2-year or less programs. then i start jotting down all the pre-reqs and i'm thinking...these are gonna take like another 2 years b/c they seem to follow one-another in sequence and cannot be taken concurrently for the most part. it seems i have to take:

A&P I

A&P II

chem 101

chem - organic

bio 101

microbio

human growth & development

nutrition

psych

and possibly abnormal psych (?)

bummer...but i will have to suck it up if i really want to do this. how long did it take you to complete your pre-reqs and is there anything you'd recommend NOT taking concurrently b/c it would be too much, or ABSOLUTELY taking concurrently b/c they compliment eachother?

Specializes in CWOCN.

Thank God for transfer credits. I was able to transfer Eng 101, Eng 102, Human Development and Sociology from my B.A. My nutrition course is over 10 years old so I have to take a challenge test (which I will do next year).

Fall 2005 - Session I - Psychology 101 and Biochemistry (two nights a week and all day Saturday). Biochemistry was time consuming and stressful.

Fall 2005 - Session II - 6 week version of A&P I (four nights a week). I thought I was going to have an aneurysm from the stress. I was working full time.

Spring 2006 - Session I - A&P II (just as demanding as A&P I)

Spring 2006 - Session II - Microbiology (I'm starting this in a couple of weeks - 4 days a week for six weeks).

Nursing School - Fall 2006 - Spring 2008 - clinical courses until I take the NCLEX.

The good thing about getting all the preclinicals out of the way is that it will lighten the clinical study load.

The science classes are extremely time consuming and demanding.

Good luck in your studies.

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I think it depends if you're also working or if you can devote yourself to fulltime classes. Of course you want to complete everything as quickly as possible, but you also have to take a reasonable courseload since GPA is so important to getting into nursing school. I'm hoping to apply to accelerated programs too, and I've mapped it out the prereqs I have left so that I can complete everything in 1 year/3 semesters.

Spring:

A&P I

Psychology

Summer

A&P II

Microbiology

(each is an accelerated 6 week class, tough but knocks them out of the way)

Fall

Chem

Nutrition

Human Growth & Development

I've been able to get As in my classes so far on this track and I work 40+ hours a week in a demanding job. The fall semester is where it will get a bit tricky, but I'm thinking about switching to something with less hours if possible.

Yours is tough because you have more sciences to take, but I would try speaking to an advisor. If you don't have to work, I think it may be possible to take 2 sciences together.

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Summer 2005: Soc1010, Psy1010

Fall 2005: Bio1020 (Zoology) lecture + lab, Com1010, Eng1010

Spring 2006: Bio2070 (A&P1) lecture + lab, Mth1080 (intermed algebra), Hth1080, Nur1015

Summer 2006: Mth1100 (college mathematics)

Fall 2006: Bio2080 (A&P2) lecture + lab, Psy2050

Then I (hopefully) will start the nursing program in Spring 2007. I will still have to take Phl1410 (ethics), and Bio2010 (microbiology) lecture and lab. I'll probably take those over the entire 2 year program in the summer sessions.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Hospice.

Fall 2005:

Eng Comp I (CLEP)

Psych

Sociology

Biology

Spring 2006:

A & P

Eng Comp II

History

Political Science

Summer 2006:

Micro

These are the prereqs for my ADN program. Haven't started on BSN prereqs yet. I'm waiting til I'm an RN for a year or so before I start on those.

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It took me about 2 1/2 years part-time. I start nursing school in 8/2006

Spring 2004: Eng Comp, Intro Psych

Summer 2004: Inter Algebra

Fall 2004: A&P I

Spring 2005: A&P II, Intro Soc

Summer 2005: Dev Psych

Fall 2005: Micro, Nutrition

Spring 2006: Biochem

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I started my journey in January of 2005. I will finish with my pre-reqs in December. I have 3 children, and wanted to make sure that I had all co-reqs, pre-reqs completed before I entered nursing school. I took this summer off.. tough decision to make...but I decided to take this time to enjoy my children.. and lose 20 lbs, before I begin classes again in the fall. oh, I just have AP2 left to complete for my pre-reqs.

I also wanted to make sure that I did my very best. I did not want to go on a waiting list. I have been able to maintain 4.0 (thank you Lord) I decided to start my journey by taking a biology class before AP. Best decision I ever made!

I have to say.. when I first started this journey I was eager to get it done immediately.. but Tweety and fun2Care's posts had me rethink this plan.. and to just enjoy the journey.. time is going to pass anyway.. might as well stay healthy while doing it...

THANK YOU TWEETY AND FUN2CARE!

:) C...

I'm kinda simular to you in that we bolth have 3 kids. Though, my wife watches our children, so I was able to do all 52 unites of pre-reqs/GE in 1 year and 2 months.

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I started my pre-reqs in the spring, still have six to go! Taking Microbiology in the summer, but a bit worried after reading some of your replies to Thread. I haven't taken A&P 1and 2. Is there any reason why I have to take Microbiology after A&P? Pre-reqs generally take 2 years for women with families, and maybe a year for serious minded single ladies! Moreover, the community college I attend have decided to make things difficult. Passing the Hesi test is a pre-req for admission into nursing school and for taking pharmacology. If you fail the test, you can't take it till after 3 months. Scary and quite discouraging.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
I started my pre-reqs in the spring, still have six to go! Taking Microbiology in the summer, but a bit worried after reading some of your replies to Thread. I haven't taken A&P 1and 2. Is there any reason why I have to take Microbiology after A&P? Pre-reqs generally take 2 years for women with families, and maybe a year for serious minded single ladies! Moreover, the community college I attend have decided to make things difficult. Passing the Hesi test is a pre-req for admission into nursing school and for taking pharmacology. If you fail the test, you can't take it till after 3 months. Scary and quite discouraging.

I think it is a mater of opinion, I L-O-V-E-D microbiology. If I could do all that chem I would forget about nursing and become a microbiologist.:pumpiron:

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Specializes in Clinicals.

I will be done with my pre-requisites in the Fall which will have taken me 3 and a half years to complete. When I began college I was only taking 2 classes per semester at community college and working full time (also Pre-Med Intent). Don't compare yourself to others because everyone's situation is unique, we all work at our own pace. I would have loved to have began my program sophmore year but...oh well.;)

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Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry.

It took me about two and a half years. This is because the university I used to go to was so overpopulated that the classes I needed were never open. Also, in my old school, they used to give underclassmen appointments to register. If you tried to register before your assigned time, it would kick you off the system. You had to wait until your assigned time and date. There was no way to "short cut" the system. So, that's why it took me so long to get them done.

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This is exactly my dilemma! I want to do a second degree program or a direct-entry NP program, but I was a liberal arts undergrad so I have to do most of the pre-reqs. At 47, I really don't want to spend any more time than necessary. So now I am trying to figure out how to work part-time (I am now full-time) so I can take more than one course at a time.

Sigh :(

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thank you andy. what is the NLN exam? at the CC closest to me i saw that chem is required before bio/microbio, and bio is required before A&P, so what you said about taking chem first makes sense.

you made me laugh saying "...the more you can focus on the hard sciences the better you will do."

all sciences seem hard to me. i never really did like science coming up in school. when i first started looking into nursing the list of courses terrified me! but i think i can do it. and i remembered that when i did take a bio course in college the first time around (just to fill a science requirement)...i loved it! it was 'the human body - anatomy and disease' or something like that. the book was humongous and the tests were incredibly difficult but i got an A and had so much fun learning in that class. how often do you say that about some elective you're taking just to get out of the way?

That old bio course you took should work for the bio 101 you have listed as a prereq. Mine did. The sciences that had to be current (less than 5 years old) were Chem, A&P I and II, and Micro.

I took those 4 sciences + pre-algebra, algebra, statistics, human growth & devel, psych, and nutrition in 1 1/2 years, including summer school and winter session. I also clepped an English class because my old one didn't transfer for some trivial reason.

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