Looking to enroll in nursing...couple of questions.

Nurse Kyles, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

Do you have a particular school in mind? It might be best to look up the school you are interested in. On their website it should be pretty easy to find out the requirements for their BSN program. You will most likely have to take pre reqs like Anatomy & Physiology & Microbiology. If you didn't take enough Chemistry & Physics you may be required to take them as well.

KareBear0609 · Jan 31, 2011

You will need to either enroll in your local CC to complete your pre reqs (then transfer to a four year) or apply at a four year school to begin your pre reqs. Once you complete your pre reqs, or come close to completing them, you will apply for the nursing program. You may or may not have to take an entrance exam in order to apply for the nursing program. Do your best and shoot for all A's! Good luck to you =)

CRIS_108 · Jan 31, 2011

thanks for the quick responses! I recently moved to Minnesota, and this community college is supposed to be a good one in the area and is only about 25 minutes from my house.

http://www.anokaramsey.edu/classes/ProgramsA-Z.aspx

They also have a program through a 4 year school to get your bachelor degree, this is the school i was checking out, but i'm sure some of you will understand what all of the info means a lot better then me

I am not sure how the program works there, but that is the one i was hoping to enroll in

CRIS_108 · Jan 31, 2011

anyone have any other input? Since i have some courses under my belt from when i received my A.S in Crim. Justice, should I go to a CC for the pre reqs and then apply to nursing school? Or should i just go to a 4 year University that offers the nursing program? The link i posted above is what i was looking into, but st cloud state university and the university of minnesota offer 4 year nursing degrees.

Im not sure which way to go about it. Also, I have been reading up on clinical nurses, emergency room nurses, operating room nurses....these arent specific nursing majors right? i can get my BSN and then possibly work in one of these areas? sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get as much information as possible.

all in all im basically asking if the BSN programs are all the same..there are no specific degrees in pediatric nursing or ER nursing correct?

CuriousMe · Feb 1, 2011

anyone have any other input? Since i have some courses under my belt from when i received my A.S in Crim. Justice, should I go to a CC for the pre reqs and then apply to nursing school? Or should i just go to a 4 year University that offers the nursing program? The link i posted above is what i was looking into, but st cloud state university and the university of minnesota offer 4 year nursing degrees.
Im not sure which way to go about it. Also, I have been reading up on clinical nurses, emergency room nurses, operating room nurses....these arent specific nursing majors right? i can get my BSN and then possibly work in one of these areas? sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get as much information as possible.
all in all im basically asking if the BSN programs are all the same..there are no specific degrees in pediatric nursing or ER nursing correct?

There are no specific concentrations for a BSN in the US. A BSN, is a BSN.

As far as where you should go to school....really the best folks to speak with are the different schools you're looking at. They can tell you exactly what classes you'll need before you apply to their program (I know you have an Associate degree....but I'm guessing you didn't take courses such as a year of Anatomy & Physiology).

Streamline2010 · Feb 1, 2011

These are the "typical" courses that I found were almost universally required. I copied this from one of my earlier posts. The high school requirements were from an associate degree RN program and I copied that from some college's catalog.

Some schools won't accept credits older than 3 years. Some say older than 10 years. Some do all of their admissions evaluations based on preadmission test scores and just one or two college courses like A&P, microbiology, or perhaps sociology. The problem is, each school is free to set it's own arbitrary admission criteria, so you have to shop schools to find a good school whose admissions criteria like your particular background.

A.High School Requirements
Completion of the following with a “C” or better:
4 units of English
3 units of social sciences
2 units of mathematics (one of which is Algebra)
2 units of science (one of Biology and one of Chemistry)
with a related laboratory or the equivalent
or
Successful completion of the G.E.D. Test.
Persons out of High School for five or more years:
Unless college level courses in Chemistry or Biology (not
Human Biology) have been completed with a grade of
“C” or better within the five years prior to admission to
the program, such courses will be required for acceptance.
(CHEM105, Principles of Biological Chemistry is
strongly recommended.)

The "Big 8 or 9" courses always required, for most college programs or diploma programs I looked at:
Human Anatomy
Human Physiology
Microbiology (might be General, or might be a special nursing-oriented one, so check what's accepted by your program.)
Nutrition (you might need one that makes you do diet plans - definitely check what your nursing program accepts or requires)
English I -- College Composition I
Psych -- Introduction to Psychology
Psych -- Human Growth & Development
Chemistry - freshman chem, 1 or 2 semesters, for some diploma programs. You need it for BSRN. So take it anyway.
CPR for Health Care Providers and possibly also including a customized First Aid training
Required for most college degree programs and "maybe" for a diploma RN:
Chemistry -- freshman chemistry , one or two semesters; possibly a survey course of organic chemistry
College Algebra - It will never hurt you. You need algebra for pharm calcs.
Comp 101 -- general computer use course for using Microsoft Office
English II -- Business and Professional Speaking
Phys ed -- at least one semester; maybe two
Soc 101 -- Principles of Sociology
Sometimes:
Ethics -- usually a philosophy course
Psych -- Abnormal Psych (need it for BSRN anyway)
Stat 101 -- Statistics course (for BSRN, but useful for other things)
Strategies for Academic Success / College Study Skills -- a freshman level "study habits" class
a freshman "Microsoft Office / computer skills 101" type of class
That roadmap ought to take some of the mystery out of it. Those are general requirements that I found most schools require. Your mileage may vary, hehe. You really need to study the nursing school catalogs, and if you plan to transfer credits in ,you need to find out for certain which schools' specific courses are accepted or not. Nutrition is the one I have seen multiple schools get their knickers in a knot over. Apparently, everyone has a different concept of what should be in the course, in addition to the basics of nutrition, which are the same for all humans, lol.
But if you know that your goal is BSRN or higher, why not cram as much of that gen ed and science as you can into your pre-work. Having it under your belt will definitely make the PAX and HESI preadmission tests a piece of cake. Nowadays, there are many displaced-worker adults with BA/BS and masters degrees and work experience competing with you high school students and freshmen college students for seats in nursing schools. That raises the bar for you, so far as performance on those preadmission tests.
Attending community colleges (they have lower tuition costs) and living with parents while getting as much college done as possible cuts the total cost.
The diploma RN programs or at least the savvy and well-run ones, have upgraded themselves to be essentially a ADRN with some general ed stripped out. Diploma schools realized that their grads would need to be upgradeable to BSRN, and that the school could not turn out a RN grad who is significantly less trained than an ADRN or BSRN, because then the diploma school has problems getting its students to pass the NCLEX.

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2011

Chances are if there's a state university you have in mind from which you want to receive a BSN then there are probably several feeder community colleges at which you could take the prereqs with probably smaller class sizes and cheaper cost. You might even take your prereqs online.

Why'd you lose interest in law enforcement? I'm switching to nursing too (probably), but I hope to remain an officer in some capacity.