Military wife trying to find a quick to get into nursing school

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My husband is in the Coast Guard and we move every 3-4 years. We are to transfer out of AK this May. We are able to pick the top places that we want to go and they try to place us there. We have so many places on our list, all over the west and east coast and down south. I have done so many pre-reqs that I have more than most schools require just from moving around so much. I want to pick places that I know that I can get into the nursing program right away because my science classes will expire if I don't get in somewhere at our next station. I am mainly looking at the panhandle of FL, Emerald Isle Nc, savannah Ga, traverse MI, and south Portland ME. Anyone have experience with these schools, or any other schools that have big cohorts or start two cohorts a year? Any help and advice is appreciated!

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Specializes in L&D, Trauma, Ortho, Med/Surg.

I don't have a ton of info for you - but I am a military wife (Army) too, and I just wanted to say HI! =) I know how it is to move every few years, and how crazy it is to have all these credits, and no place to go. My husband just got accepted into an Army program that sends him to get his PhD at his school of choice, so we chose our home state (AZ), and there are a ton of cohorts here. That does not help a Coast Guard family much! I wonder if you could take the time to log onto facebook and look up those housing areas and join the FB groups and ask the wives there. I know that everywhere we have been stationed we always have a ton of FB groups for the housing areas and there are always people that know tons about the area. I think I would try that. Good luck!

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I am a mil spouse and was in ur same situation. I went to FSUs accelerated 12 mo program. Do you have a bachelors in something else? We could not get a duty station to line up with nursing schools so we ended up making the sacrifice of being apart for that year. He stayed at his duty station and I moved to Tallahassee. It

Was hell, but it's done. We

Don't have kids so that wasn't a factor. It was a huge sacrifice that we thought long and hard about.

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I am not familiar w/ the Coast Guard but I know every Air Force base I've been on has an education office. Is it possible you could look up in a base directory at each of those bases to see if there is such an office? If there is, you could then contact each one and ask about nursing programs in the area. From there, you could look up the schools online to find out the demographics. (i.e. number and size of cohorts). Good luck to you :-)

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

As far as the panhandle of Florida look into Univ of South Alabama. I think they have a fast track and depending on where in the panhandle might be pretty close to you

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I did a quick Google search for one of the bases you mentioned (Traverse, MI) and they do have an education office for both AD and dependents. I'm sure the others do as well. I'd start there. I bet one of the offices...if you get the right person...could probably help you w/ all the locations. Here's the info. I found for Traverse, MI:

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Education Services

Phone: (231) 922-8277

Airstation Traverse City has an Education Center to provide Coast Guard personnel and their families a first class venue to further their education. The Education Services Officer can provide members and their families with degree planning, education assessments, transcript requests, proctor vari-ous professional exams to include DANTES, CLEP, and the Service Wide Exams, and assist with applications for Tuition Assistance, G.I. Bill, Foundation Education Grants and SEG Grants.

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I'm a military spouse as well. Totally know your struggle. I have close to a hundred credits and just made it into a nursing program in AZ. However I started out in fort Walton beach area in the panhandle of FL and there are a few schools out there. Then was in NC and there are a few schools out there too. I always do a lot of research into schools in the areas we may be moving to so I no what's around and what I need to do before and after we get there.

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That is a great idea, thank you. I have asked around some of the big group pages, but haven't looked into the specific pages.

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I bet that was hard, but worth it! I hope we don't have to do something like that since we do have kids, but the science classes expire after so many years and so I would probably do it if I had to.

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Annie, thank you so much for that information. That is a great idea, I will start speaking to the education offices.

I've looked into so many colleges for the places on our list and have emailed them as well, but it's still scary thinking I could be stuck in an area and not get into the school there. I am so happy you were able to get into a program @Mrs. Bookworm. I have taken so many classes as well just because different schools want different classes. Good luck in the program! So exciting!!

@onon2RN several people have mentioned USA to me and the area is actually on our list, sounds like I really need to look into that school.

Thank you all for the ideas, support, and information :)

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Hi! Another mil spouse and af brat! It's a struggle getting your career started in this lifestyle but it is doable. I ultimately got all my prereqs finished for BSN but couldn't get in because of the waiting list here in California. I went the private school,LVN/LPN route. To me it is a great start. I now can bridge either through an online school or a traditional campus based program. When I do that, I'll be able to use my hubbys GI Bill (he's awesome and let me use it!) to pay for the remainder of my education.

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