My nursing plan, any obvious holes in it?

[Hotshot007]

Hello, I am trying to ultimately become an RN in CA, and was wondering if the path I was working towards seems feasible or common, or if there are any common problems I am overlooking here. First of all, I'm 26, a former college football player, and already have my B.A. in Anthropology, as well as now working on recertifying my EMT-B. I am looking into going back to school to ultimately become an RN, but there are a few factors to get to that route that I have to consider. First and foremost, since I already have my Bachelor's, I don;t qualify for any grants or free money out there, only loans, and other friends of mine are having trouble getting both government and private student loans in this economy. This will especially impact me since I was laid off this year from a rather lucrative job and will not be able to acquire anything near what I was making for the time I am in school, which will mess with the expected family contribution from last year's taxes on my FAFSA qualifying me for loans. Anyone had this kind of problem as well?

Secondly, I know that I qualify for an accelerated-BSN from certain schools in CA, but the nursing pre-reqs, almost none of which I have, have to be completed first in most cases, and given the way the CC system is impacted in CA, I won;t be able to get these classes anytime soon. (For anyone that doesn;t know, imagine this: I went to try and crash a basic anatomy class, when I got there, there were the lucky 30 that got in, 20 on the official waitlist, and another 50 that were hoping the 20 on the waitlist weren;t going to make it!). The other consideration is even after I get my pre-reqs done, for virtually any schools with nursing, no matter if they are 2 or 4 year, I will be put on a wait-list for the RN program, and in some cases even LVN, specifically, which is typically 1-2 years of academic limbo. I have tried to contact any that I could in the SoCal area to find out, and this was the average, some aren't accepting any apps until spring 2013. The other option is trying to get the RN done at a private college with no required pre-reqs, of which there are few and which charge you out the nose. I went for a preliminary interview with these people, and the total cost of the program was $136K for 3 years! Not even my Bachelor's was that expensive!

So with all those considerations into account, I was planning on taking a part-time, 18 month LVN class at a private college in Los Angeles for about $18K while working on the side, preferably as a CNA, which I just got the cert for earlier this month, or even EMT-B, after I finish all the recert paperwork for it. Then after finishing school and taking taking the LVN exam, while working as an LVN I was planning on trying to go thru the LVN-RN pathway at one of the local colleges. That way after I get my RN (and to some extent even my LVN), I will already have a ton of direct nursing experience that I can use in ultimately acquiring an RN job. Any thoughts, critiques, pitfalls, or otherwise that I may have left out? Please let me know.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

Any chance you can leave CA to do any of this? Not being able to get into basic prereqs sounds crazy. The schools in my area (Houston, TX) have enough of the classes to go around. (You may not get your preferred instructor, but there are enough classes being offer per/semester that students wanting to take the class will get into one)...

Already having a BS degree puts you in a place to get into the multitude of 2nd degree BSN programs out there.

Go to your schools financial aid office about the loans.. there are ways to prove your income has chanced since your last tax filing, which may help you get federal loans.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with mjmoon. Is there any way you could "go away to school" for a couple of years? In my neck of the woods, you could get a ADN in 2 years at a reputable community college at a reasonable price. We also have 3 2nd degree BSN programs that are pretty flexible with their pre-reqs. Each of those would only take you 2 years -- may 3 if you needed a bunch of pre-req's. And if you established residency while you were doing the pre-req's, your instate tuition for the BSN would be about the same as your LPN tuition.

Your plan sounds like it will work ... but it will take a long time and be expensive. You'll have hurdles to get over at each step of the process. If it's possible, you might find that being flexible with your geographic location for a couple of years would pay off in the long run. You'd have a BSN in 3 years -- or maybe an MSN in 3 years if you can get into a MSN entry-level program.

[Christine2009]

Being that you are already an EMT, can you challenge some of the course for LVN to decrease your tuition? I also think that here in California there are programs for EMT to RN since you already have the basic pt care part and emergency nursing down. You might even want to consider going to the admissions office of the school you wish to apply for RN and find out what your options are in regards to being an EMT already. You might be able to bridge your way into an RN program.

Also, going out of state is another option as well as the other two posters have stated. Best of luck in your journey.

[RunHeatherRun]

Napa Valley College in Napa, CA has a Paramedic to RN program.

Good luck!

[AshleyDiane6]

Wow, that's crazy. I would consider leaving the state for school. I live in Arizona and had no problems with my pre reqs. I go to Yavapai College in Prescott, Az and our nursing program doesn't have a wait list, although it is very competitive and preference is given to students who completed their pre reqs here and have residency. If you move here now you would be a resident by the time you were ready to start the program! This probably doesn't help cause I'm sure you don't want to leave home. Sorry I know nothing about California nursing schools

[Sart45]

Can you look into taking your prereq's through online programs? CCCOnline (Colorado Community Colleges/ http://www.ccconline.org ) is a very good program with people all over the world taking classes; they ARE accepted for nursing school. Ocean County College (NJ) also has some online programs from what I've read on this board. For science classes you order a labpaq and do labs on your own. Are you sure about the BSN programs having a wait list? Many of the Colorado programs (BSN or ABSN) for students with a BA/BS already... are strictly competive not wait listed.

[dalsor]

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