New here and I had an odd problem/need advice

Hi, I am new here and this is my first time posting to the boards. I live in Atlanta GA. I have been looking into the medical field for quite some time now. I have decided that Nursing is going to be my career choice. I am a student at Chattahoochee Tech, a technical school here. They have a nursing program but it is day classes only. I work fulltime during the day so this is not possible for me. I would really like to transfer to Kennesaw State University. My problem is, with me not taking college prep classes in high school, I have to get 30-40 credits( depending on the school I transfer to) to get into any University. Now, I keep hearing about waiting lists/having to do really well in Pre-req classes. Well, I have about a year before I will have the credits I need to transfer. I can't apply now to any 4 yr schools because of my delimma (sp?) with credits. What would you suggest I do to make sure I don't have a huge waiting period before being accepted in the nursing program? Should I apply to several different schools, 2 yr/4 yr? How do I know what classes to take at my current school if I don't know what school I will actually be transfering to? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Justagirl992. :)

I too live in the ATL area. I have/had similar issues: working nights, have a family so I MUST work full time while in school, etc.

What I did was as follows: I went to N. Metro Tech and took prereqs, then got admitted into the LPN program. After graduation/licensure, I'll take a LPN-to-RN Bridge program at either GA Highlands or online at Excelsior. After that, I'll bridge again from ASN to BSN. This way, I can stay employed, and spend as little time/money as possible in school.

The problem with traditional, on-campus 2 or 4 year RN programs is the waiting list and the potential to "miss out" on a slot in the nursing curriculum, due to the competetive nature of the slots. This is the same reason I am doing this now at 38 years old rather than 20 years ago like I wanted to.

There IS a way to do this if you want too badly enough. Think outside the box a little. Try some online classes for your prereqs, etc.

Good luck!

Chris