NJ ABSN Programs: Comparing and Strategizing

[mkt76]

Hello! I am in the process of taking nursing pre-requisites in preparation to apply for ABSN programs. In comparing the various programs in Northern NJ, I'm seeing a bit of disparity in the pre-requisite requirements for each school. There seems to be a core of 4 courses that each program requires, but then each program also has some other course requirements that none of the others have. It makes it difficult to strategize my time, energy and funds in anticipation of being accepted into some programs, and not accepted into others.

I made a chart outlining each ABSN program that I am considering (UMDNJ, Rutgers, NJCU, FDU and TESC) to try to figure out how best to plan my time for prereqs. However, I would like to ask those people who are already accepted to an ABSN course, how did you plan out your prereq course load without taking courses unnecessarily - particularly considering those outlying courses that are not a part of the core 4 prereqs (A&P I, A&P II, Microbiology, Stats)? And, in the end, was it easy to challenge those outlying courses, based on a CLEP exam, or undergrad equivalent, etc.?

Thanks!

[soyouwant]

it is difficult to plan out. i focused on two schools with the most similar prereq (umdnj and njcu). courses you may already have, like psych and other humanities, should play a big role in your decision making. for me i made a decison on what classes i was not going to waste time/$ on and focused on those that made sense to pursue. hope that helps.

[meghanmary]

I am in NJCU ABSN 2013 .. I found the same problems when looking for programs that I could apply to .. I have a BS in Public Health and with all of the classes I took for my undergrad I was only able to apply to NJCU and TESC .. In the end I did everything possible to make my pre-req, HESI, and essay the best they could possibly be to get into NJCU .. I did not have to take any chemistry classes other than college chem for my undergrad so for me it did not make sense to take all of them chem pre-reqs for the other NJ programs .. Hope this helps!