Not sure what I should do....

[soxgirl2008]

Sorry in advance if this is confusing...

Right now I'm living at home while going to a 4 year university, I didn't start out as a pre-nursing student, I just started out taking my school's gen ed requirements (only 24 credits worth right now). I know now that I want to go into nursing, and I'm positive that's what I want to do. My university has a nursing program, however, its very competitive to get into (only around 24 pre-nursing students accepted for clinicals out of 100 that apply) and my GPA for my gen ed classes wasn't the greatest (I didn't focus on school as much as I should have) plus I would have to take my pre-reqs completely over again except for one class because the nursing pre-reqs are completely different.

What I was going to do was go to a community college in my town that also has a nursing program with a good reputation. I still have pre-reqs to finish there also, but not as many, and I'm already accepted to the program so by the time I'm ready to petition for clinicals I'll be able to most likely get in the first time (your number on the waiting list starts from when you were accepted to the program).

However, now I just found out from my university's nursing advisor that when they are determining your GPA when you apply for clinicals it's only the pre-reqs needed for the nursing major that count, which means I could essentially start over fresh GPA wise...Assuming I got in I would only enter clinicals a semester or two later than I would at the community college (assuming I even got into the community college's clinicals the first time petitioning) I know I'm smart enough to get the GPA, and whether I stay at the university or the community college I'm ready to only focus on school. However, I'm still not sure what I should do because my university's program is so competitive, and if I don't get into the nursing program I'll have to end up trying to apply to a ADN program anyway (All the other BSN programs in my area, except mine, are private schools and I can't afford that). But at the same time I want to get my BSN eventually anyway so I feel like I should just try to go for it all now...I'm not sure what to do, plus while I can afford the university I'm at right now, it's still more money than the community college and I'm scared to stay here if I end up not getting accepted anyway, and then being put on a 2-3 year wait list at a community college

Any advice on what I should do?

[caliotter3]

Shoot for getting ready for both. Apply to each program when the time comes and attend the one that accepts you first. Most people apply to all programs that they are able to looking to get accepted at one.

[soxgirl2008]

I've thought about that too, however I think for the community college you have to be actively enrolled to stay on the waiting list but I'm not positive I'll look into that...If I do that I'll probably continue taking my pre-reqs at the university because it's easier to transfer university credits to a comm college than vice versa. Thanks for the advice

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

If you have to choose, the ADN program will be much less expensive, and my experience is that many community colleges are much more flexible for working people. I wound up in an ADN program because the BSN programs in my area seemed to expect you to be available morning, noon and night. This was financially impossible for me. The ADN program I enrolled in was set up specifically for people working day jobs while they went to school. You can always get the BSN later if you want.

[baker1bv]

Based on your post I'm guessing you are younger, or a traditional student. If you want you BSN go for it now. Life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of people who wait.