Nurse Enlisted Commissioning Program (NECP)-- Help!

SThomas30 · Dec 5, 2012

I just have a few (maybe a lot) of questions about this program. I don't want to get too wrapped up with the counselors here at the Ed Center because I am about to PCS within the next week, so I figured what better way than to post on this forum for questions and advice ((:
Little background info. I'm currently an A1C stationed stateside about to go OCONUS. I put on SrA in March of 2013 (I'm not planning on applying anyways until the 2014 board, assuming there is one.) So I have the whole minimum rank out of the way. Here are my main questions:
1) I know you need 59 credits of graded coursework (including the following psych, anatomy & physiology, microbiology, chem, nutrition, and stats). Do the other courses in those graded semester hours need to be anything specific or pertaining to an RN degree?? I'm enlisted comm and spent the last year working on my CCAF for IS Management. I haven't finished my CCAF so I figured I could use the generals I had transcripts for to put towards those 59 hours (public speaking, psych, management classes, math, history, etc) I don't want to start at ground zero, because I have little to none "science-y" type classes. I haven't taken any cleps for these so they should count, right?
2) Once you get accepted into a school AND selected for the program, do you have any affiliation to the military after that? I know I would still technically be "in" but do I need to pt test everyone 1-2 years/etc? I don't mind, I've always been curious about that :)
3) This is a whole nother discussion in itself, but any chance of anyone being mil to mil and complete NECP? My husband is a weaponsloader and it's been hard researching for nursing programs by bases that he can go to(unless we want to be separated.) Wondering how that impacted your school searching/choices/decisions. He also wants to commission so we are looking into applying to different programs at the same time so we could possibly be separated only once rather than twice if we both went at different times.
Any other tips and advice you could give me would be great. There's a 33 page thread floating around here that I've been searching through for answers but it's taking me a little while to get through haha thanks!!
-Miranda

Ok-I'm going to try and answer all of your questions if I miss one please just ask again! Or if you think of anything else you have a question about just let me know :-)

I just finished the NECP program in August 2012, and passed the NCLEX in September 2012. I am going to COT 7 Jan 2013 and I will be attending NTP at Tampa General. I went to nursing school at the University of South Florida here in Tampa. My husband and I are both active duty with two kids. He is a MSgt and I was. TSgt. We have been stationed at MacDill since 2006 and I was selected for the NECP program in 2010. When I PCA'd to my colleges' ROTC detachment he stayed working at MacDill. Now we both have orders to Elmendorf. My husband and kids are going mid-March and I will get there in April after I graduate NTP. My enlisted AFSC was SATCOM when I was selected, so we seem to have a lot in common :-)

1) First you need to decide on the nursing program you want to apply for. Once you know their prerequisites you can start taking those courses and apply the classes towards an associates degree. I completed my CCAF (about 60 semester hours) while I was going to HIllsborough Community College here in Tampa. I did an AA in liberal arts and I did all my nursing prerequisites as my electives. When I completed the civilian AA I applied to the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida. I was accepted to both schools but chose USF because it was closer to MacDill AFB. The AA degree will make sure you can start school as a junior and meet the NECP requirements of 24 months to complete nursing school.

2) Once you get selected you are still on active duty and must PT, and stay within regulations foe your PT tests. You don't report to the detachment very often but you will work there on school breaks unless you want to take leave.

3) Yes, it is absolutely possible to be mil to mil! The bases you want to research his AFSC for are Elmendorf, Landstuhl, SAMMC (Lackland), Keesler, Wright-Patt, Langley, Eglin, Travis, Nellis. I say these places because as a new grad nurse these are the only inpatient ops squadron you can be assigned to as your first duty station. If he does not have jobs at these bases you are more than likely to be separated when you graduate. I have heard of exceptions but it's rare!

Tips: don't just apply to one school, and I would try to find a school close to one of these bases especially since you may be going to school directly from an overseas location. Also, get as many A's as possible, it will only help you in the end!! B's are good but A's will help guarantee an acceptance letter from a college and if you don't get into a college you will not get selected by the NECP board!

Hope this helps!

waisy92 · Dec 5, 2012

Thank you so much, your post helped a lot! Luckily he can go to a few of those bases listed above which leads me to my next question that I forgot earlier :shy:

I'm interested in U of Southern Alabama. I have about 1/3 of the pre reqs done already due to the CCAF credits. The others I will have to finish at my new PDS. The only problem is the schools on base have none of the remaining pre reqs I need available in the area. I'm starting to realize that I am a little in over my head and may have to apply to multiple schools online just to finish the prereqs...is this normal?? I almost think it makes a little more sense to do my tour and wait to come back stateside to take the classes. I don't do very well with online classes, only the "easy" ones. d:

waisy92 · Dec 5, 2012

I guess I should have asked something along these lines:

Since I should apply to more than one school, obviously all their prereqs won't be the same. I guess what I'm confused about is what is the best way to go about doing the prereqs to insure the best possible outcome when applying to schools. I don't want to have 'Psychology' for example when one school takes it and the other doesn't. That would make me a few credits short if it came down to that school. Sorry if I'm babbling, it just makes more sense in my head then when I try to explain things, haha.

SThomas30 · Dec 5, 2012

Thank you so much, your post helped a lot! Luckily he can go to a few of those bases listed above which leads me to my next question that I forgot earlier
I'm interested in U of Southern Alabama. I have about 1/3 of the pre reqs done already due to the CCAF credits. The others I will have to finish at my new PDS. The only problem is the schools on base have none of the remaining pre reqs I need available in the area. I'm starting to realize that I am a little in over my head and may have to apply to multiple schools online just to finish the prereqs...is this normal?? I almost think it makes a little more sense to do my tour and wait to come back stateside to take the classes. I don't do very well with online classes, only the "easy" ones. d:

I was in your same situation. When we were in England I decided to just finish my CCAF and do the sophomore level general Ed classes on base. (I.e. english II, statistics, etc). These were really the only classes I could do at the time and I didn't want to take online classes either. You can find great schools that offer a lot of the science prerequisites online but I wouldn't go with AMU or any of those kind of schools. When we got to Tampa I had better choices for schools on and off base so I waited and transferred my credits to one community college to finish the AA.

Some schools I have heard of that are NECP friendly are U of South Florida, U of Central Florida, U of Maryland, U of San Antonio Health Sciences center, Saint Louis University, Wright State University.

I think U of South Alabama is a good choice too, but it's not really close to a base, do the new NECP guidelines allow for this? I'm actually looking at this college for grad school!!

If you have anymore questions just let me know!

SThomas30 · Dec 5, 2012

I guess I should have asked something along these lines:
Since I should apply to more than one school, obviously all their prereqs won't be the same. I guess what I'm confused about is what is the best way to go about doing the prereqs to insure the best possible outcome when applying to schools. I don't want to have 'Psychology' for example when one school takes it and the other doesn't. That would make me a few credits short if it came down to that school. Sorry if I'm babbling, it just makes more sense in my head then when I try to explain things, haha.

It's ok - what I did was look at schools in the same state because they generally have the same prerequisites. Not always the case. You're going to have to list your schools by top choices and I think you have to have an educational plan on file at the Ed center to get TA anyway. So pick the one school you really like and start knocking out the classes, if it has to change you can just change your ed plan and do the other classes you need.

For me I needed: Chem for Health sciences with lab, microbiology with lab, a&p I & II with labs, sociology, psychology, life span, statistics, English I & II, college algebra. I also did many more classes to finish my civilian AA which were all general Ed as well. Most schools will require these classes I've seen schools wanting literature or anthropology as well.

I would start out with the sciences because you will need them no matter what school you decide on. Also English and statistics are very common for nursing school. Wait to take sociology or psych till you for sure know what school you will use to get into NECP with.

Just my suggestion :-)

waisy92 · Dec 5, 2012

Thank you so much for your help! I'm now putting U of SA on the back burner for now because they require ACT scores (never took it ): ) Now looking into U of San Antonio and U of St. Louis. Again, thank you! And congrats on your achievements! I'm assuming you will commission as an O-2E or even O-3E? (:

SThomas30 · Dec 5, 2012

Thank you so much for your help! I'm now putting U of SA on the back burner for now because they require ACT scores (never took it ): ) Now looking into U of San Antonio and U of St. Louis. Again, thank you! And congrats on your achievements! I'm assuming you will commission as an O-2E or even O-3E? (:

NECP graduates are commissioned as O-1E and I get commissioned in 3 days :-) We are new nurses with no experience so we don't get constructive time towards rank like a civilian nurse with many years working as an RN would. Glad I could help!

briannamurph · Jan 18, 2013

Hi, once you've made it through the course of the NECP how will they determine where to place you. For instance would you go strait to working in a hospital ER/ICU or how could you get to work in the other departments? My ultimate goal is to be a dermatologist. I figured I could go the route of the NECP, then the PA program, and continue studying in that specialized field. Does anyone have any advise?

briannamurph · Jan 18, 2013

Ok-I'm going to try and answer all of your questions if I miss one please just ask again! Or if you think of anything else you have a question about just let me know :-)
I just finished the NECP program in August 2012, and passed the NCLEX in September 2012. I am going to COT 7 Jan 2013 and I will be attending NTP at Tampa General. I went to nursing school at the University of South Florida here in Tampa. My husband and I are both active duty with two kids. He is a MSgt and I was. TSgt. We have been stationed at MacDill since 2006 and I was selected for the NECP program in 2010. When I PCA'd to my colleges' ROTC detachment he stayed working at MacDill. Now we both have orders to Elmendorf. My husband and kids are going mid-March and I will get there in April after I graduate NTP. My enlisted AFSC was SATCOM when I was selected, so we seem to have a lot in common :-)
1) First you need to decide on the nursing program you want to apply for. Once you know their prerequisites you can start taking those courses and apply the classes towards an associates degree. I completed my CCAF (about 60 semester hours) while I was going to HIllsborough Community College here in Tampa. I did an AA in liberal arts and I did all my nursing prerequisites as my electives. When I completed the civilian AA I applied to the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida. I was accepted to both schools but chose USF because it was closer to MacDill AFB. The AA degree will make sure you can start school as a junior and meet the NECP requirements of 24 months to complete nursing school.
2) Once you get selected you are still on active duty and must PT, and stay within regulations foe your PT tests. You don't report to the detachment very often but you will work there on school breaks unless you want to take leave.
3) Yes, it is absolutely possible to be mil to mil! The bases you want to research his AFSC for are Elmendorf, Landstuhl, SAMMC (Lackland), Keesler, Wright-Patt, Langley, Eglin, Travis, Nellis. I say these places because as a new grad nurse these are the only inpatient ops squadron you can be assigned to as your first duty station. If he does not have jobs at these bases you are more than likely to be separated when you graduate. I have heard of exceptions but it's rare!
Tips: don't just apply to one school, and I would try to find a school close to one of these bases especially since you may be going to school directly from an overseas location. Also, get as many A's as possible, it will only help you in the end!! B's are good but A's will help guarantee an acceptance letter from a college and if you don't get into a college you will not get selected by the NECP board!
Hope this helps!

Hi, once you've made it through the course of the NECP how will they determine where to place you. For instance would you go strait to working in a hospital ER/ICU or how could you get to work in the other departments? My ultimate goal is to be a dermatologist. I figured I could go the route of the NECP, then the PA program, and continue studying in that specialized field. Does anyone have any advise?

SThomas30 · Jan 20, 2013

Hi, once you've made it through the course of the NECP how will they determine where to place you. For instance would you go strait to working in a hospital ER/ICU or how could you get to work in the other departments? My ultimate goal is to be a dermatologist. I figured I could go the route of the NECP, then the PA program, and continue studying in that specialized field. Does anyone have any advise?

NECP is currently for active duty enlisted personnel in the Air Force. NECP is also a nursing program for a BSN. I think you should do the PA program if you are trying to be a Physician because once you become an officer you can no longer do the PA program or the NECP in the AF. You would need to choose one or the other. I graduated from NECP with my BSN in August and as a new Air Force nurse you can choose OB or Med-Surg. Once you have time on station and upgrade training (1 year) you can apply for different fellowships to become an ER or ICU or OR nurse. Hope this helps!

briannamurph · Jan 20, 2013

Oh wow I didn't know that. So once I get commissioned through the necp program I can't apply for the PA one later on?