Please Help! aspired RN student with B.S degree

[NeekoRN]

Hi everyone!

I am very new here, just sign up today.

Here is my situation....I have a B.S in biology. I am considering becoming an RN and getting a BSN as my second degree someday soon. This summer, my family and I will have to move oversea for two years. I was thinking to apply an ABSN at University of Wisconsin but I can't do the clinical where I am going. I've already confirmed it from ABSN program there. After staying oversea for two years we don't know which state we will live in. I am over 4o years old. I would like to complete an ADN or a BSN as earliest I can.

So...I need your help please!

Should I take some online nursing classes from U.S community college while I'm in oversea? Would it be easy to transfer nursing class credits from one community college to another college? If this case is possible I am thinking to complete all the nursing classes as much as possible while I am oversea and finish clinical when I come back to states and study for exams to become RN. Then pursue for a RN-BSN program.

or

Should I just wait for two years to come back to state and try to get into an ABSN program?

I can only think two scenarios now...if anybody have better plan for me please advise!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

If you have taken all the normal prerequisite courses that have a lab component already, you might be able to take online courses at a US community college and get most of the rest done. Here's the problem: you don't know where you're going to be in 2 years, so you may have to repeat coursework you've already taken or have to go through a bit of a process to get your current coursework transferred to the new school. Once you have all the usual stuff, it shouldn't take long to complete any further coursework necessary for entry to an ABSN program. The real problem will be being accepted to such a program (or any program for that matter) and being able to stay in one place long enough to complete it. If you're moving every couple years because you have to, completing an RN program of any sort will be tough. I would advise against taking online nursing courses because you won't be able to do clinical time concurrently with your didactic subjects. That problem immediately limits the States you can easily be licensed as an RN. California and about a dozen other states (as far as I know) require that you have have matching clinical and didactic subjects in the same semester/quarter. For instance if you have OB in the classroom in the fall and do an OB clinical rotation in the spring, that's not "concurrent" and therefore it's a problem. That's been a problem for mostly foreign educated nurses, but it also can be a problem for nurses that go through programs like Excelsior's.

Just be very careful about what program you go to and know what your licensure options will be (where you can be licensed) after you graduate from whatever programs you're looking at.

[NeekoRN]

Hi akulahauk,

Thank you so much for your reply. I did not know most school require student to take clinical and didactic course concurrently. Alsol I almost applied to Excelsior's program but I was not qualified candidate since I don't have any health care experience they required.

It seems like I should just study for teas v test while I am in oversea and after I come back to states, start ADN or BSN locally. In this way I can save my money and time.