Which A&P?

[mandaleni23]

Hi, everyone!

Long-time reader, first time poster, and I'm looking for some advice.

I am taking prerequisites for a BSN program in my area at a community college. The community college offers two A&P classes: "Fundamentals of Anatomy & Physiology" which is a one semester course, and the year-long Anatomy & Physiology I & II. "Fundamentals" is designed for students who are going into the college's ADN program, but the BSN program that I am applying to at a different school accepts it to fulfill the requirement. The major difference as far as I can tell between the classes (besides the length of time) is that the year-long class works with cadavers in lab (or, I should say, the instructor works with the cadavers) and I imagine that it goes into more depth.

I am applying to start the BSN program in Fall 2012 or Spring 2013. I work full-time and plan to work full-time until I start nursing school, so I can only reasonably take one class of this nature at a time. I also have microbiology to take. The BSN program I would like to attend offers provisional acceptance to students that still have pre-reqs to finish. I have considered taking remaining pre-reqs while enrolled in some of the early nursing classes, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. To give you some background information about me, I am 25 and I have a master's degree. I am eager to get into and get done with nursing school, but I do not want to compromise the quality of my education for the sake of speediness. I do plan on continuing my nursing education and becoming a NP at some point.

Any suggestions or comments or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

[spore2008]

I would ask the programs you are interested in applying to about their recommendation as to which course (or courses) are most appropriate.

Personally, I would take the two course sequence. This way you can keep your options open and if need be apply to other schools out of your area as well.

[GirlDotson]

I wish my instructor used cadavers....or something other than bones and plaster models, lol. For me, I am very hands on. I like to be in it up to my eyeballs. I am so interested in everything we are doing in lab, psych, and nutrition, I am flying through those classes....on the other hand, I have a really hard time in lecture (molecular stuff, cellular respiration, cell-to-cell communitcation, etc.) and math for liberal arts (logic, statitistics, geomerty, and stuff). Lecture is just hard to grasp. My problem with math is that we are learning so many concepts that we STILL won't use, just like algebra, lol.

My point is, I wauld find out in a little more detail what the differences are in the classes. Take the one that interests you most, even if it seems like the longer or more difficult class. A short class my be very fast-paced and have 1 year's worth of learning in that semester, making it the more difficult course. Or, the year long course could have more information and be more difficult, but it all boils down to which you will like more. The more interesting the class, the better your grade will be, and easier the work will seem.

[mandaleni23]

Thanks for the input!

I'm kind of leaning toward the two semester class because of the use of the cadavers (a friend of mine is taking the short class and she said that it is very difficult to identify, for example, parts of the skull on a bleach-white faux skeleton for lab tests).

If I take the two semester class (assuming that I get provisionally accepted for the semester I want to start) I will have to take the second semester of A&P and microbiology during my first two semesters of the BSN program. I will quit working and go to school full-time for the BSN program, but I'm just worried that I'm going to set myself up for an especially rough first year... Any thoughts?