Pre-requisites and moving to another state?

[EventuallyANurse]

I'm still waiting for schools to re-open so I can find out how long pre-reqs are good for... but in the mean time. How universal are pre-reqs from state to state? I'm in Central FL and in general the pre-reqs are Human Anatomy/Physiology, Microbiology, and Human Nutrition... a couple of schools include Sociology, Chemistry and then various Liberal Arts (which are generally covered by my A.A.) like Humanities, Psych, College Algebra, Statistics etc...

My husband and I talk about moving back to Illinois. I'm not sure it will ever happen, but if it did, how much would I mess myself up if I had already started taking pre-reqs? This issue could postpone when I start taking pre-reqs no matter what the schools around here say about the time frame.

Which ones are "safe" ones? I don't mind taking a couple of extra classes but I don't want to have taken a whole bunch of classes extra if I'll end up not needing them.

[spore2008]

Unfortunately, nursing schools individually decide their prerequisite courses. True, there is a prerequisite "core" which typically includes anatomy and physiology I and II and microbiology. After those three courses, prerequisite courses can go haywire and include some oddball coursework (ethics, speech, computers). Science courses tend to "expire" but the time frame each school gives can vary substantially. I doubt it matters where you take your prerequisite courses as long as the school is an accredited institution. Most schools do not take kindly to lab science courses being taken online. And to be honest, I would not want to take a lab science online.

I think your plan is sound. Call the schools and find out. Try to move to a location where you can apply to more than one school in case you do not get into your first choice.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

Might be a good idea to take a quick look at the schools you might be thinking about attending in IL and see what they have for classes listed for the program.

I'd stay away from the 'sciences" as they tend to have a time frame that they will be accepted (schools around here will not accept a science (micro, AP I & II, chem etc) if they are over 5 yrs from when you've taken them to when you are applying to the nursing program. The 'core' classes most ADN or BSN colleges require are usually pretty safe (ie: sociology, psychology, english, elective classes etc).

[hopefulprayers1]

generally i've seen prereqs expire anywhere from 3 years to seven. and sometimes they don't expire if you already have a degree for example, biology.