prerequisites, money and confusion!

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I am 54 years old and seriously wanting to attend nursing school. I have had to grapple with my age as an issue (I guess it is mostly my issue!) and am now faced with the application process for nursing schools. Of course both nursing schools in my area require algebra, bio and chem(with labs).Both say they are competitive and I have no reason to doubt that this is the case. I checked into the cost of taking these courses at the community college and the cost would be pretty steep, at least $1600. One of the nursing schools I spoke to said that these courses can be taken at continuing education at a local high school. The cost then would be about $600. My question is this, Could it be that the courses taught at the high school have the same weight as those at the community college when it comes to nursing school admissions? I have asked admissions at both schools this exact question, one said yes they would and another said that their "competitive" students have already completed most of the science (micro, AP I and II) so it sounds like they look at the college level courses.

Has anyone had a similar situation when fufilling their prereqs? I have a masters in social work degree but not these prereqs. I am afraid to invest $1600 in community college tution and then not get in to nursing school. Money is very tight, I pay college tution on my daughter right now too!

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Specializes in Emergency.

Whoa. What state are you located? In CA they recently increased tuition to $36 per unit. To which everyone griped and moaned. A full time student here pays $432 for 12 units per semester. I could go to Community College here for two years and attain an Associates for the cost of your Community College those your aforementioned classes.

$1600 honestly sounds more like Private School tuition.

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I start a CC program in a couple of weeks. Like the schools you mentioned it is competetive. In order to get enough points to be accepted you usually need to have all or most of your "Co-reqs" like A&P 1,2 and Microbiology already completed (with mostly A's although a couple of B's might do) to be accepted. We also had to have a number of other courses that are more liberal arts oriented even though it is an ADN program like English Comp, Psychology, and electives. If you think you will be a good student then it's not a problem to do it that way though, it means once in the program you only have to worry about your actual nursing classes. We have a couple of people in our program (of about 50) that are around your age, so that's not really an issue. Good Luck!

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Hi, I am in New York. Tution here is 141 dollars a credit hour at Schnectady County Community College. Not sure what to do because even if I took the prereqs this year, I would only have algebra, bio and chem done this semester which means I would have to apply with just these three for fall of 2012. I cannot imagine postponing another year to apply. Does anyone have an opinion as to whether to take the three intro prereqs at a community college or at continuing ed?

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Specializes in Emergency.

You might be able to schedule an appointment with a counselor at Schnectady CC. They should be able to tell you what classes are 100% transferable from any continuing ed.

Though I would price hunt in your area. Are all the CC's the same price around you? If you can find a cheaper Community College, it might be worth the drive to save you some cash in the end.

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Whoa. What state are you located? In CA they recently increased tuition to $36 per unit. To which everyone griped and moaned. A full time student here pays $432 for 12 units per semester. I could go to Community College here for two years and attain an Associates for the cost of your Community College those your aforementioned classes.

$1600 honestly sounds more like Private School tuition.

hehehe... i hear this from all of my friends from california! CC credits in Washington were 81$/ credit and they just had a rate hike of who knows how much. (>10% is all i know) the CA tuition being so cheap is the exception, not the rule, unfortunately.

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the whole "competitive" students have already taken AP1 and AP2 thing really doesn't answer the question.

I say CALL THEM BACK.

Your not asking what other people have done...you are asking if the CE classess are acceptable alternates to the AP1and 2 requirement.

Remember...if you go the CE route they LOSE money....you may have to really work to get a good honest answer to this question.

No point in taking CE classes that won't count as your prereqs so I can't understand why they would point you in that direction if they don't accept them? Does that make sense?

As for age....I'm over 40. My class is about 1/2 over 30 and 1/2 under with a minimal # under 24. I think our age gives us an advantage.

We understand the cost of healthcare, financial and emotional!, We get it's not black/white...but very gray and the concepts that make it hard to understand. Nutrition is usually easier for us...as we grocery shop all the time, cook for our families. Maternal...well we've pretty much had our babies..raised them up. So that's under our belt.

I say go get a physical first. if you can hear well, see well (even if you need glasses to do so) and can take the physical lifting, moving... then apply.

I heard of someone who had some noticable hearing deficits. couldn't hear to do a b/p, apical pulse or even normal conversation in some situations and she was dropped because she was unable to pass the check offs or do the job because of her deficits in hearing. She was on the older side too. I heard something about her trying to sue...discrimination, but honestly... let's say I want to be a firefighter...but I can't carry the equipment, can't run up 3 stories of stairs and have asthma so I can't be in smoke. Well guess what...I can't do that. It isn't the FD's fault that I can't do the job. So it's kinda a ridiculous to sue over something that YOU don't have teh ability to do. Just check to be sure that physically your able. I can say that I have a harder time than these 25 yr olds..lol.

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