Prerequisites Question

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For the past month or so I have seriously been considering nursing. I would like to become a Nurse Practitioner. Now I am focusing on getting into Jefferson's Nursing program in Philadelphia but they and all other BSN/MSN programs have prerequisites.

Well I have a BA in Biology and I took classes from 99-03. I pretty much have all the pre-requisites these programs require the only problem is, they are all pretty much over 10 years old and no one will accept them anymore. So now I have to go to the local community college and retake all those classes which I see as a huge waste of time and money. I mean how much has basic Chemistry or A&P changed in the past 10 years or past 20 years for that matter??

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any workaround for this. I would have to take 6 classes in 2012 while working full-time if i want to make it into the 2013 class. That does not sound fun, especially considering the classes I would need to take aren't the easiest and they have labs. The community college takes transfer credits. I am wondering if I could transfer my old classes from my BA to them and they would somehow be 'refreshed' and then Jefferson might allow me to use them as pre-req's for their program. I have no idea how transfer credits work. When you transfer credits/courses what does it actually look like on a new transcript?

I also considered just taking the ASN program at my local community college but while doing research on that I came to the revelation that the deadline for the 2012 class was in October of this year so the earliest class I could get into is Fall 2013 and I have no desire to sit on my hands for the next two years just to start an ASN program and still having to get the BSN and MSN.

So does anyone have any ideas?

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Honestly I don't think there is a way around the requirement. All the schools in my area require A&P and Micro to be taken within the past 5 years. My chemistry from undergrad is still accepted though and that was well over 5 years ago. I think it is a pretty common requirement for nursing schools so you are prepared to start the nursing curriculum with fresh knowledge of A&P.

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Well as recently as 2007, I was doing partial necropsies on animals as part of my job so I don't think there is anything in an A&P class that is going to blow me away at this point. My career since college has been science based, mostly involving animals. It just seems so redundant for me to have to take those courses again and also expensive.

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I think some schools make an exception to the 5-year expiration date if your degree is in something such as biology. I would definitely call around and find out.

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You can try Advanced Placement (the AP tests that high schoolers take for college credit) or CLEP. You will have to sort through the college website and see an advisor (actually, I'd ask more than one) because there is a wide range of which or how many they offer or allow or will accept as transfers (they are not always the same things). That is probably your best shot. It costs but not nearly as much and it saves the time if you don't need to study much.

I've heard of colleges allowing a credit-by-exam thing, it doesn't help the cost but would help with the time.

You can ask about the degree/experience thing and if they will waive it even if it isn't written anywhere as okay. It is worth trying but usually they are pretty strict about it, I'd be surprised if they allowed it.

When you transfer from School B to School C, the transcript from School B will list the credits taken at School A as credits taken at School A, along with the dates they were taken, the grades recieved in each, and any Withdrawls or Incompletes and where they were taken. If a class was retaken both are on the transcript.

I hope you find a way that works for you.

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I'm not quite the same as you but I took a year of chem way back when *ahem*. I have taken Bio, Molecular Bio and currently in Micro Bio - all of which have a chem refresher portion. One of the schools I wanted to apply to required chem and wanted it within the last 10 years. Unfortunately, due to that, I wasn't able to apply to them for the upcoming Fall semester. Instead, I'm applying to a school that doesn't require chem. If I don't get into the school I'm applying to, I retake chem although I'm guessing I'd be pretty bored.

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I would definitely ask if your work experience will count against the time limit on course work. I graduated from college in 1998 with a degree in Neuroscience and I have a PhD in Molecular Genetics from 2008. Every school I asked gave me waivers for the courses I took during my college career and the beginning of my graduate career. The science classes in question included Microbiology, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry.

All I had to do was ask.

Good luck.

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I was wrong about a piece of that... College B sometimes puts abbreviated info about the classes from Collage A on to the transcripts they send out.

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I was wrong about a piece of that. At least some schools put abbreviated info about transfer credits onto their transcripts, like not the exact name of the course.

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CLEP might be an option to skip taking prerequisite in school...sometimes schools have challenge exams too...

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