ErinT

It's good to have a few of your prerequisites done when you apply, like I said, pretty much every nursing school requires the same ones, so you'd be on your way with all of the schools. Also, if you have a few classes under your belt, it kind of gives them the message that you're serious about it because you've already started your nursing education. Good ones to start out with are Chemistry and Nutrition or English Comp. At most schools, you need to take Chemistry before you move on to the other science courses.

They do have a long wait-list, but I'd recommend applying. I've heard horror stories about some other nursing schools in the area from people that went there, but myself and everyone I knew that went to Abington felt we had a great experience. You get a lot of clinical experience, and hospitals really like to see the school on resumes. And, if you choose to work at AMH after graduation, your tuition is paid off. As far as prerequisites go, they give you a year before you start to get them done at a community college or Manor College or wherever they have them. They're classes like Anatomy & Physiology I and II, Chemistry, Microbiology, English Comp, Intro to Psychology, Intro to Sociology, Nutrition, and Life-Span Psych. Pretty much every nursing school requires those courses anyway so it's no big deal. So for example, you'd be accepted for the class of whatever is 3 years from then, then you'd have a year to do pre-reqs (some you can even leave to take DURING nursing school), and then two years of actual nursing school. And it's awesome. I graduated from high school in 2004, went to Bucks CCC for 2004-2005, and Abington from 2005-2007.

I graduated from the program in May of 2007, and in my opinion, my education couldn't have been more enjoyable. The staff are great, and as far as the tuition goes, it's around 6-7,000/year, but if you choose to work at Abington Hospital for two years after graduation, your tuition is forgiven and your education is basically free. They also have Stafford loans for living expenses if you choose not to work during school, which I took advantage of in my last year. ~If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me!

I graduated from Abington in May of 2007~ they way the tuition works, is that it's about $7,000/year for two years, but if you work at the hospital for two years after graduation, you're tuition is forgiven and you don't owe anything. You pretty much go to nursing school for free! I loved it, by the way. You get very close to the staff since the class sizes are so small, and in 2006, they had a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX for both the day and evening/weekend programs. If anyone has any questions about Abington's nursing school, feel free to ask me! :)