Future-nurse

Cant you transfer from one program to another? I know for sure you can do that while you are enrolled in a nursing program and dont like the school. But wouldnt this also apply to if you failed a semester you could apply to other schools to get in on a particular semester? (say semester 3 or 4) Might be worth it to call other programs to see if they had any dropouts for the semester you were dismissed and to try and get that spot right? If I am wrong feel free to let me know but it seems like the same idea as the excelsior program earlier posts were talking about.

Oh and I forgot... as for a means to support yourself... most people I have talked to work during the first semester of an RN program anyways and after the first semester you can work at the hospital while you are going through the program... Also as long as you are over 25 you are independent of your parents income so with 2 dependents of your own you could probably qualify for financial aid (free money grants / loans without interest) to let you survive school without working. I probably left out something but personal message me if you need the info.

You can do whats called a non-degree option to become a RN with only having to do anatomy, physiology, and microbiology. The catch is that you can only work in california and you cant get an associate degree or anything higher. But hey... if someone told me when I first started doing my pre-req's that I could just take those three classes and get into a RN program I wouldnt have cared about moving up, it was more about how quickly I could generate CASH! This option isnt for everyone since there is some risk involved but I just wanted to let you know of the quick option out there. Also if you decide to go this route you can personal message me for the details and I will be glad to help... P.S. Citrus college (glendora) actually allows you to take micro/physio in the same semester so technically you could take anatomy one semester then physio/micro the next (you wouldnt get good grades but most all of the socal programs are lottery anyways) and apply to the RN program as fast as you woud a LVN program.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30672330/ as i was reading the article i came across the following line... "and hospitals and doctors are concerned the government could dictate what they get paid to care for any patient, not only the elderly and the poor." i would appreciate the expertise of your opinions on the matter since i'm a newbie but it seems like eventually hospital budgets could get squeezed to the point where they have to lower everyone's salaries (including nurses). i looked through some previous threads on universal healthcare but it just seems like whoever actually asks the question of "will universal healthcare drive nursing salaries down?" just seems to get flame'd into submission to not even think about it. thank you for your help.

Sorry that I didn't give that information to begin with. I was talking about community college adn programs. If that is what you are looking for feel free to personal message me and I will try to help out.

Congrats on choosing nursing:yeah: Just from my experience I would always try to take 1 science class each semester with an easy class to balance it out (exp: a&p1 + nutrition in the first semester, a&p2 + math the second semester, etc) It would make it only 3 semesters instead of 4. I did the same thing your talking about when I first went back to school and looking back I really wish I would have maximized my time by take a science class that first semester. Then again I could just mind my own business though so sorry if I overstepped my bounds :chuckle Good luck on making it to the top!

I just got accepted into the Chaffey program so hopefully I can update you as I go along in the program =] IMO since I have been through the prerequisites here would be my steps to get your RN the easiest: 1) Always have 1 science class each semester (Anatomy, then Physiology, then Microbiology). You might need Chemistry as well to take Physiology or Microbiology it depends on your school. I was not smart and started back in school taking English and History my first semester to get back in the groove of things but really I found out ever semester you dont get a science class out of the way was basically a "wasted" semester for me. 2) Make an appointment with a counselor asap to hammer out a education plan on what you will take each semester to get into the nursing program. Plan it out in advance and make small changes as you go along will save you lots of time. Also ask for a FULL TIME NURSING counselor. Part time counselors dont know anything and non nursing ones dont either, they will tell you bad information that will make you take classes you dont need. 3) Start looking at programs around your area that you want to get into. I googled "California college zip code search" and then plugged in my zip code, checked each one for a nursing program on their website, looked at their pre-requisites, and plan your classes accordingly. Every college might have a random prerequisite class that the other colleges dont require so do your research in advance to make sure you can apply to all of the ones you want to. Also find out what your time frame is because some schools have a waiting list that you have to wait for a year before you can get in (which is another reason why you want to complete your science classes as soon as possible because the quicker you complete the core pre-reqs the quicker you can get your name on the list), other schools like the one I got in have a lottery system where they draw names out of a hat and you have to get lucky, others have a point system where your grades/gpa matters ESPECIALLY for your science classes. Do your research in advance on your own (dont rely on a counselors word) to find out the schools you want to go to and how they let people in so that you are prepared and dont waste time taking classes you dont need like I did. 4) Another option I found out about after I took all my pre-req's is what is called a Non-Degree option, where you ONLY have to take the 3 science courses and you can apply to get into a RN program. Once you complete the program you can take the test to become a RN but the catch is you dont get a degree. You can never get a degree but if someone had told me about this option from the beginning I would have done this by far instead of taking all the other random classes like psychology, english, math, etc... ask the schools if they have this option for you if you want to become a RN quickly 5) Make sure to protect your science grades. Last semester I took Microbiology and only took one other class with it because I wanted to make sure that my science classes I had high grades. Dont be in too much of a rush trying to get into the program that you sacrifice your science grades trying to take a full load with other random general ed. Nursing programs really look at science grades alot and you can always take the general ed classes in the summer/winter. Sorry if this response was long but I just like to help future nursing students so they dont make the same mistakes I did... I still have lots of other stuff to talk about but it really depends on what your goals are... do you want a bachelors eventually or just want to become a RN quickly and start making money, etc... let me know what you are trying to accomplish and Ill try to help you out You can always message me on allnurses and I will try to help you out with any information I have on nursing programs...

Oof, I just got accepted to a nursing program so I went by the department to thank them and ask if there is any way I can sit in on a current class so I know what to expect when I start and then POW! I walk in to a class and there are nothing but nice, sweet, intelligent, attractive nursing students... Whats a guy to do eh? I mean com'on Im trying to get good grades in my classes ladies!!! Jeez quit being so perfect!!! :hdvwl: any other guys have this same feeling?

My school will sometimes allow you to petition the dean in order to repeat a class you got a C in. Might be something to look into....

I wouldn't do that personally. I took Micro in a summer session and I wasnt able to pass (Straight A student before that) so I couldnt even imagine trying to do TWO summer courses. Ugh. Alot of the time people will encourage you to try it, but the programs here in SoCal they dont want you to repeat ANY science class more than once (otherwise you cant get into the ADN programs) so I would really thing twice before I took on that load since the odds are you might not pass one, mabey both due to being stretched out so thin, but make sure with your programs if they have that repeat rule first. Good luck whatever you choose to do

Only advice I could give is to look into the ADN programs since all the ones I applied to are lottery system as long as you meet the minimum of 2.8 - 2.5 gpa. Once you get an associates you can start making money while applying for bachelor programs or even a ADN to MSN programs and just skip the BSN altogether. Hope your able to get in a BSN program though like you want. Good luck.

In SoCal 2.8 is all you need to get into any ADN program... its almost all lottery system so no one cares what your GPA is as long as you meet the minimum requirement. Dunno where you live but let me know if you had any questions on the programs out here.

I got pretty annoyed with GWC when they sent me the letter in the mail. Here I am dying for a reply to see if I got in or not... I finally work up the courage to open the letter and I see "Your pre-reqs are ok, we will send you another letter soon to let you know if you are accepted" SSMDFjslfmlasdfmaoesrjl;mxlfmdsalfmaslmfsx... sigh. WHY send me anything besides a acceptance/rejection letter? Its like the people at these college's know that our hearts are aching trying to find out where we are headed and so they send us little gag gifts of "summer registration letters" which get my heart racing. Oh well I guess I'll find out soon at the end of May.

I took the TEAS test kind of gives me an idea of what the NCLEX will be like, lots of questions that you CANNOT study for and you just have to use your common sense. I mean com'on, there was more questions about rocks and geology then there was on human anatomy! I remember seeing the question "If water gets into a crack on a rock and later expands due to freezing which flakes off pieces of the rock, what is this process called?" I almost lost it thinking "what in the world does this have to do with NURSING?!" Its not too bad though, just make sure to eliminate the two dumb answers (out of 4) and you have a 50/50 chance on any problem you dont know. I didnt study for the TEAS test and got a 90% overall.

I feel your pain... I ended up doing really well on Micro but it really depends on what your professor gives you to work with... Mine gave us a packet of bullet points of the important facts summarized so I would go through every bullet point and try to come up with a question for it and type both out on different word documents. An example would be "1. What is a drawback of using a broad spectrum antibiotic?" "Might cause a super infection where it kills off your normal flora". After I went through a packet I usually had about 25-30 questions and would memorize the first five by heart, then move on to the next five, then the next five, etc. Sounds pretty simple which is what I needed to compress the micro material into a manageable class. Good luck.