*Muffin*

Hi. I'm going to be applying for the August 2011 term. One thing I'm glad to find out about is that they starting August 2011 PBSC will no longer be accepting the NLN exam but will be using the HESI exam. Those NLN seats fill up so fast! And then once they fill up you have to wait another 6 months before you can register again. I don't think it's the same way with the HESI exam. There are more testing days for the HESI exam. That's one new thing I learned that I wanted to share. Also I believe application deadlines for the Fall term is June 1st. P.S. Since creating this thread I found out that it doesn't really matter whether you apply for full-time or part-time. Once you've been accepted I believe they give you a certain amount of times per year that you can switch between being a full-time nursing student or a part-time nursing student, regardless of which one you applied to.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question correctly, but I'm going to try to answer the best I can. Palm Beach State College's ASN program is based on a point system. The more of the pre-reqs and co-reqs you get out of the way, the better. General education requirements for the program, I believe, are psychology, sociology, and your english courses, but math is not a requirement. For pre-reqs you must take A&P I w/lab, and Chemistry. The Co-reqs are A&P II w/lab and MCB w/lab, I believe. There really is no time limit to get these things done. You simply have to pay attention to the NLN exam deadlines, which is crucial. If you forget to register as soon as registration becomes active, the seats fill up and you have to wait another 6 months to register again (this happened to me, unfortunately). I wish I could tell you that you could clep out of certain classes in order to speed up the process, but PBSC does not accept CLEP credit for their nursing program. You have to have actually taken the class. It's good that you have your CNA certification because I believe that's an additional point on your application. My advice is to start working on your general education courses first, then your pre-reqs, and then do as much of your co-reqs as you can before you apply to the nursing program. This will ensure that you get higher points on your application. If you go full-time, this whole process is said to take you about 3 years, 1 year of pre-reqs and 2 years in the nursing program. P.S. The only courses that have a time limit are the sciences, and the time limit is 10 years.

I am very interested in becoming an esthetician. I have an appointment with Boca Beauty Academy tomorrow. I'm interested in both aesthetics and nursing and would love to combine the two fields. I'm also interested in massage therapy and may consider doing that as well in the future. The field of medical estheticians is new to me so I'm trying to gather all of the information that I can about this. Also I'm not yet accepted into a nursing program so I'm looking into other careers to get into in the mean time. Oh, I live in Florida, btw.

Long story short, it's going to be a while before I'm able to complete a nursing program, and I would like to get started with something in the mean time so that I can gain experience and earn some cash! It's been about 3 months since I received my certification as a nursing assistant, and I've applied to many different facilities in numerous places, and I've received no call backs, and when I call them they say that more experienced applicants are given priority or they are unwilling to work with cna's that have no experience. I've just recently turned in a volunteer application, hopefully that yields something. Would my chances of getting hired increase if I went on to become a PCT? I'm a bit wary of doing that because it seems that most of the places I've applied to do not recognize the difference between a cna and a pct, but I was thinking becoming a pct may open more job opportunities to myself because I will be able not only to apply for both cna and pct positions and perhaps even phlebotomy technician positions. And are PCT's able to work in Doctor's offices like MA's? I would like to make an informed decision.

Thanks so much for all of this beneficial information. I was at first preparing to enter PBSC's nursing program, but since I missed the NLN exam deadline I would have to wait 6 more months from september before I can register for it again, so I looked into my other options and found BC's program appealing. I've already taken both Psychology, Sociology, and a lot of english courses that require writing, so I think I've fulfilled all of BC's requirements save for Anatomy & Physiology II w/lab, which I will be taking in fall along with Microbiology, but I'll contact them to double check. In spring I'll probably take Human Growth & Development and Microbiology lab, just to save me some trouble in the future, but I'm going to be aiming for BC's May program. I guess I'm at where you were 3 semesters ago, lol. It seems like all of this is going to take an eternity, but as long as the wheels are in motion I know the time will roll by!

thank you very much. you answered all my questions! i'm already a cna (not practicing at the moment, though). i feel more optimistic now :). ooh, just remembered another question i had. does broward college require microbiology with lab as a co-req? p.s. i see you are almost finished with your nursing program. you're almost there !

Sorry to create another thread about this, but after relentless searching I wasn't able to find the answer to my inquiries, and so here they are! 1. Does Broward College require Human Growth & Development as either a Pre-req or a Co-req? 2. Does North Campus accept May RN applicants? 3. After 1 year of course work in BC's RN program, is it possible to take the LPN certification exam? 4. Is there a required Information Session one must attend prior to applying to Broward College? Thank you for taking the time to consider these questions :).

Yeah, for PBSC's nursing program I still need to take Human Growth & Development, Microbiology w/lab and Anatomy & Physiology II w/lab, but Microbiology and Anatomy II are co-requisites, so all I would have to do is take Human Growth to finish my prereqs. What really messes me up with PBSC is their testing schedule. For some reason I thought that the advisor told me that the opening day for sign-up for the NLN pre-admission exam was June 8, but it opened up june 1st, and by the time I figured that out all the seats were filled . I was beyond livid. And I can only schedule to take that exam once every six months so that sets me back a year, so I'm looking into other schools. Broward College's nursing program requires less prereqs that PBSC's program. All I would have to take is A&PII, I don't think they require microbiology or if they do it's a co-req. So what I'm going to do is this coming semester I will be taking A&PII w/lab and Human Growth and development and take the Hesi exam. If I don't get accepted into Broward's program I will take Microbiology and College Algebra the following semester and try out for PBSC and Miami-Dade As for FAU, you're right. They are very competitive, and I'm not a fighter, lol. I'm leaning toward the ASN route and I could always do RN-BSN. I hear the bridge programs are less competitive.

Thank you for your input. I've been seriously considering whether or not I should go straight for my BSN or take the ASN route first. The ASN route is probably more feasible because it is cheaper and allows greater flexibility of scheduling. I have the choice of going to school full-time or part-time. Realistically, I could probably get done with the BSN program in a similar amount of time as the asn program (I'll be getting my AA degree soon and then all I would need is two more years in a BSN level nursing program and ASN programs are usually 2 years in length as well), but the cost and time expended is probably more manageable in an ASN program.

Thank you! I'm definitely going to need it .

After talking with my school about my options, I've decided that I'm going to take the College Algebra Clep Test. I won't have to go through an appeal process to take the test, and should I fail the test it wouldn't count as a course attempt so I could always take the course again at my school after I appeal it. But, I'm going to study hard for at least a month and try not to fail. I bought the book College Algebra Demystified and I most likely will also purchase the Clep College Algebra Practice Book (Bidding for it on ebay. Won't find out if I win or not until tomorrow :)). If I don't win I'll just buy from another online website. I saw a site that had it for cheap.

Thanks for the input. I actually would prefer a hospital job as well, but my inexperience is holding me back a bit, I think. I like working fewer days and longer hours, but at this point I really want the experience as well. I've applied for a couple of different positions. I applied to manorcare for a part-time cna position and I've also applied for two hospital positions affiliated with tenet health care. The first hospital position I applied for I highly doubt I will get hired for because they want 1-2 years experience in the behavior health field in addition to a CNA license. The second hospital position I applied to I have a better chance a getting because they don't require prior experience, but it's preferred. Also, it's a per diem position. And manorcare is a nursing home branch. From what I read about it they prefer full-time employees. Hopefully I get a call from somebody.

i should try joining an agency. the school i got my cna certificate from is also a nursing agency so i should probably register with them. maybe my chances at getting a job will increase.

Thank you for your positivity and encouragement . I guess that's the dilemma. I haven't exactly decided what school I'm going to go to yet . I was focusing on finishing my AA degree requirements and I've been looking at various schools in the meantime. Currently Nova Southeastern and South university seem appealing to me, but there are a lot of other schools to choose from. I guess I better make a decision soon. I'm going to put off taking College Algebra (or another math if I can get away with it) until Spring. In the meantime I willl be taking Statistics in fall, along With A&P2 lecture and lab. Then Spring will be my last semester of undergraduate studies, which will consist of MCB lecture and lab and my other math requirement.

Yeah, unfortunately I agree. College Algebra is probably my safest bet . Yeah, I hear you. The problem is I'm not working with a lot of time, and my school doesn't allow me to take remedial classes because I actually scored into higher level maths on my placement exam. I've already had this discussion with them. I honestly don't feel that I'm any more challenged in math than the average person. I just wasn't taking my classes seriously at the time I did algebra. It was during my first year in school and I didn't even really know what I wanted to major in, so I did well in all the classes I thought were interesting and never applied myself to the classes I thought were challenging, especially with the circumstance I was dealing with at the time. Now I know what I want to do for a living and I'm determined to get it accomplished, but I have that nasty track record holding me back a bit. Thanks for all of your advice. I'm sure I'll figure something out.