NEH08

Hi all! I am finishing up a BS in Biology in December and hoping to go into nursing after. I'd really appreciate any advice. I want to ultimately be a RN. However, I will be graduating with around a 3.2, and I know this makes me quite below average for Virginia's accelerated BSN programs. I am fairly certain I would not get accepted, which is OK, but just wanted to throw that out there since I know people would recommend I look into accelerated BSNs based on my BS in Bio. I am mainly wondering what my chances would probably be at getting into a community college level (without a BSN) RN program, and if that is ideal for my situation right now. I am starting to wonder if financially it might be a better idea to go for an LPN since the training is just one year, as financing another 2-3 years of school would be difficult for me right now. I know I could always later do a LPN to BSN track, but the choice seems very daunting! I have many of my RN prereqs covered because of my major, but since the A/P I have was not a health/human bio focus, I would have at least an added two semesters just to meet those prereq requirements. This would tally up to 3-3.5 years added on to my extremely financially draining BS I am about to complete, and I'm not sure with that kind of stress I'd be able to perform as well as I'd need to. I really want to get into the field, even if I start at LPN and work my way up to RN several years down the road. Anyone go through a similar dilemma? If so, any regrets for what you chose either way? Any advice at all would be amazing. It is all very overwhelming and right now I'm feeling super jealous of everyone who knew they wanted to be a nurse when they first entered college - feel like this is such a huge and expensive change of plans!

Thanks all! I will have to ask him about his experiences, as he jumped right into it out of school. It does sound like a pretty high-stress environment.

Can anyone share experiences with these? I am hopefully going to be entering an accelerated BSN program soon. I have a friend who recommended looking into traveling agencies, but I don't really know where to begin. I'd appreciate it!

*BSN! Hi! New here, have gotten lots of recommendations for this site. I have one year left at my university (Bio major) and this time next year will have hopefully completed a good amount of apps for accelerated nursing programs. I was wondering about some pretty general aspects of primarily VA universities with the accelerated program, mostly VCU and GMU - how selective and how many spots overall? VCU is my top choice but I am having a lot of difficulty figuring out where I fall on the spectrum of typical admitted/rejected students. I have around a 3.2 right now but quite a bit higher for my nursing pre-req courses, probably will finish those up around a 3.7 or 3.8 and still have potential to finish them with a 4.0. I know a 3.2 is probably not so competitive, but I will be trying to bring it up a bit in my final year and hope to maybe aim for a 3.3. I got a 2190 (700R/740M/750W) on my SAT and will be taking the GRE in December, so not sure what to expect on that yet. I do not have experience in hospitals and will be trying to get some in before applications start, but I am enrolled in 20 hours next semester and work part time so I just honestly don't know if I can manage that, my job, and staying on top of all my final upper level biology and chem courses I need to graduate with lengthy labs every day. Any overall advice would be appreciated, including other schools to look into. VCU and GMU are at the top for me because of the cost, no surprise there - I am not ruling out private schools (or publics in other states) but I would like them to be backups. I know ODU has an accelerated program as well, but I haven't really gotten any info about it yet.

I should have posted this in the VA programs section - sorry! I will repost there!

Hi! New here, have gotten lots of recommendations for this site. I have one year left at my university (Bio major) and this time next year will have hopefully completed a good amount of apps for accelerated nursing programs. I was wondering about some pretty general aspects of primarily VA universities with the accelerated program, mostly VCU and GMU - how selective and how many spots overall? VCU is my top choice but I am having a lot of difficulty figuring out where I fall on the spectrum of typical admitted/rejected students. I have around a 3.2 right now but quite a bit higher for my nursing pre-req courses, probably will finish those up around a 3.7 or 3.8 and still have potential to finish them with a 4.0. I know a 3.2 is probably not so competitive, but I will be trying to bring it up a bit in my final year and hope to maybe aim for a 3.3. I got a 2190 (700R/740M/750W) on my SAT and will be taking the GRE in December, so not sure what to expect on that yet. I do not have experience in hospitals and will be trying to get some in before applications start, but I am enrolled in 20 hours next semester and work part time so I just honestly don't know if I can manage that, my job, and staying on top of all my final upper level biology and chem courses I need to graduate with lengthy labs every day. Any overall advice would be appreciated, including other schools to look into. VCU and GMU are at the top for me because of the cost, no surprise there - I am not ruling out private schools (or publics in other states) but I would like them to be backups. I know ODU has an accelerated program as well, but I haven't really gotten any info about it yet.