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FoundAndy, I would say that the answer to your questions depends upon which school and program you choose. I am at The Ohio State University and the FNPs and PMHNPs take the same classes for the most part, with little deviation. I would not say that it requires anything more than a rudimentary understanding of chemistry (Ions, Acid/Base, Electronegativity, Reactive Oxygen Species/Free Radicals, and a little in the way of pharmacokinetics). With that being said, I certainly would not say that it is a "bad" idea to take chemistry if you feel that this is slight blind spot for you. I would strongly recommend taking a statistics course that worries less about crunching numbers, and focuses more on understanding concepts. Along those same lines, I would say that my biggest asset in the program thus far is knowing APA backwards and forwards. Whether you decide to take a writing class, or if you just read some research articles to get back into the "mood," I would say that would help immensely. If you are smart in the sciences, remember that it isn't enough to "get it," as you also have to show everyone else (professors) how proficient you are in them. Best of luck, and let me know if I can help in anyway or be more specific in my response.

lv2learn, Thank you for the information! It appears that I will see you in a week! I am getting very excited.

Break, I was recently accepted into the FNP program this Fall at tOSU. What I can tell you is that they hold all baccalaureate degrees on an even level. My bachelor's was in rhetoric and they apparently did not mind. While it is not the same specialty, that still has to be some good news! I also know that the curriculum for the Master's degrees have just changed, so be sure to look into that when you do get advice on specific courses from fellow students. Some of the courses might be completely different. I hope this helps! Best of luck in finishing your ADN!

Hello you two, sorry about my late reply. I will be going to the orientation later this month as well. I am in Brown County, Ohio. I am not sure how often we will have to go to campus. What exactly should we be doing right now, anyway? I'm registered for classes and kind of in a holding pattern. Patho won't be fun but at least they don't make us take patho, assessment, and pharm all at the same time. Nice to meet you both!

Minstral, You might also want to look into clinical nurse specialist tracks as well! These might fit your needs better, although I am not entirely educated on that subject.

Minstral, Here's the thing, nurse practitioner specialties are self-limiting due to the fact that they were designed to be specific. Your best bet in my opinion is to take care to avoid the corners that you can back yourself into. Acute Care NPs and Family NPs can work with any age group. Acute Care NPs might have a leg-up initially when applying to work in a hospital, but then public health would be a problem. FNP is the most general as it does not curtail you to a particular setting.

It sounds like you're preparing well. I'd suggest studying for two more weeks and then tapering off so you are not burnt out on test day.

Agreed with both above. I imagine patho would help a lot for pharm. do you have a course plan from the school? See what your advisor says too!

I took the ATI once and got a 99% chance, then passed the NCLEX with 75 questions. Just remember to breathe! Good luck!

CONGRATS Alex and OP! This is a big day for you, indeed! Hang in there, and no matter how hard it gets, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Plus, there are a ton of people who have come across every problem you might encounter here on allnurses! Congrats again, and best of luck! Tenjuna, well done on graduating! Best of luck with testing, and take time to enjoy your career!

Chare answered this correctly, but to be clear: Nurse Practitioner/Nurse Midwife/Clinical Nurse Specialist = 2015 was a recommendation. CRNA = 2022 is the year for DNP being mandatory. I hope this helps!

lv2learn, I talked to the folks up in the CON at OSU the other day, and I was told that the curriculum is being changed and our adviser should contact us by late May. I hope all is going well on your end, and keep in touch!

Hi lv2learn, I only applied to OSU. How about you? I had also heard that it was very competitive this year, so I grew a little nervous towards the end. I haven't talked to anyone else who was accepted into the program. I still don't know how I got in considering my less than stellar resume. I suppose we are lucky.

Hello lv2learn, I was accepted into the OSU FNP program as well. It looks like I will be beginning with you in the Fall!

Hello, I am probably not the best person to answer your question, but I was intrigued by your background. I was a nurse aide before becoming an LPN, and finally, an RN. I just gained acceptance into Ohio State's FNP program. So, if anything, I respect the climb you've got ahead of you! There are a myriad of Pros and Cons with regard to becoming a practitioner. Things to think about include what area you are going to practice in (specialty and location), your motivations toward becoming a mid-level, and what path are you going to take to get there. In Southern Ohio where I live, NPs and PAs have a considerable amount of work. This is because the rural areas have seen a shortage in primary and community-based specialty care. In the cities, teaching hospitals have had to cut resident/intern physicians' hours in half over the last few years. It is much cheaper for those hospitals to hire a few NPs, rather than hire a couple of attendings to cover the shortage. The problem with this is that you run into salaried NPs and PAs working 50+ hour weeks. The shame of becoming an NP is that nursing is such a broad field. We are everywhere and we can do anything as RNs. Unlike PAs, many of the NP specialties curtail you to working with a certain age-group (PNP, ANP) or in a certain setting (ACNP). So you have to think long and hard about what you want to do as a practitioner. The benefits can range from a higher pay, more respect, a widened scope of practice, etc. The cons may mean that you could conceivably make the same amount of money per hour with a greater amount of responsibility. Certain states have very restrictive nurse practice acts which limit the NPs in their practices. I could go on, but the main idea is that you must do a lot of research and have plenty of forethought in making this leap. I wish you the absolute best of luck!

I managed to make it into the Ohio State University Family Nurse Practitioner MSN program. GRE: Not required or taken. GPA: Undergrad- 3.0 in BA in Rhetoric. 4.0 in AS in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics. 3.98 in nursing school. Applications: I only applied to Ohio State. A lot of the other schools around here seem to frown on non-nursing bachelor's degrees. Best of luck to everyone awaiting admissions! -Mitch

I agree and am in the same situation with coucas12. For ATI's, we were always given 2 "practice tests" that were on the ATI website. Also, under "tutorials" you can find many practice/final tests that may help you as well.

Hey, sorry this is late... It's my understanding that Pearson View Trick tends to work for many (and it worked for me). How did it turn out for you?

This is a tricky sort of question. I was an STNA for a number of years after I finished my first bachelor's degree, and then went into an ADN program. The program I went into allowed you to sit for the PN after the first three semesters (four quarters at the time). Then we continued on in the RN program which I'm finishing the second, and final, semester now. Another thing to factor in, is that if it's not one continuous program (which can even be LPN/RN combined) then I believe the Ohio BON requires bridge students to work 500 hours as an LPN before returning for a bridge program. (This could also be a board of regents requirement too, not really sure...) I haven't heard much about Fortis, for better or worse. Didn't they buy out one of the old struggling for-profit universities?

I didn't know that it dropped so far the further you went out East. I know that the average LPN wages tend to drop about a dollar in each county from Hamilton to Clermont, and Brown to Adams counties. I didn't know that it kept going down as you went out towards Athens though. Have you checked around to see if this is comparable to other wages in the immediate area for you?

Laura, having been a PCA/STNA for year before starting in nursing, please know that I feel for you and respect your post. Your time as a pharm tech will, in my opinion, be of great use to you in your coming semesters! It's true that a lot of aides/techs try to throw their weight around with have "patient care experience," but I want you to know how useless I felt my experience was due to the fact that we were relearning how to do all of my usual tasks in a different manner for school. I would certainly never talk down to someone who has experience like you do! I think that what you've done in the past will behoove you in the future. There are tons of PCAs and MAs in nursing school, but how many will be in a better position than you for pharmacology? I think you are in a good position to build upon your already vast knowledge base. Hang in there, and don't let any aides condescend to you. Remember, as nursing students, you're all on the same level! Keep your head down and follow through with the hoops they give you to jump through! Nursing school has a way of dealing with those who think they're above everyone else... Best of luck!

Maybe this will offer encouragement. I graduated from high school, went off to a big school, and flopped around in different majors for years. I finally ended up studying rhetoric and graduating with a BA in communications. My GPA was a measly 3.0, but I was good at natural sciences and had no business being in the social sciences. had worked as a PCA/STNA all through school, so I went back to a local community college to pursue a nursing career. I got a 4.0 in my year of prereq's, which maybe brought my GPA up to a 3.2ish. I tested well on the TEAS, anything over an 89 or 90 is a "99th percentile." My school is competitive entry, so my scores and science GPA won me admission. I am now 4/5 of the way through a 1+1 LPN&RN program. I hope this offered some motivation for you. Just remember, each school focuses a different amount on testing vs. overall GPA vs. science/prereq. GPA. That being said, if you're average in some areas, you can still blow them out of the water in others. The schools want people who can pass standardized tests, because their NCLEX pass rate is a deciding factor in their accreditation. Hang in there, and remember, there aren't too many schools in this country that would turn down a 3.5 GPA, and 90th+ percentile in standardized tests. Best of luck, and I hope this has been of some help to you!

Agreed with Bloomgirl, take the practice assessments that they unlock for you. Also, go under tutorials to find practice and "final" tests that will help you prepare. Focus on the rationales! I hope this helps.

Hello, I'm in my final semester of my last semester at southern state. I hope some of this helps. 1. How is the program, instructors, courses, equipment etc.? The program is challenging, but not impossible by any means. The LPN portion of the program, has been ranked #1 in the nation for the last few NCLEX cycles. After the first three semesters, you can sit for the NCLEX-PN, then there are 2 more semesters to finish the RN. The instructors are all clinicians who know what they're doing. They're all pretty good to us! We have all the standard and advanced equipment that the four-year schools have. 2. When you learn to draw blood/insert an iv do you practice on each other? No, we never practiced on each other, but we joked about wanting/needing to pretty frequently! We had a bunch of simulation arms to stick first, and some computer simulations as well. 3. What is your experience with Southern State? If you could go back would you still attend SSCC or would you have gone somewhere different? This is a bit of a loaded question for me... I went out and got a bachelor's degree before nursing school. I have thought that maybe I should have done an accelerated program in the past, but after the experience I've had... I just wish I had come to Southern State before anywhere else. Community Colleges are affordable and close-to-home. The teachers are fantastic and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Otherwise, the program is competitive entry (no wait lists), 5 semesters long, and there are ATI standardized tests that you have to take. I really hope this helps, please let me know if I can answer anything else for you! Best of luck!

Hey OSUFan, Go Bucks! I am currently in the last semester of the RN program at Southern State CC. The program has just recently changed from quarters to semesters (as have all the state schools). The LPN to RN bridge begins in the Summer with a "Bridge course." Then, in the Fall semester, the bridge students join in with second year RN students. Together, the Fall semester has students in Advanced Health Assessment, Psychiatric Mental-Health Nursing, and Advanced (Critical-Care) Med-Surg. Spring Semester is only two classes (Pharmacology II, and Directed Nursing Practice). To continue on in the program, you must pass all classes with "B" (80%), and several courses require you to also pass an ATI standardized test. The school is well thought of in the area. The LPN program has been ranked #1 in the nation for a couple of NCLEX cycles now, and the ADN program is competitive among other ADN schools. The school is "competitive entry" so there are no wait lists. The instructors are all clinicians, so they know what they're doing in practice. It's challenging, but it's not terribly hard if you're focused and driven. There were open spots in the last bridge class. I really hope this helps! Best of luck!