Kaylle

Thank you I actually just went with lab today. You can never be too sure. :)

I am a freshman pre-nursing student and I will be taking Intro to Organic Chemistry this fall. Yikes!! I am soooo nervous that you cannot even believe it. My school doesn't require Gen Chem as a pre-req to take Organic Chem, but I can't take Gen Chem first even If I wanted to because it's capped at 31/30 students (someone was forcibly added) . But the good thing about all of this is that I can just focus on Organic Chemistry only this fall because I'm just taking 3 liberal arts classes with it (reading and writing based). My advisor is giving me the option to see how I like it my first week and if I don't think I can handle it he will drop it. The direct entry nursing program I will be applying to this fall requires their students to take Organic Chem with A&P 1. So that does make me feel just a little better. So my question is: will this be doable to you personally and do you think I am setting myself up for failure? Should just drop the course now before I get too over my head?

If you know you are not good at math or English then you should take this opportunity to start studying now. It will not only help you get a competitive score on the Teas V but it will also help you on your journey of taking pre-reqs. I don't have to take the Kaplan until January but I started studying the first week of August where I gave myself at least an hour everyday to either learn new things, review, or to practice. I will be taking Algebra this semester and I now feel prepared to take it, knowing that I suck at math. I can definitely tell my math skills have been improving. So as I get closer to the month of January (as in Nov. and Dec.) I will increase my study hours. I need to score a 85% on the math section and my school only gives one chance to take it per student. So if I was to fail the math portion, I would be out of luck forever and can never apply to this school again.

Should I take a lab course with my Organic Chem class this semester if the nursing program that I'm planning on applying to doesn't require it? I'm asking this because my #1 top school doesn't require it. However, if I don't get into the nursing program (or if it becomes too much of finacial situation for me) I will still have 3 other choices I could apply to as well. But 2/3 of my other choices needs the lab course + Organic Chem as a pre-req. So should I just wait to see if I get into my 1st choice and not waste $455 on the lab course? I am extremely cheap when it comes to money, therefore, my philosophy is "If I don't absolutely need it, then I won't buy it". But in this situation should I make an exception? I don't have that kind of money at my disposal, so is it also possible for me to just wait to take the lab next fall?

Honestly, she'll probably think that I'm out trying to get her. I don't want to tell her just yet because she'll probably try to back out of the CC as well, and I don't want her to do that either and mess her up completely. Should I just tell her when she sets up her first payment plan at the CC?

I'm going to try to make this post as short as possible... I have a friend and we've been best friends for over 15+ years (We're both 18 now). Well, both of our future goals since HS was to become a RN and then move in together once we graduate nursing school, then later on become traveling nurses together. But now she's saying that she doesn't want to be a nurse anymore or get her CNA license with me next summer because there are too many pre-reqs and she doesn't want to take the nursing admission exam because she's horrible at math. So I said "Alright, what do you want to be because there's no point paying for these expensive classes and you don't know what you want to do yet". So long story short, she now wants to major into something else where you can make a lot of money with just a bachelor's degree (She wants a career that can make over 50,000+ annually). So I recommend just about everything in the book that she could major in with a bachelors and still make a lot of money (like a biology technician). But she didn't even consider those things either. So I looked online (more like glanced) and I found out about a Scrub Tech and told her that they can make up to 40,000 a year. Now she wants to become a scrub tech and she just forgoed her seat out of the university we're enrolled into to pursue that career at a local CC. I didn't even know she was planning on doing that rash move. But now I honestly believe that I just set her up because what if she changes her mind again and wants to come back to the university to become a nurse again? I researched a Scrub Tech a little more and it says that an associates degree Scrub Tech can make the 40,000 annual, not the certificate one. And now she believes that. I'm afraid to tell her that, because she'll no doubt be pissed at me for feeding her B.S and telling her that she'll make good money. But she now cannot enroll back into the university. I feel so guilty and horrible now that I did that to her and I'm just looking for anyone to tell me how should I go about the situation now. I honestly feel like I stabbed her in the back and she's my only friend.

HeatherMaizey, I agree with you and other PPs. The criteria for my school is to have at least a 2.75 and B's in A&P 1&2. The rest of pre-reqs I need a C or higher. I think that I'm a pretty strong student when it comes to education. Plus, I'm a really cheap person when it comes to money so my philosophy is "if I'm paying for it, then I might as well make it worth my while".

You could, but it depends on how well you can handle it.

You could definitely take Intro to Health Care with Gen Chem + lab. Those could be your fall classes. Then take Micro + lab as a spring class.

If they are both Liberal Arts (writing and reading based) then you could either spilt the classes up and take one with Gen Chem or A&P 1, or take both of the classes with General Chem because it would be less tedious if your not worrying about which paper will be due to either class, reading/outlining 3 chapters, and trying to memorize the bone and cell structure in A&P 1. So it will be like this: Gen Chem; History; MCB (what is this)

Take Gen Chem first because you would be able to get the feel and understanding of how you would do in a hard science + lab. Then over the summer take A&P 1 the first summer session and then take A&P 2 the second summer session because it would be much easier for you if it's still fresh in your mind. Chem is based on math, but that doesn't mean you'll do horrible when it comes time to take it because you will be learning not doing it by yourself.

What are the pros and cons to the schools?

I dropped the micro already, and I'm waiting to hear back from my advisor if they could forcible add me into General Chem this semester since he said it's capped. Hopefully, it all works out for me in the end.

I don't speak Spanish í ½í¸ž .... I know the direct entry nursing students take 2 different hard sciences each semester, so I believed I could do it too.

I honestly just really want to be a nurse. And if I start the nursing program next August I can graduate a semester early. But you're right there is no need for me to cram, and that is why I'm just going to forgo the microbiology next year but keep A&P1.