Pursue a certificate and transfer(?) or Prereqs & stay/transfer(?) Essex County College!

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 23, 2015

Could you clarify what you mean by "certificate in General Science"? Are you speaking of an Associate Degree in Science?

If you want to get into a nursing program you will need to provide a transcript that shows you have aced the pre-requisite courses that are specified by that program. If you are coming in with a degree that is NOT in nursing, then it doesn't matter if you have a degree or not. It's the pre-requisites that matter. And this can be accomplished A LOT faster than a 2-year degree in something that qualifies you for....what? And how many courses/credits are we talking about having completed now?

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jul 23, 2015

You may need to ask your advisor for more information - in order to understand the rationale for her recommendation. It may be related to the current economic climate. Currently, many community colleges are under extreme scrutiny due to low graduation rates because this puts their funding in jeopardy. As a result, schools are really pushing for increased degree completion to make their stats look better and avoid severe budget cuts. Of course, this really doesn't make sense if you are being asked to take courses that are irrelevant to your nursing education - so hopefully you can reach some sort of compromise.

Best of luck on your nursing education pathway.

aarnigo, ADN, RN · Jul 23, 2015

Yes, I believe it is an Associate Degree in Science. I have completed 41 credits--that includes my English, math, history, psychology, and science courses. All I have left is Microbiology, English composition II, and Sociology. What she recommended are a clep exam for biology (8 cr), 2 labscience (8), plus the eng literature (3) which totals into 19 credits for the certificate.

I am really torn between her recommendations and what I want to do as I am also interested in taking a class for pathophysiology & pharmacology.

aarnigo, ADN, RN · Jul 23, 2015

I believe the same way about the graduation rates, she mentioned how I really need to get out of the school as I've been there for 2 years plus this coming fall.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 23, 2015

Yes, I believe it is an Associate Degree in Science. I have completed 41 credits--that includes my English, math, history, psychology, and science courses. All I have left is Microbiology, English composition II, and Sociology. What she recommended are a clep exam for biology (8 cr), 2 labscience (8), plus the eng literature (3) which totals into 19 credits for the certificate.
I am really torn between her recommendations and what I want to do as I am also interested in taking a class for pathophysiology & pharmacology.

First order of business is to stop calling an Associate Degree a "certificate".

From there....well......unfortunately it looks like you have been ill-prepared to enroll in a nursing program, unless this is a very recent decision for you. You have taken classes that aren't needed for an Associates Degree in nursing, and have NOT taken others that ARE. What was your goal when you registered and completed all those classes? Maybe you were undecided then....?

At any rate, at this point you will have to complete whatever requirements you need for whatever nursing program you are hoping to get into. You will need to complete any volunteer work, entrance exams, etc; some schools require that you become certified as a nurse's aide prior to admission to their nursing programs. You will need to do the research necessary to determine what you are lacking....and what you are done with. Of course, you will need a high GPA as well (what's yours?). That may help determine whether you need to take more courses to bring up your GPA, too.

Have you contacted the admissions counselor for the school of nursing you are interested in? In the end, it's only what THAT school wants that matters.

Good luck!

aarnigo, ADN, RN · Jul 24, 2015

It is a recent decision of mine, but even before I start with the general education requirements I was taking remedial classes and did not really affect anything--only the status of my major.

I've also only followed the curriculum design for the school's nursing program instead of the general science major as what I said, the school require students to enroll for the said major to know which students are trying to get into any of their nursing and other health care programs but it was not necessary to get the degree from the said major. The 41 credits were also relevant as they were still required at most programs I've checked out. And about that I also did my research on the other requirements and most of them are to take the TEAS V. My GPA is 3.9.

I haven't contacted anyone to be honest as I'm really frustrated at what to do next. But like what the other person from the thread said, I feel like they just want me to graduate to boost up the school's graduation rate.

Thank you so much!!

alexis_brickcity, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2015

Okay so here's my feedback on what I've read so far. . . #1 thing you need to do us figure out what it is that you want to major in . Do you want to be a nurse or not ? #2 it seems as if you haven't applied to their nursing problem . I used to go to ECC and I was going for nursing as well . I know that you only needed three courses to apply to the program . I think they were A&P 1 , Chemistry , and an English course , unless they've changed the rules . Have you applied to their program ? If you want to be a nurse , in my opinion , don't waste your time getting a degree in Science . You will need a degree in Nursing. Please don't let somebody pressure you into doing something that in the end won't benefit YOU ! you'll only be wasting more time and money. Hope that helped . . .

aarnigo, ADN, RN · Jul 29, 2015

Hello!

Yes, I do want to be a nurse. The prerequisites are the same, but before students can still take the prerequisites until the spring semester and now they changed this up to fall. I tried applying for this coming semester and weren't notified by the changes.

Thank you so much! I really, really need that. I think it pressures me more because me and my advisor works at the same department at school. But thanks so much!

alexis_brickcity, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2015

Glad I could help. In the meantime , check out other schools and apply to them. ECC , if I remember correctly , only accepts around 33 students for their program out of like 200-300 . But to put things into perspective ALL nursing programs are hard to get into because they always have WAYYY more applicants than they can accept.

aarnigo, ADN, RN · Jul 31, 2015

Yes, I've been checking other nursing programs, too. Thank you so much!