RN to BSN w/o Microbiology or Chemistry?

DeBerham · Feb 21, 2013

nevermind

edmia, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2013

nevermind

Yeah. Exactly!

But I just have to ask, why in the world would you not want to understand the physiology and pathology behind the patients you're treating?!?

Does.Not.Compute...

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

klone, MSN, RN · Feb 21, 2013

I would be suspicious of any program that doesn't require Micro or Chemistry (or at least Biochem) as a prerequisite. The materials learned in those classes are essential basic knowledge for nurses to have, IMO.

lulain · Feb 21, 2013

Simple question; not looking for sermons, haha. It's not that I wouldn't want to take those courses in an ideal world. It's just not practical for me with my work schedule.

BrillyD · Feb 21, 2013

Check out excelsior college - you can study at your own pace and test out of the courses on your own schedule!

eturner7 · Feb 26, 2013

I've never seen a RN-BSN program that didn't require Micro. In Texas there are several schools that don't require chemistry. You might want to try UT Arlington. I think they require Micro but they offer it online.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Mar 3, 2013

If you have never taken Microbiology and have an RN license, then I would suggest American Sentinel University. Their only pre-req is an active, unemcumbered nursing license. It's all nursing courses which are 8 weeks in length. If time is the only issue, then like BrillyD said, Excelsior College has an exam-based Micro exam that you can study for and test for credit when you are ready for the exam. I did anatomy and micro this way with Excelsior. If you hope to go further than a BSN one day, American Sentinel does require Statistics with the MSN. I dare to assume that at some point, your transcripts will have to reflect micro as you climb the ladder, though. All of Excelsior's general pre-reqs are study at your own pace exams. I'm doing their RN-BSN program instead of ASU simply because I've already completed most of the general eds while I was doing their ASN program, with one more exam to go. At the time that I started this, ASU wasn't accepting financial aid as they do now and my job was not as steady with hours back then as it is now, or else I would have gotten my degree from them. But EC is great for the BSN since I was able to get Statistics done from an outside source (also at my own pace) that they accepted.

Anyway, good luck!

lulain · Mar 5, 2013

Thank you for all the feedback. I found a college in my region (King College Online) that doesn't require micro and chemistry, and will probably go that route as they have a cohort starting soon. If it doesn't work out with King, I will check into American Sentinel for sure. Good to know there are other options. Thanks again.

Hello_Pretty, RN · May 13, 2017

I know this thread is old but I never took college chemistry. Because I have a prior Bachelor's degree, the state of California states I only need classes for the nursing degree (per BON requirements). Since chemistry is a prerequisite for Micro, I got the chem class waived by my counselor. However, I did really bad on the chemistry part of the TEAS. I did have a really good Micro instructor, as we did chemistry the first chapter of our Micro course!