Samuel Merritt Prereqs

Amanda1985 · Nov 11, 2008

I applied to Samuel Merritt's BSN program for April and May 2009. Do you guys know the cheapest route to fulfill the pharmacology and pathophysiology prereqs by April? I think it would have to be a self-directed program, not a semester long program because most do not end until late May. I looked at Indiana and Iowa State, but they're very expensive. Any suggestions?
Thank you!

I am taking a Pharmacology class online through Barstow community college to satisfy the prereqs for SMC. It is only 8 weeks. I would check their online schedule and see if they offer an 8 week class for the Spring semester.

Amanda1985 · Nov 11, 2008

I actually just looked on their website and they do offer a pharm class!!

It's only 9 weeks from Jan 12-March 13.

Hopefully this works for you. The tuiton was like $60 for the 3 unit class...so pretty cheap.

kmyRN · Nov 12, 2008

Wow, awesome. Thank you so much. I just applied. That saved me some money. Thanks!! Anyone know anything about pathophysiology? I think I'll just go down the list of suggested schools from Samuel Merritt.

Amanda1985 · Nov 12, 2008

Let me know if you find a cheap patho class. I'm looking towards Santa Barbara community college cause it's way cheaper than some of those out of state colleges.

kmyRN · Nov 12, 2008

I just looked at SBCC. Their classes go until May 23 so that's not an option for me. I need mine done by April 24. I'll let you know if I find anything.

kmyRN · Nov 12, 2008

Sacramento City, Yuba, Moorpark, and Santa Barbara all go until late May

Arkansas goes until May 12

Middle Tennessee goes until May 9

Columbus is over $800

Nebraska is $1000

This is ridiculous.

SFChef · Nov 12, 2008

Regarding pathophysiology, I don't know the current schedule for UCLA extension, but I took it there and it is a great online class. The tuition was about $500 (not totally cheap, but at least it's not $1000).

Check out their website (UCLA Extension). Good luck!

Amanda1985 · Nov 12, 2008

I just checked out UCLA extension and they have a patho class.

It's 4 units and $525 and online from January 12 - March 29.

I think I might just sign up for this class and get it out of the way.

Have you already been admitted to SMC? I haven't even applied yet because I missed the Nov 1 deadline so I am waiting until March 1st to apply.

SFChef · Nov 12, 2008

The pathophysiology online class at UCLA Extension is a great class (if the instructor is Dr. Judith Halle). Very doable--and she gives great powerpoint lectures that are easy to download and save for later reference.

You will have a quiz once a week, and a discussion question that you must also answer. In addition, you have the option of participating in 2 small group essay projects. She will give you the topic (on your assigned week) and each person will write a section of the paper. Pretty easy.

The class does require reading (and the quizzes are timed, so if you don't read, it isn't necessarily easy to find the answer in the time allotted.) If you do the reading, you should have more than enough time to double-check your answers during the quiz. No final exam.

I learned a lot, so if you sign up I hope you like it. The quarter system is great for getting these kind of classes out of the way.

kmyRN · Nov 12, 2008

I just registered for the UCLA class. I spent all day looking at this stuff and I think that's the best options. Thanks so much to SFChef for suggesting it.

No, I have not been admitted and submitted my app a couple days late for the Nov 1 deadline so I may not get in for April. I'm not overly excited about Sam Merritt in general, but it will allow me to stay in the Bay Area. I figure by April I should hear from most of the schools I applied to, so I just want to have the possible option of staying in SF.

biggiecali · Nov 20, 2008

I also am going to apply in April for Sam Merritt, anyone who has taken online Pharm somewhere other than Barstow? I found the Barstow one to be a joke, it was cheap and short, but I learned nothing. I figure that if I show up in nursing school knowing nothing about pharmacology I might get far behind very fast. I am about to finish the 9 week session and think that I will end up taking it again somewhere else because I think it sucks so bad. Plus the teacher has not lecture or powerpoint, just a rough outline each week. And it seems like the test questions are taken from random sentences in each chapter that are not the most pertinent information...plus the final is proctored. I would shy away if I were any of you looking to take the Pharm at Barstow. Unless you want to learn nothing...then its okay.