Scheduling and Course Issues - 1 vs 2 years of Study.

Wow, that's a pretty ambitious plan. If you do end up passing all of your CLEP exams the "Option 2" schedule is going to be very challenging, even for someone with good grades who doesn't have to work. Not to say that it can't be done - with a great work ethic and total concentration it definitely can - but many straight-A students struggle with taking two heavy-duty science classes in one semester, and you have Chem & API and then Micro & APII with math and general ed on top of that each semester. If you're at all concerned with maintaining or raising your GPA I would seriously consider spreading the class load out over a few semesters, especially since you know you're going to have to devote some extra effort to doing well in your math classes.

Two more things since I'm feeling bossy today: First, I wouldn't be so quick to write off Anatomy and Physiology - I also took it in high school, and it was nowhere near as challenging as the college equivalent. Second, consider actually taking the Human Development class instead of trying to test out. It may seem like a throwaway general ed course but much the material covered will be critical to developing appropriate care plans for patients in nursing school.

Good luck with whatever path you choose!

You need to be careful of rushing yourself just to be able to apply earlier. Nursing schools are competitive. You need to complete the courses but you also need ensure high grades. Your rushed plan falls apart if you start getting low Bs and Cs and have to retake classes to boost your GPA back up.

Taking Chem, A&P I, and Stats in the same semester is ambitious.

It's quite possible! I'm a single mom, work part time and aced 18 credits last semester..I took math, lifespan psych, nutrition, biology and microbiology. I'd say go for it if you have the time!!

Be careful with CLEPs. Make sure the school you plan on attending accepts them and also that that they don't require a higher passing standard than the national standard. A school I applied to would only accept 6 of my 33 CLEP credits and those 6 were American history 1&2, but my score needed to meet their standards and not the national. Just don't waste your time and find out the hard way.

Thanks for the info and opinions so far guys! I have a sticky note set to remind me to call about which CLEP and DSST tests I can take for my prerequisites. I know the university i'm looking to transfer to has a sheet of accepted CLEP and DSST credits and everything there checks out, but I want to make sure there aren't any exceptions for the nursing program.

I've also since found a DSST exam for speech and art so I no longer need to worry about those two classes for Fall and Spring in Plan 2; which means after I confirm on Monday, I'll be able to concentrate mostly on all my science classes.

So in total i'm wanting to take the following CLEP and DSST exams:

By end of August:

Speech (few days of review followed by exam)

English (few days of review followed by exam)

Psychology (one week review followed by exam)

Human Development (two week review followed by exam) [At the advice of Scientist Salarian [awesome name btw!] I may take up this class in place of the freed up credits I have from Art and Speech, if I don't though, i'd be pretty interested in reading up on it again, more in depth, over the summer I'd have off before Nursing school - looks like an interesting course.]

By start of January (review over winter break after finals)

History (one week review)

Art (one week review)

CLEP and DSST exams aside, i've toyed around with my registration cart for Fall and have tried to secure the best professors, according to their reviews, for each subject area; i'm actually pretty happy with each professor I have at the moment. I even did so at the expense of convenience - for example, the best Anatomy and Physiology professor I could find teaches on Saturday at 8:00 AM.

So my updated schedule for fall looks a little something like this:

Fall 2013 - 14 Credits (down from 17)

Chemistry for Health Science

Chemistry for Health Science Lab

Human Anatomy and Physiology I

Human Anatomy and Physiology I Lab

Statistical Methods

Ethics

I'll probably review all of this, and what i've mentioned before, with my Academic Advisor to get her opinion on it as well.