Should pre-reqs really take 3 years to complete?

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I've just started looking into being a nurse and every school I've looked into says that the pre reqs take 3 years to complete, then you do the two years in nursing school just to get your associates degree. I don't understand how I can go to school for 5 years and wind up with only an associates. And the 3 years pre reqs alone will give me more credits than a standard associates degree would. Am I looking into a wrong program? Everyone told me that pre reqs were like 5 classes and then you can get into the program. I have no college done at all at this point so I guess that's the problem. It just seems like I could be on my way to my masters in a different feild in that amount of time!

I'm currently a real estate agent and absolutely love what I do, but I've also always had a passion for nursing and with how the economy is now it's taking a lot of work to get a little business so I thought nursing might be a better solution. But in 5 years time the economy will have turned and I feel like I might have wasted all the time and stress in school and be in a ton of debt when I could be more successful at that point in real estate. Im confused! Does anyone know of a quicker route to get into the nursing program? or a school that doesn't require so many pre reqs?

Just a side note: This isn't just about money, I really love both things, and as a kid I always wanted to do both, but I now have two kids and spending time with them is the most important thing to me. My plan was that I could be a nurse and do the Baylor Plan (weekends only) and still do some with the real estate during the week. I just want to be sure I'm doing what's best for my family but with all that schooling I'm beginning to wonder if I would have any time with my kids after.

Thanks for any help!!

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It is not 5yrs it should only be 3 with pre reqs I did the respiratory program which is the same as far as your degree in 3.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

If you're looking for entry into a community college ADN program, it should only take you 3 years to complete. the 5 years is most likely taking pre-reqs to obtain your AA at a community college level then transfer to a cal state or university to obtain your BSN (which is your bachelors in nursing). What I'm doing is taking my pre-reqs for the ADN program at my local community college, then applying IF at that point and time I get placed on a waiting list,I"m finishing my AA and pre-reqs to get into the cal state I live near, or out of state programs that require an AA prior to acceptance into their colleges. Maybe that is where the 5 years comes into play? 2 years taking pre-reqs obtaining your AA in order to transfer to the 3 year BSN program???? Otherwise yes, only 3 years fulltime max to obtain your ADN.

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It only take two years of pre reqs for a bsn, so unless you need some remedial courses it should be 2 or less years @ full time

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Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.

Can you post the list of required courses? No way should it take 3 years just to do pre-reqs. It took me 4 semesters to complete pre-reqs, only because I had to take them in sequence.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Is that for part time? Is there a long lag time between qualifying to apply and when you actually start? Are you trying to complete all the pre-reqs/co-reqs ahead of time? All of the schools I looked into I could apply after one year of full time credits.

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Depends on the school, depends on your schedule, depends on how much of a load you want to take on. I did my pre-reqs in 2 years and that is with a prior associates degree, so I had a lot of the general ed classes done already. If I did not have the prior degree, it probably would have taken me 3 years to complete my pre-reqs. I'm glad I paced myself and didnt try to hurry up and finish. Some folks I've seen try the hurry up and do it option ended up with mediocre grades and not being accepted. Not knocking anyone who does it or has done it, different strokes for different folks. I took my time and the end result is that I made the grades to be accepted.

I will start nursing classes in Spring 2011 and finish May 2012 - so in the end it will have taken me about 3.5 years to get my ADN. Well worth it IMO. The BSN program, doing the same thing I did would have taken me 5 years in total. No regrets for the course I'm taking.

At my school, there are pre-reqs to the pre-reqs so it ends up being more time than some people anticipated. For instance, Chem is a pre-req to A&P and Math is a Pre-req to Chem. So before you can even do the pre-reqs for the nursing program, you have to do the pre-reqs to get to the pre-reqs. But each school does their own thing.

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Specializes in CNA.
I don't understand how I can go to school for 5 years and wind up with only an associates.

Because an ADN is a veerrrry special type of Associates Degree.

You can also go to school to get your BSN in 4-5 years if you want.

Yes, the prereqs are like "5 classes" but you have to take prereqs for some of those. For example. You need to take Physiology. But wait, you need to take Anatomy before Phys.

Hold on though, because you need to take Chemistry for Health Science before Anatomy.

Oh crap. If you haven't had any Chemistry you have to take Chem 101 before Chem for Health Sciences.

So if you take them in consecutive semesters, you have Chem 101, Chem for Health Sci, Anatomy, and Phys.

That's two years right there. Oh! As a bonus, many nursing programs only start in the Fall and have application deadlines in January or Feb! So that's two years plus what 8 months?

Or, you could pay the grip and go to a four year college or one of those spendy private schools.

Have fun.

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Pre-reqs should not take 3 years. your whole program shouldnt take that long. I had my pre reqs done in 4 semesters. Are you sure u are not misreading? Are u sure it didnt say the whole program is 3 years. I just can't envision that. Maybe u could post a list of the required classes so we could all take a look

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Specializes in CNA.
Otherwise yes, only 3 years fulltime max to obtain your ADN.

This is just not the case in many schools.

Let's break it down. Say you started this Fall and, as you say, you are going to complete your ADN in three years.

Your program starts in the Fall and the application deadine is the previous Feb 15th.

So here we go!!

You start Fall of 2010 like a bat outta heck. I'll even say your lower level Chem and Math requirements are done. (Otherwise its another semester)

Fall 2010:

Chemistry for Health Sciences (required for Anatomy)

Psych 101

Comp 101

Sociology 101

You get all A's! Whoo hoo!!! Let's keep going!

Spring 2011:

Anatomy

Communication

World Religions (elective)

Anthropology (elective)

But wait, you have to apply during Spring 2011 (February 15th) and you haven't even finished Anatomy. The other 400 odd people who applied for your program's 80 slots have all *completed* Anatomy and Phys. So they pass you over for Fall 2011 entrance.

You decide to bust your hump in the summer of 2011 and you take Phys.

So here we are again in the Fall of 2012 and you take other prereqs and even start working on Bachelor's classes, just waiting for February 15th 2012 so you can apply again for that Fall. You've caught up with your competition and you get in!! Now you get to sit around, work, or take more classes for 7 months until your program starts.

So you get in the program Fall of 2012 and you graduate in Spring of 2014. However, you started back in Fall 2010 or earlier if you needed to do basic math and science classes.

The point is that you should not be quoting your "3 years max for an ADN" stat if you want to be accurate.

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It really does depend on the school. Like I've seen some people here do Micro before they even do A&P. Not so at my school. A&P 1 and 2 are prereqs to Micro and as I mentioned before, there are pre-reqs to those pre-reqs so we are already talking about at least 2 years worth of course work here. You would have to do Math in your first semester, followed by chem, followed by A&P1, followed by A&P II, then Micro. Then it depends on the acceptance cycle of the school. So there is a lot to factor here into why it won't automatically end up being 3 years max for all ADN programs.

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Let's see. My semesters looked like this. I didn't need any pre-reqs to get into any pre-reqs.

Semester 1:

English 1

Psychology

Anatomy and Physiology 1

A&P Lab

College Algebra

Semester 2:

English 2

Speech

A&P2

A&P Lab

Semester 3

Microbiology

Micro Lab

I could have gotten this done more quickly if I wanted to take Micro and A&P2 in the same semester, but I didn't want to kill myself. Those were the only pre and co requisites for the ADN at my school. I myself didn't apply because I wanted my Bachelor's, but I could have applied after my third semester, second if I wanted to bust my butt.

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