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.
It all depends how many classes you are taking and how many pre-reqs you need for the nursing pre-reqs. I am going for my BSN, it is going to take me four years total just for the pre-reqs. I need four math classes just to get into the one I need (statistics) - so that's five semesters right there. I need three english classes just to get into the one I need (so that's four semesters right there). I am taking my time though because I want to keep my GPA at a 4.0 so I am competitive.
Specializes in Long Term Care,Cardiac Care,Pediatric..
It all depends how many classes you are taking and how many pre-reqs you need for the nursing pre-reqs. I am going for my BSN, it is going to take me four years total just for the pre-reqs. I need four math classes just to get into the one I need (statistics) - so that's five semesters right there. I need three english classes just to get into the one I need (so that's four semesters right there). I am taking my time though because I want to keep my GPA at a 4.0 so I am competitive.
Everyone on here is always talking about Prereqs but at my school there are no prereqs only coreqs so you should be able to get out in only two years right? So they call it a 2 year program (it's really 5 semesters but one is in the summer). But wait...it's competitive (and acceptance is based on a point system) so basically noone actually gets in unless they have at least several of their "coreqs" done before starting the nursing program and can get points for them. Some people have to take several classes before they can take their coreqs because they didn't score high enough to enter higher level college classes these are called remedial classes. Some classes have to be taken in certain sequences and aren't necessarily offered when you need them. You also can only apply in the fall for the next spring. I am taking my "coreq" science courses this year, Anatomy and Physiology 1, Chemistry this semester. Anatomy and Physiology 2 and Microbiology next semester. I'm planning to apply this spring and start the actual nursing program next fall. I was already a senior English Major before I decided to do nursing so I had many of my "Coreqs" already, just not the sciences. It will take me a total of 3 years hopefully. I've met many other pre-nursing students at my school who have already applied to the nursing program 2 or 3 times, have completed all of their "coreqs" and are now in an associate degree program for their 4th year with no clear end in sight. In order to really get into the program you must have a great test scores, great "coreq" grades ect it is certainly not as cut and dry as a two year associate degree program. All of the schools in my state are the same way.
Look at admissions requirements carefully, b/c they vary. A BSRN or ADN school that starts 2 nursing classes per year might allow you to start sooner. A school that fills its classes as it gets qualified applicants that meet or exceed its entry requirement might offer an advantage, as opposed to a school that pools all apps and competitively numerically ranks them, then only takes the top tier.
Taking summer classes or taking online classes from a number of different schools is a must in order to knock them out fast. Making sure you are on the college track on HS is another thing to do. Many HS and colleges allow students to start college before they are HS grads. CLEP out of anything that you can rather than waste a semester on it.
One diploma RN school here has a 16 month program with no breaks, but you must complete all of the college courses before you start the nursing part. Another one is a 28-month diploma program that includes all of the college course work in that 28 months, and their admission is just HS diploma, NLN PAX, and a few other things, and they fill their class as they get qualified applicants, not after they rank all of them.
It took me 4 years to get my BSN, pre-reqs + accelerated nursing program.
Fall 2006:
English I
Cell Biology
Political Science (not a requirement for nursing, but requirement for general bachelor's)
Spring 2007:
Chem for Health Professionals
Intro to Psych
Nutrition
Intro to Statistics
Fall 2007:
A&P I
Theories of Personality
Calculus I
Research Methods
Spring 2008:
A&P II
Social Psychology
Abnormal Psych
Adult Development
During Spring 2008 I also CLEP'd a bunch of required classes:
Sociology
Anthropology
History of Art
U.S. History
Western Civ
Literature
Human Dev
Fall 2008:
Microbiology
History of Psych
Experimental Psych
Bio of the Brain
By December 2008 I had completed a bachelors in Psych and applied to an accelerated nursing program. Began in Summer of 2009, and by August 2010 I was done with a BSN. So, 4 years for a degree in Psych + degree in nursing.
Most can get the pre-reqs done in 2 years. My school requires college algebra and biology or chem as a pre-req to get into the A&P classes and requires general ed as well as 7 "points" classes. You want to get most, if not all of those classes done before starting nursing school because the NS workload is intense and the schedule isn't really good for adding classes to.
You know when I decided to do this, I had no idea what the process to get into nursing school was like. When I found out how long the entire process would take. It did make me pause for a minute and like you thought, I could have another degree in something else by that time. But then, I thought, do I really want to do something else? Is it worth it to me to not do this because I don't like the time frame? I already had 1 degree in a profession that I did not like so I knew that no matter how long it took to me to do this, I would do it because this is something that I've wanted to do for so long but was scared to do it. I was miserable in my other profession. Didn't make sense to get an advanced degree in it or do something else that I'm not going to be happy with. As its been stated, different schools do different things, so you may be able to find a school that you can complete your pre-reqs in a shorter amount of time. If not, then it comes down to how much you really want this.
At my school they just added another class for those who have not already done their Micro and A&P. I really think they just do this for the money because I was a first time college student at 36 and was able to get A's without the new Bio pre-req they just added.
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.
I agree that "3 years max" is not true for everyone, but I think your example is pretty contrived.
I think a good percentage of programs admit in Fall and Spring. Also, the course load you provided is very, very light. While considered a full-time schedule it's hardly full-time unless you have a lot of other commitments but then you would expect to progress slower anyway. To eliminate problems with pre-reqs of pre-reqs if you're committed a lot of schools offer 8-week or 4-week courses so you can knock out pre-reqs faster.
I think it just totally depends on what's required in your state to get to RN license. In CA, you have to have all of your general ed as well, and so with all that, plus the prereqs, it can take 3 years, even with a full load. Maybe in some states, you just take the prereqs and you're all set. I dunno. I'm going for my BSN, so I had to take everything I will need to transfer (plus certain classes to satisfy all of the schools I'm applying to, as competition is FIERCE in CA right now, so I'm casting a wide net).
KareBear0609
359 Posts
It all depends how many classes you are taking and how many pre-reqs you need for the nursing pre-reqs. I am going for my BSN, it is going to take me four years total just for the pre-reqs. I need four math classes just to get into the one I need (statistics) - so that's five semesters right there. I need three english classes just to get into the one I need (so that's four semesters right there). I am taking my time though because I want to keep my GPA at a 4.0 so I am competitive.