St. Petersburg College/HCC --Florida RN Programs

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Hello Everyone,

I am what you would call a non-traditional student. I will be 33 this year. I have 4 young children and I am the proud wife of a soldier. Life can be hectic at times. My husband is often gone more than he is home, but I am use to it. I attended college in the mid 90s but did not graduate because we started our family and I kept saying "oh, I will finish later!" Later has now been 10 years.

We are currently stationed in Floria so I am looking at schools in the Tampa area. Galen is out of the question due to tuition. I would like to earn a 2-year RN degree and return for a BSN at a later time. I was 3 credit hours away from having a bachelors degree when I left school in 1998 (not a bright move, but you know what they say about hindsight). I am open to ideas, however, if you think it would be more wise to look at BSN programs such as the one at USF.

The academics do not worry me. I have completed anatomy, physiology, kenisiology, exercise physiology, and other similar courses in the past and performed well. HCC says that I am not required to take A&P again, SPC says I might or might not be. The math is the exception. I am sure the college will want me to just skip over to the elementary school for my first math course. This will slow me down of course depending on the program. College algebra is a prerequisite for most nursing programs and, quite honestly, I won'the be suprised if I need remedial math.

Because I have 4 children that are all very young, I need to be able to do most, if not all, prerequisites online. HCC does not offer their lowest level of remedial math online. My youngest child does not start school until next year and I simply cannot afford childcare at the present time.

This brings me to SPC. I have read other students have nothing positive to say about SPC on this website. Anyone out there disagree? Perhaps some positive feedback?

Perhaps some of you that live in this area might suggest a program that I have missed? I am not interested in Everest and Tampa U. is entirely too expensive as is Southern University. Right now, I see 2 realistic programs and that is HCC or SPC. Has anyone attended HCC? Have any of you also checked out both? Thoughts?

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply. I appreciate your help!

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You may want to go to the Florida page. You may get more responses. Click on Region tab above. Click on United States then click Florida. Lots of posts regarding HCC and SPC. I have been to both institutions in person and online. Have had nothing but positive experiences at both institutions.

You might want to look at USF's program, Pasco-Hernando Community College (PHCC), Polk Community College, Manatee Community College.

Hope this helps.

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I am a current SPC student and have not had any problems. The people who have had issues with online classes have either had bad professors or they found it hard because they are probably not very disciplined. I have never taken a math course online. At SPC, you have to have an Intermediate Algebra and Statistics for your math re-reqs. USF has a lot more pre-reqs and I had looked at applying to their RN program and my micro will not transfer and they have some additional classes needed. I really do not know anything about HCC, but SPC is a great school...but if you are looking for an easy RN program to get into...they are not it. You need to have all your pre-reqs done before you apply and they are turning down people with 3.8 GPA's! Good luck! Hope this helps ya!!! :)

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One of the best things I can recommend, if you have a little free time, is to pick up a math book from your local library. Flip through it at the library and find one that has math that seems familiar. Start by taking the end of section, or end of chapter test for each section. See what you got right and what you did not. Now here is the most important part, do not grade it, just see what you got wrong. Use the questions you got wrong to see what areas you need to review. You might be surprised at what you remember once you start doing some of the problems again. If you get stuck on something, do not be afraid to ask. You have children, depending on their ages they might be going over some of this in school right now. Think of the fun they might have getting to show off what they know to you.

Hope this helps and congratulations on deciding to further your education :yelclap:

CyberVulpine

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Hi! I am starting HCC's nursing program this fall and wanted to give my 2 cents regarding prereqs...I took a&p 1 and 2 online through USF last summer, and was thinking you might be able to find the math course you need online through a different school. you don't have to take all of them at whichever school you apply to. I did apply to spc, but they were saying i missed a prerequisite (which I didn't)...I never pushed it though because I found out i was accepted to HCC which was my first choice. one thing I will say is whichever school you apply to, follow up and check up on them that they have everything. HCC couldn't find half my transcripts because they were in my maiden name (even though they had it), and SPC kept saying I didn't have courses completed that I did.

Hope that Helps and good luck!

Danielle

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I'm in the same boat as you re: math, though somehow I did transfer in a college level math and can go right into Intermediate Algebra then Statistics. However, due to time, I don't really want to fuss with IA...my guidance counselor at SPC told me I could take the College Level Placement exam for math and if I scored at least a 41, I could go right into Statistics. Planning to use the time between Summer and Fall session to review Algebra and do some practice tests (as mentioned above) to help. You get one retake. I'm also looking at PHCC as an alternative - need to take a nutrition class for their pre-reqs. PHCC ADN transfers right back to SPC for the BSN program too (caveat-I will already have all SPC's pre-reqs done).

And I feel for you Danielle - I've transferred credits in from 2 different colleges and have had 3-4 counselors go over my transcripts to make sure I have everything I need. They also were reluctant to match up credits from one school to another if they weren't sure they were the same. I ended up going to the head of the computer science department who knew what the original courses were and what SPC's equivalent was...viola, I had more credits than originally thought. Apparently, they do have that authority to go right in and make those changes. For what that's worth.... Congrats on getting in at HCC!!

Sharon

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I don't know about the other school, but I am a student at SPC full-time (36 years old, 2 children, and recently separated) and also work. They have great professors (I was new in Spring, transferred from another school after first semester because SPC has no waiting list for RN, they go by GPA, which is now about 3.5 as of Spring 2009 but much better chances than some of these schools with 5-year waiting lists). Anyhow, I have managed to do 3 semesters, all full-time, with an 18-month-old and a 9-year-old and a job. I am hoping to go on for my Master's in Anesthesia at USF, and straight from the mouths of USF, they said I would be accepted for their CRNA program (along with outstanding GPA) whether I obtained my BSN at SPC or USF; she said it did not make a difference; they look at GPA over all; USF's is about 3.65, that's this term, and it changes each time. SPC is very well respected, was the first community college (at least in Florida) to become a four-year college (they have removed "community" from the college name). As far as curriculum, it is harder and you learn more--this is after attending CFCC in Citrus County, both basically community colleges, but SPC is way more challenging; in addition, CFCC for example offered A&P as a 1085 class; however, SPC has this same class as a 2085 (the 2 in front makes a difference when you want to matriculate to USF, UCF, etc.) SPC also has a University Partnership with tons of universities, so even if you do your AA, AS at SPC, you can do your BSN through any of the universities. I have talked to the only trauma facility in Pinellas county as well, and they are very impressed with SPC grads. SPC is great; the only professors I wasn't too crazy about were a couple online, but that's because you don't get to know them at all. My first 2 semesters, I took almost all my prereq's online. I do know your science classes cannot be more than 7 years old at USF, but not sure about SPC; call and talk to an advisor; then call and talk to another one; always get a second opinion. In addition, call an HEC (Health Ed Center) advisor, as they are the nursing campus and will correlate what the other advisor has told you or fill you in on extras (for instance, I had to take a computer literacy class--even though half my college credits were done ONLINE!) Anyway, they are a very respected school and get lots of clinical time from what I hear from the hospitals; half the hospitals they do clinicals in also do nurse residency programs, so you can go straight into a job while waiting to pass NCLEX.

I'm not spellchecking this post nor proofing, just had my A&P finals this week and am beat this evening, but got A's in both lecture and lab! Horray, after Fall I will be applying for RN program (and with their setup, I will have my AA degree after Spring semester, before going into RN for AS/BSN --- talk to an advisor; they will get you info on degrees you didn't even know were in the picture while pursuing nursing.

Good luck!

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I'm not spellchecking this post nor proofing, just had my A&P finals this week and am beat this evening, but got A's in both lecture and lab! Horray, after Fall I will be applying for RN program (and with their setup, I will have my AA degree after Spring semester, before going into RN for AS/BSN --- talk to an advisor; they will get you info on degrees you didn't even know were in the picture while pursuing nursing.

Good luck!

Great info! Due to prior coursework, I will also end up with an AA degree after Spring semester (business/computers or something like that)...so I can confirm that. Congrats on your A&P finals/grades...I just finished too (on-line) with A's in both. Almost have to have A's in everything from this point on! And it looks like I'm on the same schedule with you - will be applying after the Fall semester for the Fall 2010 RN nursing program. Good luck to you!

Sharon

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Congratulations on your A's!

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