Switching nursing schools

MelEpiRN · Dec 10, 2020

I transferred after 2 years at one school. It depends on the schools. The school I was at didn't start nursing specific courses until year 3, but the one I transferred to did so I ended up in a track specific for transfer students that accelerated some courses. I also ended up taking Summer courses to catch up. So I ended up graduating a semester later than normal.

It's completely do-able, you should just talk to an admissions person to see how that would play out for you, depending on what each school requires. (I am speaking from a 4-yr BSN perspective, I don't know what an AD program would be like).

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Dec 10, 2020

If you are talking about transferring credit for clinical courses already completed, that is highly unlikely to happen.

The reason being this: (very simplified example) Imagine that "nursing school" consists of 100 items. Your school includes items 1 through 10 in the first semester nursing course Fundamentals. The school you're transferring to in their first semester nursing course Fundamentals includes items 1 through 5 as well as 12 through 17. So while both courses are called Fundamentals -the content is different.

Boards of nursing and accrediting bodies allow nursing schools to configure the required content in any manner they deem acceptable as long as all 100 items are completed by the end of the program.

This is probably not what you want to hear and I strongly advise you to speak to both programs and see what your options are.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 10, 2020

Moved to Nursing Student forum

caliotter3 · Dec 10, 2020

A classmate of mine switched programs after the first year of the nursing content and the only course that was accepted by the new school was Fundamentals of Nursing. He basically had to repeat the entire year. He did say that the majority of schools he inquired about flat out would not discuss the possibility of switching so he felt lucky he could do it at all.

Sour Lemon · Dec 10, 2020

4 hours ago, Thl27 said:

Hi! I'm a 1st semester nursing student and I was wondering if it's possible to switch to another school's nursing program closer to home for the 2nd semester.

My current nursing school is too far from where I live with my family and the commute is draining my pocket money.

Has anyone switched school for 2nd or 3rd semesters before? How was it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

It looks like you're well aware of the application and acceptance procedures at different nursing schools in your area. That doesn't go away just because you've completed a semester at one of them.

You'd have to apply and make the cut, then hope that something is able to be transferred ...but as others have mentioned, you'd be very likely to have to start completely over.

Thl27 · Dec 10, 2020

Thank you everyone for their input.

I'm going to call the school closest to me and see if they'll take my 1st semester classes, if not, I'll just continue at the school I'm currently at until I'm done.

Once again, thank you.

guest874748 · Dec 11, 2020

I don't really understand the emphasis on ACEN/CCNE accreditation. Can't transfer anyways. Like as long as a school is approved by the state's nursing board, you're good to take the NCLEX. I'm currently trying to get approval to test out of some of the theory classes (NLN competency exams, HESI-exit exams that are class specific, those UEXCEL nursing exams) since you've already taken the first semester anyways, I don't see an argument as to why they couldn't take the didactic portion (NLN has a skills one too, but I haven't looked into this)