Taking Micro alongside nursing courses..

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The nursing program that I am applying to requires only A+PI as a pre-req. The sample schedules they have include Microbiology and Psychology classes alongside full nursing course loads each semester. Ideally I would like to knock out all of these non-nursing courses first but without them the nursing courses all fall shy (by like 1 credit hour) of making me a "full time" student in the eyes of financial aid, thus I have to take something alongside them.

My questions is this: Is it going to kill me to take a first semester nursing course load along side Microbiology? The only course that would fit with the nursing schedule is a Friday only class and it looks to be like 6 hours long or close to it. My other option is to take it during the summer and tack on two "easy A" online courses to the semester or something to keep my credit hours up.

Anyone have this issue with credit hours / financial aid? What to dooo?

I took micro and developmental psych and nutrition while I was in nursing school. That's just how it was set up. It's very doable, just a little extra studying.

It was pharmacology that was tough to pair with nursing!

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Specializes in critical care.

When I initially looked at how I would get into nursing, I looked at the local ADN program and they have a path that has pre-reqs as co-reqs. I have the same financial aid needs as well, as I wouldn't be where I am without taking a full time load every semester. I decided to go BSN instead, and the requirement is that the pre-reqs do have to be taken as pre-reqs, and I am so incredibly thankful for that. I know others are capable of doing it, but I can't imagine how much harder this must be without the background knowledge already there. My vote is to take micro first, and load up with easy As during the program. If they're easy As, and you're already in the program, it wont matter if you get less than an A in them since the only person who will care about your GPA at that point is you.

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Specializes in critical care.
I could also take it the semester before nursing starts but I'd be taking it alongside A+PII and Psych and nutrition...

I took micro with A&P 2, chem 1, and I can't actually remember what else, but it was an easier one. It was a hard semester, but as long as I stayed on top of the content, it wasn't too bad. It will be good practice for the volume of work you'll be getting through in the program. Psych and nutrition were honestly the easiest of all the classes. Common sense, really, and memorization. If you're good with multiple choice tests, they should be super easy As.

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Specializes in critical care.
Knowing I risk sounding like I'm older than dirt- back in the day, one did not complete pre-requisite courses. One entered the program and took nursing and non-nursing courses at the same time. For example, I just dug out my AAS transcript.

Semester 1: English (3), Intro Psych(3), Fundamentals(7), A&P1(4) Speech (3)

Semester 2: Sociology (3), A&P 2(4), Med-surg 1 (10!!!)

Semester 3: Micro (4), Chem (3), Med-surg 2 (another 10!!)

Semester 4: Nutrition (3), Pharmacology (3), OB/Peds (7), Psych (7)

I did this while working three days a week, caring for two foster children and (last semester) being pregnant with my oldest daughter. In fact, I missed graduation because I was in the hospital giving birth. This was 1980.

This makes me want to cry on your behalf. I will never, ever complain again. lol

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

PLEASE - I'm not superwoman, far from it. I posted just to give you an idea of how it used to be, that's all.

My husband was VERY supportive, esp. with the fostering situation we found ourselves in (they were an impaired relative's children) - and while I don't recommend the schedule I kept, it did push me to the point where I learned just how much I was capable of. Like I always say, hard work never killled anyone- well, at leastt not very many :)

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If you set your mind to it and have your priorities in order you will be perfectly fine. Micro is more about memorization than understanding.. So it requires a lot of study time. I took it in a 6 week summer course and did great.

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And if it is absolutely necessary for you to take it during the semester- it is absolutely doable! And do it with your first semester (usually the "easiest" compared to the others)

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If you set your mind to it and have your priorities in order you will be perfectly fine. Micro is more about memorization than understanding.. So it requires a lot of study time. I took it in a 6 week summer course and did great.

I agree with this, though I had a full semester to get through the material. I made a lot of flashcards and carried them with me so I could go through them when I had a few minutes to spare.

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Micro is hard! You need to dedicate alot of time if you don't you will not pass with an A. I just finished micro .

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