Transfering to nursing school

[tmah21]

I have always been interested in becoming a nurse but was scared to take on the challenge of nursing school. I was actually scared to take on the challenge of school all together. My first semester of college I had a 1.7 gpa. I decided to leave campus and go to the local community college where I have maintained a 3.0 My goal is to transfer to Central Connecticut State University and enter the nursing program. Like any nursing program it is highly competitive. I have already taken both API+II and got a B in both. Would my chances be better directly applying to the nursing program or applying to the college, taking more gen eds, then transfering into the program? I have heard that they dont accept many transfers into the program and are more likely to accept a student changing their major.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

[caliotter3]

Every nursing program that I have ever looked at required the prospective student to apply to the school first, then apply to the program, so I can't answer your question. I suppose they do this for two reasons: so they don't deal with people who for some reason don't enter that particular school, and/or to snag your dollars when they get you into the school. You should research this requirement with each of the programs that you might be interested in. I don't really think that preference is given to people who are already attending that school unless the nursing program admissions policy states so.

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

I had to apply to the grad school for my program, and then specify which program I wanted to be considered for. I am assuming that for an undergrad program it would be the same way...apply to the specific college in which the program is offered and specify the program/major you'd like to be considered for.

[graceomalleyRN, RN]

At my school, the nursing school considers their own current full time undergrad students before looking at outside applications. It's no guarantee -- many other undergrads at my school didn't get in. I gambled as my school is outrageously expensive. So I spent a year there finishing my last science prereq and the program's particular prereqs (2 religious studies courses and a health ethics course) also taking Spanish, etc. just to be FT student. I got in.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

make sure that you download a copy of the university's catalog. it should be posted on the college's web site. read the sections on admission and transfer and also look at the nursing department's section on admission to their program as well. every college has graduation requirements as well as specific department requirements that you must fulfill in order to be admitted as well as graduate. many colleges are very specific about students earning a certain amount of their undergraduate credit hours at that college in order to even graduate and earn a degree from them. the college catalog will clearly state these requirements. you may not even be able to get into their nursing program without earning and fulfilling a certain amount of undergraduate credit hours there. your best bet is to schedule a visit with a counselor of the school to help you answer this question.

the nursing department section of the catalog will list the requirements that the nursing department has to get into the nursing department classes. they must follow their own rules. you have just as much chance of getting accepted into the nursing program as any one else if you follow the rules of admission to the nursing program.

i transferred into a university with a lot of undergraduate credit hours from 2 different community colleges in order to get a bsn. i still had a year of undergraduate classes that the university required me to take because it was part of the requirement for the credit hours required for the degree plus the university itself had a black studies requirement that all students had to fulfill. lower division credit hours were supposed to be completed before the nursing department would permit us to take any upper division nursing classes after we had been admitted to the nursing program. people still managed to slip through and at graduation time some were unable to get their bsns because they were deficient in things like an english or foreign language class. the university was hard on them. they refused to grant them their degree, so these students had to take these classes if they wanted those degrees.

the foreign language requirement was one of the big obstacles for many people at my school and i have heard that this is true at other universities. this is why i strongly recommend that you check the university college catalog of the school you want to graduate from to look at not only their graduation requirements, but how many credit hours they will accept in transfer and how many you will need to take at their school.

[tmah21]

Thank You everyone for your help. I think my best bet is to schedule a meeting with an advisor at the school and see which requirements I need to fulfill. Hopefully I can get in for the fall :)