UMSL or Community college

I am on the waiting list at Forest Park and Meramec it is a 2-3 semester wait but you can get all your general ed classes out of the way while waiting and only have your clincals left to do. There is no pay differance between and ADN or a BSN when you graduate. UMSL has a program one night a week for 2 years to get your BSN and part of it you can do online. If you actaully go to STLCC you won't spend as much money and when you graduate with your ADN your employer will pay for you to continue your ed.

I just posted on your other post, but I'll do the same here. You don't need 69 credits for the accelerated program, roughly around 60 instead. It's a 15 month program (You just go to school during two summers instead of having them off like the traditional program does). I took all my prerequisite courses at Meramec...I was on the waiting list for their nursing program...and by the time I finished my prerequisites, I still had to wait another entire semester before my start date....but UMSL's accelerated program started the weekend after my last semester of prerequisites ended this past spring...so there was NO waiting time at all! I'll be getting my BSN in 3 years total....so even though it is slightly more expensive, I'm done a year earlier and that's one year more of work to make money with! Also, since I took all my prerequisites at a community college (like you mentioned you are doing) I saved a bunch of money! You can send me a message if you need any more info! I don't mind it at all!! :)

The only thing I would add to what the others have said is that you should definitely make sure that you have already applied to the community colleges while you are taking your pre-req classes. I am taking my pre-reqs at St. Charles Community and I WAS on the waiting list for their program until I found out that the 1.5 year wait they quoted me was extremely optimistic at best. So now I'm going to Barnes for a BSN and staying on the time track I was originally expecting. I was going to do the ADN at StChas because I already have a bachelors, but if you don't have a previous degree that may be something you want to think about. Anyway, get you application for nursing school in NOW while you're doing your other courses, otherwise you may be diasappointed to find that you could have been moving up in the waiting line while you were spending all that time in pre-reqs.

I am on the waiting list at Forest Park and Meramec it is a 2-3 semester wait but you can get all your general ed classes out of the way while waiting and only have your clincals left to do. There is no pay differance between and ADN or a BSN when you graduate. UMSL has a program one night a week for 2 years to get your BSN and part of it you can do online. If you actaully go to STLCC you won't spend as much money and when you graduate with your ADN your employer will pay for you to continue your ed.

Just to clarify -- once you get your general ed classes out of the way, you have only NURSING CORE classes left to take which vary from 6 - 11 credits per semester. Clinicals are merely a component of the nursing program once you get in.

There is a .50 pay difference at St. John's for an ASN v. BSN; I'm not sure if other hospitals have jumped on this bandwagon yet.

And I believe the program you mention through UMSL that's one night a week, is the BSN that can be completed once one has obtained their RN, correct? That is not an option for a first time candidate to the profession?

Right, the one night per week is only from RN-BSN.

If I were in your position, Angela, I would def meet with an academic advisor either at UMSL, or a community college. This way you can begin to chart out what you need to do to reach your goals.