Very Discouraging

AddisonLawrence03 · Nov 15, 2011

It took me 3 years for pre requisites. But during the last year I started going fulltime all year round to help speed things up.

leenak · Nov 15, 2011

I'm at about 2 years doing pre-reqs part time. Also, it may not be helped but try not to do 2 lab classes in the same semester.

nylady07 · Nov 16, 2011

Does your community college or the bsn program accept CLEP tests?

If your not sure what CLEP tests are, there are tests that you can study for on your own time and take a qualifying test. If you receive a certain score determined by your school, you receive college credit. You could take some of these tests for your common core classes such as eng, sociology, psychology, etc while taking your 2 classes per semester. Each exam is about $100 roughly. You can find out more at http://www.collegeboard.com or http://www.excelsior.com. This should speed up the process if they do accept them.

Hope that helps!

Streamline2010 · Nov 16, 2011

Rio Salado offers 8-week online classes, or 12-week options. Might be good for soc and psych and math and gen ed stuff.

tsm007 · Nov 16, 2011

Does your community college or the bsn program accept CLEP tests?
If your not sure what CLEP tests are, there are tests that you can study for on your own time and take a qualifying test. If you receive a certain score determined by your school, you receive college credit. You could take some of these tests for your common core classes such as eng, sociology, psychology, etc while taking your 2 classes per semester. Each exam is about $100 roughly. You can find out more at http://www.collegeboard.com or http://www.excelsior.com. This should speed up the process if they do accept them.
Hope that helps!

I was going to suggest the same thing. I've taken 9 credit hours worth of CLEP tests in the past 5 weeks. See how many you could test out of.

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Nov 16, 2011

I am in an accelerated BSN, and I only had 5 prereqs (A&P I & II, micro, chem, another science). I already had 2 of these and I took the other 3 within a year. Not every school is the same, so make sure you look at all options!

dkmamato3 · Nov 16, 2011

I am in an accelerated BSN, and I only had 5 prereqs (A&P I & II, micro, chem, another science). I already had 2 of these and I took the other 3 within a year. Not every school is the same, so make sure you look at all options!

Agree - different schools will have different requirements. If you have a previous degree maybe looks at school with an accelerated program available. I got a lot of transferable credits from my prior BA. Like Paco69, I only have a handful of classes to take (A&P I and II, micro and intro to sociology).

Also look into online classes to get some of your humanities out of the way. Some online programs will let you go at your own speed or at least you can tailor your homework/study time to work with your kids schedules.

Good luck!

jellybean321 · Nov 16, 2011

i am in the exact same boat..minus the kids. i have to work full-time since i live on my own and my bills are not going to pay themselves! i've been doing pre-reqs for nearly 2 years now and am just finishing up by next semester. i, too, have been looking for a solution to not drag this along. the only thing i came up with is take out loans that are equivilant to your income and what your tuition, fees and books are. this is a pretty pricey option. i chose not to go that route just because i did not want to put myself in that much debt...but to each his own! its still an option. sometimes i really think about doing it so that i can focus my attention to school and getting done. thats the only solution i could come up with. i wish you luck with whatever you decide. its a difficult, but completely worth it road ahead!

ahsile · Nov 16, 2011

Please don't get discouraged!!!! I am a married mom of 5 (yes 5!) kiddos. And while I don't work, I do go to school full time. I have been doing pre-reqs for my BSN since 2009 and I still have one more year to go. I thought about it this way: 4 years is going to pass anyways, regardless of if you're going to school or not. In 4 years, you could be done with your pre-reqs, or you could still be doing what you're doing now.

10 years ago I went to my local college and the advisor printed out this long list of pre-reqs and she was very negative about it. I walked out of that school and decided nursing school was just not within my reach. I am SO MAD at myself for being discouraged and not jumping in. Imagine - that was 10 years ago! I could have been a nurse by now even if I only did one class at a time! Ugh! So when the opportunity presented itself again - you better believe I was not going to walk away from it. And the last 2 years have FLOWN by. Seriously.

Good luck!!

hmjensen · Nov 16, 2011

Thank you all so much for your replies. I will definitely check into whether or not I can test out of some classes. I have nothing but a high school diploma...and that was in 1999. I am reviewing math before I take the placement exam simply because I have forgotten almost everything. I kick myself everyday for not going to the university I was accepted to back then. Do you guys know what type of loan I can get to cover school and living expenses? That is the last resort option but I feel like I need to know all my options to make the best decision. I have put off going to college for 12 years. Now is the time to not only go back to school, but to accomplish the goals I have always had for myself. I need to make the right choices because this IS going to happen! Thanks again. :)

allnurses Guide · Nov 16, 2011

That time will go by either way, so you may as well plug away at it. Just wait until the latter part to take the math and science, as they age off after five years.