What are pre-req's?

[Anne36, LPN]

I was talking to someone who is college educated and in their 30's today about me and my classes. She said "since when

do you need to take classes before you start the nursing program?" At XYZ (a college in NY) college they take you into the

RN program straight from high school. I also have heard some people think that a C will get you into and through Nursing

School. Was it really this easy years ago?

[livetoserve]

The classes that we (in or trying to get into programs) consider pre req's typically are not actually pre req's at all.

Because nursing programs tend to have limmited amount of space inorder to have a competative advantage we take a&p I, a&p II, Micro, etc before applying. Since so many people take these classes BEFORE even applying they are thought of as pre req's but I'd be willing to bet that if you look at most schools requirements for consideration they are not listed as pre req's instead you'll find HS chem, HS bio, HS algerbra completed with at least a C.

Is it possible to get into a nursing program without first taking all the gen ed courses we call pre reqs? Sure if you have a great High School transcript, excellent test scores, fantastic references etc but you sure do increase your chances if you take the gen ed courses.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Maybe C's could have gotten you into nursing school a long time ago, but with all the people wanting to get into nursing programs these days, more and more people are presenting very high GPA's so schools can afford to be more selective. Just because you get into a college does not mean you are accepted into the nursing program or major. You still have to take prereqs to demonstrate that you are ready to undertake the nursing curriculum. These prereqs are the basic foundation you need to understand the upper level coursework. There's no way you could study nursing without first studying Anatomy, Physiology and Microbiology at a minimum. Some schools DO offer these classes concurrent with other nursing courses, but I would much rather have them behind me while I concentrate on the core.

[asfreeasabird]

Our local university is trying to get people in to the nursing program without having to wade through too many prerequisites. The theory is you should be able to get a four year degree in four years. I have not seen any stats on it. All they require is a two semester A&P, math , and chemistry. The GPA from these classes must be a 3.0 or higher, it is very competitive.

[shortnorthstudent]

Our school has pre-reqs. You have to take an STNA class, a PCA class (they're not called that, but basically that's what they are) as well as 2 terms of chemistry, an intro bio course (or demonstrate proficiency) and be at a certain level in math and English. We also have co-requirements. Those are the non-nursing course portion of the curriculum. They include, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathophysiology, Microbiology, stats, psych and a couple of others. You have to take them in order to graduate, but don't have to have them before applying. Most people take them before the program though because of the difficulty of the nursing/clinical courses.