Where's the best school for me?

[kirsten18]

Hi everybody! This is my 1st post at this forum :-)

First of all, I'm Kirsten from Washington State. I graduated 10 years ago with a degree in BS Architecture. After a long struggle in the architecture field, I realized that designing houses and buildings is not what I want as my long - term career.

I thought of changing my career to become a nurse but I have no idea where should I start. Thankfully, I found this website! :-)

Since I already have a Bachelor's degree, I realized I'd concentrate on becoming a BSN rather than taking the laddership from RN to BSN. I have not started yet with my pre-requisites because every school requires different pre-requisites. I think I like to know first where I should be studying before taking the pre-requisite subjects. Btw, I'm taking a lot of pre-requisites because I never had any biology, chemistry etc. subjects when I studied Architecture. It might take me about 1 year to finish these subjects.

Schools that I inquired in Washington State are University of Washington and Seattle University.

University of Washington has the Accelerated BSN. It's a 15 month "intense" program (plus my 1 year pre-requisite). I heard the Program is very good and one or the best in the nation. But it has a LOT of requirements and very competitive. I thought I needed another school that is not really fierce :-)

I also inquired at Seattle University. It's a private university and I thought they don't really require a lot to get in. They are offering 2 years of study plus 1 year of pre-requisite to graduate in BSN. I had the chance to visit the university and I really liked it. My only drawback is that 2 years seems long (plus 1 year pre-requisites and it costs 31,000 per year .

At this point, I'm considering moving out of state. I'm also checked on Drexel University (private university) in Penns state. It's a 11 month program but I didn't like their mandatory use of e-book to study. I always prefer the 'real' book because it's what I'm used to it when studying.

I think my questions are: can you pls. recommend any school that I should inquire or research on? Or a univesity that you recommend? Anywhere in the US is ok but I really prefer a university with an uban setting or in a city with good transportation system rather than slow paced (I don't have a car). I will be also studying full time. I'm open even it's public or private school and doesn't need to be the BEST but still a good nursing school. As much as possible, it should take me less than 2 years to study BSN. I'm not sure if I should ask this but I'll give it a shot: A school that doesn't have a lot of requirements and not require very high pre-requisite gradesto get in? :-)

I apologize if my inquiry is very long :-)

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

- K

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - I hope that your perceptions become a bit more reality-based as you delve further into this transition. You are trying to completely change your career - with no healthcare background - and end up as an RN.... a job with responsibility for life & death decisions - - - but 2 years seem too long?????

A successful transition into nursing would not only provide you with the cognitive information, but also the ability to actually practice nursing... and this takes time. If you explore this site, you will see that one of the chief complaints of new nursing grads is lack of preparation for the workplace. Bottom line - tschools can intensify the process to make it as fast as possible, but this does not automatically result in a faster pathway to competence. Human beings all learn at a different pace, and most of us need exposure and practice before we can internalize anything. Can you imagine teaching driver's ed in only one 12 hour session???

Because of all the ongoing media hype, nursing is being portrayed as a 'hot career' with guaranteed success.. so there are an unprecedented number of people trying to catch this brass ring. ALL nursing school are highly competitive right now. Most require that all pre-reqs are completed before you can apply. An enormous number of commercial (investor owned) nursing schools have popped up to take advantage of this situation. Many do not care if their students ever graduate, because all they are interested in is collecting the ridiculously high tuition from desperate people, including those who are not remotely qualified to become nurses. There are schools who will 'guarantee' admission - they also have incredibly high costs... and are NOT reputable, despite their great marketing materials.

As someone who has successfully navigated through architecture school, you're obviously intelligent enough to make smart decisions - just be sure that it's based upon accurate, objective information.

[blueiislook2sky]

I am in a similar situation so I can relate with you Kirsten. I have my BS in Business in AZ and am actually moving to WA to pursue nursing. The previous poster has some good points about not rushing through the educational process and really making sure this is going to be your lifelong passion.

For me the monotony of having an office job is going to kill me. I want to be challenged and I want to be a caretaker for those in need. I am fascinated by the medical field and am excited to make the move and get started with the prerequisites.

From what I have researched as options for those of us who are "post-bac" there are the following options: ADN, BSN, ABSN, direct entry Masters. As you mentioned the ABSN at UW is around 45k for 18 months of study. The BSN option is around 14k so it is much more affordable. It is competitive but it is where I am setting my sights too. I talked to the admissions clerk today and they accepted 95 students or so out of 300-400 applicants.

My advice would be to start working on all the pre-reqs now! AP Bio I,II etc/Chem/Micro Bio/Developmental Psych/Nutrition. These are all classes required to enter an ADN program. Like you said these classes have math competency requirements so first step is to get the equivalency test or take math to get started. Once thats done then get through the pre-reqs like you said takes a year. During that time you can really narrow down the program you want and start applying, worst case scenario you can apply to multiple ADN programs and go the associate degree route then once employed do your BSN fast track which is one year.

Washington state university also has BSN programs and there are several other schools that provide the direct entry MSN but I don't feel comfortable with such a high level of education with no real technical experience or understanding of what I want as a speciality.

I'll be doing all my classes at SCCC starting in April, good luck!