4 year program vs. 5 year program at Cleveland State University

[nathanhr]

Hey Guys! This is my first post so bare with me.....

I'm currently a high school senior who has been accepted into the pre-nursing program at Cleveland State. I attended my college orientation this past Thursday and discovered that if I wanted to complete my BSN in 4 years, I would have to take A&P plus lab ontop of Chem plus lab during my freshman year and additionally I would have to take Microbiology during the summer between my freshman & sophomore year. My academic advisor informed me that the nursing program at Cleveland State is very difficult to get into and only accepts about 50% of applicants with the average g.p.a of prereq's being a 3.6

She advised me to go with the 5 year plan due to the fact that it would provide me an easier transition into college life and give me the opportunity to ensure a higher g.p.a by being able to focus on one difficult class (Chem) during the year rather than both A&P and Chem together. Her key phrase was: "The goal is to get into the nursing program, not to graduate in 4 years"

What input do you guys have? Is the 5 year program unnecessarily long? Is A&P and Chem manageable to take at the same time? Any insight would be helpful! I feel very overwhelmed and confused by the amount of options, information, and decisions being thrown at me.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

It depends on how strong of a studen you are. I have a daughter at OU who took these classes together along with a music theory class plus she is in their band. It was a really really rough semester, but she plowed thru with a 3.4. She is taking calc and micro at our community college this summer to get them out of the way. She needs organic chemistry next fall and already has her stats class done. Do you have any of the other classes out of the way in the form of AP classes or college classes from high school. That is always a big help and you can have a lighter class load your first semester if you want to. And remember, take advantage of any tutoring offered to you.

If if you think it will be really stressful, go the 5 year way. CSU is an excellent program.

[NicuRN628]

If you are a strong student go for the four year program. In four years I completed my BSN as well as a bachelors of science in Biology, 187 credit hours. I took a couple summer courses. During the school year I was also on a varsity sport which required a lot of time.

Good luck!