8 yrs to get B.S. ..??

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Are nursing schools going to consider the fact that I started my undergraduate degree in 2005? I'm a military spouse and have moved many times in the past 8 years, including 3 moves to Europe and Asia. In between traveling, I've been working here and there, but mostly traveling. Is the fact that I took my time going to hurt me? I honestly had no clue that I wanted to be a nurse until last year. I'm 28. And how would I explain this in an interview? Is it something I should put in my personal statement essay?

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Just be honest. I took a long time and even changed my major before applying to nursing school. I explained my experiences and how they inspired me to decide on Nursing as my profession. I took time off from school to save up money to be able to afford my pre-reqs. You have a life and a family and that, in my mind at least, makes you come off as experienced in life and shows off your ability to adapt to new places and situations. Take this opportunity to tell them how your experiences shaped you and what you got out of them. They will care if a pre-req is outdated, but you can always check with them on how old courses are allowed to be before you have to retake them.

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Did you do this during the interview or in your essay?

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Unless a school has a policy that prereqs can only be a certain age (ie within the last 7 years), it won't be an issue. Some of my prereqs are really old, and it excluded me from some schools. I took them while I was on active duty, so I understand your dilemma. But the fact that I took my time was never an issue with any of the schools where I applied, so I never even thought to bring it up. Many of us, especially once we hit about 25 or so, have changed majors, had kids, gotten married, etc, and many students in nursing programs are at least that old. Few of us went to school full time and did our prereqs 2-3 at a time within a year or two of applying to programs.

I'm 1 semester away from having my BSN now.

Good luck!

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Congrats on being almost finished. I'm not concerned about my prereqs as they've all been completed within the past year. I was just worried that it will look bad that it took me so long to get my degree.

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I did the majority of my pre reqs prior to 1991.. and finished them up last year and just completed my 1st semester of a BSN program. It really shouldn't matter.

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I started school in 05 too! And finished in 2010. I don't think anyone cares. The only concern is some schools require that you've taken the prereqs within the last 5 or 10 years or something like that, especially for the science courses, so you'll have to look into that. I would be proud of your experiences.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Traditionally, there are no hard & fast deadlines for degree completion until you get to grad school (5 years for Masters, 7 yrs for PhD), although I think that some Universities have begun adding more controls in the past couple of years. PP ^^^ has identified a potential snag for you with the 5 year course 'expiration'... hope you don't have to repeat anything.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

You just need to make sure the programs you're applying to don't have an expiration date for pre-reqs.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
You just need to make sure the programs you're applying to don't have an expiration date for pre-reqs.

^This.

Find out which classes are "expired" and find out if taking a CLEP Exam is an option as well.

And don't worry about dates; it took me 12 years to earn a Bachelors Degree; and so far, I'm ok. ;)

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