Hi everyone,
My name is Emily and this blog will be about my nursing school journey and the prerequisites required for nursing. I am currently in my 4th year, and attend a California state university, so prerequisites and my experience are based upon the California school system. However, most schools have the same fundamental classes as requirements.
There are several pathways you can take to get your nursing degree. You can take an LVN/LPN (licensed vocational/practical nurse) program which would allow you to practice basic nursing care for patients. In my personal experience, I have seen many LVNs work at nursing homes to get more hours and apply to a hospital if they are interested in geriatric care. Some people will also get their LVN license to get more hours for when they apply to PA (physician’s assistant) or nursing school.
The next pathway is becoming a CNA (certified nursing assistant). I did took this route, since it was difficult applying to nursing schools because a lot of programs are impacted. CNAs often assist LVNs, nurses, and doctors. They help patients with their daily activities such as showering, eating, and moving around. It is a great career as hospitals and nursing homes always need CNAs because they help a lot with the daily activities of patients. LVNs, nurses, and doctors all focus on the medical needs of the patient. Many CNAs work at nursing homes as well and it is a great way to dip your toe in the water to see if you like nursing. I got my CNA license as a way to get hands-on experience working with patients, as well as to test out if I wanted to be a nurse. Some CNAs also gain more hours at nursing homes to transfer to hospitals later on or to get experience hours for nursing or PA school.
There are many types of RN (registered nursing) degrees. You can get a nursing degree from a community college, which would be an ADN degree. There is also the traditional method which is a BSN (bachelors of science, nursing), but there are different ways to also obtain a BSN degree. The traditional BSN is entering college declaring your major as nursing, but there are also other ways to obtain a BSN. In California, there are not many schools that allow students to declare nursing, because it is an impacted major. Once you are in college, usually within your first two years, you take the prerequisites and then apply to the nursing program itself. I know of two schools in California that allow you to declare nursing as an entering freshman: San Diego State University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Both schools are difficult to get into from high school, but if you have the grades and means, it is a great option to go straight into a program from high school. This is excluding private universities that allow you to declare your major right away.
The less traditional BSN would be to graduate with one degree then do a post-baccalaureate to get your second degree in nursing. Not all schools have post-baccalaureate programs, but there are a growing number of schools that do have them, such as the University of Washington, NYU, and UC Davis. Some schools have MSN programs for non-nursing degrees. Many people will take the post-baccalaureate or MSN for non-nursing degree route when they have decided to switch careers to become a nurse. For these programs, you would have to graduate first with a bachelor's degree.
In my experience, after applying during my undergraduate years and not getting in anywhere, I decided to do a post-baccalaureate. I am graduating this Spring with a Public Health degree. It was extremely difficult getting into a nursing school, and I applied 3 different cycles. The first time I applied was only for the school I currently attend the nursing program. After facing rejection, I was unsure of my chances of getting into any school. The second time I applied, I applied to 6 different schools throughout California. I was rejected by all of them as well. The third time I applied was this past fall. I had little hope left and I would get into a school since I had been rejected so many times. I thought to myself “why not shoot big?” After getting rejected from many of the California schools, I decided to try out of state. I made a chart to show when the deadlines were for each of the schools I was applying to and the requirements. The schools I decided to apply to were the University of Washington, NYU, California State University San Marcos, California State University Fullerton, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Miami.
The first applications due were the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins. My hopes were not set very high as I thought I had no chance of getting into either of these schools. I have a 3.75 overall GPA, and a 3.6 nursing GPA (I will explain later on how to calculate your nursing GPA). Even though my grades appeared to be good, they weren’t stellar. Additionally, I felt they were not as good as people I knew who got into nursing school. I received my letter of rejection from the University of Washington in December. Since I did not have very high hopes, I was not as disappointed. However, I was still a little bit sad since the University of Washington was one of my dream schools. With doubt in my mind that I would get into any nursing school, I waited to hear back from Johns Hopkins. In the middle of January, I received a letter of acceptance to the Johns Hopkins Entry Masters of Nursing program. I was beyond excited to find I had been accepted into the best nursing program in the country.
My advice to you would be to not give up on what you are passionate about. It may take multiple attempts, but keep persevering and it can work in your favor. Working within the medical field and getting into PA, medical, or nursing school can be extremely difficult, but if you keep trying you will succeed.
Until next time :)
- By Emily Louie
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