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[A.LIZA]

Hey guys, I havent' been to school in 10 years and don't want to go to school with lil babes. From what I've gathered so far, I'm excited to get this done. First of all, How do I start? Do I need to be enrolled in a certain college and then apply to do the clep test? I want to go for a nursing degree but like I said, it's been 10 years since I got my little "medicall assistant" degree while in the military. Seriously, dumb it down for me. I'm lost.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Hi!

A nursing degree, and any professional degree in clinical health care, is a special and different thing from most degrees.

Essentially, the approaches we talk about here can't be used to earn a nursing degree itself. There are massive and crucial requirements that have to be met in person on-the-ground, with nurse educators and with real patients, in working hospital and clinical settings.

One of the schools we talk about most, Excelsior College, has a school of nursing that does have an "entry" ("prelicensure") program to train new Registered Nursing candidates nontraditionally. But admission is absolutely restricted to current Licensed Practical Nurses, Paramedics, and a very few other categories of already-licensed health care professional.

There are a growing number of nursing programs that combine distance learning with on-the-ground clinical education, like this one from Western Governors University. However, you have to be there in person for substantial amounts of time for the clinicals.

Now, you can earn your associate's or bachelor's degrees in many other subjects – including in closely related subjects like Health Studies, Health Care Administration, Natural Science, or Psychology – entirely in the nontraditional ways we talk about here. Within such a program, you can include prerequisites and other helpful courses that could help you then go on to achieve a degree in nursing, or in another clinical health care field.

Do I need to be enrolled in a certain college and then apply to do the clep test?

Not at all! You can prepare independently (with resources you can find through here), earn credit from one CLEP test, DSST test, ECE test, etc. after another, and when you're good and ready, walk them to one of the schools that accept them and have them recorded on your transcript there. This is a very common approach.

A helpful general, starting-point reference: The Degree Forum Wiki.

[LaterBloomer]

Hey, don't be so dismissive of your "little 'medical assistant' " training. Lots of the training that you've taken in the military can earn you credits for a degree.

[IrishJohn]

Hey, don't be so dismissive of your "little 'medical assistant' " training. Lots of the training that you've taken in the military can earn you credits for a degree.

Exactly. Perhaps the best place to start is for the OP to get ahold of their military transcript and have it evaluated by one of the Big 3. Beyond the gen Ed credits I'm not sure what else on this degree.

[rebel100]

Hey guys, I havent' been to school in 10 years and don't want to go to school with lil babes. From what I've gathered so far, I'm excited to get this done. First of all, How do I start? Do I need to be enrolled in a certain college and then apply to do the clep test? I want to go for a nursing degree but like I said, it's been 10 years since I got my little "medicall assistant" degree while in the military. Seriously, dumb it down for me. I'm lost.

You get started by narrowing down your choices and jumping in. You don't need to decide on a school to get started...you can begin by starting on Gen eds that nearly everyone will require English, Math, Social Studies. etc... The thing is you do want to be sure enough of where your headed that you don't spend time and effort on too many classes that do you no good. For example if your going to choose one of the Big 3 (TESC,EC,COSC) than you can use ALEKS for math credit...but very few other schools (perhaps none) will accept that for credit. So narrow down your choices and jump in.

You can do a CLEp/DSST without being enrolled in any school...but see the previous disclaimer. Most schools will accept 30-90 credits via exam, it depends on the school though. Some, like the previously mentioned "Big 3" accept 114-120 hours towards a Bachelors (that's nearly all of the degree).

Nursing Licensure is a whole nother beast. Unless you qualify for the Excelsior Bridge to RN program your going to have to look at other schools...they will typically want to see at least the Nursing pre-reqs from some sort of classroom experience. That can often still be an online experience, but they will all require similar specific pre-reqs.

I would say that for speed and reduced cost you might do well to approach Nursing Certification and the Degree process as separate but complimentary avenues. Figure out where your going to apply for Nursing school and find a place to knock out the specific pre-reqs (your local CC perhaps?). Then select one of the big 3 for a BS/BA, start testing out of those courses and work towards the two goals together.

I would say that RN licensure is a quicker route to a decent paying job than a degree from one of the big 3 with no specific career plan.