Nursing pre-reqs

[poptart26]

Is Straighterline most likely a no no for Anatomy & Physiology if I want to satisfy prerequisites for possibly applying to nursing school (prelicensure)?

Thanks!

[rebel100]

Depends on where you want to go to nursing school. Many programs are requiring that to be a butt in seat course, others don't really care. It's a question you need to ask of the two or three nursing schools you are considering.

[clep3705]

The University of Texas at Arlington offers all nursing school prerequisites as online courses. They consider pharmacology and pathophysiology as prerequisites, so those are available online.

I'm all in favor of online learning, but it is inappropriate for labs. I wouldn't want a nurse who did online labs for A&P 1, A&P 2, microbiology, biology, and chemistry classes.

[kester22]

I took an online AP I & AP II with Edukan because it was totally online (except for proctored final) and labs were completed at home, tuition very reasonable. AP I Labs were basically locating parts within a software component that is required. AP II was the same except for dissecting a eyeball and a heart. Those were done at home but you had to do a paper about the dissection.

My disclaimer: I took A & P in a butt in the seat nursing program initially, but it was part of my LPN program and would not transfer to a BSN program, so I retook it via Edukan. Had I not taken it previously, I wouldn't have passed the online classes. A & P is hard anyway.....harder online.

I hear that OCC (Ocean Community College????) has a wonderful AP & Micro class completely online, but its expensive. Can't comment on Micro as I took EC's exam. Good luck!

[cookderosa]

Is Straighterline most likely a no no for Anatomy & Physiology if I want to satisfy prerequisites for possibly applying to nursing school (prelicensure)?

Thanks!

I don't think it's an issue of butt in seat vs online- but an issue of it not being a college (only ACE evaluated). I did all my prereqs online (at Ocean) and had no trouble at all (with labs) but if it were "me" I wouldn't feel comfortable using SL because even if your one school tells you yes, you'll likely not get that answer from everyone...in time if you want that BSN you'll have to have your credits evaluated again. For my money, I'd use a college for your A&P sequence.

*and we use SL in our family, so I've got no problem with them in general, but your question is VERY specific for a very difficult kind of application process.

[poptart26]

Thank you all for your answers. That pretty much tells me what I need to do. I will take the classes at an RA school to be safe. Whether or not I am able to take them "butt in seat" is unknown.

Jennifer & Kester22, how does a college know if these are online or "butt in seat" classes? Does it say that on your transcripts from the colleges where you took your online A&P I & II classes?

Thanks!

[rebel100]

You might want to look at Clovis CC in New Mexico and New Mexico Junioir College for these classes online. The tuition used to be discounted and might still be well below your local CC. I think both schools offer the courses in a format that allows you to complete A&P 1 and 2 in the same semester. NMJC also offers Microbiology and nutrition online if you need it. Clovis and NMJC are both RA accredited.

There are 4-5 schools in my general area that offer a nursing program. The busiest of these is Valencia CC. I have several friends that attend that program. Valencia has way more applicants than it has spots in its RN program. Valencia (per one of my friends) makes its applicants sign a statement that all of the pre-reqs have been completed in a classroom. It's another way to weed a few people out of the program. The other schools around here are less competative and to my knowledge don't care where you got the classes so long as they include a lab and are accredited.

I have two friends that could not get into RN school and went into a Paramedic program for a year and then transitioned to RN...much less competition that way but it sure is a long route (sorta).

Good Luck,

Reb

[cookderosa]

Thank you all for your answers. That pretty much tells me what I need to do. I will take the classes at an RA school to be safe. Whether or not I am able to take them "butt in seat" is unknown.

Jennifer & Kester22, how does a college know if these are online or "butt in seat" classes? Does it say that on your transcripts from the colleges where you took your online A&P I & II classes?

Thanks!

Again, it's not a question of butt in seat vs online. Straighterline is NOT A COLLEGE and thus you might run into trouble. For anything other than health sciences, I'd say to roll the dice, but you're talking about a highly particular type of program- and lab sciences- this isn't something you can just go "CLEP" out of if this doesn't work. You're talking about 1 full year of a course. The lab sciences are "the" make or break class for many health/nursing students....too risky imo. I enjoyed my classes at Ocean. They were expensive but open book

To answer your question, no, it would be highly unusual for a college to write course delivery on the transcript. There are accreditation reasons for this that go back to needing a different course number for a different course, etc. If you enrolled at Ocean or one of the other schools offering online labs, you would have an identical transcript to the person butt in seat (also known as F2F face to face). All of my sciences from Ocean have the same course number as if I took it on campus. Good luck!

[poptart26]

Hi,

Yes, Clovis CC is amazing and cheaper than anything around here. I can actually afford this school! Thank you! I looked into doing the same thing as your friends... getting into a paramedic program first. To be honest, I feel a bit defeated... everything seems like a huge hurdle right now.

Jennifer, thanks for the answer regarding if transcripts show course delivery on them. I think taking them online via a school like CCC is the only way I can take them anyway, so it will have to be good enough. I love the idea of open book... I wish Ocean's classes weren't so expensive!

[cookderosa]

Hi,

Yes, Clovis CC is amazing and cheaper than anything around here. I can actually afford this school! Thank you! I looked into doing the same thing as your friends... getting into a paramedic program first. To be honest, I feel a bit defeated... everything seems like a huge hurdle right now.

Jennifer, thanks for the answer regarding if transcripts show course delivery on them. I think taking them online via a school like CCC is the only way I can take them anyway, so it will have to be good enough. I love the idea of open book... I wish Ocean's classes weren't so expensive!

Yes, they are a little high. One thing with online labs, always find out ahead of registering what your lab cost will be. At Ocean, for instance, lab packs were about $200 each (!) plus a microscope. These costs are after you pay tuition/fees. I actually ended up buying two microscopes (about $150 and $200) because I needed a way to upload photos of my slides (mainly for micro, A&P wasn't so bad). The required one uses an oil immersion lens (waste of money imo) and the second was from Walmart of all places, and it had a digital camera eyepiece, so you could upload pics directly into your lab reports. It's not as high of quality, but was veryyyy easy to use. Anyway, you'll want to find out all of this in advance because it can cost big $. I justified the costs because we homeschool, and my kids can use the tools I bought for the classes. I have TONS of left over beakers, test tubes, etc.