I thought about changing career paths and becoming a nurse. Since I already have a bachelor’s degree, I would do an ABSN (accelerated bachelor of science in nursing) program. They take anywhere from one to two years.
Prerequisite courses are required: Anatomy & Physiology 1 & 2, Chemistry, Microbiology, Statistics, etc. Depends on the program. Those courses, besides statistics, have a lab requirement.
My original objective was to complete these courses as fast as possible and be enrolled in a nursing program in six months, as soon as January of next year. Through lots of research, I found this goal to be impossible for me. First, you have to apply for these programs much sooner than I thought. Second, I found online eight week-long AP1 courses, but no AP2 courses I could roll into immediately afterwards. I’d have to do a 2016 fall semester of AP1 and then a 2017 spring semester of AP2. At the earliest, I’d be able to start a nursing program by fall of next year.
If I could rewind time, go back to spring of this year, I could’ve singed up for a summer semester of AP1 and applied for programs while finishing the rest of the prerequisites in the fall semester.
I still kept searching for different options. Another obstacle, a big one, is that I’m living outside of the U.S.. Many of the online science courses require the lab to be done on campus. The ones done at home are mailed to you. I don’t know if pig cadavers can be sent to Thailand, and it sounds troublesome to secure one for myself. But, in my search, I found a better option for me, and maybe some of you, than anything else.
Portage Learning
Here’s the original forum thread I discovered it in. The amount of people who’ve taken the course and discussing it online are few.
But basically, this is an accelerated and accredited program with online labs. Portage features all the prerequisite science courses necessary to enter many programs. You pay for a course – $567 for a 3 credit courses and $756 for 4 credit – and you have one year to complete it. They have a 24 hour hotline. Tutoring. No school books required. The instructors and administration are said to be helpful.
You can move through each class as fast as you want. I’ve read that students have completed a course a month and that one student completed two courses in six weeks. One student, who had a 95% in her class, reported statistics is 15 modules long and it takes her two hours to complete a module.
There are tests after every module. During the labs, you watch an instructor perform one or two experiments and then take a quiz.
The overall feedback I’ve read has been positive. In fact, the only negative thing I’ve read is that some programs don’t accept online labs. This is a much bigger problem if you’re wanting to get into PA school. As far as nursing goes, there are so many more programs, and many of them are flexible. You’ll get into something.
For those looking to switch careers into nursing but are missing science prerequisites, consider Portage.
Donna Ennels says
Reading your story remind me of myself in many ways .
Thanks for shearing. I have been pursuing a nursing career for quite some time . Many unpredictable secutations have prevented me from accomplishing my dream .
A recruiter suggested Purtage , but my concerns was the lab for microbiology and Ap . Now I seems as if it’s all possible that I can do online line . A nursing career seems like an obtainable gold !!
Thanks Portage