What Are Nursing Prerequisites? (RN)

00:01 So let me just start by saying something super encouraging.

00:04 Prerequisites are really rough.

00:06 I know, that's just the type of thing that you want to start with.

00:09 They are particularly challenging because they are not what you actually want to be studying, right.

00:14 But they do lay the foundation for your future classes and give you some background information so that you can be successful in your nursing classes that will come later on.

00:24 Basically, pre-reqs are the classes that you take prior to starting your nursing school or nursing classes, so that nursing school will actually make sense. And the prerequisites that you take will be very much based on the school that you plan to one day attend.

00:41 Integrated BSN programs are the exception here, where you are going to be taking your nursing fundamentals classes, like, right in the beginning, and they'll be incorporating your pre-reqs throughout.

00:53 But for most other programs, you need to finish your pre-reqs before you can actually take your nursing classes.

01:00 If you have already taken some of those courses and are taking a longer, more meandering route to apply to nursing school, it's important to know that some of these courses can actually expire.

01:12 Most math classes and science classes like statistics, biology, microbiology and maybe even research will actually expire, usually within five years of taking it. So just keep that in mind.

01:24 If you're planning on slowly accumulating these courses as you get ready for school, you'll want to take those courses that state that they are going to expire towards the end, just so that you don't reach the time limit and then you have to take them again. All right. Now that I've made all of that sound like really super fun and exciting, let's move on to something a little bit more positive.

01:44 These classes can be taken anywhere.

01:47 You do not have to take them at the school that you planned on attending for nursing school. Community colleges are a great option for knocking these pre-reqs out because they are cheaper, and they're usually offered on a more flexible schedule or even online or during night school.

02:03 When you're looking at these courses in community colleges, you will need to make sure that their courses will actually transfer to the university or nursing program of your choice. Because, I've learned this, not all courses they will, they won't all transfer. You can actually do this by going through the registrar's office at the school that you ultimately want to attend and just kind of going backwards.

02:25 You type in the information where you are going to school and it'll tell you, hey, this is an equivalency there, or they will evaluate it on a case-based situation.

02:34 Some nursing programs will list the universities that they partner with, and then they will give the approved classes and what will actually transfer on their website.

02:43 And you can type in the class that you're looking for, and it will tell you like literally this qualifies or we'll look into it for you.

02:49 Now, once we have all our list of what all of our prerequisites are, let's look at some examples of what the typical pre-reqs are that you can expect to encounter.