Nursing School Programs

When you’re applying to nursing school, you can’t control how many other applicants are applying for the same slot - and these days, that number will be HIGH. You will be facing some stiff competition if you are applying to a community college or traditional four-year degree program.

However, here are two things that you can do to make yourself more attractive to a nursing school.

1.) Get some health-care experience before you apply. One way to do this is to volunteer at a local nursing home or hospital. Make sure you do this for at LEAST a few months before you apply to nursing school. This shows that you are comfortable working in a healthcare environment and you have a genuine interest in caring for others. Or, you can get a job as a certified nurse’s aide. To do this, you need to take a short course - if you look online for a CNA course in your area you can usually find a course that takes just a couple of weekends to complete. Then, you will take a test on the CNA skills that you’ve learned, undergo a criminal background check - and voila, you can work as a CNA! The pay is not high, but there is very high demand.  Again, this shows the nursing school admissions counselor that you are serious about a healthcare career.

2.) What is your GPA? If there are any pre-requisite courses that you’ve taken and did not do well in - it would be worth your while to retake those classes at a local community college and improve your GPA. Again, there is a lot of competition to get into nursing school these days.  If you can retake a class and this time participate in study groups, ask your school for help with tutoring (often offered free to students), find study groups online…boosting your GPA will boost your chances of acceptance.

It’s almost the end of January 2008, so if you are thinking of applying to nursing school for the fall semester of 2009, now’s the time. Some schools start nursing classes several times throughout the year; traditional schools start in the fall.

Here’s what you need to do:

Get together your list of all of the nursing schools that you are interested in applying to.

Contact each one and find out the application deadline for this year, and what type of entrance exam they have.

Find out what book they recommend to study for the exam, get it, and study study study until you are comfortable with it. Take a few sample tests, and time yourself - give yourself as much time as the nursing school will give you.

Order your transcripts from high school, previous college, etc. They can take several weeks to arrive, so order NOW - and make sure that you get a sealed official copy sent to the school that you are applying to.

Apply to multiple schools to better your chances of getting in.