Education

In the spirit of catching you up from November's happenings (since I posted only once that month) I feel it's important to fill you in on my education plans.  I talked about it a little bit here, but now, almost a year later, I'll give you the rest of the story of my journey to nursing school.

Last spring I aced Anatomy and Physiology I and II.  I was so proud.  They were accelerated courses that crammed 16 weeks worth of work into just 8 weeks.  It was perfect for me because I'd have both prerequisite courses under my belt at the end of the semester to be able to apply to nursing schools.  Then we learned we were moving to Dover and things got a bit more difficult.  I had been looking at accelerated Bachelor of Nursing degrees that give students who have a degree in another field prerequisite credit for the studies they've completed.  With just A&P and a microbiology class to take I'd be able to apply to these accelerated programs and finish my BSN in just 18 months.  Perfect, considering we never know how long we'll be living somewhere.  Dover has no accelerated programs.  The closest school that offered such a program is over an hour north . . . on tollways.  Talk about expensive and time consuming.  I'd be commuting so much I'd never see my husband and critters!  This was not really of interest to me.

There are a couple of schools in Dover that offer four year BSN degrees.  I inquired about their programs hoping credits from my first degree would transfer, allowing me to cut the four years in half.  Both told me that even with credits from my previous degree (which wouldn't all be accepted as they were nearing the "over ten years old" mark) it would still take me a minimum of five semesters to complete the BSN, and many of the courses were NOT offered in the summer, which could have sped up the process.  Again, not a smart choice for me as we aren't really sure how long we'll be stationed in Dover.  So my last option was a technical college that offered an Associate's degree.  The good news is that you can be a registered nurse with just your ASN.  With prerequisites completed, this program is just four semesters.  This looked like the best option for me.  I could finish the degree in our time here, go to work, and if I wanted more of a challenge or more opportunities in nursing I could complete my BSN quite easily as there are many local and online RN to Bachelor programs, as well as RN to Master programs.

Then the drama began.  I'll give you the very short version.  This ASN program has more prerequisites than Harvard Law School!  And they are sticklers about transferred credits being less than ten years old, even though they led to a completed degree!  I have tried everything I can think of to skip over some of the prerequisites, but the truth is it won't put me ahead of the game any sooner because of when classes are offered and how soon I could apply to the clinical portion of school.  Thus, I've been reduced to taking a 100 level math class that no other college in the country has heard of (nor have any nurses I know ever heard of it), Anatomy and Physiology I and II again because my classes in North Dakota included virtual labs instead of "wet labs", and the 100 level chemistry class that is a prerequisite for their A&P courses.  Crikey!

I think I'm over the anger of having to jump through hoops because this school is truly my only option here.  And I just feel this sense of urgency to bite the bullet and get it done now.  We are trying to start a family, and if I'm not enrolled in school before that happens then I think I could easily throw in the towel and stay home with kids.  Though it would be a privilege to stay home with babies, I also fear that I would later regret not chasing this dream.  And being home without a job since we left ND has not been that fabulous.  I crave interaction with peers and challenges for myself.  And honestly, I hate that Scott comes home every day and asks what I did.  You can only hide behind the "I'm interested in your day" curtain for so long.  I know he's really making sure I don't sit in front of the TV all day.  I suppose I'd do the same thing, but it's not appreciated when you're on this side of the fence.

So . . . class begins January 10th.  I got into all the classes I need in order to apply to clinicals at the end of this spring.  If accepted right away (which I pray is the case!), then I'll start clinicals next January.  That leaves me the fall semester to finish up prerequisites needed for clinicals, but not needed for the application process.  Confused yet?  Yeah.  All this for an Associate degree.  Oh well.

Anyway, frustrations included, this still feels good, probably because I want this so badly.  Maybe I'm crazy.  In any other aspect of my life I would have taken the five BIG roadblocks I've encountered as a sign that this wasn't meant to be.  So it begs the question, am I determined?  Or insane?  S'okay.  I can handle it.  I think I'm comfortable with either label.