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Is it better to go to Private College or Community College to become an RN?

I want to become an RN fast. Is it better to go to Private school like Unitek or Western Career College to become an RN or just do it in Community College or get BSN at University? It's just very hard to get in to the program so I don't want to waist my time. Does anybody know of any these private schools?

Public Comments

1. I would attend a Community College and get the ADN-RN, then you can work as an RN, while taking classes towards the BSN and you would be able to take a RN to BSN program. The classes that you will take at the Community College will transfer to the 4 year program, if you go through a private school the classes you take may not transfer for college credit, so if you wanted to continue your education you would then have to repeat classes in the Community College or University systems.
2. For my choice, I would choose to do the course at Community College because you will be learning all aspect of emergency situation and community care which will be a asset when you obtain the diploma or degrees. During the mid session of the course, you probably will be attached to a local hospital, where you can learned more, especially at the Emergency Unit. Moreover, the graduates from Community College is widely accepted to be more professional in health care and should not be a problem to seek a job overseas.
3. Community college ADN programs have traditionally been 4 semesters plus a summer. Now, if you look at web sites of different schools, you'll see that a lot of them have lengthened their programs to 5 semesters plus 1 or 2 summer sessions. AND, because community colleges are so much less expensive than 4-year colleges, most ADN programs receive many more applications than they have available seats. In order to get priority for acceptance, students end up going to school at least part-time for anywhere from 1 to 4 semesters, taking their general education classes and their sciences, before they get accepted into the nursing courses. And the nursing courses STILL take 4 or 5 semesters plus 1 or more summer sessions. Do you see the problem here? Unless you already have ALL of your support/general ed classes and your science classes, with an extremely high GPA, you could end up spending as much as 6 to 9 semesters of part-time study to get a 2-year associate degree. An ADN isn't always a faster, cheaper route to your nursing license, like it was 20 and 30 years ago. What universities are near you other than the private schools? Private schools tend to cost considerably more than state-funded colleges. There is a private college near me - very famous, big name school - that has a tiny BSN program. Most of the students in the program come from obscenely wealthy families. Why? Because 4 years at this school costs $130,000. Students who need loans to pay for that would be putting the major part of their income toward paying off their school loans for the next 10 years. The costs of a private college might be far greater than your actual income potential. You'll have to weigh that out for yourself. Here in the US, a BSN is 4 years. Some schools start the basic nursing courses in the second year; many schools require 2 years of general education and sciences before students apply to be accepted into the 2-year clinical portion of the program. It is still easier here to get into a BSN program than an ADN program - a BSN program might get 200 applications for their fall class that has 140 seats, but an ADN program might get 400 or more applications for a class that has only 60 seats. Now....here's the other side of the "and ADN takes forever" coin. If you're like a lot of us, you need to work while you're in school, at least part-time. Or you have a husband and kids. Going to nursing school full-time means that you are a nursing student ALL THE TIME. You can count on spending a MINIMUM of 2 to 3 hours per day doing homework and studying for every hour that you spend in class. This is not an easy major. So if you need to work, or if you have a family, you might be better off going to a community college. Take your liberal arts and humanities classes FIRST. Science classes expire if you don't graduate within a particular time limit. If you start out by taking anatomy, chemistry, and microbiology in your first semester, and then get shoved onto a waiting list, you might get to your last semester of nursing courses only to find out that your sciences expired last semester and you have to take them again. So avoid that problem - get your composition & rhetoric, psychology, sociology, life span development/human development, literature, music or art appreciation out of the way first. If you take your liberal arts classes over 2 semesters, then take your sciences over a summer and 2 semesters, all of it is part-time and you should be able to continue to work part-time. Then when you start the nursing classes, you won't have to take anything but nursing. And again, you'll still be part-time. If you decide to go the community college route, talk to the advisers in their nursing program and ask them what you need to take in order to have the shortest possible wait to get into the program. One of the community colleges near me gives priority to students who are already certified nursing assistants who have completed their liberal arts classes. Being a CNA gives you a head start on the fundamental skills you'll learn in your first semester or two of nursing. And, if you're working part-time at a hospital as a CNA, you may just be eligible for a scholarship from that hospital that will pay for you to finish your associate degree. Good luck to you. You have some options ahead of you. It isn't easy, but it's very worthwhile.
4. Before I start I just want to state that I am answering from my experiences being a nursing student from California graduated in 2006 and now an RN. I wouldfirst like to say that Bookshop_Lady made some very valid points, but I would just like to clear up a few things that were said... I went to a two year community college for my pre-reqs and to get my general education classes out of the way before getting into a BSN program at a state university (the cheapest way to get a BSN). Most BSN programs only accept about 36-72 students per semester (72 IF they have a trimester program) with the clause that if you apply twice and don't get accepted both times you are not able to apply again (the school I went to implemented this rule), whereas many ADN programs will accept you once your number pops up on the waiting list (being on the waiting list can take several years) or some even do a lottery type deal. Also, a BSN takes three years of clinical experience beginning your 4th week of the first semester not two such as the ADN. With a BSN that extra year of clinical focuses on public health (ie-school nursing, public health dept nurses, etc) and research. If you for sure don't want to move up into management and have the option to get into Public Health an ADN program is great, one year less, and cheaper to go to community college (the problem there is how long it will take to get into the program due to long waiting lists). Also, in CA the ADN program ONLY takes four semesters, no more!!! I haven't met one person that ever went through the nursing program part time, we all worked and went to school full-time. Once you pass your boards nobody looks at the degree you received, all that matters is the LVN or RN title at the end of your name. I would be very weary of the private schools that offer "nursing". Nurses are LVNs/LPNs and RNs, not medical assistants and CNAs. Check with the board of registered nurses website for the state that you live in to find accredited schools because if you don't graduate from an accredited school then you cannot take the boards. Community colleges, State colleges and universities should all be accredited by the Board, but I seriously would look really hard at these private colleges and not trust going there too much. As long as you do well in your pre-reqs and meet all requirements you should find a program that accepts you. GoodLuck!!!!