credentialing and licensing associations to provide skilled servicemembers with more employment opportunities when they return.”
Mind Your Prerequisites
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Photo courtesy of U.S. Army. www.army.mil. 5/12 In New York State, DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management operate as DeVry College of New York. DeVry University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, www.ncahlc.org. Keller Graduate School of Management is included in this accreditation. DeVry University operates as DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary, Alberta. DeVry is certified to operate by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. DeVry University is authorized for operation by the THEC. www.state.tn.us/thec. Nashville Campus – 3343 Perimeter Hill Dr., Nashville, TN 37211. Licensed by the Mississippi Commission on Proprietary School and College Registration, Certification No. C-498. AC0060. Program availability varies by location. ©2012 DeVry Educational Development Corp. All rights reserved.
14 | MAE 7.10
Perhaps, though, some of the most important steps to ultimate success need to be taken before the soldier returns. Iowa’s Frantz mentioned prerequisites, and they are crucial. “A bachelor’s degree in nursing typically takes four years to complete,” she said. “The first two years are devoted to prerequisite courses in the biological and social sciences, as well as liberal arts courses, and the last two years focus on the didactic and clinical courses in nursing.” Unfortunately, even veterans who take college classes during their service time might not concentrate their efforts on a particular educational track—or the correct track. The end result can be a hodgepodge of coursework that doesn’t get them very far toward an actual degree. “Strategic counseling while still in the military can help direct future students to purposeful credits,” Forgione said. That type of counseling can make a decisive difference because at schools such as Central Florida, all prerequisites and general education courses must be completed before one can be admitted into the nursing program, which is already an admittedly competitive field. In fact, Leuner sees two to three times the number of applicants than can be accepted each term. Still, well-prepared veterans and military personnel will discover that they have certain advantages. “Our College of Nursing reserves five seats per semester for military students pursuing officer candidacy through the Medical Enlisted Commissioning Program [MECP],” Leuner said. “This means current enlisted students and ROTC students at UCF will only compete against each other for those five seats, and not against the entire pool of applicants [which can be around 500 to 600 people for the largest admission cycle]. If these military students are naturally competitive in the top 115 seats, they will earn the seat on their own and do not compete for one of the five reserved seats, allowing more than five military applicants to be accepted. All MECP applicants must meet the minimum standards for admission, including a slightly higher overall GPA [3.2 instead of 3.0], but in turn are not required to compete against all applicants.” Whether nursing hopefuls are accepted at UCF, Texas A&M, Iowa, or another institution, once the more medically focused part of the program begins, students should be prepared for a rather heavy academic workload. They’ll typically “take courses that prepare them for both acute care (hospital-based) and community-based care (clinics, schools, public health),” Frantz said. “Course content covers nursing care of patients with medical and surgical problems, maternity nursing, pediatrics, mental health nursing and community nursing.” And that’s just half of the commitment. Most likely, students will “be in the classroom about two and a half days per week,” Leuner said, “and then in a clinical setting caring for clients the other two days.” The schedule may be challenging, but that difficulty is an essential element of the overall education, since a bachelor’s degree prepares graduates to function in a full professional capacity—not just as a technician—and to assume some beginning leadership positions in a career field that is primed for, and quite frankly needs, an influx of new leaders. O For more information, contact MAE Editor Laural Hobbes at laural@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mae-kmi.com.
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