If you choose to undertake an associate's degree program, you'll skip over many of the academic prerequisites involved in a BSN and enroll in more vocationally focused classes including health assessment, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, nutrition and nursing fundamentals. Many courses will combine classroom experience with clinical experience.
Admission to BSN programs is highly competitive. Many potential nurses declare a pre-nursing major and enroll in the necessary prerequisite classes before entering the nursing major. These prerequisite classes include anatomy and physiology, chemistry, introductory psychology and sociology, human development and statistics. Your grades in these classes will help determine whether or not you are admitted into the BSN program.
A course in health assessment will be one of your first classes once you are admitted into the major. You'll also enroll in classes covering topics such as pharmacology, pathophysiology, scientific research in nursing, nutrition and mental-health nursing. In your fourth or fifth semester you will begin spending about 16 hours a week getting hands-on experience in a hospital or other clinical setting.