Nursing and Pre-Nursing

Two Primary Pathways

Nursing is a rewarding field with many job opportunities. Vol State has two primary pathways available to students:

  • Pre-Nursing classes that prepare students to apply for the Vol State RN A.A.S. Nursing Program.
  • Pre-Nursing classes to prepare students for transfer to a four-year nursing program. This includes partnership programs with specific universities in the area and a general pathway that can prepare students for many university programs. Students can earn an A.S. degree for this path. 

An A.S. (Associate of Science) degree is designed for university transfer and an A.A.S. (Associate of Applied Science) degree is designed for direct entry into a career.

Nursing students at VS It is important that students identify their pathway early in their college career, preferably in the first or second semester. That will help us advise the student on which classes to take. Our goal is to let students know exactly which classes they need to take for their chosen pathway.

You will notice that both of these major pathways start with the Pre-Nursing A.S. Program in the Math and Science Division. Most students will need this preparation. However, a student may already have completed the pre-requisite courses needed to apply for the Vol State A.A.S. Nursing Program. If so, they should go directly to the Vol State Nursing A.A.S web page linked below.

Students who do need preparatory classes, and are interested in the Vol State Nursing A.A.S., should view the Pre-Nursing and Vol State Nursing web pages, as they will need information from both. Students interested in university transfer only need to view the Pre-Nursing web page.

Pre-Nursing A.S.

Vol State Nursing A.A.S.