The Associate in Applied Science Degree in Health Technology with a major in Nursing is designed to prepare selected students to qualify as contributing members of the health team, rendering direct patient care as beginning practitioners of nursing in a variety of health service facilities. Graduates will be eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination leading to licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN). The Nursing program is accredited by the State Board of Nursing and by the National League for Nursing.

The nursing law of Virginia addresses criteria for application for licensure. The Virginia State Board of Nursing has the power to deny opportunity to procure a license through testing if the applicant has willfully committed a felony/misdemeanor under laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia or of the United States.

General Admission Requirements

To receive consideration for admission to the nursing curriculum, applicants must have earned a high school diploma or the equivalent, completed the general college admissions process, attended a nursing information session, and attained a 50% score on the math and reading comprehension portions of the NET test. Registration for the information session and the NET test are arranged through the Counseling Center. In addition, the following high school-level courses or college equivalents are required:

• 2 units of science (with a minimum grade of "C")
  1 biology course with laboratory
  1 chemistry course with laboratory
  (Students who have not met the science requirements prior to enrolling in classes at BRCC must successfully complete science requirements before enrolling in the NAS sequence)
• 1 unit of mathematics (with a minimum grade of "C")
  algebra course

Deficiencies may be corrected through appropriate courses at BRCC. A "C" average in academic work is considered minimum for selection to the clinical portion of the nursing curriculum. When appropriate, the academic courses may be taken out of sequence. It is strongly recommended that students complete as many academic courses as possible prior to beginning clinical nursing courses. Nursing faculty serve as academic advisors to those students who have taken placement tests, whose transcripts are on file in the Admissions and Records Office, and who have been placed in the nursing curriculum by a BRCC counselor.

Admission to the Clinical Component

Students must apply for admission to the clinical portion of the Nursing program. Applications for the clinical portion of the Nursing program must be completed in the calendar year in which students expect to begin the clinical phase. Clinical work begins in May for the LPN to RN group and consists of a total of three semesters. Clinical work for traditional students begins in August and includes a total of five semesters of clinical experience.

The application process includes receipt of a Nursing program application form, official transcripts of all secondary and post-secondary courses attempted or completed (including LPN transcripts for students who completed LPN training), personal/professional recommendations, appropriate scores on tests, and an interview with the Nursing Curriculum Admission Committee (consisting of one or more Nursing faculty). The committee notifies students of their status in late March. Since the number of applicants generally exceeds the enrollment space available in the clinical program, some applicants may not be accepted even if they meet the minimum requirements for admission.

Throughout the academic and clinical portions of the curriculum, the Nursing faculty will carefully observe and evaluate students' suitability for nursing. Students will be expected to display personal qualities of maturity, integrity, and potential for successful performance in the program and profession. If, in the professional opinion of the Nursing faculty, a student does not exhibit appropriate demeanor, that student may be asked to withdraw from the nursing curriculum.

Any student who receives a final grade lower than 80% in any of the courses in the clinical nursing sequence may not continue the major. The student must reapply to the program and, if accepted, repeat the course and earn a final grade of 80% or higher before taking the next course in the sequence. In order to graduate, students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0.

Program Options

The Nursing Program at BRCC offers three options for the potential student:

Option 1 - The Nursing Department offers an opportunity for recent high school graduates and other eligible adults to complete the Nursing degree program in two years of full-time attendance (five semesters including summer). This is a rigorous and academically challenging program for a limited number of students each year.

The following prerequisites must be completed for application consideration:

1. Application for admission
2. High school credit in biology, chemistry, algebra (with a minimum grades of C in each. Applicants with AP classes, more than one year of a subject, or higher grades will be given priority).
3. SAT scores of 530 or higher - Verbal; 520 or higher - Math OR BRCC Placement Test scores of 91+ for Reading, 81+ for sentences skills, 53+ for arithmetic, and 51+ for algebra.
4. High School transcript required. Current high school students must submit a transcript (A final transcript is required in June for high school candidates with tentative acceptance.)
5. NET test - Nursing Entrance Test taken at BRCC ($15.00 fee). A minimum score of 50 is required.
6. Two reference letters from either teachers or employers, or one letter and evaluation of volunteer work in a hospital over at least one summer.

For those students who need some prerequisites, and/or must work and wish to attend part-time. This option can take three years or longer because the student may wish to take only one pre-clinical class per semester.

For those students who are LPN's, need some prerequisites, and/or work and wish to attend part-time. This option can take two years or longer.

All of these options are fully explained in regularly scheduled Nursing Information Sessions conducted by the BRCC Counseling Center. Please see the Quick Reference Guide in the front of this Catalog and Student Handbook for the telephone number to set up an appointment for a Nursing Information Session.