Bergen Community College Nursing Program Review
Bergen Community College (BCC) was founded in 1965 following the need of quality and affordable higher education in Bergen County. The college offers transfer programs, career-entry training and lifelong learning opportunities to the community around it. It has three campuses: Lyndhurst, Hackensack and Paramus the main campus. Through these campuses, about 17,000 students take 2-year degrees and an additional 15,000 are enrolled in non- credit courses, adult education and continuing education.
The Nursing Program at Bergen Community College
Bergen Community College has one nursing program to offer to qualified candidates. The program; an associate of applied science is meant to prepare students to become registered nurses. The program is fully accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and approved by the New Jersey Board of Nursing. Students of BCC nursing program can also take the advantage of the Kean’s University nursing education partnership as will be explained.
Associate of Applied science (AAS)
This degree program has a curriculum designed to prepare qualified candidates to take the NCLEX-RN exam to become registered nurses. It is an occupation-based program, hence not suitable for students wishing to transfer to other four-year universities but those who want to get into employment fast. The program’s curriculum is offered on two options: day and evening.
Students interested in the day options must place their applications before February 1st for classes commencing fall semester. On the other hand, the evening program accepts students who wish to start on the spring semester hence, applications must be received in BCC by October 1st. Applicants for the evening option must have completed all the general courses to be allowed to apply while day students may start on general courses after admission.
Both options take 2 years to complete and the only difference is that while day students take the usual 4 semesters, evening students take 8 semesters of year-round learning which includes summer and winter sessions. A total of 69 credits are required to be eligible for graduation: 36 general education and 33 nursing credits. After completing the coursework, students may apply for the NCLEX-RN exam to become registered nurses.
ADN/ BSN Partnership
Bergen Community College has partnered with Kean University to offer the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) and Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) nursing education completion. This partnership enables students at Bergen to enroll and take courses for the Kean University BSN degree while still at Bergen. Students interested in this program must apply and be accepted at Kean to allow them to take upper division nursing courses of the University.
ADN students at Bergen enroll for all upper division non-clinical courses which are taken at the Lyndhurst campus on Mondays and Wednesdays. Only a few exceptions can be taken at Paramus campus. These courses are taken concurrently with those of the ADN curriculum at Bergen and some are offered during summer sessions.
By the time students finish their Associate degree requirements at Bergen, they usually have 88 credits; all of which are transferred to Kean University BSN program. It is not mandatory for students to apply for licensure after completing the Bergen coursework to start on the upper division clinical coursework at Kean University. Generally, the remaining courses can be completed in 12 months of full time study. Busy students can opt for the more flexible part time that takes 2-4 years.
Contact:
Bergen Community College
400 Paramus Road, Paramus,
NJ 07652
