1. Welcome to Academic Advising Tutorial-- Open College Nursing
Middlesex County College
Academic Advising Center
Chambers Hall 109

2. Overview
Students interested in Open College Nursing have grown in great numbers over the last several years.
Because of the growth of this major, several faculty members find themselves as OCNUR advisors. Hopefully, this tutorial will provide assistance in your advising.
This is a very competitive program with a limited number of seats for many, many applicants. For example, there were over 850 applicants for 70 seats in Fall 2007.

3. OCNUR and Financial Aid
Students in OCNUR who are interested in obtaining financial aid need to choose or “hide behind” another major. Federal standards do not permit students enrolled in any type of OC program to receive financial aid. This other major also works as “fall-back” position in the event they are not accepted into the program. Therefore, advisors who have OCNUR as an advising field may find their advisee(s) enrolled in a different major in the SASM screen of Colleague.
Many students have decided to change their majors to LAGEN while still following the requirements of Open College Nursing.

4. Requirements I
Open College Nursing students must have completed any developmental RDG, ENG, MAT courses indicated by the College Placement Test.
Open College Nursing students must also have earned at least a “C” in high school lab biology and high school lab chemistry.
Students without these lab science grades must complete BIO 010 and/or CHM 01O with a grade of “C” or better.
These requirements must be completed prior to the Spring semester of the year for which they are applying for Fall admission.

5. Requirements II
Students who have successfully completed the previous requirements must apply for the Nursing program no later than January 15 for the Fall semester.
Students must also take the competitive admission test offered several times in December and January.
Students will receive news (Admitted, Denied Admission, Waiting List) in mid-April.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have been permanently domiciled in the state of New Jersey for at least one year prior to the start of classes.

6. How to Find the Exact Biology and Chemistry Lab Grade for your OCNUR advisee
Colleague has the NCWS screen which allows the advisor to determine if the BIO and/or CHM 010 is higher than a “C.”
The following link will take you to a page in the Advisors’ Manual which will help you interpret the NCWS screen in Colleague (Look at the 4th link).
Finding the exact High School lab science grades
Students with a grade of “C” in either high school lab biology or chemistry should consider taking the BIO 010 and/or CHM 010 to improve their chances.

7. Required Social Science and Humanities Courses
The new partnership with the Raritan Bay Medical Center requires the following social science and humanities courses:
PSY 123
PSY 232
SPE 121
COM 115