May 9, 2018 | UHCL Staff
After working as a paramedic and firefighter, University of Houston-Clear Lake graduate
Caidin Pierce decided it was time for a career change to pursue his goal of becoming
a nurse.
He enrolled at Lee College and was caught in what felt like a quagmire of prerequisite
courses that he had to take before getting into a nursing program. Nursing programs
can be highly competitive, and each program often has different prerequisites. Traditional
programs have sixty hours of prerequisite classes, like English, algebra, government
and other “general education” courses. Pierce ultimately received his RN from San
Jacinto College and began working full-time, but wanted an easier path to get his
bachelor’s degree. He found it at UH-Clear Lake.
“I really wanted to work toward my BSN, but I didn’t want to deal with any more prerequisites.
I felt like I did enough of those,” he said. “(UHCL Nursing Program Director and Assistant
Professor of Nursing) Karen Alexander came from the San Jacinto program to UHCL, and
I didn’t plan to come here but Dr. Alexander showed me the curriculum, assured me
there would be no more time wasted doing prerequisites, and I could start right in
the RN-to-BSN program at UHCL Pearland Campus.”
Alexander said one of the main advantages of UHCL’s nursing program was its seamless
path from community college nursing programs to the BSN.
“We are one of the few schools to require only an associate’s degree or a diploma
in nursing, and an RN license by the first day of class,” Alexander said. “There are
no other prerequisites needed to gain admission to UHCL’s nursing program. The program
is 30 credit hours and any other needed credits can be taken concurrently. At UHCL,
the path is clear toward the BSN.”
For Pierce, getting directly into the program was the key. “The curriculum at UHCL
was good and the program seemed reasonable for a working nurse,” he said. “I got started
immediately in the program and I didn’t have to do any more prerequisites.”
Jumping right in was just one of many benefits Pierce discovered in UHCL’s RN-to-BSN
program. “Nurses usually work 12-hour shifts,” he said. “You can go to class once
or twice a week, depending on where you are in your life or with your job. You can
go full-time or part-time, whatever works for you.”
He added that it was possible to change his status along the way; he could go full-time
one semester, part-time the next, and back to full-time again if he wished, which
gave him flexibility to lighten his course load to welcome his first child in 2016.
“This program let me decide the sequence of the courses I want to take,” he explained.
“I can put off a class or take it as I see fit. Sometimes because of work or family
responsibilities, I need to choose easier courses, and save the more difficult ones
for when I am able. So if you need to pair a hard course with an easier course so
you can keep your work-family-life balance, it’s within your autonomy to do that in
this program.”
Pierce made his goal a reality when he graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Nursing
in December 2017.
“The reason I was successful at UHCL was that this program offered a completely feasible
way to achieve the degree in terms of work-family-life balance,” he said.
Summer courses are now available for UHCL’s RN-to-BSN program. Students interested
in admissions, courses and program requirements can attend monthly info sessions at
UHCL Pearland Campus. For more information, visit www.uhcl.edu/academics/degrees/rn-nursing-bsn.
