A Pre-Health Advisor’s Guide to Nursing Prerequisites: What to Tell Your Students- a practical reference for advisors: the prerequisites pre-nursing students actually need, the questions they bring to your office, and the verified facts you can repeat with confidence.
Audience: Pre-health and academic advisors guiding pre-nursing students • Last verified May 2026 • Pairs with the Pre-Health Advisor Toolkit
| The short version for advisorsPre-nursing students typically need a core of science prerequisites — anatomy and physiology I and II with lab, microbiology with lab, and often chemistry — plus general education in English composition, psychology, sociology, statistics, and communication. Requirements vary by program and degree level (ADN, BSN, ABSN), most programs require a B in sciences and a C in non-sciences, and most apply a 5-to-7-year recency window to the sciences. The recurring student problem you will see is a gap or an expired prerequisite. This guide gives you the facts to advise on that gap accurately, and a credible referral resource for students who need to complete coursework outside your institution’s schedule. |
If you advise pre-nursing students, you already know the conversation: a motivated student has decided on nursing, but their transcript has a hole in it — a missing anatomy and physiology sequence, an expired microbiology, a chemistry course they never took because it wasn’t required for their first major. Your job is to help them see the gap clearly and chart a realistic path to close it.
This guide is written for you, not for the student. It lays out what pre-nursing students need, the questions they will bring you, and the verified accreditation facts you can state without hedging. Where PrereqCourses.com is a useful referral for a student who cannot fit a prerequisite into your institution’s calendar, we explain exactly when and why — and, just as importantly, when a community college or four-year institution is the better referral instead. For background on the profession, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the National League for Nursing (NLN) are useful references.
Nursing prerequisites cluster into two groups. Advising well means knowing which group a student’s gap falls into, because the two behave very differently on recency, lab requirements, and where they can be completed.
These carry lab components, tight recency windows, and the higher grade thresholds. They are the prerequisites students most often need to complete or refresh, and the ones most sensitive to where and how they are taken:
These rarely carry recency windows, almost never carry labs, and transfer cleanly from any regionally accredited institution:
For a fuller map of the gen-ed group, the nursing prerequisites overview breaks these down course by course.
| The advising shortcutWhen a student presents a gap, first sort it: science or gen-ed? Science gaps are constrained by labs, recency (commonly 5–7 years), and a B-grade floor, and the program may scrutinize where they were taken. Gen-ed gaps are flexible and transfer cleanly from any regionally accredited institution. This single sort tells you most of what the student needs to hear. |
Three science requirements generate the bulk of advising questions, and knowing their specific quirks lets you give precise guidance rather than generalities.
This is the single most consequential nursing prerequisite. It is almost universally required as a two-semester sequence with lab, it is the science most likely to be scrutinized for recency, and it is the course where a weak grade does the most damage to a competitive application. Two practical advising points: first, the two semesters must usually be taken in sequence and both with lab, so a student who completed only A&P I has not made meaningful progress toward the requirement. Second, because A&P is content-heavy and recency-sensitive, a student whose A&P is older than the program’s window almost always needs to retake the full sequence, not just refresh one semester.
Required by nearly all programs and, like A&P, carrying a lab and a recency window. The common advising surprise is that some students assume a general biology course satisfies microbiology — it does not. Microbiology is a distinct requirement, and a student who took only general biology still has a microbiology gap. When a student is missing both A&P and microbiology, sequencing matters: many find it manageable to complete one fully before starting the other rather than carrying two lab sciences simultaneously alongside work.
Chemistry requirements vary the most across programs. BSN and ABSN programs frequently require it; some ADN programs do not. The form varies too — general chemistry, an introductory chemistry course, or a survey/biochemistry hybrid. The advising move here is to check each target program individually, because a student who needs chemistry for one school may not need it for another, and that single fact can reshape which programs they prioritize.
| A sequencing tip worth giving studentsStudents working full-time should rarely attempt two lab sciences in the same term. Help them stage the science prerequisites — A&P I, then A&P II, then microbiology, with chemistry slotted where the target programs require it. A self-paced provider makes this staging easier, because the student is not locked to a fixed term calendar and can start the next science the moment the prior one is done. |
Students often arrive without knowing that “nursing prerequisites” means different things for different program types. A quick orientation you can give them:
| Program type | Typical prerequisite emphasis | Common student profile |
|---|---|---|
| ADN (associate) | Core sciences + limited gen-ed | Cost-conscious; community-college route |
| BSN (traditional) | Sciences + broader gen-ed (psych, soc, stats, comp) | Direct-entry undergraduate |
| ABSN (accelerated) | Heavy science core; gen-ed often via prior degree | Career-changer with a bachelor’s degree |
The accelerated (ABSN) student is the one most likely to need a fast, flexible way to complete a missing science prerequisite, because their prior degree already cleared most gen-eds and they are usually working against a compressed timeline to a cohort start date. Worth flagging to these students specifically: ABSN cohorts often start at fixed points in the year and fill quickly, so a single missing prerequisite can cost a student an entire cohort cycle if it is not completed in time. That stakes-per-course reality is exactly why the accelerated applicant benefits most from a self-paced path that does not wait for the next academic term to begin.
“Can I take this online?”
Yes, in almost all cases, provided the provider is regionally accredited. All 50 state nursing boards accept online prerequisites from regionally accredited institutions; boards regulate nursing degree programs and licensure, not the delivery method of prerequisite coursework. The University of Maryland School of Nursing, for example, accepts prerequisites from regionally accredited institutions outright. The advisor’s caveat: a minority of programs still prefer in-person labs, so the student should confirm lab acceptance with each target program.
“Will my old course still count?”
Often not, for sciences. Most programs apply a 5-to-7-year recency window to science prerequisites — CSU Fullerton, for instance, enforces a 5-year window on its four science prerequisites. Gen-ed courses usually have no recency limit, and a few programs (San Diego State) apply no science recency policy at all. The honest answer is always “it depends on the program — let’s check each one,” but the default assumption for a science course older than seven years should be that it needs refreshing.
“What grade do I need?”
Generally a B or higher in sciences and a C or higher in non-sciences — CSU Fullerton is explicit about exactly that split. Because the science grade also drives competitive admission, advise students to treat a B as a floor, not a target, in A&P and microbiology especially.
“Where should I take it?”
This is where your referral matters most. A student who can fit the course into your institution’s schedule should usually take it there. A student who cannot — because of timing, a closed section, or an expired prerequisite that needs refreshing before a cohort deadline — needs a regionally accredited alternative that is self-paced. That is the specific gap a resource like PrereqCourses fills, and the next section explains how to evaluate it.
Once the gap is sorted and the referral path is clear, the most valuable thing you can do is help the student work backward from a cohort start date to a realistic completion plan. A simple framework you can walk through in the appointment:
The payoff of this exercise is that the student leaves your office with a plan rather than a worry — and a clear sense of which prerequisites to complete where. That clarity is the core value of pre-health advising, and it is also what makes any referral you give land as part of a considered plan rather than a sales pitch.
Advisors are rightly cautious about recommending any outside provider, because the liability is real: if the credit does not transfer, the student loses time and money and the advice reflects on you. The single fact that resolves most of that caution is regional accreditation. Nursing programs that accept transfer prerequisites require them from regionally accredited institutions — the recognized regional accreditors are HLC, MSCHE, NECHE, SACSCOC, and WASC. National accreditation alone is generally not sufficient.
PrereqCourses.com coursework is delivered through Upper Iowa University, a nonprofit founded in 1857 that is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) — one of the five recognized regional accreditors. Credit is granted by UIU and appears on an official university transcript, which is what allows a target nursing program to evaluate it like any other regionally accredited transfer credit. These are facts you can state to a student plainly: the provider is regionally accredited by HLC, the credit posts to a real university transcript, and it is evaluated under the same transfer rules as any other regionally accredited coursework.
| Verified facts for your advising toolkit• Recognized regional accreditors: HLC, MSCHE, NECHE, SACSCOC, WASC.• PrereqCourses credit is granted by Upper Iowa University, HLC-accredited.• All 50 state boards accept online prerequisites from regionally accredited institutions.• The student should still confirm lab acceptance and recency with each target program in writing. |
Honest disclosure is what makes a referral trustworthy. Here is the straightforward decision rule you can apply in the advising appointment:
Refer to a self-paced online provider when:
Refer to a community college or four-year institution instead when:
This is the same standard PrereqCourses applies to its own content: it is a strong fit for foundational and gen-ed prerequisites completed flexibly online, and it says so plainly where it is not the right tool. That candor is exactly what makes it a referral you can put your name behind. The nursing prerequisites overview is a useful page to share with a student after the appointment.
Even with the accreditation facts in hand, advisors sometimes meet resistance — from a cautious colleague, a parent, or the student’s own uncertainty — about whether online prerequisites are “real.” Three responses, grounded in fact, defuse most of it:
Naming these objections proactively in the advising appointment tends to resolve them faster than waiting for the student to raise them later, half-formed, after a relative has planted a doubt.
If you decide a self-paced online provider is the right path for a student, a strong referral is more than a URL. It is a short, repeatable script that sets the student up to verify and enroll correctly:
This is the workflow the PrereqCourses Pre-Health Advisor Toolkit is built to support — it gives you the referral language and the verification checklist in a form you can hand directly to a student. The companion articles in this advisor series cover the career-changer profile, the online-acceptance verification question, and the mechanics of building a repeatable referral workflow across your whole caseload.
Which prerequisites do students most often need to complete late?
Anatomy & physiology and microbiology are the most common gaps, followed by chemistry for BSN/ABSN applicants. Among gen-eds, statistics and a specifically-developmental psychology course are frequent surprises.
How do I verify a program accepts an online prerequisite?
Direct the student to the program’s prerequisite or transfer page, look for language about regionally accredited institutions and online/lab acceptance, and where it is unclear, have the student request a prerequisite course evaluation from the program’s admissions office before enrolling. Many programs (e.g., University of Maryland) offer exactly this.
Is national accreditation good enough?
Generally no. Most nursing programs require regional accreditation (HLC, MSCHE, NECHE, SACSCOC, WASC). Advise students to confirm the provider is regionally accredited before paying for any course.
What recency window should I assume for sciences?
Default to 5–7 years for science prerequisites unless the program states otherwise. Some programs are stricter (5 years), a few have none. Gen-eds usually have no recency limit.
Does an online lab hurt a student’s application?
At programs that accept online labs, no — it posts as the same transcript line as any other lab credit. The risk is applying to a program that requires in-person labs with an online lab, which is avoidable by confirming each program’s policy.
Most pre-nursing advising comes down to one move: sort the student’s gap into science or gen-ed, then match it to a path that fits their timeline and their target programs’ rules.
For students who cannot fit a foundational or gen-ed prerequisite into your institution’s schedule, a regionally accredited, self-paced provider is a legitimate referral. PrereqCourses delivers through HLC-accredited Upper Iowa University, posts credit to an official transcript, and discloses plainly where in-person or upper-division coursework is the better route. That candor is what makes it safe to recommend. Resource to share: the nursing prerequisites overview.
The rest of this advisor series:
Program-specific requirements change yearly. Always have students verify recency, grade, lab, and accreditation rules against each target program’s current admissions page before enrolling. This guide is general information for advisors and is not a guarantee of credit transfer or admission.
