Program Overview
The Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) Degree Program provides the student with the knowledge and skills essential for entry into nursing practice and success on the NCLEX-RN examination. As an entry level nurse, the graduate is prepared to provide safe and effective care that promotes the health and well-being of patients and families, across the life span in contemporary health care environments. This nursing care is given in collaboration with members of the healthcare team in a variety of settings according to established standards of practice. Graduates of the ASN program have acquired the foundation for nursing education and continued professional development.
Accreditations and Approvals
The ASN Program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. (ACEN). Contact information:
- Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. (ACEN)
3343 Peachtree Road, Suite 850
Atlanta, Georgia 30326
1.404.975.5000
The ASN Program is approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing (BORN). Contact information:
- Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing (BORN)
239 Causeway Street, 5th Floor, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02114
1.800.414.0168
ASN Admissions Requirements
The Pre-Licensure Associates of Science in nursing program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) and approved Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing (BORN).
Academic Requirements:
- Applicants are required to provide satisfactory evidence of secondary school graduation (official high school transcript), or its equivalent (official GED or HiSET with scores included).
- G.P.A of 2.5 or better.
- It is required that science courses be completed within five years prior to admission with a grade of C or better.
- Complete a three-credit college course in College Algebra or Statistics within five years with a grade of C or better.
- Algebra I, II and Geometry are required for freshman applicants.
- The ATI Test of Academic Skills (TEAS) is required for all ASN applicants, earning a proficient score. Only two attempts to achieve the minimum benchmark score will be allowed within a calendar year. The School of Nursing accepts original TEAS documents only. **Please note due to the temporary disruption of COVID-19 and closure of testing sites, the Nursing Department will offer the TEAS exam one day per month. Please contact the Admissions Office or Nursing Department to obtain the dates.
All of the additional Nursing Requirements
FAQ’s for the Nursing Programs
ASN Program Curriculum
The ASN curriculum is built upon a foundation that incorporates the College’s mission and vision, professional nursing standards and guidelines, and the nursing faculty’s experiences and beliefs concerning person, health, environment, nursing, and nursing education. The primary goal of the ASN program is to educate nurses for safe practice in contemporary health care environments. This goal is met through fostering a student centered learning environment to promote the student learning and program outcomes. The student to faculty ratios for didactic, clinical, and lab are as follows:
Didactic: 35 students: 1 faculty
Clinical: 8 students: 1 faculty
Lab: 10 students: 1 faculty
ASN Student Learning Outcomes and Role Competencies at Graduation
- Provide holistic care that recognizes an individual’s preferences, values, and needs and respects the patient or designee as a full partner in providing compassionate, coordinated, age and culturally appropriate, safe and effective care. (Patient-Centered Care)
- Demonstrate professional nursing behaviors aligned with accountability for the delivery of standard-based nursing care that is consistent with moral, altruistic, legal, ethical, regulatory, and humanistic principles. (Professionalism)
- Use leadership principles to Influence the behavior of individuals or groups of individuals within their environment in a way that will facilitate the establishment and acquisition/achievement of shared goals. (Leadership)
- Demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context of the health care system, and demonstrate the ability to effectively call on work unit resources to provide care that is of optimal quality and value. (Systems-Based Practice)
- Use advanced technology, analyze as well as synthesize information, and collaborate in order to make critical decisions that optimize patient outcomes. (Informatics and Technology)
- Employ effective communication strategies with patients, families, and colleagues, fostering mutual respect and shared decision making, to enhance patient satisfaction and health outcomes. (Communication)
- Function effectively within nursing and interdisciplinary teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, shared decision making, team learning, and development. (Teamwork and Collaboration)
- Demonstrate an ability to minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance. (Safety)
- Apply data to monitor the outcomes of care processes, and use improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of health care systems. (Quality Improvement)
- Identify, evaluate, and use the best current evidence coupled with clinical expertise and consideration of patients’ preferences, experience and values to make practice decisions. (Evidence-Based Practice)
ASN Day Program
Freshman Year (Semester I & Semester II)
Fall Semester
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Managing Change | CORE1001 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Introduction to Psychology | PSYC1001 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Essentials of Health Assessment and Promotion | NURS1103 | 3 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 22.5 hours lab (1:3) |
Fundamentals of Nursing | NURS1104 | 4 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 19.5 hours lab (1:3) 48 hours clinical (1:3) |
Anatomy & Physiology I | BIOL2503 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Spring Semester
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Nursing II | NURS1105 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab (1:3) 195 hours clinical (1:3) |
Human Growth and Development | PSYC1107 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Anatomy & Physiology II | BIOL2504 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Credits Total: 34
Sophmore Year (Semester III & Semester IV)
Fall Semester
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
CORE ENGL Composition and the Agile Mindset | CORE-ENGL | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Nursing III | NURS2201 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 18 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Microbiology | BIOL2502 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Spring Semester
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Writing about Literature | ENGL1003 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Statistics | MATH2200 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Nursing IV | NURS2202 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 9 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Seminar in Nursing | NURS2205 | 2 30 hours didactic (1:1) |
Credits Total: 35
ASN Evening Weekend Program
Freshman Year
Semester I
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Managing Change | CORE1500 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Introduction to Psychology | PSYC1001 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Essentials of Health Assessment and Promotion | NURS1103 | 3 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 22.5 hours lab (1:3) |
Fundamentals of Nursing | NURS1104 | 4 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 19.5 hours lab (1:3) 48 hours clinical (1:3) |
Anatomy & Physiology I | BIOL2503 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Semester II
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Nursing II | NURS1105 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab (1:3) 195 hours clinical (1:3) |
Human Growth and Development | PSYC1107 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Anatomy & Physiology II | BIOL2504 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Credits Total: 34
Sophmore Year
Semester III
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
CORE ENGL Composition and the Agile Mindset | CORE-ENGL | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Nursing III | NURS2201 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 18 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Microbiology | BIOL2502 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Total Credits- 7 |
Semester IV
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Writing about Literature | ENGL1003 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Statistics | MATH2200 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Nursing IV | NURS2202 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 9 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Seminar in Nursing | NURS2205 | 2 30 hours didactic (1:1) |
Credits Total: 35 |
Credits Total: 35
ASN Day and Evening Weekend LPN Advanced Placement Options
The Nursing Department offers three LPN Advanced Placement options for Licensed Practical Nurses.
Licensed Practical Nurses will be considered for advanced placement in the undergraduate Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) degree program provided they:
- Complete the application process through the Office of Admissions.
- Hold an unencumbered Massachusetts license as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).
- Have graduated from another regionally accredited, post-secondary institution, pre-licensure program recognized by the Department of Higher Education and fully approved by the Board of Nursing.
- Complete the ATI Test of Academic Skills (TEAS) exam earning a proficient score.
Option 1: Pre-admission standardized tests are required for the program. Admission is competitive, the scores listed below are the minimum scores considered.
- The ASN program requires an overall score of 75% on the Nursing Acceleration Challenge Exam ACE (NACE) I PN-RN: Foundations of Nursing Test. Only two attempts to achieve the minimum benchmark scores will be allowed within a calendar year. More information regarding the NACE exam can be found at https://www.mometrix.com/academy/nursing-ace-practice-test/.
- The ASN program requires an overall score of Proficiency Level II on the Assessment Technology Institute (ATI) Adult Medical Surgical Proctored Exam. Only two attempts to achieve the minimum benchmark scores will be allowed within a calendar year. More information regarding the ATI Adult Medical Surgical Proctored Exam can be found at www.atitesting.com.
After completing the above requirements, the student would transfer into NURS 2201 Nursing III.
Option 2: A pre-admission standardized test is required for the program. Admission is competitive, the scores listed below are the minimum scores considered.
- The ASN program requires an overall score of 75% on the Nursing Acceleration Challenge Exam ACE (NACE) I PN-RN: Foundations of Nursing Test. Only two attempts to achieve the minimum benchmark scores will be allowed within a calendar year. More information regarding the NACE exam can be found at https://www.mometrix.com/academy/nursing-ace-practice-test/.
After completing the above requirements, the student would transfer into NURS 1105 Nursing II.
Option 3: A pre-admission standardized test is required for the program. Admission is competitive, the scores listed below are the minimum scores considered.
- Complete the ATI Test of Academic Skills (TEAS) exam earning a proficient score. Only two attempts to achieve the minimum benchmark scores will be allowed within a calendar year. The school of nursing accepts original TEAS documents only.
Candidates determined eligible for option 3 are required to take all nursing courses as detailed in the Becker College’s School of Nursing Associate Degree Curriculum.
ASN Part-Time Evening Weekend Option
Fall
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Writing about Literature | ENGL1003 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Managing Change | CORE1500 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Anatomy & Physiology I | BIOL2503 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Credits Total: 10
Spring
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Introduction to Psychology | PSYC1001 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Anatomy & Physiology II | BIOL2504 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Credits Total: 7
Summer
Course Name | Number | Credit |
---|---|---|
Statistics | NURS2200 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Microbiology | BIOL2502 | 4 45 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab |
Credits Total: 7
Fall
Course Name | Number | Credit |
---|---|---|
Essentials of Health Assessment and Promotion | NURS1103 | 3 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 22.5 hours lab (1:3) |
Fundamentals of Nursing | NURS1104 | 4 37.5 hours didactic (1:1) 19.5 hours lab (1:3) 48 hours clinical (1:3) |
Credits Total: 7
Spring
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Nursing II | NURS1105 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 30 hours lab (1:3) 195 hours clinical (1:3) |
Credits Total: 10
Summer
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Human Growth and Development | PSYC1107 | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
CORE ENGL Composition and the Agile Mindset | CORE-ENGL | 3 45 hours didactic (1:1) |
Credits Total: 6
Fall
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Nursing III | NURS2201 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 45 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Credits Total: 10
Spring
Course Name | Number | Credits |
---|---|---|
Nursing IV | NURS2202 | 10 75 hours didactic (1:1) 45 hours lab (1:3) 180 hours clinical (1:3) |
Seminar in Nursing | NURS2205 | 2 30 hours didactic (1:1) Total Credits- 12 |