Program Overview

Are you passionate about making a difference in people's lives? The Laredo College Vocational Nursing Program is the perfect place to start your journey.  The primary role of the vocational nurse is to provide quality-nursing care in a structured health care setting for clients who are experiencing common, well-defined health problems with predictable outcomes.  The vocational nurse functions under the supervision of a registered professional nurse and/or a physician.  As a vocational nurse, you'll work as part of an Interdisciplinary Team (IDT), collaborating with other healthcare professionals to provide holistic and patient-centered care.

Information

Admission Information/Application Requirements

The student seeking admission to the VN Program must: 

1. Apply for admission and be accepted to Laredo College. (A student must reapply if they last attended more than 1 year ago).  Click here for more information 
2. Students that apply must be College Ready in Reading, Writing, and Math to be considered.
3. The student must have a 2.5 or better GPA in their institutional and overall GPA.
4. If the pre-requisite courses were taken at another institution, official transcripts must be submitted to the LC admission office to be added to your LC student records.
5. GPAs for: Prerequisites, Institutional, and Overall will be calculated up until Fall 2024, December 15, 2024.
6. Students taking pre-requisite courses (including flex courses) that begin after December 15, 2024 will not be used to calculate any GPAs needed to apply to the VN Program.
7. “D” course grades are not considered a passing grade
8. Complete (V.N.) pre-requisite courses:

• PSYC 2314      Life Span Growth & Development
• *MDCA 1409  Anatomy and Physiology for Medical Assistants

 *Completion of BIOL 2301, BIOL 2101 & BIOL 2302, BIOL 2102 will satisfy this requirement.

    9.  Complete and submit VN Program application. Click below:

         https://webportalapp.com/sp/laredo_vocational_nursing

• Applications Open January 27, 2025, 9 am - Applications Close February 28, 2025, at Midnight.
• An LC Palomino ID# is required to apply and your LC student email.
• Please use your legal name(no nicknames) as this information will be submitted to the Texas Board of Nursing for background check processing.
• A status of "Application Intake" is not considered submitted, the applicant needs to complete and submit the application for consideration.
• Please visit the Bursar's Office at Fort McIntosh or South Campus to pay the application fee(s) ($10 per program). Application fee is non-refundable.

        Your application will not be submitted without proof of application fee payment.

• Applicants are required to provide proof of payment for the application fee for each nursing program that they are applying to.
• If proof of the application fee is not submitted the application is cancelled and cannot be retrieved or re-submitted.

  10.  Once an applicant applies they are screened to verify they have completed the pre-requisite courses with a 2.5 GPA or better.

  11.  At the end of March students are notified (via LC Student email) if they are qualified to take the ATI TEAS pre-entrance exam.

  12. Testing takes place in April and selected students begin the program in Fall.

  13. Students who are chosen for the program are notified by the end of April and must submit the required paperwork to register for the program in the Fall semester. 

  14.  A minimum overall score of 58% or better on the ATI TEAS is required to be considered for the program.

  15.  Test scores from other nursing schools are not accepted.

Selection Process/Competitive Ranking Process

Acceptance to the program is a competitive ranking process based on points awarded for designated criteria.  Meeting all of the criteria does not guarantee anyone admission to the program.

Applicant’s will be allocated points based on:

Pre-Requisite, Institutional, and Overall GPA’s

Maximum of 9 points from GPAs

Pre-entrance standardized examination scores

Maximum of 10 points from ATI TEAS Scores.

Maximum Points for each program is 19 Points.

Pre-Entrance Exam Information

What is on the ATI TEAS, Version 7 Exam?

• The ATI TEAS, Version 7 Exam is comprised of four content areas: reading, math, science, and English and language usage. The TEAS 7 contains 39 reading, 34 math, 44 science, and 33 English and language usage scored items.
• The table below displays the number of questions in each category as well as time limits for each section of the TEAS.  There are 170 total questions on the ATI TEAS, Version 7, which includes 150 scored items and 20 unscored, pretest items.  The total time limit is 209 minutes. The ATI TEAS, Version 7 Exam will introduce alternate item-type questions, questions that are not the conventional, single-answer multiple choice question. Click here for more information on alternate item-type questions.

The ATI TEAS, Version 7 will be released on June 3, 2022.  Official TEAS Prep by ATI has been released to prepare you for the new exam.  Visit www.atitesting.com/teas-prep for more details.

Pre-Req, Background Info/Vaccines/Clinical Requirements/Etc. 

Please refer to the Student Handbook for criminal background verification, vaccine requirements and additional program information.

*LC IMMUNIZATION REQUIREMENT*

Students enrolling into Laredo College programs with external learning experiences (i.e., clinical, practicum, externship, cooperative, etc.) will be required to comply with the immunization requirements and policies of the clinical/external learning sites to engage in all clinical/external learning experiences. Vaccination requirements at clinical/external learning sites are implemented pursuant to the independent authority of such facilities and are not mandated by Laredo College. Failure to meet the immunization requirements mandated by clinical/external learning sites may limit a student’s ability to complete the program and/or may delay the student’s graduation date. Laredo College does not process exemptions, and students should address potential vaccination exemptions directly with the clinical/external learning site.

Plan of Study

Download PDF

VN Program Pathway

VN Student Handbook 2024-2025