Does it really take 4 years to get an ASSOCIATES degree in nursing?

My friend just told me that you need to study two years (Pre-nursing) in order to get accepted in an associate's nursing program. Is that true?

No, it is not. Not exactly, anyway.

Associate Degree Nursing programs are two years in length. But there are pre-requisite courses you must complete in order to get admitted to these programs, usually general biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology, and sometimes microbiology and nutrition. Unless you had previously completed these courses within the last 5-7 years, you will need to take them before you can apply. So many people take a year or more to do these courses, then start the nursing program, and it takes them 3-4 years all together.

To my knowledge, there is no state that requires a pre-nursing degree in order to get into an ADN program. The pre-nursing degrees are meant to be transferred to 4 year BSN programs. There is nowhere that would make you get one Associates Degree in order to complete another, that makes no sense.

Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) - Takes 2-3 years. Offered at many community colleges. Prepares you to provide registered nursing care in numerous settings.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) - Takes 4 years. Also referred to as Baccalaureate degree. Offered at many California State Universities and some private colleges. Prepares you to provide registered nursing care in numerous settings and to move to administrative and leadership positions.
Masters Entry Level Program in Nursing - Designed for adults who have a baccalaureate degree in another field and wish to become registered nurses. Takes 1-2 years depending on how many nursing course prerequisites you have already completed. Graduate receives a masters degree.
LVN 30 Unit Option - Designed as a career ladder for California Licensed Vocational Nurses wishing to become registered nurses. Takes approximately 18-24 months. No degree is granted upon completion. Most other states do not recognize California's LVN 30 Unit Option and will not issue RN licenses to these LVNs. Some LVNs prefer to complete an ADN program in order to obtain a degree and to have the flexibility to get an RN license in other states. Most ADN programs will give LVNs credit for some of the coursework they completed to become an LVN.
Military Corpsmen - California law permits military corpsmen to take the national exam for RN licensure if they have completed RN level education and clinical experience.

what takes most time is the pre-requisites. Like bio, english, humanities, nutrition, psycholgy, and etc. The nursing program itself is 2 years....If you can speed up the pre reqs then u can finish it in 3? or 2.5

I'm, going for an associates and continue to bachelor's.

Well... yes. Before getting into the associates nursing program you need to complete all the pre-requisite courses such as English, Human Anatomy, physiology, chemistry etc. It can take as much as two years to complete these courses. Then the nursing program itself is about 2 years too.

It depends on the program--but typically SOME pre-reqs are required. Most nursing programs have waiting lists. Some do "first come, first served," others are more picky and look at how you did in essential courses like English, Math, and Bio and if you do well, you move along quicker. You want to knock off even co-requisites because nursing school eats up your life.

Most of the CC's I know offer regular orientation/info programs on nursing because it's so popular--sign up and get the straight scoop on what's available to you there.
Don't be fooled with U programs--sometimes people do their first two years then have to wait two more years to get into clinicals because of the backlog and bad planning decisions by the U faculty. (Why can't U's offer night nursing courses as many CC's do? No good reason.)

i am pretty sure it does. i earned a associate degree in dental hygiene and it took me 4 years. the actual clinicals are two years and the prerequisites took two years. i think nursing is the same.