Is university better then community college?

Is it better to go on to a university rather than a community college?

• I'm 17 & I'll be graduating in August. I want to major in nursing & become a part of the NICU working on level III.. I basically want to become a Neonatal nurse. I was told by the college liaison at my high school that it may be better to go to a comm. college for two years then transfer to a university & complete my last two years. Others say it may be better to go on to a university. Are there any RN's or someone who has or is working in the medical field that could answer this for me? any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you (:

• Answer:

  I worked at two for-profit nursing schools and found that students sometimes said that they had trouble transferring credits from the local community college to our state univeristy. They ended up at my school going for an LPN because they could at least use some of the credits they had earned. It seems that some of the RN programs around here are cohort based--you can't just jump into them in the middle. Students said that they pretty much had to start all over. College planners often suggest that students start at a community college and transfer to a university later because it saves a lot of money. But if the nursing program at the university requires that you take certain courses during your first two years, and they aren't available at the community college, you might have to retake a lot of coursework to catch up, and it wouldn't be very cost effective in terms of time or money. I would make an appointment with the head of the nursing program at the university you want to transfer to and ask his/her advice about your plan.