Whats the Catch: RN to MSN?

Nurses General Nursing

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I ask because I don't know, and would like some insight. Can getting an MSN preclude a BSN for a nurse who wants to work like any other nurse and gain experience in the trenches, but wants to have her degrees under their belt up front?

Reason I ask: I have a bachelor's degree in a non-related field and so I have the choice in front of me to go for a second bachelors (BSN) or go for ADN>MSN (among other choices). The ADN>MSN sounds like the best choice, no?.

Please understand I have no intention of jumping right to management or NP out of the gate, just to obtain up front the degree I would prob get eventually anyway (MSN).

Is there added value? Are their obvious cons?

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

Going straight for an MSN without any nursing experience or any idea of what you want to do seems like madness to me. Which MSN? What's your plan? Not too many MSN educated nurses at the bedside these days...most do it to get away from it. A BSN doesn't preclude anything, it merely precedes an MSN in most cases. If this was me, I'd side-step the ASN and go for a BSN and then once you'd gotten some RN experience then you can think about an MSN.

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But the ADN makes you an RN ready to get a nursing job on the floor, no? Why then go for BSN only to have to get an MSN later still? The cost seems outrageous. Not to mention you can get a general MSN. In my state an ADN doesn't get you a job so you have to continue on and get more degrees before you get your experience anyway. Why not Do the more advanced degree? I'm not sure why this has to be so much more complicated than any other masters degree and I'm not sure you answer has helped me learn anything more than I did before I posted. I would love some real insight here, not just calling me insane for considering doing something that is offered by schools and obviously done by students. I'm trying to get a picture of what is the best path, not avoid earning experience.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Getting the MSN right off the bat can work ... but there is a potential problem. Most MSN's are focused on a specific specialty -- and few people without any nursing experience are ready to choose a specialty. You don't really know which specialty is going to be a good fit for you until you work a little as a nurse. That's one big reason why a lot of people advise against entering an MSN program before getting at least a little experience as a nurse first. Another reason some people are against it is because they haven't seen it done successfully -- and they have seen some people graduating from MSN programs without experience and making a mess of the leadership level jobs they try to get.

Most MSN programs require you to choose a specialty -- but if you happen to live near a truly "general" MSN program, then it might be your best option. Another option is to skip both the ADN and the BSN: there are "direct-entry" MSN programs for people who have degrees in other fields. That is the option that I would choose if I were in that situation. However, I would understand that when I entered the nursing workforce with my shiney new MSN ... I would not be ready for MSN roles. I would have to get an entry-level staff nurse job and get some actual experience before moving up the career ladder. I have seen people do that successfully. As they get some experience, their advanced education helps them move up the ladder quickly -- but they can't just skip over the entry-level jobs: they need to do them for a while before being ready for higher level jobs.

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That is exactly what I have mentioned I want to do, in both my OP and comment: get the more advanced degree after my RN, obtain general floor nursing experience, either way, before moving on the management positions. The MSN seems to serve the purpose that a BSN in my state will do, which is open doors for general nursing jobs (since the ADN doesn't) but then already have the masters under my belt for later on down the road when I am ready for a more senior management position. The question comes about to figure out if my logic is sound.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
That is exactly what I have mentioned I want to do, in both my OP and comment: get the more advanced degree after my RN, obtain general floor nursing experience, either way, before moving on the management positions. The MSN seems to serve the purpose that a BSN in my state will do, which is open doors for general nursing jobs (since the ADN doesn't) but then already have the masters under my belt for later on down the road when I am ready for a more senior management position. The question comes about to figure out if my logic is sound.

This makes my head hurt. My opinion would be to worry about earning your RN first and then think about an advanced degree.

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This makes my head hurt. My opinion would be to worry about earning your RN first and then think about an advanced degree.

The whole nursing degree situation makes MY head hurt. I'm just trying to navigate the best route here. I don't have the luxury of taking it one step at a time, I need to figure out whether to get my ADN (cheaper, city college) and have no prospect of a job until I get a further degree (which in itself is the weirdest setup I have ever seen in any job field), or spend 10x that on a full BSN program. I mean, this is "worrying about my RN" first - it's a path. Less wasted years and $$ is one of my goals, I'm not about to just apply willy-nilly to any nursing program without weighing my options. If my logic is flawed then I'm okay with that, I just want to get some insight that a college advisor isn't going to be able to give objectively.

Thanks for your comments so far.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
That is exactly what I have mentioned I want to do, in both my OP and comment: get the more advanced degree after my RN, obtain general floor nursing experience, either way, before moving on the management positions. The MSN seems to serve the purpose that a BSN in my state will do, which is open doors for general nursing jobs (since the ADN doesn't) but then already have the masters under my belt for later on down the road when I am ready for a more senior management position. The question comes about to figure out if my logic is sound.

Just be careful to research whether or not you actually will be able to get the kind of job you want as a new grad with an MSN in your region. Some hiring managers may hesitate to hire you because they will (rightly) assume that you won't stay in the staff nurse position for very long -- and therefore, not be worth the investment they will have to make to orient you as a new grad staff nurse. They would not be crazy to think that way. Orienting a new grad to a staff nurse position can be very expensive and valuable resources are wasted orienting people who don't stay in those jobs for at least 2 years.

My hospital has hired a few new grad MSN's into staff nurse positions and had mixed results. Some of turned out to be worth the investment by either staying in those positions for a while -- or moving into leadership positions within our hospital. Others have worked for a year or so and then moved on to what had been their real goal to begin with -- an outpatient job, teaching job, or further grad school after they figured out what specialty really fit their needs best.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Depends where you live and the market conditions. However, you will likely have more options with a BSN initially than with an MSN.

Generally, MSN new grads face greater challenges finding employment, for all the reasons mentioned. You're not prepared for advanced practice with zero nursing experience, and managers figure you won't stay on the floors.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Not to mention you can get a general MSN.
There is absolutely zero point in obtaining a general MSN degree without a specialty area. The point of the MSN is specialization (e.g. informatics, nursing education, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, leadership, nurse anesthesia).

The general MSN degree qualifies you for the same positions as the BSN degree, yet the BSN degree holder will be preferred due to many hiring managers' negative (but covertly unspoken) perceptions of entry-level MSN nurses.

My advice is to figure out what you'd like to specialize in before putting the effort into earning an MSN. Obtain some real world nursing experience before you enroll.

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If you have the option to do so, I would skip the ADN program and enter the full BSN program. The BSN will open up many doors for you to practice as a nurse and many colleges have online or part time MSN programs that fit the working nurse's schedule. A general MSN degree with no specialty is not a degree a lot of nurses go for because it doesnt open as many doors as a specialty MSN. Likewise, I can say with a good amount of confidence that the MSN schooling will probably not be as easily understood or applied without nursing experience. If you are going to get the degree then you want to know what you are doing. Experience is key in nursing, because only so much can be learned from a textbook.

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Specializes in Critical care.

I did an accelerated BSN program for people who already had a bachelor's degree. I plan on eventually going back to school, but there are so many options and I'm not sure what I want to pick at this point. I also plan on taking advantage of tuition assistance and letting my employer foot at least part of the bill for my next degree. A lot of places offer tuition assistance, so if you go for the BSN now you could get a lot of your MSN paid for when you do decide to go back for it.

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