ADN to BSN Question

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I already have a BA and decided to take classes at my community college to sit for NCLEX. (I'm not even getting an ADN degree, actually.) I decided not to go for a BSN right now for a number of reasons, the big one being financial. Anyway, here is my question. If I do want to eventually get a BSN, will I have to have 60 credits at the credentialing institution like most "transfer" students? Or will they give me a BSN with less. My suspicion is that I wouldn't necessarily need 60 credits to fulfill the BSN requirements.

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

It would depend on the program and the institution.

Specializes in ER.
I already have a BA and decided to take classes at my community college to sit for NCLEX. (I'm not even getting an ADN degree, actually.) I decided not to go for a BSN right now for a number of reasons, the big one being financial. Anyway, here is my question. If I do want to eventually get a BSN, will I have to have 60 credits at the credentialing institution like most "transfer" students? Or will they give me a BSN with less. My suspicion is that I wouldn't necessarily need 60 credits to fulfill the BSN requirements.

You can sit for the NCLEX without having atleast an ADN?

T

e). The difference between my course of study and the classmates who are getting the ADN is two or three general education courses required by the community college. I just don't have the time to take them. I'd rather spend the summer with my kids.

So all you have to do is take a couple classes and you can sit for the NCLEX. Or are you going through the program jsut without getting an ADN?

Andrew

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

To get my BSN I had to: (1) meet all the credit hour requirements in all the various disciplines required by the College of Arts and Sciences (which was where my nursing school was seated) to be granted a bachelor's degree and (2) meet all the credit hour requirements to qualify as having a major in nursing by the school of nursing. Before graduation, I had to see a counselor at the College of Arts and Sciences who did a survey of all the classes I had received transfer credit for and the classes I had completed at the university and compared them with the College of Arts and Sciences requirements to get a bachelor's degree. The university requirements took precedence over the nursing school's requirements when it came to the bachelors degree.

You should be able to find the answers to your questions very easily by looking at the college catalogs of these schools.

Something you should consider is to plan any transfer you make. I got an ADN originally and went back for my BSN. I was able to transfer a lot of general education credits, but it still wasn't enough. I had to take more fine arts and math classes plus a couple of quirky required classes the school put on ALL students. Also, the RN completion program I was getting into did not grant any transfer credit for any of anyone's ADN nursing classes. What they did was give us a written and practical exam. If we passed it, we were granted 32 hours of a lower division nursing credit. We still had to take upper division nursing classes in the sequence THEY specified in order to complete the requirements of the nursing major.

By the way, I doubt that your state board of nursing will allow you to sit for and take the NCLEX without having graduated from a course of RN nursing. I could be wrong, but your state board of nursing will state the specific requirements in order to take the NCLEX. I've read a number of state nurse practice acts and I've never seen one that allows what you are planning unless the student was already enrolled in a BSN program and taking and passing the NCLEX was an expectation of that nursing program and is done with the approval of the state board.

Specializes in ER.
e). The difference between my course of study and the classmates who are getting the ADN is two or three general education courses required by the community college. I just don't have the time to take them. I'd rather spend the summer with my kids.

Sorry, hope I don't sound like an idiot....so you are taking the core nursing classes and clinicals and just not taking a few of the gen ed classes? If time is your issue, it is the nursing classes and clinicals that take up the majority of my time, not the gen ed classes. Some of the gen ed were even avaliable online.

T

While it is possible my counselor is wrong about this, she's been there for years and years and I am certain there have been plenty of students who have passed through the school and have gone on to work as registered nurses without getting the official ADN. The way it was explained to me, the board doesn't really care what your degree is in, as long as you have one and have fulfilled their requirements for nursing education (which, by the way, are almost equivalent to the ADN program at the school I'm attending). Or alternatively, have a diploma from a diploma program.

My program of study isn't much different from the other students. I only have to take a few less humanities and general education courses that are required by the school but not the board of nursing. While it is correct that these courses are probably less rigorous than the nursing courses, I have two small children and need every minute I can spare to spend with them. I was also told that getting the community college associate's degree was pretty much meaningless and unnecessary since I already have a bachelor's degree.

I guess what I am regretting a little bit now is not going into an accelerated BSN program, which I could have done in the same or less time than the community college program. But then again, the expense was prohibitive so it's kind of a moot point.

Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.
You can sit for the NCLEX without having atleast an ADN?

T

I'm a graduate of a 3-year diploma program and I'll be sitting for the NCLEX later this month. No ADN/BSN required. Diplomas, ADN's and BSN's all sit for the same exam.

Specializes in ER.
I'm a graduate of a 3-year diploma program and I'll be sitting for the NCLEX later this month. No ADN/BSN required. Diplomas, ADN's and BSN's all sit for the same exam.

I say atleast an ADN because the ADN is the 2 year degree (although we all know it's closer to 3:)

T

Ooops. Double post.

It seems a shame to me to not get the ADN, since you are so close. Can it be finished later on, on a part time basis? If you decided to do a bridge program some day, you will need it. Another thought is CLEP! I easily passed Psych, Human G&D, and English Comp and saved myself a lot of time and money. I bet you could CLEP all of the courses you need. You could study for them over the summer while your kids are napping and when they go to bed.

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