Please help...I'm so confused

justme1972 · Nov 5, 2007

A friend of mine in my nursing school was accepted to a nursing school in the next state (we are close by) b/c she was so far down on the alternate list. It was a BSN program

If she had attended the BSN program with out-of-state tuition, the cost of her BSN would have been over $55K, in loans.

She called me b/c on the 3rd day of class, she was accepted into my ADN program, which she said she could easily cover with a little help from her parents and her part-time job. She will graduate debt-free and have the hospital pay for her BSN through tuition reimbursement.

You just have to weigh your options and find out how to cut the best deal.

futurecnm · Nov 5, 2007

Why should the poster go for an ADN when she already has a bachelor's degree and will need a BSN to become a CRNA?
I have a bachelor's degree and am pursuing a BSN. I will actually earn the BSN in 15 months, less time than it would have taken me to earn an ADN. Since it's at a public university, the total tuition -- including prerequisites -- will work out to less than $20,000.
I realize that RN = RN, but it doesn't make sense for someone who has a BSN to go back for an ADN and foreclose future employment and education options (presuming the price is relatively the same).

I don't see how having a previous BSN matters. You are starting over in another field. Having a BSN in something else doesn't really come into play from what I can see. And the price is definately not relatively the same. A BSN is 20,000 + and an ADN is about $7000-$8000. Going into debt $80,000 then going for more schooling to become a NA is a LOT of money. She needs a BSN to become a CRNA, yes but you can get that a lot of different routes. Once you have the RN, there are a lot of options. I'm not saying any one way is right for any one person. I just didn't understand why having a BSN really matters if it is in another field when it comes to deciding on nursing school.

MB37 · Nov 5, 2007

Well, you can't have a BSN in anything but nursing. You can have a previous BS or BA though. And CCRN is Critical Care RN - it's a certification you can get, and many CRNA schools list it as required or preferred prior to application. The OP needs to thoroughly investigate all options in her area - where I live, my entire ABSN, including books and supplies, will cost about $12,000. I'll graduate a year earlier than I would have with an ADN. An ADN would have been even cheaper, but I don't really have any previous debt and I'm comfortable with owing the $10,000 total that I've ever borrowed for school. It really varies between areas and even schools within an area. CCs use waiting lists and lottery systems in many parts of the country, but here they admit competitively so if you have the grades you'll get in right away. The one thing I would never do, in any part of the country, is to spend $80,000 earning an MS/NP that I have no intention of ever using, and then apply to another even more grueling (and also very expensing) master's program.