BA degree in Sociology...wanting to pursue a BSN

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Is there options for me in the midwest (Wisconsin or Minnesota preferably) to go get my BSN after just another year or two of schooling?

I will graduate from the UofM-Twin Cities with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Leadership and I have felt the calling to become a nurse. To be competitive in this job market, I feel the BSN is the way to go. Is there schools here in the midwest that can help me get the BSN without going tp school for another 3 or 4 years?

There should be many.....Northwestern comes to mind :) Many will offer an accelerated program for people with a BA or BS in another field....

Specializes in Nursing Admin & Advanced Practice.

I was in a similar situation as you on my journey to becoming a registered nurse. I graduated with a BA in liberal arts with a major in psychology. I didn't want my undergrad degree to go un-used so I wanted to complete an accelerated entry level nursing program so I spent some time looking around for programs. In the Twin Cities area the U of M (Home - NURS - MN, University of Minnesota) has a Masters of Nursing program designed as a masters level entry level nursing program for students with a bachelors degree in nursing. It requires a full time of study commitment but it gets you in and ready to take boards in 16 months, and you earn a masters degree. St. Catherine's University also has a variety of entry level nursing options for students with a bachelors degree such as earning an associate degree, they used to have a post-bachelors program to earn a nursing major but they are working on making that an entry level masters degree (Nursing :: Post-Baccalaureate Major). In Wisconsin UW-Milwaukee SON has a Masters of Nursing program similar to the U of M that is a direct entry program preparing students as masters prepared advanced generalists (UWM College of Nursing MN Direct Entry). From what I was finding when I was searching myself many of the programs for those already having bachelors degrees are the direct entry masters degree programs which I know from now working in nursing are some what controversial as to how one is received by the staff on their unit having a masters degree in nursing with no practical experience in the field to back the degree. I, myself, ended up earning an ADN (associates degree) as I wasn't able to relocate to an area where I could do a direct entry graduate program and still work full time and pay my bills, etc. I'm happy I choose to enter nursing and I love my role as an RN. I wasn't happy to have to earn an associates degree after already having a bachelors but the program prepared me well. I'm no working on completing my BSN part time, I only need to take 30 credits to earn the bachelors degree in nursing, and the university I am attending is substituting masters degree course work in for some of the bachelors degree classes so I get to knock out two birds with one stone. Good luck.

Specializes in Adult Critical Care, Med-Surg, Obs.
Is there options for me in the midwest (Wisconsin or Minnesota preferably) to go get my BSN after just another year or two of schooling?

I will graduate from the UofM-Twin Cities with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Leadership and I have felt the calling to become a nurse. To be competitive in this job market, I feel the BSN is the way to go. Is there schools here in the midwest that can help me get the BSN without going tp school for another 3 or 4 years?

Im from the North-East :rotfl:, I earned a BA in sociology, concentration in criminology in 06.

I earned my ADN this past December '11. If I were you I would look around at online and programs within or borderline to your state and make calls to their admissions office. Visit if you have ti with an unofficial transcript.

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
Is there options for me in the midwest (Wisconsin or Minnesota preferably) to go get my BSN after just another year or two of schooling?

I will graduate from the UofM-Twin Cities with a BA in Sociology and a minor in Leadership and I have felt the calling to become a nurse. To be competitive in this job market, I feel the BSN is the way to go. Is there schools here in the midwest that can help me get the BSN without going tp school for another 3 or 4 years?

I have my BA in Sociology, the program I am about to earn my BSN from I transfered into and they took like 60+ credits, so i just had to complete a couple of preq's that i didnt have (nutrition & micro & chemistry ) & just complete the last 2 years of core RN curriculum!

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

You have many options. I know UW Eau Claire & UW Oshkosh both have accelerated BSNs for those with previous bachelors degrees. I would caution you to consider avoiding the direct entry masters programs like those offered at U of M & Metropolitan State. I have / do work for several large health systems in WI & MN and the direct entry MSN grads have not earned a good reputation.

It is also been my experience as an instructor in my hospital's Critical Care Nurse Residency that the UW grads are much better prepared clinicaly than the graduates of accelerated BSN programs in MN. To be fair I doubt we have hired graduates from every single accelerated BSN program in MN and some may be better than others.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

I would also encourage you to consider the non accelerated traditional BSN programs. Many with previous bachelors degrees can complete these programs in 20 months. They are less expensive than the accelerated BSN programs and the pace is a little more managable.

thank you for the responses! i am finally getting back on here to review your comments....

pmfb-rn -- is the uofm's masters of nursing (16month) program not respected? or is it often the people coming out of the program that are earning bad reputations? why is this, do you think?

that program seems very tempting at this point...

i would like more reasons or horror stories or words of encouragement or opinions if anyone has them.

thanks :)

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
thank you for the responses! i am finally getting back on here to review your comments....

pmfb-rn -- is the uofm's masters of nursing (16month) program not respected? or is it often the people coming out of the program that are earning bad reputations? why is this, do you think?

that program seems very tempting at this point...

i would like more reasons or horror stories or words of encouragement or opinions if anyone has them.

thanks :)

*** one large health care system in wisconsin will no longer hire them after their experience with a number of thier grads. it's doesn't say anywhere they aren't hired but they arn't, despite many applications.

i will tell one story to illistrate. in our icu we had an older and vastly experienced rn name (not real name) ron. ron graduated from the hospital's diploma program back when they had one and used to teach in the diploma nursing program back in the day. ron is the education nurse for the icu and loves to teach. nearly every shoft ron has a nursing student, or nurse resident, or orientee with him. he is a fantastic teacher and absolutly knows everything there is to know about icu nursing. he is also a very nice man who loves his job and is very respected in the unit and hospital.

a number of direct entry masters grads were hired for our 7 month nurse residency program. initialy there was a lot of excitment to hire them when those program were new. one such grad was assinged ron as her primary preceptor. after a couple week the grad stops in the nurse managers office and says "you know ron is great and i am learning a lot from him, however i don't think it's appropiate that i as a mastered prepared rn and being precepted by a nurse with only a diploma. do you have any msn or dnp prepared nurses who could precept me instead?" now it just happens that this nurse manager learned most of what she knows about icu nursing from ron 15 years ago when she was a new grad and ron was her preceptor. that health system's experience is that the direct entry grads are long on attitude and short on clinical skills and critical thinking. not one of the 7 hired has managed to compete the 7 month nurse residency and actually continue to work in icu. a couple were offered med-surg jobs at the end of the residency and they weren't viewed as competent in the icu, despite the fact that the adn and bsn residents mostly did fine. i still work in that unit part time and am an instructor in the nurse residency program and haven't seen any direct entry masters grads hired in years. comments i have heard from managment indicate that this is intentional.

i work full time in a hospital in mn and there doesn't seem to be any great impression of the direct entry grads here either.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

Your previous coursework may have some serious holes in in as far as nursing prerequsites. Mine certainly did. I went to nursing school years after earning a BA in psychology, and it took me a year and a half to finish the pre-reqs before going to nursing school. That said, I wanted them all out of the way so that I could totally concentrate on nursing school, since I would be working full-time the whole way through out of financial necessity.

Yeah definitely. I have allll the prereqs to do still. I figure it will take me at least an additional year to do those.

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