ADN vs BDN

[Rugbychick328]

I am in my first semester of college and just switched to nursing from athletic training. I am confident I made the right decision. The college I am at right now has a four year program but I am considering relocating to a different private school that only has an associates degree program (which makes it much more expensive). I don't know if this would be a wise choice because I am sure I would get paid less and it might be harder to get a job without a bachelor's degree. What do you think?

Another option would be to get my associates and take my boards so I could find a job somewhere. It would really be nice if the hospital would offer to help pay for some of my schooling.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[pricklypear]

I do worry about how I am going to do it, and not cause myfamily to suffer. I know its going to be tough, I just pray that the 2 years don't feel like living hell. My first year will be my son's senior year of high school and I already feel sad that I won't be "available" for him, and that I will miss this precious last year of him being home. And I have a teenage daughter that is in a constant pissy mood. (more guilt for not being around for her)

Don't worry so much - it's not going to be that bad! I feel like I was available and around much more for my family when I was in school and working on/off part time. It just takes a bit of juggling. Your kids are older, you don't have to worry about what to do with them at 5am when you have clinicals, and so forth. You'll be around every evening for family time, just like any working mom. The real shock was when I started working nights 4 nights a week! I felt like I was totally out of the loop...

:) Good luck with nursing school!!

[Corvette Guy]

A lot of ADN programs don't have separate courses for these areas. It's incorporated in the program. My RN to BSN program has separate courses in pharm. and pathopys. which I didn't have in my ADN, but some of which is going to be a review.

FYI, a seperate Pharmacolgy course was a pre-req for my particular ADN program. Plus, an upper division Pharmacology course was a requirement in my RN-BSN program. Furthermore, the Physical Assessment course in my RN-BSN program was definitely a review from my ADN program.