Is this the path I should take?

i would go for the msn.
it will afford you the most flexibility in the least amt of time.

best of everything.

leslie

MsJLH,

I moved this thread to the Nursing Career Advice Forum. Good luck to you!

Based on the info you provided in your post, I would suggest you go for the MSN because, in the long run, it would provide the possibility of more opportunity.

BTW welcome to allnurses, hope you enjoy the site.

I remember being where you are at now a few years ago when I decided to go back to school to get my BSN. I already had a Bacheor's in Biology. First, what type of nursing program are you looking into? Are you doing an accelerated BSN or a bridge program which bridges you from you current bachelors to a masters in nursing? Usually the bridge programs are 3 years. In my opinion, I think that nursing is definitely the route to go instead of PA school because you have more flexibility in terms of career options. With a nursing degree you can become a clinical nurse specialist and educate the staff, a clinical research nurse and work with drug trials, a nurse practitioner and see your own patients, you can teach, go into an administrative role..the list goes on, there are endless things you can do as a nurse which is why I decided it was worth it to get my 2nd degree. I did a traditional B.S program that was 2 years long. I wanted to vomit when I thought about going to school that long to get another bachelor's degree but it really does go by fast...you are so busy with things to do. It's not just the time you are going to be in class and the time studying, but you also have clinical which is usually 12 hours a week and you have to go to the hospital the night before your clinical and get info on your patient and do a write up which takes hours. And after clinical you usually have a care plan or something to write up afterwards. You just get bombarded with all these little assignments that you have to do on top of your 2-4 chapters per week that you are trying to learn for class. If you are doing a bridge program, you will be extremely busy because they will be craming all the nursing material that we learn in 2 years into 1 year and then you will have to take the NCLEX before going to the masters portion which usually has about 180 hours a semester of clincial. If it's really what you are interested in, you will enjoy it but it is a lot of hard work and your time with your family will be very limited. I think a lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to go through a nursing program...it's a lot of hard work and studying. But you can do it! I did it, I worked full-time for the first year and part time for the remainder and I had a baby during the process...but I'm finishing this fall and I have so many job opportunities..it really feels worth all the drama! Ironically, I'm looking to get into clincial research once I graduate. I started working on some research studies in March and I really enjoy it, I worked for 2 years as a drug rep for Merck so I'm familiar with the drug trials. I am trying to network my way into a research position...what did you do exactly? Any helpful tips? Good luck with your decision.