To be or not to be ( A BSN that is)

[physiologytutor]

Hello everyone,

I am currently a student at a community college on the waiting list for an ADN program. I live in southwest Michigan. I am only able to attend school on a part-time basis. The school has been wonderful, however the program does not look at your grades when they determine entrance into the program. They only look at completion dates of your file. I am a 4.0 student and have worked very hard to do well.

My questions to the intelligent people that are on this forum are the following:

1. Do you need a BSN to be competative in the world on nursing?

2. Are there any part-time programs in my area that actually consider your grades?

3. What is the most important thing I can be doing for my career at this point?

4. What should I do after next semester and all of the classes I am required to take are finished? I know have a one to two year wait for the program. Should I take a few classes at a four year school that would go towards my BSN or should I take more classes at my community college and actually end up with two associated degrees because of the waiting period.

I am forty-two years old and very motivated to do well in this profession, however I need need advice on my career. I do well in school and have had my own business for over 20 years.

I want to do this right......Please help me........

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Make a post to the Michagan forum to see if anyone there knows of any local programs that are part time.

ADN RN's enjoy a wide variety of job opportunities in virtually all areas of nursing and can readily get a job. The BSN comes in handy in the future when perhaps you might want a job away from the bedside say into teaching, research, pharmaceautical companies, insurance companies, community health, management, etc. Those types of jobs tend to be "BSN preferred" and the BSN graduate gets the edge.

While you are waiting, I would continue to take co-req courses towards your BSN, but you can still take them at the community college as that is probably cheaper. When you do get your ADN you will have the courses you need to get your BSN after that if you choose. There are lots of ADN to BSN programs around you can do part time, and even get your employer to pay for it. I wouldn't necessarily try to get another degree, unless it's something your interested in.

Good luck.

[burn out]

If you are looking into just doing bedside nursing maybe unit managemenet type stuff then the AD program would probably would be enough but like Tweety said if you want to go further you would want your BSN. Keep in mind however, if you do go for the ADN bedside nursing is going to be very hard job to be doing when you are 69 yers old.

[Skippitb]

I am in SW Michigan also. I know the frustrations of the community colleges here. I have my B.S. in pre-med and I couldn't find any C.C.s that would give me preference for my degree, credit hours completed, core nursing classes completed, pre-reqs completed, or my GPA. I find it a bit ridiculous that they go by first come first serve and have no interest in screening people before they enter the programs. Maybe it is just me, but I got really irked by the fact that I, as someone with a 4 year degree in the medical field, years of direct contact patient care experience in a hospital, and a good deal of the nursing theory classes already completed, didn't get any preference over a 19 year old that has only taken the minimum pre-reqs and got barely passing grades. I finally just said screw it and applied and got in to WMU's BSN program and the whole thing will only take 3 years. The C.C.s around here have such long waiting lists that they couldn't even guarantee that I would be entering in to their programs within 3 years. By working as a nurse during the 2 or 3 extra years that I would have spent waiting around for a spot at a C.C. I will be making twice what I am now and be able to pay off most of my student loans that I take out along the way. For me, being able to start working as a nurse sooner makes the extra university tuition for the BSN just as affordable in the end. I do not know what is best for you but when comparing the ADN and BSN programs in our area I really feel that getting the BSN requires less time, a whole lot less tolerance of ignorant school officials, and about an equal amount of money in the long run.

If you really want to go the ADN route I would check out Glen Oaks Community College. They let people in based on an entrance exam score (thus no waiting list) but they have pretty expensive out of district tuition for a C.C. and their program runs full time, all year long, for 2 years. They are on trimesters so it is 6 full time semesters total, since I only had 6 part time semesters of classes to take at WMU to get my BSN, Glen Oaks wasn't really worth it for me personally.

I hope this was some what helpful. Good luck with your adventures involving the nursing schools around us. I hope that you can find a way to get in somewhere quickly and don't have to deal with nearly the bs that I did.

~Lindsey