12 Month BSN or 15 Month MSN?

[sciencerer]

Question: I'm trying to figure out if I should to to school for 12 months to get a BSN or for 15 months to get an MSN?

I already have a non-related BS so the BSN would be a post-baccalaureate degree, and the MSN would be a Masters Entry into the Profession of Nursing (MEPN).

Other info: The BSN would be at Arizona State University, and the MSN would be at University of Arizona. I don't have solid figures for costs for either program. Prerequisite classes are essentially the same for both, and I am finishing them up now.

As I nurse I am still not firm on what direction I'd like to go. I could most easliy see myself in ER, or ICU, or working with kids. I am motivated by making more money than less, a more meaningful job than less, and lower rather than higher stress, and flexibility of workload so I can spend time with my wife and two small children. If I go the BSN route, I will probably want to get a further degree later on, so that I can go into administration or make more money.

My prior healthcare experience is from working as a Spanish interpreter in the ER, hospital floor, and for a children's hospital.

(This is my first post so any advice is especially appreciated! Thanks in advance!)

[futureeastcoastNP]

My concern is this: even though it would have to be taught at the undergraduate level (since it is to train RNs not NPs), it would be more dumbed down down and less clinically applicable than an NP programs pharmacology....yet despite this, these people would probably qualify for the "post masters" NP programs, allowing them to skip a lot of content including pharmacology because they were already taught pharmacology..

...that means as opposed to a normal NP who gets a full BSN and then graduate level courses to be an NP (aka 2 patho, 2 pharm), these people are getting their undergraduate and graduate level pharmacology from ONE class, and then are able to become Nps. That's terrifying and this profession is reaching new lows!!

[elkpark]

These kinds of programs are just ways for schools to make cash from older students looking into nursing.

(They're not "just" for schools to make more money -- a big piece of the demand is that students who already have a BA/BS in something else have difficulty getting (or just can't get at all) Federal subsidized student loans for another undergrad degree, but they can get Federal loans for a graduate degree. From my observation over the years, that seems to be a v. big piece of the rationale for graduate level generalist/CNL nursing degrees.)