Does ANYBODY enter a traditional BSN program anymore?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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...I see tons upon tons of post of accelerated "hopefuls", desiring to enter these programs all over. I see less of traditional students desiring to get into those programs, or are they just aren't speaking up? I am just wondering. What happened to good old "pre-nursing" students???? They have to apply too...

Specializes in Managed Care, Onc/Neph, Home Health.
Most of the people in my ABSN program talked about wanting to have a job where they felt like they were making a difference in people's lives. We had some financial people in my class, but also former teachers, fresh college grads who realized late in school that they wanted to do nursing (and the quickest way to do that was to stay the course and then do an ABSN), managers, paramedics, real estate folks, office workers, campaign managers, etc.

Not everybody knows what they want to do at 18, and you yourself developed and expanded your career over the decades so I'm not sure why it would seem so odd for people to want to switch to nursing.

I am just thinking all the sweat poured into those professions, some of those are quite tedious to master, to just give it all up, to embark a more indepth tedious profession, not to mention getting into schools, thats all i meant.

I truly applaud those folx for having the guts to drop everything to do it...starting out at rock bottom, that is some kind of sacrifice to make.

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If you are seeing TEAS scores, you are probably seeing traditional BSN students or ADN. Most second degree programs not require entrance exams.

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Oh and as for career switchers, I have a BS and a MS in Computer Science. I've been working for the same company for 14 years. It is scary to give up a career but I can't imagine doing what I do now for 20 more years. The pay is great but I am tired of sitting in an office, working for a large company with the only goal of being profitable. I know healthcare is a business but at least you can impact people's lives in some way.

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From my research, ABSN and traditional BSN programs are the same, except that the ABSN's are for persons already holding a bachelors degree, and there are slightly different admissions criteria because of this fact. I have a bachelors in English, but I am applying to a traditional BSN as there are no accelerated programs in my area. Even if there were, I would apply to both as either way you end up with a BSN.

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From my research, ABSN and traditional BSN programs are the same, except that the ABSN's are for persons already holding a bachelors degree, and there are slightly different admissions criteria because of this fact. I have a bachelors in English, but I am applying to a traditional BSN as there are no accelerated programs in my area. Even if there were, I would apply to both as either way you end up with a BSN.
My first degree was in English too *waves*That background will be helpful on the NCLEX style questions because you're used to shades of meaning and subtleties and subjectivity. Ime the folks in my class with liberal arts backgrounds tended to "get" the NCLEX question style more quickly than hard science folks.Anyway, RN in FL, thanks for clarifying what you meant. It is a big leap to make, even if you don't have years invested in another career. But I think it was worth it :)
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The pre-req's for an ADN are nearly identical to that of a BSN program except for a couple classes like nutrition or sometimes statistics....(the A&P that a ADN student takes is no different than the A&P that a BSN student takes)

That's where I disagree. The pre-reqs are the same in name but, in my opinion, not in style. I don't think that what separates ADN from BSN is simply the extra classes I had to take like holistic health and leadership. I think it's the approach and the rigor. I am certain I will ruffle feathers with my opinion on this but: I believe that *in general* BSN programs are academically more challenging than ADN programs. I have met exceptions to the rule but I nonetheless stand by the generalization.

We have two ADN programs locally and both...are very competitive (usually 150+ applications yearly for 30 spots)

Like you said, "competitive" can be defined simply by little availability or great demand.

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This is something I've been looking into a lot. Right now I'm a Pre-Nursing student at a community college, and I'm hoping to get into their Associate Degree program so that I can start working as an RN. After I graduate, I've been seriously thinking about doing an RN-BSN program. SDSU's RN-BSN program has the following pre-req requirements:

The University requires a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better for admission to the upper division. TheSchool of Nursing requires the following courses and grades in those courses:Human Anatomy + lab, 4 units, grade of B- or betterHuman Physiology + lab, 4 units, grade of B- or betterMicrobiology + lab, 4 units, grade of B- or betterIntegrated Chemistry + lab, 5 units, grade of B- or betterGeneral Biology, 3 units, grade of C or betterGeneral Psychology, 3 units, grade of C or betterPrinciples of Sociology, 3 units, grade of C or betterOral Communication, 3 units, grade of C or betterStatistics, 3 units, grade of C or betterDevelopmental Psychology or Child Development, 3 units, C or better

General Education Requirements (See Catalog)

and this is their RN-BSN curriculum:

RN-BS Upper Division Nursing Courses

Units

NUR 307 Nursing Research 3NUR 312 Concepts of Professional Nursing 3NUR 415/L Community Health Nursing 5NUR 458 Nursing Management and Leadership 3NUR 458L Nursing Management and Leadership Laboratory 2NUR 501/L Advanced Health Assessment and Health Promotion 4NUR 358 Basic ECG 1*NUR 400/L Basic Concepts in Critical Care Nursing 6

OR

*NUR 499 Special Study (Parts 1 & 2) 3/3

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I'm doing a Basic Entry BSN at the moment.

From what I know, my university will accept RNs into the BSN program every semester. The requirement is that they graduate from an approved nursing program, have a current license, and meet a GPA requirement. My aunt did this option, as she had done a CNA-LPN-RN-BSN ladder. She said she took the pathophysiology classes online, as well as some of the other arts and sciences for BSN. She also had to more clinical rotations for her nursing courses; it wasn't just taking those classes and being done with it.

The point of a BSN is to teach better leadership and management skills. There aren't many things I like more than working for a DON who has it all figured out.

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