Help freshman college student!

[grexi]

Hi my name is Grexi and I am 19 years old starting community college in 2 weeks. My goal is to get my BSN But when I went to register for my classes they asked me what career was I interested in and I said I wanted to get my RN to later escalate. The administrater asked me if I was planing to be a transfer student and I said yes after my general classes I did want to transfer. And she then proceeded to tell me I would do a nursing program with them and then I could transerfer, as I came to realize that would be an ADN, which is not what I wanted. My question is can I get my general courses and then transefer to a BSN program or do I need an RN first? Also is q ADN the same as an RN? please help!! I have to change my classes before the 15th of this month.

[mindofmidwifery, ADN]

Yes, you can do your general classes at your community college then transfer to a university. However, it may not be guaranteed that you get into a BSN program, you'd have to apply for it of course. An ADN is a degree, RN is a title. Those who have a BSN or an ADN and who pass the NCLEX have the title of RN.

[Sour Lemon]

Yes, you can become an RN with an ADN. As far as what classes are transferable, you'd need to check with the school that you hope to transfer them to.

[future_anesthetist, BSN, CNA, RN]

You might consider doing your ADN at this college and later doing a RN to BSN program. This will save you a lot of money, but you should check with your local community to see if many employers are wanting a BSN for their new hires. If you want to go straight to a BSN program you will have to apply and meet their specific requirements. Maybe apply to both programs and see what happens! Good luck to you on your journey! :)

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to prenursing forum

[ElenaP14]

Hello Grexi,

You can take all the pre-nursing classes (chemistry, a&p, microbiology + all your government, English, basics, etc) at the Community College and transfer those credits to a 4-year University to achieve your BSN.

I would make sure your community college is accredited, and those credits are accepted by the 4-year Universities you're looking at for the nursing curriculum.

Going to any nursing school ADN v. BSN - it's an application and acceptance/denial process.

Make sure you review the nursing schools you want to transfer to, as their required pre-nursing classes can vary.

Good luck!

[GourmandG]

An ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing sometimes simply referred to on the "required education" section of job listings as "Associate") is obtained at a community college level whereas a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) is obtained at a 4 year college/ university level.

Either one prepares you to take the NCLEX which is the exam you must pass in order to get your RN license. This means whether you started with an ADN or BSN, once you pass the NCLEX, you will all get the same RN title and can work as an RN. I repeat, you can work as an RN with either an ADN or a BSN (you just need to pass the NCLEX). However, depending on the position you want, some employers do require a Bachelor's so search for registered nursing jobs in your area to see what each employer requires.

Per your original post, "I said I wanted to get my RN to later escalate". This is why the admin has you on the ADN to BSN path. There is nothing wrong with this as I am on this path myself. This is the cheapest and fastest route for my situation. Did you know that while working as an RN, you can continue toward your BSN and most employers even pay for you to get your BSN?

To answer your question, no, you do not need an ADN before applying for your BSN. And no, you can't just take general ed classes and get into the BSN program either because there are pre req classes for both ADN and BSN programs. But if you take the pre req classes per your BSN program, then yes, you can apply to the BSN program directly. Key word is "apply" meaning, you won't necessarily get accepted on your first attempt.

If you print out the ADN and BSN requirements, you will see that there are quite a few overlapping pre req classes such as Microbiolgy, Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry etc. After completing your overlapping pre req classes, you may find yourself being eligible to apply for the ADN and BSN program so why not apply for both and see which one you get into first? If you get into the ADN program first, then you would do the RN to BSN route. Also print out the requirements to graduate from both schools and be careful about the GPA required to get into either programs.

By the way, you are allowed to change your "major"multiple times. As a matter of fact, I'm not even allowed to put down "Registered Nurse" until I got accepted into my school's nursing program. My place holder major was "Biology" which tells financial aid that I was taking pertinent classes in that field otherwise, they won't pay for classes that are not needed to your major.

I hope this helps. I'm so excited for your college experience. Good luck!